Happy Christmas from Kampala, Uganda!
It’s strange that this year is NOT beginning to look a lot like Christmas. But, we are tremendously blessed to be able to spend the Christmas season with 65 abandoned/orphaned babies. It’s also neat to be experiencing Christmas in a different country with a different culture. We are all celebrating for the same reason, Jesus coming to the world as a baby, but celebrating differently! It makes me so thankful that Jesus came to the world for EVERYONE all over the world!
Here is a brief update on our 2009 year.
December ’08 – We were privileged to celebrate Christmas three times last year. It was our first Christmas and we celebrated at home in Abbotsford. I worked over the holidays and Matt did some much needed relaxing after his finals. It was a very white Christmas in Abby, which made for some fun trips to and from work. After Christmas in Abby we proceeded home to Lloydminster for Kaminski Christmas and celebrated Nic and Aubree’s wedding in Saskatoon! Finally, New Year’s was spent with the Morgan side of the family. It was a wonderful holiday season!
January ’09 – Back to the grind. Matt began his second semester of his second year of school as well as volleyball! Matt’s team last year was a ‘building’ team as there were only two returning players and the rest freshman, mostly walk ons. It was a character building team for Matt. He handled himself so well, loving and leading them! I was back to work at the hospital caring for sick and premature babies. I love my job and work with great people!
February ’09 – February was the month of visitors at our little condo. We do love visitors!!! We hosted many friends and both sets of parents. Mom and dad Morgan were out to celebrate Matt’s birthday, and mom and dad Kaminski came for Matt’s volleyball finals.
March ’09 – March was a month full of culture and athletics. We started off the month traveling down to Seattle to visit our good friends Thomas and Ruth and together we attended “The Lion King”, an amazing play with breathtaking costumes! The following weekend I ran my first half marathon in Abbotsford, the weather was terrible, plus 3 and pouring rain the entire time. I decided after the run that I didn’t want to do a full marathon, ½ were a perfect length for me☺ We also traveled down to Eugene, Oregon to see Rebecca for a weekend. On our way home from our weekend away we stopped in Portland to see the new musical “Wicked”, amazing! We ended the month with Matt’s volleyball banquet. He received so many awards not only for being such a good volleyball player, but also for his leadership and academics. I was a very proud wife!
April ‘09 – We used this month to spend our tax return. I had terrible eyes and was blessed to receive laser eye surgery!!! Matt finished his second year of school and before he started his summer job we went on a little trip to Las Vegas. Neither of us had ever been and it’s a place everyone should go once. Nathan drove up form LA to spend some time with us. Also in April we said good-bye to our good friends Nikki and Morgan Oliver who moved from Abbotsford back to the prairies. Game nights haven’t been the same since!
May ’09 – May was a busy month. Matt started his new summer job with White Glove Landscaping and mowed many lawns over the summer. A pregnant Correna Oliver came to visit and we went to the spa. Matt spoke at a CBC fundraiser banquet about what it meant to be an athlete at CBC. Our very good friends Phil and Cheryl were married and Matt was a groomsman. It was a perfect day! On the weekend of our one-year anniversary we went up to Kelowna to celebrate the wedding of some close friends from Green Bay Bible Camp. We stayed at the camp, the same camp where we were married at exactly one year earlier. Matt planned a beautiful scavenger hunt, which took me all over camp to places that meant much to us. May was also our last month in our beloved little condo. We packed up and moved out at the end of the month. We miss our little home!
June ’09 – We graciously moved into the basement suite of our friends Eddy and Marlene Becker. They blessed us with lodging for the entire summer and we had our little experience of lower mainland country living. The first weekend in June we went to a local bed and breakfast in the area to officially celebrate our first anniversary. It was a beautiful time of relaxation together! June brought an end to our Sunday School teaching experience. Matt and I taught a kindergarten class of kids at our church. I ran my second ½ marathon in Seattle and I like to think that I have ran a full marathon now as two halves make a whole☺ Matt played in a beach volleyball league in the summer which started in June.
July ’09 – EPIC month involving what I like to refer to as the LOVE TOUR! Somehow I was able to take all of my holidays in one chunk and what a treat this was. I spent the first week of July camp nursing at Green bay Bible Camp. The second week Matt and I were at Southridge Camp. Matt spoke for the week (and did a FANTASTIC JOB!) and I nursed. We love camp ministry! The third week was spent with the Kaminski’s at the family at the cabin. The final week was spent in Didsbury with the Morgan’s. It was the BEST month with family and friends and all things summer!
