Our time in Uganda has come to an end and it is bitter sweet really. We have spent the last 8 months of our lives building wonderful relationships, serving God, serving others, learning, stretching and growing. Our time in Uganda has been an experience and an adventure of a lifetime. We have come to love so many people, experienced many crazy and wonderful things and have had our view of Uganda, Africa and the world changed forever. It will most certainly be difficult to leave.
Leaving will also be an exciting time as we will be reunited with family and friends, return home and begin a new chapter in our story. I suppose, technically we will be jumping back into a chapter already started. I think it will be like picking up a book that you stopped reading long ago, having no idea where you were. But, after backtracking and catching up, you continue on. Only this time we will be changed people, with new experiences, who will perceive the old story and what is to come much differently. Going home will be very exciting and also very interesting.
So, as we pack our bags, say goodbye and board the plane back to Canada, Uganda and the people we have met will be coming along with us. Not literally of course, although it would be wonderful to have any one of our newfound friends come and experience Canadian life. Whom we have met and what we have learned and experienced has changed us. Our story is a little richer, our view of the world has been broadened and our belief that God is doing amazing things has been confirmed. As Donald Miller, in A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, says,
“If the point of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is character transformation. If I got any comfort as I set out on my first story, it was that in nearly every story, the protagonist is transformed. He's a jerk at the beginning and nice at the end, or a coward at the beginning and brave at the end. If the character doesn't change, the story hasn't happened yet. And if story is derived from real life, if story is just condensed version of life then life itself may be designed to change us so that we evolve from one kind of person to another. "
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Jinja!
We got back today from a great weekend away. The couple Matt works with took us away for the weekend as a thank you for Matt’s time here. We went to Jinja! It was a lovely weekend full of great food and fellowship. We spent a lot of time by the pool and lots of time eating – what more could a person ask for! The weather was great! On Saturday early evening, we took a boat tour out on Victoria Lake and saw the ‘source’ of the Nile. Last night we spent the night in town at the guesthouse that Matt and I lived at for the four and a half months that we lived in Kampala. It was fun to see the staff again – they were excited to have us back for one more night. This morning we went into the Kampala Babies Home to see Meg☺
Other then our trip to Jinja life has been fairly routine. Rashid’s hand continues to improve, the babies continue to get smarter and Meg is trying her darndest to sit up without help!
We have two weeks left…crazy…trying to prepare our hearts for leaving – I don’t know how to do that exactly!
Other then our trip to Jinja life has been fairly routine. Rashid’s hand continues to improve, the babies continue to get smarter and Meg is trying her darndest to sit up without help!
We have two weeks left…crazy…trying to prepare our hearts for leaving – I don’t know how to do that exactly!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
the week Easter happened....
Another week has gone by, life has been so busy we have neglected to blog – so sorry for all you faithful readers!
Here are a few memorable moments from the past week….
Rashid – Last Tuesday, Matt and I were both at work, doing our things. Right after lunch I get a frantic call from Matt asking how long it will take me to get up to the Production Unit because there had been an accident and I needed to get there as soon as possible. Matt and I live on top of a mountain, Matt works down one side of the mountain and I work down the other side - walking/jogging up the mountain on a good day would take about 20 minutes. I grabbed a hand full of supplies and a fellow volunteer and we were off! Bringing Susy along was a great idea – we were hauling it up the mountain and she managed to sweet talk a driver to take up the rest of the way, so we made it there in half the time. We arrived to quite a scene, one of the PU trucks had flipped over with three men in it. Two of the men were ok, just small cuts and then Rashid (one of Matt’s closest friends here) had the worst injury. Rashid’s hand was crushed by the truck. There was a lot of blood and his hand was already quite swollen! His hand appeared to be crushed – which when you work with your hands and that is your livelihood, a crush would be the worst possible. We cleaned the wound, made a sling, gave some meds, got some ice and then Matt, Gerry and Rashid were off to town. The closest hospital is about a 45 minute drive away with good traffic.
