So after last weeks blog I fell ill! First proper illness whilst I've been over here which is pretty good going I reckon. It began on the Friday night (when I could only struggle to 2 slices of pizza I knew something was up). And then from that evening upto Sunday afternoon, everything I ate, I would see again a couple of hours later, in a different form, in the bog. This misery was doubled up when on the Saturday, we had no water in the house, including to flush the loo... grim. So I had to resort to filling it up every time with water from a Jerry can. I was improving on the Sunday, after managing to hold down some lovely dry bread.
I thought I'd got over it on Monday, so I went into work. Probably went too hard too fast. I had my usual rice and beans from Eldima for Lunch, then went for a Jungle Smoothie after work which filled me up, but then Robby came home with Fish & Chips, in hindsight I should have resisted this temptation. Let's just say my bum wasn't very happy with me on Tuesday morning.
Lost a bit of weight according to many of the staff, but by Saturday I was back to full fitness. And I needed to be, it was a full day. Went to football in the morning, after losing that weight and having had a few weeks off, it was pretty tough, and hot. Then we went on to hold a workshop for the guys. Kind of really odd. One of the older boys was the MC (they love MCs) and then whilst we were waiting got some guys do some miming (they also love miming) at which point this hammered woman entered and started dancing with them. Soon it was time to start. Mike had asked me to give a word, so I decided to give my testimony, trying in some way to get them to find it relevant to their lives. Whilst I was giving my talk, the drunk woman started to shout out and be generally lairy, drawing all attention in the room. It actually taught me a lot, in terms of humility and really helped me for my preach on the Sunday. So I spent the rest of the day in Namatala with Mike, I met his family and ate with him in his home, with his Madam and his two daughters. Really enjoyed being with them. Then I went to his Pastor's home to stay there for the night. I was already really knackered at 930, but then of course they wanted to chat, and when it came to 1130, Esther brought out food. It turns out they eat super late and go to bed late and then wake up at like 5. So I stayed with them and in the morning went to preach at their church!
Their church is called Prayer House, originally I wanted to talk about Heaven but as I was thinking more and more about it I felt God nudging me towards talking about prayer with a view to giving the church a fresh perspective. For the first time I didn't really prepare anything, I just had two passages that I'd been studying anyway and trusted in God for what to say. It went really well, God seemed to really speak. Also discovered a new good attention gaining tactic. I began to see them drifting, so I stuck in a Luganda word ('oolideh' which means 'have you heard') and then they were fixed again.
Saw Stephen on Saturday as well. Man he's working hard! Went into CRO at 3 and he was there with his head stuck in a book. He told me that he's getting up at 3am every morning to study before getting ready for school at 5. WOWOW! My new little bro is gonna SMASH this!
Only got 8 days left in Mbale. Felt really weird yesterday when it was brought up in the meeting that this was my last week so if they needed had any work to finish with me they'd better get it done. Just trying to have a bit of a normal (as normal as life gets around here) week, just trying to do things for the last time. Trying to finish well!
Feels a bit weird having to write this even though I'm gonna see most of the people who read this in about a week and a half, but hey.
God Bless you!!
Dan x
jengauganda.org
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Hope
All change this week. The big man is back.
So the remainder of last week was mostly concerned with sorting Stephen, getting him into a school. On Thursday after lunch time evangelism I had a chat with Janet about getting him into school. She suggested that he would go to a local government school and showed me the budget for that school, she also said that he'd be going into S1 (first year of secondary school). We chatted for a bit longer and talked about a sponsor partnership between CRO and JENGA, whereby we deal with the education and they deal with food/welfare, met with the boss and he liked the idea too. Went back again in the afternoon with Michael, but Janet had left, so we went to see the Pastor who Stephen had been staying with and discussed getting him into a better school than the government one. At which time he revealed that he had actually previously passed S1, 4th in his year, so should be on to S2.
On Monday we continued, we met the Director of Studies to sort out the formalities then went to the Bursar buy his uniform! It was so great seeing his face light up as he tried to put on what they gave him - he's a tall lad so only the biggest sizes they had could fit him.
