Week 13′s News

Good bye and thank you for your support and for watching our blog. I’ve learnt a lot since I’ve been here. I have learnt how to knead in catering, how to farm God’s way in farming and how to drum in devotions.
I have learnt that the students don’t wear matching clothes. The girls change their hair very often. I think the girls think that their hair is more important than their clothes.
They do not have electrical sewing machines. They only have ones which you have to paddle with your feet. Instead of using electrical or gas stove, they use a three stone fire pit. In carpentry they don’t use machines but they use hand tools.

Here they don’t say please or thank you. They might say, “You get me a soda,” when asking for a drink to a waitress. When they need to burp, trump, sneeze or cough for fear of spreading diseases, they go outside of the room.

See you next week!
Benjamin

Good bye and we will see you in England.

At Kira farm I have learnt a bit of Ugandan language, what names of the equipment in carpentry, how to use a non electrical sewing machine where you paddle with your feet and how to make Ugandan doughnuts.

The students do not cough, sneeze burp or trump because they are afraid of spreading diseases. Their manners are quite different because one time in a restaurant, Joseph said to a waitress, “You get me a soda” instead of saying “Please may you get me a soda?”

Thank you for your support.
Noah

I am sorry to say this is our last entry on the blog. It has been fun here but I can’t wait to see you all when I get back.

I have learnt so much here like farming God’s way, cooking over a fire, caring for cows and health and hygiene. Also I now know a bit of a new language, that the students don’t wear matching clothes and that they have their own tribal dance. The students have clothes that they were given and cannot afford new clothes. I have become good at drumming during devotions!

To Class 5 at St Helen’s, thank you for the letters that arrived last Saturday. They arrived just in time, whew! Now it is time for me to answer some questions but I cannot answer all of them because there are so many.

I have made lots of friends but I have more in England.

The hottest temperature was 38c!

The most amazing animal was a chameleon.

Yes, they do celebrate Easter but there is no chocolate.

Bye muzungu and I will see you next week.
Samuel

Guy:

It’s been a fabulous 3 months here on Kira. The time has flown by but I’ve appreciated every moment of it. Life here is just so vastly different than in the UK – there are very few similarities. There’s only been 2 or 3 days when we haven’t seen the sun. Waking everyday to sunshine really affects one’s outlook even if the heat slows me down a bit.

Walking through the farm to the sound of over 20 species of birds around me pass paw paw, mango, banana and jack fruit trees is a scene that just doesn’t replicate in Bideford. As you might expect though the students and staff here are what I will most miss.

Vincent is a student from last year who’s been brought back to teach farming. Even though he’s one of the strongest guys I’ve met, the oldest in his family (and so carries the responsibility to provide them), it doesn’t take much to get him laughing like a child.

Dennis is my star pupil and he pays me so much respect it’s taken me all this time to try and see me as a brother and stop shaking my hand while he holds his arm with the free hand as a sign of respect.

I know I’ve said before but the Ugandans are wonderful people. Get them rattled or demonstrating and you experience something different but 99% of the time I’ve been here, they’ve displayed nothing but respect, acceptance at the differences between our cultures, the ability to laugh and smile with ease and a stunning patience with our boys. They excel at childcare. From 28 year old Juliet with her own children to Gerard who is only 17 and built like a tank will sit and play drums, cards or even just pull faces with my boys. All the students have been eager to spend time with my boys and it’s plain to see the love they have for them and for this I’m so grateful.

The boys have flourished so much with all the attention they’ve received and I know they’ll really miss their friends. Samuel was the first to dive into activities with students but over the time, Ben and Noah have became completely at ease with all of them.

I’ve been trying to think of one thing that stands out from our time here and even though it sounds west coast America, I have to say it’s love. Yes there are faults; they are not angels all the time and some days have been difficult but there is love here on Kira. Let’s hope it’s portable.

Thank you for reading and commenting.

Jill:

I’m sorry to say that the last week has been hectic that it hasn’t given me enough time to ponder of our time here on Kira and update our pictures on the blog. I’m sure I’ll have free time to write once I’m in the airplane:). And update the blog once more when I’m back in Bideford.

Week 12′s News

It’s poetry time at Kira Farm!

Kira is a Lovely Place

Kira is a lovely place,
The headmistress is called Grace.