August ’09 – We spent the month of August getting ready for September. We worked tons and said many good-byes. We also made many to-do lists and crossed them off in preparation for our upcoming 8 months. We enjoyed the last little bit of Canada and summer, and then on August 29 we were off to live the dream!
September ‘09 – April ’10 – We are living in Uganda!!! Check out our blog for more details, there is not enough room here. We have been stretched, challenged, and greatly blessed!
Praying that you all can look back on your past year and see the hand of God over it! May you know that you are loved so much that God choose to send His perfect son to this very imperfect world to be the sacrifice for us so that we might live life to the fullest for all eternity – Merry Christmas!
Love,
Matt & Sarah Jane Kaminski
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Road Trip to the North
The Christmas season is such a great time of the year! This year our Christmas will be different, yet somehow similar. How great that all across the world people are celebrating Christmas, Jesus coming to earth as a baby so that He could live and die for us, to save us, HAPPY CHRISTMAS indeed! That being said, there are people and traditions at home that we are missing, but missing is good it means we love. And what a treat to be able to spend Christmas with beautiful babies that we have come to love. There is a song that I enjoy that is fitting for our Christmas this year…
“All I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in. A shoulder to cry on if I loose, shoulders to ride on if I win. So much I could ask for but there’s just one thing I need – all I really want for Christmas is someone who will be here to sing me happy birthday for the next one hundred years. It’s ok if they’re not perfect and even if there a little broken that’s all right cause so am I.
All I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in tell me in. Tell me I’ll never be alone, someone whose love will never end. Of all that I could ask for well there’s just one thing I need – all I really want for Christmas is a family.”
Kids wanting a mom and a dad for Christmas instead of the newest toy really puts things into perspective!
We are so blessed to have Dan here – WHAT A TREAT!!! We have thoroughly enjoyed having a little piece of home here. He has been working at both the production unit and the babies home and has been introduced to many, many people.
This past week we had the privilege of going on an African Safari! It was a great trip. Something Matt and I have been dreaming about for many years! We saw so many animals and let me tell you seeing them in the wild is sooo much better then the zoo! We did two game drives, one in a bus and the other in a 6 seater open top jeep, which was the full experience, 4x4ing through the African tundra with the sun on your face and animals all around!!! We also took a boat tour down the Nile River to Murchison Falls, surrounded by crocks and hippos the entire way! The hotel that we stayed at was right on the Nile River and had great food and great views. In the evening you couldn’t swim in the pool because the wild hippos would often come up and go for a dip☺ It was fun to experience this with Dan!
On our trip up to the Safari we stopped in at Gulu, a city in the North of Uganda that was very badly affected by the war in Uganda. If you have heard of child soldiers or the LRA this is an area where both were very much present. Watoto is opening a new babies home in Gulu, they have already started another children’s village and their little church that is busting at the seams! They also have a ministry in called Living Hope that cares for the woman who were affected by the war. These women were abused brutally, have been left with HIV and often widowed etc etc. Each lady has her own specific story to tell. They feed 900 women ever week, are teaching women skills so that they can make a living and providing much needed trauma counseling for them. Great things are being done!
We also briefly stopped by an IDP (internally displaced people) camp. These are small areas with rows of small huts that became people’s homes due to the war in the north. The government placed soldiers at these camps to protect the people. The ‘war’ in Uganda ended over three years ago and these camps are still quite full. So much is being done, but so much more needs to be done.
In other news Matt is done at the production unit until the New Year. He had his Christmas party today complete with games, speeches, dancing, local food and the Christmas story. This was the first time Matt has ever gotten a sunburn going to a Christmas party.
We received two new babies this past week, both abandoned at the local hospital. They are beautiful little boys, both just born and doing very well! I have heard that the holiday season is a bad for people abandoning babies, so we shall see what the next couple of weeks entails. I took Nellie to church last Sunday. They were doing a kids Christmas cantata for the service. She loved it!
Stay tuned for the tales of the first Kaminski African Christmas!