I learnt a little bit more about him: He comes from a village near Jinja and after he'd finished S1 there, both his parents died of TB simultaneously and his elder sister got married and moved to Mbale. In Ugandan culture it's not OK for two men of different families to live in the same house and because Stephen is 17, he had to live on the streets, picking up scrap metal to sell so he could buy food. He was picked up by a Pastor from Namatala, and slept at his house, he was picked up by CRO last year, which is how I met him. I think it's really fun that I'm only a year older than him; makes it kind of like a big brother sponsorship. Really excited and privileged to be able to see this amazing guy run with God and reach a greater level of potential than he could have before. God has given him a new hope.
Over the weekend I went to Jinja with Paul, Natalie, Tiff, Ruth and Melanie to send Paul off. Paul's been such a quality bloke to have around, really fun but also a guy I feel comfortable sharing with. Miss Paul a lot already. Had a really fun send-off for him though, which included, post-goodbyes, Tiff peer-pressuring me to go back to Jinja when we reached Kakira, to surprise him with a final few hours of banter.
The big boss came back today! Robby has been on sabbatical for 8 months but came back to find all the work that Tiff had done on his house, making it look nice for him. Sure to be a banterous yet challenging (in a good way) last few weeks with him around.
3 weeks today I'm on a plane. Can't believe it.
BIG LOVE
Dan x
jengauganda.org
So the remainder of last week was mostly concerned with sorting Stephen, getting him into a school. On Thursday after lunch time evangelism I had a chat with Janet about getting him into school. She suggested that he would go to a local government school and showed me the budget for that school, she also said that he'd be going into S1 (first year of secondary school). We chatted for a bit longer and talked about a sponsor partnership between CRO and JENGA, whereby we deal with the education and they deal with food/welfare, met with the boss and he liked the idea too. Went back again in the afternoon with Michael, but Janet had left, so we went to see the Pastor who Stephen had been staying with and discussed getting him into a better school than the government one. At which time he revealed that he had actually previously passed S1, 4th in his year, so should be on to S2.
On Monday we continued, we met the Director of Studies to sort out the formalities then went to the Bursar buy his uniform! It was so great seeing his face light up as he tried to put on what they gave him - he's a tall lad so only the biggest sizes they had could fit him.
I learnt a little bit more about him: He comes from a village near Jinja and after he'd finished S1 there, both his parents died of TB simultaneously and his elder sister got married and moved to Mbale. In Ugandan culture it's not OK for two men of different families to live in the same house and because Stephen is 17, he had to live on the streets, picking up scrap metal to sell so he could buy food. He was picked up by a Pastor from Namatala, and slept at his house, he was picked up by CRO last year, which is how I met him. I think it's really fun that I'm only a year older than him; makes it kind of like a big brother sponsorship. Really excited and privileged to be able to see this amazing guy run with God and reach a greater level of potential than he could have before. God has given him a new hope.
Over the weekend I went to Jinja with Paul, Natalie, Tiff, Ruth and Melanie to send Paul off. Paul's been such a quality bloke to have around, really fun but also a guy I feel comfortable sharing with. Miss Paul a lot already. Had a really fun send-off for him though, which included, post-goodbyes, Tiff peer-pressuring me to go back to Jinja when we reached Kakira, to surprise him with a final few hours of banter.
The big boss came back today! Robby has been on sabbatical for 8 months but came back to find all the work that Tiff had done on his house, making it look nice for him. Sure to be a banterous yet challenging (in a good way) last few weeks with him around.
3 weeks today I'm on a plane. Can't believe it.
BIG LOVE
Dan x
jengauganda.org
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
Challenging and rewarding
Evenin'
Been a bit of a week of 'acceleration' in many ways, God's doing some cool stuff :)
On Friday JENGA had a day of prayer and fasting, like we usually do on the last Friday of a month. We all gathered at Bethel just to seek God for a day. Really cool. I got to lead a bit of Mzungu style worship, really felt free to do as I would usually do and it was just a really cool time of spirit led singing, for me anyway, I think the Ugandans generally think that when I pick up my guitar it's time to sit and be quiet, which is cool in some ways because I can just sing as I like, but I like it when people join in. As an aside to this God is really stepping up my song-writing - or perhaps I'm being more receiving of it - but super excited to show this stuff to the LADS back home. The best bit of the day though was Andrew... and his accordion.