The students learn God’s farming way,
They learn it for half a day.

Herbert is the one with the goats,
But they really smell like a moat.

The boys’ dormitory is at the far end,
Oh! I forgot to mention Herbert keeps hens.

In devotions it is very loud,
Plus it’s a small place with a crowd.

Blue water filters are all over the farm,
but the water that comes out of them does you no harm.

Now I have told you everything I know,
So thank you for listening to my show.

By Samuel

Kira Farm

The student sits and dreams
Of becoming a baker, seamistress or farmer,
Of making lots of money.
And sharing good fortune with his mother.

Off he goes to learn at Kira,
The vocational place is heaven,
Of free boarding, training and plenty of food.
And he even gets porridge at eleven.

With a full tummy and a good sleep,
He learns and reaches his dream,
And when he goes home,
He starts to sew seams.

By Noah

Students

Ugandoo
What do you do?

In devotion
It is loud and fun

In farming
My crops are growing

In tailoring
I create new clothing

In catering
Dough I am kneading

In carpentry
Beds are luxury

In wash
Bad germs fully squash

In mechanics
I get fanatic

In graduation
congratulations!

By Benajmin

Week 10 and 11′s News

JILL:

Gosh, I’m starting to lose track of time. I can’t remember how many weeks I’ve missed but I believe it’s 2 weeks. I’m so sorry for the delay but we have been away for just under half that time.

First of all, thank you for the birthday greetings. For my birthday, we went on a safari trip to Masindi Park for 4 days and during the time, we also visited 3 students’ homes and their families in Masindi area. After the 4 day trip, in my mind I visualized our overall trip in the van as a famous Norman Rockwell painting where a family are going out on holiday all excited but on the return journey they all look pretty worn out. Check out “Going and Coming” and you’ll know what I mean.

We embarked on our exciting trip to view safari animals, both from in our mini bus and on a river boat on the Nile. Our mini bus that we were borrowing from Kira Farm was practically clean and empty except for our suitcases, a jerry can of water and some bananas. We all were showered and were feeling eager to see what adventure it would take us on. The boys were bubbly and giggling.

The paved road ended near the park and we carried on bouncing on a red herky-jerky dirt marrum trail for another couple of hours creating a swirly dust path behind us. Soon after we passed the gate of the game park, we spotted a few baboons in the jungle next to the road and we slid the windows open to throw some bananas out hoping that the baboons would come closer. Instead testse flies came in and got too close that we freaked out, quickly closing the windows, we whacked them to death inside with our flip-flops. A crack in the windscreen was extended by Guy’s desperate attempts to kill the ones in his face as he drove (sorry Phil!). Noah picked up a bag of bananas and demolished both the flies and the bananas. The van filled with the smell of smashed bananas and fear. As you might know testse flies carry the serious illness sleeping sickness. And so we did well squishing them all. The boys were no longer giggling.

Finally we arrived at our accommodation which was within the game park. This means wild animals were freely roaming around the grounds. Fortunately there were no fierce animals around except for wart hogs. One was sleeping next to the balcony of the restaurant as if it was a pet! I find it amusing when a wart hog is at ease and grazing the lawn with its tail limp, it seemed so unaware but when we came near it was on alert, its tail up right and stiff as if it was an aerial detecting where the danger was coming from.

Anyway, that same day we went on a river boat on the Nile and spotted many animals such as hippopotamus (majority), crocodiles, buffalos and even a loan bull elephant plus many more that are too numerous to mention (don’t want to bore you here). It was such a fine and sunny day with great sightings but everyone was sweating and thirsty even though we were in the shade with drinks in our hands.

Upon our arrival at the dock and to our horror, there were baboons, both adults and babies, hanging around on our parked van. Though the van was all locked and sealed, they could smell our bruised bananas in a bag and were figuring out a way in. Windscreen wipers were up and mirror bended backward but not out of shape and they were soon put straight.

That night, I was excited to see a gigantic hippo chomping away on the lawn just 6 feet away at our lodge outside. Guy and I made ourselves well hidden behind a bright lamp. I was happy to hear it tearing away the grass with my cochlear implant that wouldn’t have happened if I had my original hearing aid on.

