We have lived on Suubi Mountain for a little longer than a week and it has been wonderful. Both Sarah and I are able to walk to work, which means I save myself 4 per day that was previously spent in a matatu with 14 of my not so close but close in proximity friends. Sarah saves herself a ton of money by not having to take special hires to work. Avoiding the taxis alone makes the move worthwhile. We have also been able to enjoy peace and quiet, which Kampala knows nothing about, and fresh air, which is also scarce in Kampala. Cooking for ourselves has been another perk since moving out to Suubi. We definitely missed cooking and eating what we want when we want. Shopping is especially challenging in a foreign place with foreign currency without a personal car. Side note – a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese cost about 10 000 Ugandan shillings which is equal to about 5 US dollars. Luckily for us a few boxes made their way into Dan’s suitcase when he came to visit.
Another perk of living on the mountain is that we are now close to and have time to visit and have guys from the shop to our new home. Yesterday Sarah and myself met up with a fellow named Richard, for you faithful blog readers you will remember that Richard was the man to teach me to take the taxis to and from work. Richard and his wife Agnes recently gave birth to their first-born child Lillian on December 21st. Sarah and I, well really just I, mentioned that we would like to meet Lillian and sure enough 4 weeks later there we were in Richards living room meeting Lillian and Agnes. This was the first time that I was able to see where and how my “co-workers” lived. It was a neat experience and I was actually quite surprised at how nice Richard’s house was. It was a simple 2-room place, a bedroom and a living room (cooking is done outside), complete with furniture and a stereo. They were thrilled that we would take time to visit their home and their daughter and at one point left us alone in their house as they went out to buy us soda and cookies. Ugandans are quite hospitable people. Today I was able to have Rashid over to our new how for the afternoon. We took it easy, chatted, looked at some pictures of Canada and our family back home and played some cards. In just 60 minutes I was able to teach Rashid how to play Crib. He beat me his first time playing let alone seeing Crib. Beginner’s luck I guess.
The new Suubi babies home opened this week and 19 babies and 12 staff joined Sarah. Since much of the construction has not yet been finished this has made for an interesting opening. While the babies could care less and are too busy checking out their new home and surroundings, Sarah has had to deal with construction workers, exploding cookers, bad wiring, power cuts and at times no water…all of this on top of her day to day worries like the babies and the staff. Needless to say, it has been an interesting opening. Amidst all of the chaos God is doing amazing things through both Sarah and the babies home. Sarah is an exceptional leader and will without a doubt get this new home off to a wonderful start.
With the opening of the new babies home, cabinets among many other items are required and that is where the shop comes in. The past week has been quite chaotic to say the least. With cabinets, concrete countertops, railings, shelves and doors for the babies home on top of our regular work load for the villages, the guys have been BUSY working overtime. While the guys work without stress or worry, Gerry and Donna are not as fortunate as they are responsible for making sure everything gets done and gets done well. Please pray the guys work diligently and accurately and that Gerry and Donna might find peace and opportunity to rest. I hope that I am able to take some of the load off both Gerry & Donna and the workers at the shop.
Sarah says that this has become a very long blog so I will leave it at that. Take Care!
No comments:
Post a Comment