Preached again on Sunday, had to get a boda down to the church at the unkind hour of 8am (ish...) so asked one of the dodgy guys at the end of our road if he knew where the church was, at first he thought I said Malaba instead of Namatala, didn't give me great confidence as Malaba is 2 1/2 hours away on the Kenyan border. But I got on confident in his abilities. We set off towards Namatala, I'm not really paying attention because I didn't have morning coffee, after about 10 minutes I look up to see a sign saying 'Have a safe journey out of Mbale', the guy was off to Malaba. So we turned and asked a lady where it was and she directed us. So I was pretty late, but I gave him a lecture when I got off the bike to show my discontentment. It was a really challenging topic in many ways, but it was a good time of stretching for me as well. I preached on giving (tithing) at probably the poorest church in Namatala. Initially when I got given the topic (which usually never happens) I thought it was pretty inappropriate - a (rich) Mzungu going to speak to a really poor church about money - but I got over my own insecurities and just trusted God for it. I spoke mostly on Deut 26, the offering of the Firstfruits, and just talked about how giving is as much a part of our worship as sung worship is, if we put as much thought and effort into our giving as our singing, perhaps our giving would look a lot different. Felt really challenged as well about my own giving whilst I'm here as well, part of that response will come later!
Got a bit ribbed by the JENGA staff on Monday. Woke up at 8.20 and work is at 8.30 so I had some beautiful bed-head, just left it messy, Vinnie was relentless in his banter, but that's why the office is such good fun! Been working on an internal newsletter this week, just serving as an encouragement for the staff, so they can see what they've achieved over the last 6 months.
Tuesday was a challenging, yet rewarding day. Went to CRO on Tuesday and happily wasn't the only Mzungu there this time as the two Norwegians who work for CRO came to see what we did, along with Lukas, a German guy who also volunteers at CRO and Hannah's parents. My personal highlight was scoring a spectacular over-head-kick. But I also had to split up three fights, very unusual. The last of the three was particularly distressing, after we'd finished playing I went back up to where everyone was sat down and found one of my little mates lying on the ground crying. It turns out that one of the other kids had called his mother a 'bitch' (probably the most horrific thing you could say to a child orphan) and then my buddy went crazy at him so loads of other kids came and beat him up. The whole way back I was basically just holding him back from going mental. So I finished with him when we got back to CRO and then spotted Stefan, another amazing street kid who I'd actually had a theological debate with about Mormonism a few weeks ago, just loved him since, great yearning for God. He'd been struggling for school fees so I asked him how it was going and he wasn't sure what was happening. I was about to leave and then just felt God give me a little tug back. I saw Mama Janet (part of CRO leadership) and just felt I had to talk to her about sponsoring him through this year of school. He's going in to S1, the first year of High School, which is the most expensive year for fees as tuition fees rise, and they also have to pay a large registration fee. CRO sponsors half of the child's tuition fee for the year and then any family that they find of the child pays the other half, plus registration, plus requirements (books, pens etc). CRO haven't found any of Stefan's family, so he has depended completely on donors so far, but their money isn't coming in. I'm having a meeting with CRO tomorrow about him.
Sorry it's a bit of a long one, thanks for reading it all! No preaching this Sunday as I'm going to Jinja for Paul's leaving :( But please pray that as I enter my last month (!) that I'd keep my eyes fixed on the prize and finish well!!
God Bless
Dan x
jengauganda.org
Been a bit of a week of 'acceleration' in many ways, God's doing some cool stuff :)
On Friday JENGA had a day of prayer and fasting, like we usually do on the last Friday of a month. We all gathered at Bethel just to seek God for a day. Really cool. I got to lead a bit of Mzungu style worship, really felt free to do as I would usually do and it was just a really cool time of spirit led singing, for me anyway, I think the Ugandans generally think that when I pick up my guitar it's time to sit and be quiet, which is cool in some ways because I can just sing as I like, but I like it when people join in. As an aside to this God is really stepping up my song-writing - or perhaps I'm being more receiving of it - but super excited to show this stuff to the LADS back home. The best bit of the day though was Andrew... and his accordion.