Next day was our safari trip on the road. More herky-jerky ride with outstanding sightings: from graceful giraffes, hefty elephants to terrifically huge majestic lions and muttering monkeys, and even a very focused dung beetle hard at work. Believe it or not, the dung beetle was one of my highlights of the day as I loved how it physically attached to the spherical fece like that prehistorically squirrel and the acorn in Ice Age. It wouldn’t give up and it wouldn’t let it go, even when it lost fece occasionally.

More dust entered our open windows as we eventually exited the game park and we returned to the town of Masindi. Next day around Masindi, we visited homes of the students’ and their families. They were so happy to see us that they honoured us by giving us mangoes, numerous avocados, jackfruits, bananas and even a live hen. We packed them in the van. Next Joseph, our guide from Kira Farm, declared that we were going to investigate 2 missing students who did not return to Kira Farm after Christmas. We went to their houses nearby and had a discussion with them and they agreed to come. The dirty and smelly van now filled with 2 more people with more honoured gifts and 2 massive 100kg bags of beans. We even had big horns from the cows attached to the front bar of the van because they smelt so bad. It was time to go home.

I told Guy that we forgot to pick up a goat.

Lastly we arrived home safely, speechless, tired, sweaty and dirty.

A few days later, Guy, a friend of mine Sarah and I went to Jinja for an overnight trip while the boys stayed at the farm. We went on a very memorable river rafting trip on the Nile. The high-adrenaline fuelled ride over rapids sure wore me and others out but it proved that I’m not that old yet! It’s something that I would never forget and laugh how crazy we were to go on it. The rapids are quite famous in the in the kayaking world and we even saw the world champion resting on his rented island. The rapids are a grade 5 and the biggest that a commercial company can run. We fell out 3 times which I think was mainly orchestrated by our excellent guide Jane (who reminded us a little of my Aunt Janet). The waves were so huge that I really wondered how we would get through it all. But the Nile river is not only known for the size of the rapids but also for how forgiving and deep they are. Unlike most other rapids the Niles potentially lethal boulders are deep under the surface and so don’t cause injury when the raft tips.

Anyway I’m back and living to continue my home schooling and a little painting…

Thank you to you who have encouraged us through our blog with your comments. There were some difficult times where we got frustrated due to culture difference (and funny moments too) but we do know that we are not ‘wishing and waiting’ and are enjoying every moment here on the farm learning new things and influencing students with our Christian attitude and life skills. Thank you massively for your continuing support and prayers.

River safari

Who’s driving the boat?

Hippopotamus and buffalos

Baboons are having a meeting on how to break in…

“Come here son, you’ve got fleas”

Now on the road…

Graceful giraffes

Hefty bull elephant

Handsome lion

Keep rolling

Visiting Ezuma’s wife and family at her home

Scovia’s mum and the gifts

Guy and the smelly van

Does anyone know what speice this moth is?

Art snapshot 1

Art snapshot 2

*grunt*

more *grunt*

Riding high

Oh pleeeeeeease!

what a wipe out!

NOAH:

On the way to Red Chilli the place that we stayed there were teski flies that were the same as horseflies. They have a black body and big white wings and their bite really hurt because they suck out lots of blood and a teski fly bit Ben. He screamed really loud so we put on our mosquito repellent and drove really fast. When we got to Red Chilli, we saw a warthog that was sleeping!

BEN:

Yesterday we went to Masindi and it took us 4 hours to get there. First we went to Ezuma’s house to see his wife and two children. After we went to a hotel called Court View hotel because it is opposite Masindi court. We slept there for one night. I slept with Mummy and Sarah, Mummy’s friend from Canada. Sam, Noah and Daddy slept together and Joseph slept by himself. Next morning we went to a safari hotel called Red Chilli. On the way we had to go through a forest, which had testy flies in it. The testy flies looked a bit like horse flies. Finally we got there. 10 minutes later we went on river safari. ☺

SAM:

On the way to Red Chilli the place that we stayed at on safari there were some tetsi flies the same as horse flies. Joseph said that there bite really hurts because they have sharp sharp pinchers which they use to pinch then suck. So, as we were driving down to Red Chilli we stopped to see some baboons and some tetsi flies flew in. Next Daddy shouted,”Close the windows and kill them!” However Noah picked up a bag of bananas and started whacking them. In the end we put on mosquito spray on.