“All I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in. A shoulder to cry on if I loose, shoulders to ride on if I win. So much I could ask for but there’s just one thing I need – all I really want for Christmas is someone who will be here to sing me happy birthday for the next one hundred years. It’s ok if they’re not perfect and even if there a little broken that’s all right cause so am I.
All I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in tell me in. Tell me I’ll never be alone, someone whose love will never end. Of all that I could ask for well there’s just one thing I need – all I really want for Christmas is a family.”
Kids wanting a mom and a dad for Christmas instead of the newest toy really puts things into perspective!
We are so blessed to have Dan here – WHAT A TREAT!!! We have thoroughly enjoyed having a little piece of home here. He has been working at both the production unit and the babies home and has been introduced to many, many people.
This past week we had the privilege of going on an African Safari! It was a great trip. Something Matt and I have been dreaming about for many years! We saw so many animals and let me tell you seeing them in the wild is sooo much better then the zoo! We did two game drives, one in a bus and the other in a 6 seater open top jeep, which was the full experience, 4x4ing through the African tundra with the sun on your face and animals all around!!! We also took a boat tour down the Nile River to Murchison Falls, surrounded by crocks and hippos the entire way! The hotel that we stayed at was right on the Nile River and had great food and great views. In the evening you couldn’t swim in the pool because the wild hippos would often come up and go for a dip☺ It was fun to experience this with Dan!
On our trip up to the Safari we stopped in at Gulu, a city in the North of Uganda that was very badly affected by the war in Uganda. If you have heard of child soldiers or the LRA this is an area where both were very much present. Watoto is opening a new babies home in Gulu, they have already started another children’s village and their little church that is busting at the seams! They also have a ministry in called Living Hope that cares for the woman who were affected by the war. These women were abused brutally, have been left with HIV and often widowed etc etc. Each lady has her own specific story to tell. They feed 900 women ever week, are teaching women skills so that they can make a living and providing much needed trauma counseling for them. Great things are being done!
We also briefly stopped by an IDP (internally displaced people) camp. These are small areas with rows of small huts that became people’s homes due to the war in the north. The government placed soldiers at these camps to protect the people. The ‘war’ in Uganda ended over three years ago and these camps are still quite full. So much is being done, but so much more needs to be done.
In other news Matt is done at the production unit until the New Year. He had his Christmas party today complete with games, speeches, dancing, local food and the Christmas story. This was the first time Matt has ever gotten a sunburn going to a Christmas party.
We received two new babies this past week, both abandoned at the local hospital. They are beautiful little boys, both just born and doing very well! I have heard that the holiday season is a bad for people abandoning babies, so we shall see what the next couple of weeks entails. I took Nellie to church last Sunday. They were doing a kids Christmas cantata for the service. She loved it!
Stay tuned for the tales of the first Kaminski African Christmas!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
A Trip to the Zoo
Greetings to all, happy holiday’s (perhaps a bit premature) and we trust that the majority of you reading this blog are enjoying the snow. I think SJ and I are both slightly missing the powdery white stuff. 40 degrees above zero feels a bit weird in December. My internal holiday clock is totally messed up. So please, if you are not enjoying the snow, the ice, the minus 30, the defensive driving and that storms, just think of us sweating our faces off and enjoy it a little for us. That would be great.
Today was also exciting as we were, once again, able to spend a very special day with the children from Nakasongola. Sarah, myself, and two other volunteers (Jess and Edith) were invited to spend the day with the kids in Entebbe. When we joined up with the kids we met them at the Entebbe International Airport where they were enjoying some sodas and watching the airplanes land, take-off and just chill on the tarmac. Something, to many of us, so “normal” and mundane and certainly not worthy of two hours; but something, to the kids, new and tremendously exciting. Another thing that the kids found very exciting/scary were stairs. Yes you read correctly…stairs. The majority of these kids had never scene or climbed stairs before. (you don’t need stairs in mud huts☺) It was fun to be able to experience this with them, they were very cautious in climbing up and down the stairs and held very tightly to our hands for extra support!
Next we proceeded to the Entebbe Wildlife Reserve (zoo). Along with the kids, we were excited to be able to see lions, rhinos, zebras, chimpanzees, monkeys (in and out of cages) and many other animals. After checking out all the animals we enjoyed lunch right on the edge of Lake Victoria. While swimming was tempting, the water didn’t look all that appealing. Sarah and I both stepped in just to say that we had been in Lake Victoria, but that is as far as we went.
