and theres more...........

Updates!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok I have to firstly make an apology to people who have emailed me. I am already a slacker when it comes to emails but it isn’t helped by the lack of computer and net access in this country. SO sorry if I have not replied to your emails my friends. I have loved hearing from you all.

Ok so since I last wrote soooooooooo much has happened I barely know where to begin.

MALARIA
I have had Malaria twice since I have written. Its quite a funny feeling having Malaria. I can understand how its similar to our common cold because people get it so often. It comes with fever, headaches, loss of appetite, tiredness, lack of energy and just an overall weird feeling like you have thousands of little vermin in your body sucking the energy from you. Which is precisely what it is as the virus works to destroy all your red blood cells and dehydrate you. So yes I survived Malaria but in all seriousness I am thankful to God that I picked it up early so I could be treated fast. Malaria claims more lives in the world than HIV/Aids. I understand how this statistic is truth as people in Africa are very poor and many cant pay for the treatment and also African people tend to leave things to the very last minute which means they finally take themselves to hospital when they are in a very bad stage, have lost lots of weight and all energy is gone so they die a lot easier.

BIBLES
A few weeks ago I was informed of some very exciting news. An organization in Australia decided to donate a large sum of money to Bushikori for furthering the Kingdom of God. SO Director and I sat down and decided that our greatest need for BCC are Bibles as we had only some very old, unusually translated copies that were falling apart and couldn’t be used for teaching.
Ok so I traveled to Kampala to hunt for some Bibles for BCC. I spent the whole day walking around the capital “city” and got very sun-burnt. I did however find some cheap hardcover NIV Bibles and Good News Bibles.
I was also on the hunt for some Sunday School teaching manuals to assist the School teachers with the Christian Education classes and the weekly chapel services we have started up. In the process of hunting around town and not having a map of Kampala I got a bit lost. I ended up at Kampala Baptist church instead of the Baptist bookshop. So I decided to ask someone for directions to the shop run by the Baptist. So I saw a man who just arrived in his car. I noted that he was reading a book by John Piper (a Christian author well known by many CU’ers) and was a book that I have picked up many times wanting to buy it but deciding it was too expensive. And I know you should never judge a book by its cover but I completely judged this man by the book he was reading (The book buy the way is “let the nations be glad.”) . He didn’t speak to me as most sleezy Ugandan men do and he just genuinely helped me out heaps and called a Piki over and told the Piki driver where to take me. We were discussing which Bible shop would be the best and then he said “actually I might have some books that I could give to you for helping with childrens ministry”. So we swapped numbers and off I went. I found the cheapest Bibles in all of Kampala and headed back to Muyenga near Robs work place for the rest of the day and for Sunday to spend with Rob. We had a wonderful time to catch up and I got to go to his church and meet some of his friends and Pastors of his Ugandan church.

ROB CAME TO VISIT
Finally the time came for Rob to come and visit me here in Mbale. So Sat morning he arrived, I took him to BCC (so I could get a Malaria blood test too). We went to my Ugandan friends graduation Party and in true Ugandan style she arrived 3hrs late for her own graduation. Here in Africa they spend a huge amount of money to celebrate graduations. There was a large turnout for her party. Most people were from her village area but there was a few Muzungus as well. We had great fun watching the jajas (grandmas) dancing. They are incredible dancers. I will have to show you some footage I got on my camera when I get home. So late Saturday we returned to my home. Ate a very nice African supper and I served Rob as all good Ugandan woman do to any males. This means I kneel to serve him, pouring his drink and handing him his food. Mama flora told me off as she was disappointed that I didn’t kneel at the bus stop to greet Rob when he arrived. My excuse was there were too many people and I also forgot that I should have done that.
On the Sunday we went to the church in my plot and Rob experienced hi first exorcism. It really is quite horrifying to see people rolling on the ground and throphing at the mouth. We then went to an orphanage to have a visit. Salem is an amazing orphanage that is sponsored by some very wealthy Germans. There are little African huts everywhere. In each hut lives one mummy and around 10 female children, or one daddy with 10 boys. They are all ages so that the older ones can help look after the younger ones. There were around 10 little babies that stay in a separate place with some mummies. We got to cuddle some of the littlest babies. It was really hard to see so many gorgeous children that will never experience or receive the attention of one mummy. There were a few babies just crying and crying cos the mummy couldn’t pick them all up at once.
We then got taken around the hospital that they also support. It was an amazing hosptal with so many facitlities. Like they have rooms separated for differrnt kinds of illnesses. There are many nurses. The birthing ward actually has an oxygen machine, a special bed for birthing and some other facilities that are no where to be found in most clinics here in Uganda.
We then were treated to a cup of coffee and some gnuts. It was quite posh which is most likely the German influence.
Monday was our day to just talk and enjoy each others company before the next drought of not seeing each other.

UGANDAN MUSIC CONCERT
The following week I went to the Baptist church to farewell some British volunteers. I met up with Karina again. Karina is from Melbourne Australia and knowing Christian circles to be small in Melbourne we tried to work out any people we had in common. And funnily enough my ex-housemate Jordan Brown had been her ex-housemate before he became mine. SMALL WORLD.
So anyway we decided to go and see a Gospel Music concert that was meant to begin at 12noon and by the time we arrived at 4pm it hadn’t began and they were still setting up. SO we hung together chatting until it started. Finally when it did we had great fun dancing to African music. In Uganda EVERYONE knows how to dance calypso – it is hilarious to watch and really quite difficult to do. Patricia had already taught me so I spent some time teaching Karina and laughing for the rest of the night everytime we tried to dance calypso.