Week 9′s News

For some technical reason, our diary has be misplaced to another folder.  I’m not sure how to correct it but the link to it is:

http://thefamilyrobinson.wordpress.com/week-9s-news-happy-easter-and-what-an-easter-treat-we-had-not/

Week 8′s News

SAM:
Today I’m going to write about Herbert because I have not wrote about him yet. Herbert is the farm man who looks after the goats, the cows and the chickens. Herbert lives in a small hut with Caroline his wife and Nickson his son. Herbert’s farm is next to the boys’ dormitory that is at the far side of Kira. I go down to him at 3:00 every day. Herbert has a dog called Tiffy, which is the farm dog, and she is very skinny and brown. Herbert also has a black cow, which has just had a calf. But I like playing with Nickson the most because he is a happy baby who likes whacking the ground. At the end of the day I go back to the Banda.

Herbert

Caroline and Nickson

NOAH:
Mary is the housekeeper of Kira farm and a member of staff. She has a brother called Joshua. Mary and Joshua have four cute rabbits. Nearly every morning Ben and I go down to the rabbits. The rabbits stay in a room that is next to the house where Mary lives that is also next to the boys’ dormitory. Mary keeps the Banda clean for the visitors. She also cooks meals for the visitors. For breakfast, lunch and dinner she has white rice and red beans.

Mary

BENJAMIN:
Today I’m going to talk about Christifor the cook who is a staff member of Kira Farm. He cooks for the students posho and beans. Posho is made out of crushed up corn and water mixed. He sleeps in the staff dorms next to the boys’ dorms that aren’t as tidy as hers. He also cooks for other staff members. Last year Christifor was one of the best students in catering.

Christopher (an experiment with night mode on camera)

JILL:
Today I’m going to talk about the animals’ sanctuary where we visited because the boys didn’t use their diaries about it in the blog. I was pretty sure that one of them would do it but none of them did… how disappointing.

It was a hot Thursday when we drove to Uganda Wildlife Centre. On the way we saw a drum shop, pulled the car over and screeched it to halt and the boys excitedly hopped out out of the car. They had been waiting to buy their own African drums and this was their moment.

I also captured a few artistic snapshots while being there…

Finally when we arrived and entered Uganda Wildlife Centre, we first came across a field of roaming vervet monkeys. We were amazed to see the performing monkey and felt so welcomed.

“And darling, darling, stand by me…”

We carried on and saw…

chimpanzees

giraffes

and even dragonflies.

Can you count them? Anyway there were numerous animals that we saw but I don’t want to bore you with a list of them. I know you have wildlife books somewhere in your home.

Then we came across the last animals, red tailed monkeys who inspected our dirty hands before our lunch. He was real cautious…

At last the ride started after lunch…

Samuel Camel!

The next day on Friday it was back to the grind and Ben was keen to learn cooking with the catering class…

and everyone prepared to sell …. at the market.

(Does anyone fancy beef stew for dinner?)

Ben is busy making and…

selling mendazys with Alice.

The students were pleased with their selling mendazys and received kind compliments from the locals how tasty their mendazys were. They had earned 35,000 shillings and for the cost of ingredients they had to subtract approximately 30,000 shillings. Leaving about 5,000 shillings in profit. I was astonished to hear the amount they’d earn and it wasn’t much! It’s unbelievable to think of living on 5,000 shilling a day in England! Approximately £1.30. Better increase the cost or buy cheaper ingredients next time please.

Guy:

The rains are coming. On the way back from the market after selling Mendazys with the students it rained like you wouldn’t believe. For a moment I thought it was the end of us as the road turned into a river. It not only rains here we also get spectacular lighting and thunder storms. The thunder and rain continued all through the night. We are expecting rain most days now but that’s no bad thing as i quickly warms up and also help the Mangoes grow big and juicy.

Heard an interesting custom here yesterday. I was chatting with the headmistresses husband and mentioned about his mother in law on the farm visiting. He had no idea she was here and went on the tell me that in his tribe the son and mother in law never acknowledge each other. When he enters a room he won’t greet here and neither will she him. It even goes as far, that if she is heading down the road in his direction then one of them has to hide out of the way. Sounds incredible to me and can’t imagine it working for our family but hey I’m willing to give it a try.