Preached again on Sunday, had to get a boda down to the church at the unkind hour of 8am (ish...) so asked one of the dodgy guys at the end of our road if he knew where the church was, at first he thought I said Malaba instead of Namatala, didn't give me great confidence as Malaba is 2 1/2 hours away on the Kenyan border. But I got on confident in his abilities. We set off towards Namatala, I'm not really paying attention because I didn't have morning coffee, after about 10 minutes I look up to see a sign saying 'Have a safe journey out of Mbale', the guy was off to Malaba. So we turned and asked a lady where it was and she directed us. So I was pretty late, but I gave him a lecture when I got off the bike to show my discontentment. It was a really challenging topic in many ways, but it was a good time of stretching for me as well. I preached on giving (tithing) at probably the poorest church in Namatala. Initially when I got given the topic (which usually never happens) I thought it was pretty inappropriate - a (rich) Mzungu going to speak to a really poor church about money - but I got over my own insecurities and just trusted God for it. I spoke mostly on Deut 26, the offering of the Firstfruits, and just talked about how giving is as much a part of our worship as sung worship is, if we put as much thought and effort into our giving as our singing, perhaps our giving would look a lot different. Felt really challenged as well about my own giving whilst I'm here as well, part of that response will come later!
Got a bit ribbed by the JENGA staff on Monday. Woke up at 8.20 and work is at 8.30 so I had some beautiful bed-head, just left it messy, Vinnie was relentless in his banter, but that's why the office is such good fun! Been working on an internal newsletter this week, just serving as an encouragement for the staff, so they can see what they've achieved over the last 6 months.
Tuesday was a challenging, yet rewarding day. Went to CRO on Tuesday and happily wasn't the only Mzungu there this time as the two Norwegians who work for CRO came to see what we did, along with Lukas, a German guy who also volunteers at CRO and Hannah's parents. My personal highlight was scoring a spectacular over-head-kick. But I also had to split up three fights, very unusual. The last of the three was particularly distressing, after we'd finished playing I went back up to where everyone was sat down and found one of my little mates lying on the ground crying. It turns out that one of the other kids had called his mother a 'bitch' (probably the most horrific thing you could say to a child orphan) and then my buddy went crazy at him so loads of other kids came and beat him up. The whole way back I was basically just holding him back from going mental. So I finished with him when we got back to CRO and then spotted Stefan, another amazing street kid who I'd actually had a theological debate with about Mormonism a few weeks ago, just loved him since, great yearning for God. He'd been struggling for school fees so I asked him how it was going and he wasn't sure what was happening. I was about to leave and then just felt God give me a little tug back. I saw Mama Janet (part of CRO leadership) and just felt I had to talk to her about sponsoring him through this year of school. He's going in to S1, the first year of High School, which is the most expensive year for fees as tuition fees rise, and they also have to pay a large registration fee. CRO sponsors half of the child's tuition fee for the year and then any family that they find of the child pays the other half, plus registration, plus requirements (books, pens etc). CRO haven't found any of Stefan's family, so he has depended completely on donors so far, but their money isn't coming in. I'm having a meeting with CRO tomorrow about him.
Sorry it's a bit of a long one, thanks for reading it all! No preaching this Sunday as I'm going to Jinja for Paul's leaving :( But please pray that as I enter my last month (!) that I'd keep my eyes fixed on the prize and finish well!!
God Bless
Dan x
jengauganda.org
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
5 weeks to go...
So after I blogged last week, the rest of the day turned into one of the most fun/eventful days of my time so far. I went to a JENGA football match with Michael about 45 minutes out of Mbale in Sironko, a relatively remote town. Just 45 minutes before we were due to set off, Michael told me that I wouldn't in fact be going as coach, but player. We were travelling in a matatu - a crappy little minibus. Michael told Phille, the captain, to arrange the cheapest Matatu he could find, he didn't disappoint. What arrived was the most beat up vehicle you could ever imagine, it get laughed off an MOT test. I took up station at the front in what's come to be known as the 'death seat' as most Matatu crashes are head on collisions and quickly realised how poor this thing was. To get into third the driver had to jam the gear-stick in several times and when it eventually did get in gear, it just fell out again... Every button/dial was broken which was assuring and it smelled bad. An all-round great vehicle, but it all added to the fun. We got there and went for lunch in a shady cafe, which had probably never seen a Mzungu before and then walked to the pitch. The locals got pretty excited when I ran onto the field to warm up in my Reading kit (thanks to Kit AID), they don't get many Mzungus, especially none playing football, they loved it. However because of my lack of prep time I had to borrow some boots. Those of you who know the dis-proportionate size of my feet would probably guess that they wouldn't have my size over here... So I wore size NINEs without any studs and just grinned through the pain. I helped out Joseph the coach in the first half, it turned out that the other team were pretty good and our heavy lunch didn't serve us so well, we came into the break 4-0 down. But then I came on in the second and we played a much more organised second half, eventually losing 5-1. Still great banter though...