To make a long story short, God performed a miracle! The Dr. saw Rashid, said his hand was broken and that they needed to get x-rays done. The x-ray was completed and even the Dr. was shocked and went to get a second opinion from the orthopedic surgen because she couldn’t see any breaks. After digging metal out of his fingertips and a few stitches later they were out the door with pain killers and some antibiotics. We were all praising Jesus that nothing was broken! Rashid’s hand has been crazy swollen for over a week now, but he seems to be doing well – PRAISE JESUS!!!
Golf – Matt went golfing in Entebbe yesterday afternoon with his boss, Gerry and another man from Norway that use to live here. Matt had a great time and was reminded of how much he loves to golf. I think it was good for all of them to get of the mountain, away from the stresses of work and relax a little!
Easter – we had a great Easter weekend! Matt had a long weekend off of work and I had Sat and Sun off. Friday we went to Good Friday service out on the mountain, the volunteers along with some of the nannies brought babies with them for the service. Friday night we had all the Suubi volunteers to our flat for supper and games night – it was a great time of fellowship. Sunday after a rainy morning we headed into town with all of the volunteers from Suubi. All seven of us traveled in on the Matatu together – what a site for the locals – Mzungus don’t normally take the local taxis and here we were with 7 of us on one. We had lunch together in the city, went to the baby’s home to see Meg (to give her some Easter love!) and then finished our day off the church before our journey home on the Matatu and our walk up the mountain. On Easter Monday we partied with the kids at the babies home. In the morning cookies were made with George and Kayla for our cookie hunt in the afternoon. After the kids woke up from their afternoon nap we had bunny ears for them all to wear on their heads – these kids LOVE anything to get to wear on their heads. And then we sent them all on a ‘cookie hunt’ (we couldn’t find any plastic eggs). The kids weren’t sure what was happening, but once they saw a couple kids finding treats they were all in. We wrapped the cookies in plastic wrap and the kids had a tricky time with trying to figure out that you can’t eat the cookie until the wrap is off. It was a great afternoon – I don’t know who had a better time – the nannies or the kids☺
Playing with Purpose – My babies are all getting soo smart! It has been amazing to see the difference that a few changes in their schedule, some intentional teaching with the nannies and a lot of encouragement can make. I have an amazing volunteer here right now that is the Queen of play – she is wonderful, full of patience and encouragement! Because of her dream, these babies’ lives are being changed. They are playing with purpose – they don’t know it, but they are learning whether they like it or not. The nannies love it too – they are tiered, but they are getting to relive childhood experiences that they would not have had. Our babies are using toys properly, playing pretend, playing with playdough, crawling through forts, getting dirty on purpose, playing with parachutes, coloring, painting, singing and the list could go on and on. Every day before naptime they sit on a mat and hear a story being read to them and then sing a song…imagine if you will 30 little bums sitting on a mat singing along with the mommy who is leading for the day – it’s beautiful and then they all know after the story and song it’s naptime and they all get up and go to their bedroom – beautiful! All the kids before bed have Jesus time with their mommy and then have a story read to them after their milk. Our babies are almost all walking (two to go) and saying more and more new words everyday. It’s fun to walk these kids grow and learn – no more sitting around doing nothing for these kids…watch out world, Suubi Babies are growing up!
Meg – I have to update you on our princess…she is just the cutest baby. On Easter Sunday we went to visit – she was so happy to see us! Full of laughs – she loves tummy tickles and fuzzy kisses on her bare belly. We put bunny ears on her and gave to her an Easter outfit!
She is fully healed from her surgery and loving being hernia free! I think her next step in life is rice cereal…will update you all soon on how that is going!
Blessings to you all – have a great week! Christ is Risen – He is Risen Indeed!
Here are a few memorable moments from the past week….
Rashid – Last Tuesday, Matt and I were both at work, doing our things. Right after lunch I get a frantic call from Matt asking how long it will take me to get up to the Production Unit because there had been an accident and I needed to get there as soon as possible. Matt and I live on top of a mountain, Matt works down one side of the mountain and I work down the other side - walking/jogging up the mountain on a good day would take about 20 minutes. I grabbed a hand full of supplies and a fellow volunteer and we were off! Bringing Susy along was a great idea – we were hauling it up the mountain and she managed to sweet talk a driver to take up the rest of the way, so we made it there in half the time. We arrived to quite a scene, one of the PU trucks had flipped over with three men in it. Two of the men were ok, just small cuts and then Rashid (one of Matt’s closest friends here) had the worst injury. Rashid’s hand was crushed by the truck. There was a lot of blood and his hand was already quite swollen! His hand appeared to be crushed – which when you work with your hands and that is your livelihood, a crush would be the worst possible. We cleaned the wound, made a sling, gave some meds, got some ice and then Matt, Gerry and Rashid were off to town. The closest hospital is about a 45 minute drive away with good traffic.