Ha ha, love you Gail

Week 7′s News

BEN:
Yesterday I saw a potto sleeping on the power line. It was brown with grey fur on its head. It was brown with brown eyes and had a flat nose. When Alfred the guard shouted to some one, he woke it up. Its head turned and its big eyes looked straight at me as if it was accusing me for waking it up. Slowly it went back to sleep. It looked very cosy but a bit dull.

NOAH:
Vincent was a helpful student last year. When he is not working, he wears a white and blue Chelsea t-shirt because he supports Chelsea. This year he is a kind member of staff because he worked hard last year. He stays in the orange and yellow staff dormutry. The big staff dormutry is next to the rough boys’ dormutry. For breakfast, lunch and dinner he has red beans and white rice. ;-|

Vincent digging with a hoe

SAMUEL:
A week ago we went to an activity place where we went canoeing. It was lots of fun! First we picked which canoe to go in, Mum and I went in one and Dad, Ben and Noah went in the other. When we first got on the river and started paddling, we saw many kinds of birds and one of them is a king fisher that had a black tail. Suddenly it swooped down and caught a fish. Then all of a sudden a gust of current pushed us all the way back to where we started.

This is the Nile where we kayaked on

JILL:

We decided to take a mini break after being at Kira Farm for some time. We went to Jinja, the next biggest city in Uganda which is located on the shore of Victoria Lake. The Nile constantly drains Victoria Lake to Medittarean Sea via Sudan and Egypt so the river flows upward rather than down (and Indian Ocean flows into Victoria Lake). That somewhat distorts my visual mapping in my mind – maybe I need to turn upside down.

Anyway we spent two nights at this lodge with a swimming pool. See how delighted the boys were.

3… 2… 1…

Jinja town. It was a hot hot hot day.

Serious shopping

Artwork on a motorcycle

The lady was feeling happy because she earned good 10,000 shillings from Noah. Noah bought a wallet that magically sticks money notes inside the straps without touching.

“Where’s my dinner?” says Guy thru gritted teeth.

Look what we saw…

Happy 11th birthday Samuel on March 17th!

A day out with our sponsored boys and their guardians for Sam’s birthday. Guy, Sam, Ben, Noah, Robert, Deo, Rosemary, Job and I had Chinese meal at Fang Fang restaurant.

Fun day at an amusement park

These are Uganda’s common birds, marabou birds… everywhere like a disease, standing on water tanks, on very tip top of trees, on cars, etc. They are known as the ugly birds – no doubt!

Guy:

Hi everyone, sorry it’s been a while since I had anything of value to say. It’s pretty busy here on the farm and my days are filled with teaching mechanics and carpentry. When I’m not doing that, there are a number of odd jobs that I seem to get dragged into. We have here a store shed and a container full of various tools and equipment and I’ve been working my way though them and shifting them to the relevant workshops. When the power is on, we are a well equipped farm. When the power is out, it’s down to hand tools and I start to loose weight.

The rainy season is just around the corner and most days there are thunder heads in the sky. We’ve had some rain and most days there is a rumble of thunder but I’ve been told it’s nothing compared to what we will experience when the rains come.

When we first came out here, Julie left a comment on the blog about how wonderful the African people are. I know, it’s a generalization and might not apply to all the countries on the continent but I have been amazed by how friendly and gentle the Ugandans are. I haven’t yet experienced any of the angst or aggression that we see so much of in our “developed” countries. Sorry if you’re sick of this subject but I’m still scratching my head. How can people that have so little be this way. Kind, patient, tolerant, generous and happy. When stuck in traffic in Kampala and there are cars, motorbikes, bicycles and pedestrians all clambering for the spare inch, I’m struck by the contrast between our two nations. Here if you catch the eye of the driver who is working so hard to get ahead of you because he’s seen you let someone in, he’ll release a huge smile as he backs off. In Britain you’re more likely to get the finger and some expletive shouted at you.

I’ve yet to hear someone shout in anger then again I’ve not heard alot of shouting either. Nearly everyone talks in just above a whisper. I was reminded of this by the much more rowdy bar scene in the UK. Here even when the alcohol is in full flow, the bar is still only filled hushed tones.