To be honest most of the week was taken up by the office, I've been starting the new News Update, helping Tiff with photos sorting, also JENGA now has a twitter account which I'm manning (follow @JENGACDO).
Sunday was also really cool. I got the great privilege of being able to preach up the mountain at Emmanuel Church, one of Bethel's church plants. It was such a great time. I preached on being a 'Holy Priesthood' from 1 Peter 2. I spoke about the importance of seeking the presence of God, how that builds us into being a 'spiritual house' and how that should affect the way we live. Had a time of quiet at the end just listening and receiving from God and really felt holy spirit moving in that time. God is moving up the mountain!! Preaching again this Sunday at Mustard Seed Namatala, Pastor Sam's church, on giving. Trying to get a good balance between sensitivity and following the word of God down the line.
A really interesting observation from CRO yesterday. We had to go down to a different field for football, which meant walking through town. I was walking through with a kid on either hand and had about 10 different Ugandan me come up to me at different times questioning why I was with 'Street boys'. Really opened my eyes to the Ugandan opinion of these amazing kids. Most of them see them as just a nuisance, look past their terrible lifestyles and only see them as an annoyance to themselves. That's just been a bit thought-provoking for me over the past day.
Beginning to ramp up the time I spend thinking and praying about what to do when I go home now, would appreciate prayer for that, but also that I'd be focussed on finishing really well here. :)
God Bless
Dan x
jengauganda.org
To be honest most of the week was taken up by the office, I've been starting the new News Update, helping Tiff with photos sorting, also JENGA now has a twitter account which I'm manning (follow @JENGACDO).
Sunday was also really cool. I got the great privilege of being able to preach up the mountain at Emmanuel Church, one of Bethel's church plants. It was such a great time. I preached on being a 'Holy Priesthood' from 1 Peter 2. I spoke about the importance of seeking the presence of God, how that builds us into being a 'spiritual house' and how that should affect the way we live. Had a time of quiet at the end just listening and receiving from God and really felt holy spirit moving in that time. God is moving up the mountain!! Preaching again this Sunday at Mustard Seed Namatala, Pastor Sam's church, on giving. Trying to get a good balance between sensitivity and following the word of God down the line.
A really interesting observation from CRO yesterday. We had to go down to a different field for football, which meant walking through town. I was walking through with a kid on either hand and had about 10 different Ugandan me come up to me at different times questioning why I was with 'Street boys'. Really opened my eyes to the Ugandan opinion of these amazing kids. Most of them see them as just a nuisance, look past their terrible lifestyles and only see them as an annoyance to themselves. That's just been a bit thought-provoking for me over the past day.
Beginning to ramp up the time I spend thinking and praying about what to do when I go home now, would appreciate prayer for that, but also that I'd be focussed on finishing really well here. :)
God Bless
Dan x
jengauganda.org
Monday, 16 January 2012
Bit of a transition time at the moment, with Sam having left among others who are about to leave or are arriving soon.
So Thursday really signalled the beginning of the end of Sam's stay as we went down to CRO. Sam gave a stonking talk on Matt 16, brilliantly honest as it came from a personal vision that God gave him, he's a good lad. But after he had to say his first few goodbyes to the kids and also Levi and Betty, the two amazing local volunteers who come to help with our CRO ministry. Levi particularly has become a really cool friend to the both of us. At this moment I finally realised that Sam was really leaving and the last couple of days with him seemed to fly by.