To make a long story short, God performed a miracle! The Dr. saw Rashid, said his hand was broken and that they needed to get x-rays done. The x-ray was completed and even the Dr. was shocked and went to get a second opinion from the orthopedic surgen because she couldn’t see any breaks. After digging metal out of his fingertips and a few stitches later they were out the door with pain killers and some antibiotics. We were all praising Jesus that nothing was broken! Rashid’s hand has been crazy swollen for over a week now, but he seems to be doing well – PRAISE JESUS!!!
Golf – Matt went golfing in Entebbe yesterday afternoon with his boss, Gerry and another man from Norway that use to live here. Matt had a great time and was reminded of how much he loves to golf. I think it was good for all of them to get of the mountain, away from the stresses of work and relax a little!
Easter – we had a great Easter weekend! Matt had a long weekend off of work and I had Sat and Sun off. Friday we went to Good Friday service out on the mountain, the volunteers along with some of the nannies brought babies with them for the service. Friday night we had all the Suubi volunteers to our flat for supper and games night – it was a great time of fellowship. Sunday after a rainy morning we headed into town with all of the volunteers from Suubi. All seven of us traveled in on the Matatu together – what a site for the locals – Mzungus don’t normally take the local taxis and here we were with 7 of us on one. We had lunch together in the city, went to the baby’s home to see Meg (to give her some Easter love!) and then finished our day off the church before our journey home on the Matatu and our walk up the mountain. On Easter Monday we partied with the kids at the babies home. In the morning cookies were made with George and Kayla for our cookie hunt in the afternoon. After the kids woke up from their afternoon nap we had bunny ears for them all to wear on their heads – these kids LOVE anything to get to wear on their heads. And then we sent them all on a ‘cookie hunt’ (we couldn’t find any plastic eggs). The kids weren’t sure what was happening, but once they saw a couple kids finding treats they were all in. We wrapped the cookies in plastic wrap and the kids had a tricky time with trying to figure out that you can’t eat the cookie until the wrap is off. It was a great afternoon – I don’t know who had a better time – the nannies or the kids☺
Playing with Purpose – My babies are all getting soo smart! It has been amazing to see the difference that a few changes in their schedule, some intentional teaching with the nannies and a lot of encouragement can make. I have an amazing volunteer here right now that is the Queen of play – she is wonderful, full of patience and encouragement! Because of her dream, these babies’ lives are being changed. They are playing with purpose – they don’t know it, but they are learning whether they like it or not. The nannies love it too – they are tiered, but they are getting to relive childhood experiences that they would not have had. Our babies are using toys properly, playing pretend, playing with playdough, crawling through forts, getting dirty on purpose, playing with parachutes, coloring, painting, singing and the list could go on and on. Every day before naptime they sit on a mat and hear a story being read to them and then sing a song…imagine if you will 30 little bums sitting on a mat singing along with the mommy who is leading for the day – it’s beautiful and then they all know after the story and song it’s naptime and they all get up and go to their bedroom – beautiful! All the kids before bed have Jesus time with their mommy and then have a story read to them after their milk. Our babies are almost all walking (two to go) and saying more and more new words everyday. It’s fun to walk these kids grow and learn – no more sitting around doing nothing for these kids…watch out world, Suubi Babies are growing up!
Meg – I have to update you on our princess…she is just the cutest baby. On Easter Sunday we went to visit – she was so happy to see us! Full of laughs – she loves tummy tickles and fuzzy kisses on her bare belly. We put bunny ears on her and gave to her an Easter outfit!
She is fully healed from her surgery and loving being hernia free! I think her next step in life is rice cereal…will update you all soon on how that is going!
Blessings to you all – have a great week! Christ is Risen – He is Risen Indeed!
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