While out with Joseph I asked him why people here seemed to lack the anger we see so much of back home. Apart from putting a heavy spiritual angle on it, he couldn’t answer the question. I wonder if I can blame marketing and the possibility that we’ve been sold a lie. Our affluence and “stuff” filled lives haven’t filled that void and so we work harder to buy bigger and more expensive things yet it still doesn’t satisfy. We even bury ourselves in debt to buy but this only exacerbates the problem and we become more stressed. A few years ago on a family day out at Warwick Castle, I read a two words inscribed in the stone of Guy’s tower (believe it or not) by the Earl of Warwick in the middle ages. What it said I think would help relive allot of the stress and angst I see and experience so much of back home.

“Never Compare”

We’re all still enjoying our time here and love the company of the students. We’ve started having them over for dinner each night and it’s a great experience for the boys to hear how their lives are so much different in their own villages.

Please keep praying for us to use our time affectively as we seek to serve the students and enlarge His kingdom.

Thanks again for all your posts. If you want a reply to your questions its easier to email us at theaaguy@googlemail.com We can respond quicker with the phone than the computer.

Week 6′s News

BEN:
Yesterday I saw a potto sleeping on the power line. It was brown with grey fur on its head. It was brown with brown eyes and had a flat nose. When Alfred the guard shouted to some one, he woke it up. Its head turned and its big eyes looked straight at me as if it was accusing me for waking it up. Slowly it went back to sleep. It looked very cosy but a bit dull.

NOAH:
Vincent was a helpful student last year. When he is not working, he wears a white and blue Chelsea t-shirt because he supports Chelsea. This year he is a kind member of staff because he worked hard last year. He stays in the orange and yellow staff dormutry. The big staff dormutry is next to the rough boys’ dormutry. For breakfast, lunch and dinner he has red beans and white rice. ;-|

Vincent digging with a hoe

SAMUEL:
A week ago we went to an activity place where we went canoeing. It was lots of fun! First we picked which canoe to go in, Mum and I went in one and Dad, Ben and Noah went in the other. When we first got on the river and started paddling, we saw many kinds of birds and one of them is a king fisher that had a black tail. Suddenly it swooped down and caught a fish. Then all of a sudden a gust of current pushed us all the way back to where we started.

This is the Nile where we kayaked on

JILL:

We decided to take a mini break after being at Kira Farm for some time. We went to Jinja, the next biggest city in Uganda which is located on the shore of Victoria Lake. The Nile constantly drains Victoria Lake to Mediterranean Sea via Sudan and Egypt so the river flows upward rather than down (and Indian Ocean flows into Victoria Lake). That somewhat distorts my visual mapping in my mind – maybe I need to turn upside down.

Anyway we spent two nights at this lodge with a swimming pool. See how delighted the boys were.

3… 2… 1…

Jinja town. It was a hot hot hot day.

Serious shopping

Artwork on a motorcycle

The lady was feeling happy cuz she earned good 10,000 shillings from Noah. Noah bought a wallet that magically sticks money notes inside the straps without touching.

“Where’s my dinner?” says Guy thru gritted teeth.

Look what we saw…

Happy 11th birthday Samuel on March 17th!

A day out with our sponsored boys and their guardians for Sam’s birthday. Guy, Sam, Ben, Noah, Robert, Deo, Rosemary, Job and I had Chinese meal at Fang Fang restaurant (ironically we didn’t get bitten). Speaking of a funny name, I have came across few funny names whenever we’re traveling on the road passing business stalls and buildings:

Glory Electrical Centre
Classic Meat
Serve Our Pride Restaurant
Knob View Hotel

…and there are more that are too numerous to remember!

Fun day at an amusement park

These are Uganda’s common birds, Marabou Stalk or The Undertaker bird… everywhere like a disease, standing on water tanks, on very tip top of trees, on cars, etc. They are known as the ugly birds – no doubt!

My progress of work so far…

A quick thank you

I’m sitting up at the office typing on my phone so please forgive me if this is short. We’ve been reading all the comments from friends and family and want to let you all know how grateful we are for you taking the time to bless us with encouraging words. It’s a great encouragement to know that your taking an interest in our lives out here.
Big blessings to you all.
Guy

Week 4 and 5′s News

Sam:

The Matron

Today I have nothing to write about so I will write about the Matron. The Matron is a very tall lady and she is actually called Doreen but the students call her Matron because it is a sign of respect. The Matron is the first-aid lady. Whenever the students have a cut or feel sick, they go to the Matron.

Doreen has a son called Samuel. She said she will bring Samuel over in one week because he is looking after his sister who is very sick. So now you know all that I know about the Matron, Doreen.