Thursday evening I decided to have a little leaving do for Sammo. He's Aussie, so naturally we had a bbq. Tiff brought sausages and burgers from Kampala so we didn't have to eat the luminous pink chicken sausages that we get in Mbale, and I made kebabs made with Sam's favourite scotch fillet meat from the local market. Really cool night that ended with me dominating settlers and us taking some final group photos. Natalie and Paul were also there... didn't want them to feel left out.
And then the dreaded day came, Sam left on Friday evening. Tiff, Paul, Sam and I went for one final Chat & Chino milkshake and the Natalie joined us to wait for his bus with him. Sam's been so quality, a seriously good guy to live with, so excited for what God has for him over the next few years. Privilege to run this race with you buddy. The cruel irony is that I'm writing this very blog in the coffee shop that we spent most of our time.
Then Saturday I went to Football. It's getting pretty hot now on the equator, around 35 degrees at midday, so playing football in the middle of the day with some properly fit Africans is not so good for my ego. Really enjoying it though, the team's coach, Joseph, has asked me to coach one of the teams from now on. Should be some decent banter.
Then on Sunday we went to what could be my penultimate Bethel church service as from now on Tiff has sorted me out to preach at a different every week. Really looking forward to giving some time to grow in this area. Speaking this Sunday at Emmanuel Church, one of Bethel's church-plants on 'Christ in us, the hope of glory', seems appropriate for the name of their church.
Thanks for taking the time to read about my life, appreciated you all!
God Bless
Dan x
jengauganda.org
So Thursday really signalled the beginning of the end of Sam's stay as we went down to CRO. Sam gave a stonking talk on Matt 16, brilliantly honest as it came from a personal vision that God gave him, he's a good lad. But after he had to say his first few goodbyes to the kids and also Levi and Betty, the two amazing local volunteers who come to help with our CRO ministry. Levi particularly has become a really cool friend to the both of us. At this moment I finally realised that Sam was really leaving and the last couple of days with him seemed to fly by.
Thursday evening I decided to have a little leaving do for Sammo. He's Aussie, so naturally we had a bbq. Tiff brought sausages and burgers from Kampala so we didn't have to eat the luminous pink chicken sausages that we get in Mbale, and I made kebabs made with Sam's favourite scotch fillet meat from the local market. Really cool night that ended with me dominating settlers and us taking some final group photos. Natalie and Paul were also there... didn't want them to feel left out.
And then the dreaded day came, Sam left on Friday evening. Tiff, Paul, Sam and I went for one final Chat & Chino milkshake and the Natalie joined us to wait for his bus with him. Sam's been so quality, a seriously good guy to live with, so excited for what God has for him over the next few years. Privilege to run this race with you buddy. The cruel irony is that I'm writing this very blog in the coffee shop that we spent most of our time.
Then Saturday I went to Football. It's getting pretty hot now on the equator, around 35 degrees at midday, so playing football in the middle of the day with some properly fit Africans is not so good for my ego. Really enjoying it though, the team's coach, Joseph, has asked me to coach one of the teams from now on. Should be some decent banter.
Then on Sunday we went to what could be my penultimate Bethel church service as from now on Tiff has sorted me out to preach at a different every week. Really looking forward to giving some time to grow in this area. Speaking this Sunday at Emmanuel Church, one of Bethel's church-plants on 'Christ in us, the hope of glory', seems appropriate for the name of their church.
Thanks for taking the time to read about my life, appreciated you all!
God Bless
Dan x
jengauganda.org
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Sorry for being lazy/Christmas and New Year
First of all a MASSIVE apology for not blogging for the past few weeks, but to be honest, there’s not been a lot going on, but I can tell you about Christmas and New years.
So just after my last blog the JENGA staff went on Christmas holidays and so did me and Sam. We went down to Jinja, which is a beautiful town just on the Nile , so it has great places to stay and LOTS of Mzungus. We stayed at a backpackers place for a couple of nights. It was a pretty entertaining trip; on the first night we met this quality Canadian couple who were on their honeymoon, we met them at around 6, had dinner with them and stayed up chatting to them about God until around 1:30. They were quality because that was all they wanted to talk about, I really felt God doing stuff, the talk was just so easy and it was amazing how much we all opened up and shared stuff you wouldn’t usually share with people who you’d just met a few hours earlier. We continued to hang out for the rest of our time there.