All in all it was a GREAT day!
Today was also exciting as we were, once again, able to spend a very special day with the children from Nakasongola. Sarah, myself, and two other volunteers (Jess and Edith) were invited to spend the day with the kids in Entebbe. When we joined up with the kids we met them at the Entebbe International Airport where they were enjoying some sodas and watching the airplanes land, take-off and just chill on the tarmac. Something, to many of us, so “normal” and mundane and certainly not worthy of two hours; but something, to the kids, new and tremendously exciting. Another thing that the kids found very exciting/scary were stairs. Yes you read correctly…stairs. The majority of these kids had never scene or climbed stairs before. (you don’t need stairs in mud huts☺) It was fun to be able to experience this with them, they were very cautious in climbing up and down the stairs and held very tightly to our hands for extra support!
Next we proceeded to the Entebbe Wildlife Reserve (zoo). Along with the kids, we were excited to be able to see lions, rhinos, zebras, chimpanzees, monkeys (in and out of cages) and many other animals. After checking out all the animals we enjoyed lunch right on the edge of Lake Victoria. While swimming was tempting, the water didn’t look all that appealing. Sarah and I both stepped in just to say that we had been in Lake Victoria, but that is as far as we went.
All in all it was a GREAT day!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Rwanda
This past weekend Sarah and I had the opportunity to travel to Rwanda for a short four day get-a-way that turned out to be both relaxing and educational. Our hope for the trip was to get a little time away from Uganda, to see Kigali (one of Africa’s most beautiful cities) and to also learn a little more about Rwanda’s history by visiting the Kigali Genocide Museum. Prior to our departure we prepared ourselves a little by watching the movie Hotel Rwanda, which is by no means an easy movie to watch but a good way to learn and remember what happened in Rwanda 15 years ago. It was at the same Hotel Rwanda (the Hotel des Mille Collines) that we stayed and we had a wonderful stay.
Side note – Before arriving at the hotel we waited 3 hours in Entebbe International Airport (Uganda) before our plane even showed up, and another hour in the Kigali International Airport (Rwanda) before our shuttle showed up. I suppose it wouldn’t be an African trip if we didn’t spend time waiting.
Anywho…back to Kigali. Our stay at “Hotel Rwanda” was wonderful and our visit to the genocide museum was tough but good. It is hard to believe that such atrocities happened in the country of Rwanda in 1994 and the surrounding world did nothing about it, a hard reality to swallow. The museums consisted of four exhibits. The first was pictures, stories and actual items from the Rwandan genocide. The second was dedicated to telling the stories of other genocides that have taken place over the years throughout the world. There were, unfortunately, far more than I had previously known about. The third exhibit told stories of children who were killed in the Rwandan genocide. And the fourth was a self-guided walking tour among gardens and mass graves right there at the museum. Again, it was a difficult museum to tour but a good experience.
I went away from my time in Rwanda relaxed, thankful that I have never had to experience violence like what occurred in Rwanda and many other countries around the world, and sorry for those who have. God’s heart must hurt so much because of what his creation does to one another. May his peace and love come and flood our lives, our world and our future.
Side note – Before arriving at the hotel we waited 3 hours in Entebbe International Airport (Uganda) before our plane even showed up, and another hour in the Kigali International Airport (Rwanda) before our shuttle showed up. I suppose it wouldn’t be an African trip if we didn’t spend time waiting.
Anywho…back to Kigali. Our stay at “Hotel Rwanda” was wonderful and our visit to the genocide museum was tough but good. It is hard to believe that such atrocities happened in the country of Rwanda in 1994 and the surrounding world did nothing about it, a hard reality to swallow. The museums consisted of four exhibits. The first was pictures, stories and actual items from the Rwandan genocide. The second was dedicated to telling the stories of other genocides that have taken place over the years throughout the world. There were, unfortunately, far more than I had previously known about. The third exhibit told stories of children who were killed in the Rwandan genocide. And the fourth was a self-guided walking tour among gardens and mass graves right there at the museum. Again, it was a difficult museum to tour but a good experience.
I went away from my time in Rwanda relaxed, thankful that I have never had to experience violence like what occurred in Rwanda and many other countries around the world, and sorry for those who have. God’s heart must hurt so much because of what his creation does to one another. May his peace and love come and flood our lives, our world and our future.
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