SCARY RIDE HOME
By the time we walked home it was quite late which is always a bit risky in Uganda especially as a female. Our Ugandan friends walked me to the taxi park. Taxis in Uganda are mini vans meant to carry 14 people but they somehow manage to squish around 25 people in them. The taxis travel on one route and you just tell the taxi to stop and let you out when you get to the stage closest to you. SO I had to wait until my taxi filled before it would go anywhere. Women don’t travel late at night and even 10pm is too late for them, let alone a white woman. It was after 10pm SO I prayed silently while I waited and ignored all the comments of the men around me. One came and sat beside me and I made my best efforts to answer him in the most un-suggestive way possible. Finally the bus filled with entirely men which made me feel even more uncomfortable. I was sitting up the very front next to the driver. We started driving and all the men were saying things about the ‘muzungu’ and having a good laugh and trying to talk to me but I had no idea what they were saying cos they spoke in Luganda. I then sent a message to mama flora asking her to send Moses (the cousin of mama floras husband) to the road to meet me when I get out of the taxi. When we stopped at the first stage one man beside me got out so a man from the back moved to sit next to me and tried to talk to me. Finally I told the driver to stop cos we had reached my stop. When I told the driver, the man who had moved to sit beside me also said he would get out here too. That was scary because my stop is an obscure point and never has anyone ever got out at the same stop as me. Its also a bit isolated so there would be no one around and no lights at all making it all too easy for a man up to mischief. So I again let out another prayer as we approached. But then I saw Moses and Jordan (Patricias brother) and I was more than relieved. I got out and so did the man beside me, I made it really quite obvious just how glad I was to see Moses and started walking with them. The bus drove off and the man who intended to follow me disappeared into thin air as soon as he saw I had protection. He never got back in the bus I know for sure cos the taxi drove off before I had reached Moses and acknowledged that he was with me and it was too dark for me to see far but he wsa out of sight thanks be to God.


TEEN GIRLS BIBLE STUDY
So I have started up a teen girls Bible study for Bushikori sponsored girls that attend a particular highschool in Mbale town. So every Monday and Tues I have a group of 8 girls. I started it up towards the end of their school term so we havnt done too many studies but I have had a great time getting to know each of the 19 girls. I made them a chocolate cake and bikkies for the first one so it got off to a good start. In Uganda food is a way to a mans heart, just as much as it is to a woman’s. Its been a wonderful time running my first Bible study. The studies we are oing have been prepared by a Kenyan pastor so they suit the African way of learning. They are focused on growing a disciple of God into a confident, stable and consistent disciple and uses both the Gospel of John and 1 John in its study. Its been really exciting to focus on the promises God has promised to all who choose to follow him. There are just enough studies for the amount of weeks that I remain here in Uganda which is wonderful. I really praise God for his provisions as I never had to pay a cent for the study packs that come with 3 study books, memory verse packs and other goodies. All the girls attend the one school and stay in the hostel so it makes it easy for me to recruit them when they are a bit slack. SO prayer for this Bible study would be greatly appreciated.

SURPRISE VISIT TO ROB
In the process of acquiring the bibles it required another trip to Kampala. John Duffield was driving down which made it easy to pick the Bibles and meant a free trip to Kampala. SO I decided to surprise Rob for our 8th monthery. We were able to catch up for a full day which was great. I stayed with a Ugandan friend of mine that attends a University in Kampala and stays at a Uni college. This was a great opportunity to see College life in Uganda, which really is just the same as college life in Australia. Every Friday they have a worship service outside so we went and were entertained for 4 hours with singing, dances and acts. It was palm Sunday the following day so I attended the service which was packed at the University church. I then headed home. Normally it takes a good 4 hours to get back to Mbale from Kampala but instead it took me from 10:30am till 7pm to get home. Firstly it was a late start but then the very dodgy bus decided to die on us with a wheel problem so we waited a few hours for it to get fixed so by 2pm I was still in Kampala city. I nearly missed the bus when I went for a loo stop and had to run to catch it before it left me behind with no money or phone or anything.

home life- photos

These are a collection of photos that I thought would be fun to post.




Ok so me in the middle with Mama Flora on the readers right and Winnie on readers left. Mama Flora (as in Mary) who works at BCC is my mummy here even though she is only 6 yrs older than me. And Winnie also lives with us. She is one of the most fun people to be around and you will always have a good laugh with her.

Lazarus is a beautiful little boy that lives with us. The Congo Bishop saw him outside a village church. He was just sitting there because no one was caring for him. He had a big injury to his head and couldnt walk. We dont know if he had cystic fibrosis or Polio that made him lame and have twisted limbs but the braindamage is a result of the injury to the head which very easily could have been someone trying to kill him because they thought he was useless or he was just too draining on the finances. Since living with us, he has been able to walk around a bit and he plays with the children and you will always see him wearing a big big smile. He cant go to school so he often is idle so I gave him a texta and some paper to do some drawing. He drew those beautiful pictures that you can see there. I truly think they are really creative.

Here are all the women and children lined up at the well near my house waiting to get water. Its fun going to the well. I have carried a 20L jerry can on my head for the 2km walk home. Its quite a skill. The women that can do it with no hands are truly amazing.

Here I am with 5 of the kids/brothers and sisters we live with. Every Saturday morning we fill our basins and wash wash wash. It really is a very social event and you will often see women out together washing their clothes and chatting and laughing away while they are doing it.

This is Deborah my sister I live with. She has the best Afro ever!! so I just had to get a shot of it. Of course she doesnt wear it like that but its just what you get when you brush African hair.