The day before we left, me and Sam decided to go off on a long bike ride - even though neither of us have ridden bikes since we’ve been here and the heat during the day was hitting 35+. We hopped on a bus early in the morning to go across town to where you can hire bikes. The guy seemed to really like us because Sam is a bit of a Mountain Bike nerd, so he gave us a couple of really good bikes, he even gave me his own! We set off for Itanda falls, which is 38 km away at around 10. We were both doing well around 15 km into the ride, but then it got hilly and hot – also I forgot to bring sun cream, poor shout. I absolutely died. But it was still great fun. I miss Clarissa (my road bike at home)
We had to go home a bit early because there was some final Christmas work that needed to be done for JENGA, which was cool because I was burnt and peeling from the bike ride and so just wanted to bathe in after-sun.
Then that Sunday was Christmas! Now I don’t really get excited for Christmas back home, but this Christmas was awesome! We went to Bethel Turkey
Sam, Paul, Natalie and I all went back to Jinja for New years. We sat around, played games, read books and people-watched. It was quality.
So it turns out that my parents couldn’t have come at a worse time than they did. Essentially they made me have 5 weeks for Christmas holiday. Sounds great but it’s not really why I’m here. Sort of feels like I missed out a massive chunk of my time. However on Monday I went back to work. It’s been so good being back at work. It was like a big crazy family reunion on Monday, just a lot of shouting and hugging. Then Sam and I went back to CRO as well yesterday, which I loved, even though it was bloomin’ hot. Sam played in goal so claimed to be Joe Hart, I’m not giving that name to him just yet.
A bit of sad news is that my best Aussie friend in the world is leaving on Friday night. L I will miss Sam loads. We’ve pretty much been attached to each other for the last two-and-a-half months so it will be weird without him. He’s been great for me; he’s challenged me and has become a really good friend. Gonna miss you mate.
A lot more stuff is going on now so I'll be sure to keep you in touch more often.
Dan
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Ma and Pa's turn...
Arrived Tuesday at the safari rest camp, we had a meal and then relaxing on the terrace with a Club beer . . . that is until the guy just came along and said that there is a hippo in the camp grounds coming for his night time grazing! The silhouette of an actual hippo against the lights of a tent is something I will not quickly forget.
We are finishing our time on Thursday after a mixture of experiences, and of course you only get experience by learning as you go.
A few things we enjoyed about Uganda
- JENGA staff were welcoming and we were impressed with their service to the Ugandan church and the various ministries
- It’s been great to see Daniel again and he is really enjoying life and flourishing with the independence
- Pineapples in
- Playing football with the street kids that CRO work with
- Ugandan church on Sunday – I had to give greetings from all at Ivy
- Seeing the Nile for the first time (the actual
- Nearly beating the boys at Settlers
- Dave the dog
Some things we will be happy not to experience again:
- Waiting – for everything
- Awful roads – it takes so long to go anywhere
- The heat (do people get used to it?)
- The Club next to Dan’s house – loud music every night, even louder at weekend
- Power cuts nearly every day
- Lizards in the loo
We visited a number of projects and ministries which JENGA is connected to, including the food storage facilities being built, the church in Mooni and the nutrition project at the hospital. The hospital was sad to see, often the patients were just lying on their beds and there was hardly anything by way of drips, instruments or indeed nurses. In the A&E department we visited to pray for whoever we could there was a girl who had been scalded on hot water and her wounds were open and would have been immediately dressed in the UK
In Namatala, the slum area on the outskirts of Mbale, where JENGA work in the community, we found many families in poor living conditions and a lot of people making waragi, the local brew, and several bar areas where men spent their days. Generally we thought there were many Ugandans with not enough or nothing to do all day.
I couldn’t resist joining in the football with the street kids on the local Rec, just played half an hour in the heat but great fun, a clean game and a spectacular volley which would have made me an instant hero apparently J
There is so much to tell – the 3-day safari we have just been on has been amazing, particularly the cruise down the Nile to Murchison Falls
We have one last journey on Thursday morning to a Rhino sanctuary on the way back to Kampala
It has been great seeing Dan and supporting him during our time here, Christmas has seemed another world away as we have been in summer wear for two weeks. Sure I’ve missed loads off but you’ll just have to ask us more when we return.
Dave & Iris (Dan's Mum and Dad)
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