Doreen the Matron (normally she’s friendlier than this!)

Noah:

Alfred is the mukumi (guard) who guards the shiny black gate of kira farm. Around kira farm stands tall concrete posts with metal zig zaggy wire. Alfred keeps the kind students safe . Alfred stays in a special small hut next to the gate with his dangerous bow and arrows. Alfred works every day morning to dusk. I like him because he made my bow and arrows. When I go up to the gate, I talk to him and ask him,”Can I have a go at your bow and arrow?” He says, “Yes.” So he is my friend.

Ben:

UGANDAN DOUGHNUTS

Today I saw the students making Ugandan doughnuts so I watched.
First you need the ingredients witch are flour 500g, sugar 100g , butter 100g , salt 4 pinches , yeast 4 level tea spoons , 2 eggs , quarter cup of warm water.

Now you put the 4 tablespoons of yeast in the quarter cup of warm water and leave it fore 10 min. While you’re waiting you can put the wet in one bowl and the dry in the other. Now you mix them both together with the yeast. Next kneed it. Now you roll it out. Cut lots of circles and put little holes in the middle. Now you deep fry them and there are your doughnuts.

Guy:

This is me teaching my class

Jill:

I was planning to update our blog last Thursday but different circumstances arose the past 2 weeks. On Thursday night, I was feeling rather tired and didn’t want to come out of the banda and go to the office where the electricity was. I didn’t want to be exposed to mosquitoes outside.

Then the internet was down.

On Friday, we drove west of Uganda with Joesph, a staff member, to a village’s school and gave out donated clothes. The day was scorching and when we arrived at the school in our mini van, I was touched to see a class of young kids gathered together in the shade under a massive mango tree. It looked like presents having a lesson under a Christmas tree! Joesph paid the school fees for sponsored kids in that school.

Keeping it cool

Year 5 & 6 classroom

Though we bought donated clothes and items, it wasn’t enough to give to all students. Too many of them and not enough donated items. Some had to go without and that was heartbreaking for me.

Running for line ups to receive goods

Hurray!

Eeny meeny miny moe, red, yellow or blue pencil?

Does it look good me?

Let’s put the pencil in the bag

Noah doing a puppet show

The wedding of Joesph’s son that we went to last Saturday was… interesting. The wedding ceremony was held in a church in the slum of Kampala. It was Joesph’s desire to reach out to the poorest part of Kampala and so they wanted the church there. While the ceremony performed, all young children hung around at windows just like you would see on tv advertisment. When we came out of the building, we were swamped by kids and they wanted to touch us, especially Sam, Ben and Noahs’ hair. I don’t think they have seen young white children very often.

Think we will be on tv?

I loved how the preacher went “Amen!”, “Hallelujah!”, “Praise the Lord!” repetitively as if he was so sure of it and everybody agreed with him or maybe it gave him a chance to think of what to say next. Further into the ceremony, the preacher also gave a speech about marriage but what caught me off track was his sermon of divorce and homosexuality. That, I really didn’t expect to hear and that was where I found it… interesting.

12 bridemaids

Whooping at the bride

Exchanging the vow

Waiting for the reception to open – must be African time after 2 hours of waiting… :$

Bride and the ‘hide ‘n seek’ groom at the reception

Today, we just came back from Jinja after our 3 day mini break. Good news, the internet is up and running! Will write about our Jinja trip next week.

Thank you for your prayers.

Week’s 3 News

Benjamin:
On Saturday when I came back from Herbert’s, Nancy said ’’come “ so I went. She said, ‘’look a chameleon’’ so I ran over and picked it up. I called for every body to come and see. Then daddy started taking pictures of it. Daddy said ‘’it only changes colure because of its mood.’’ For some particular reason all of the students were afraid of it, and say it could bite you and they are poisonous. So Christifor pushed another Christifor near it and he got freaked out. Daddy said ‘’it doesn’t bite.’’ Next we put it in a tree and it scrambled up the tree.

Say ‘aaaahhhhh!’

Noah:
Yesterday me, Joseph, Jolene, Ben and daddy went in the minibus and drove around Kampala. First we went to get the chickens but we had to go to a old lady’s house that suppose to have the ugly chickens but she did not have them. So we went to an older lady’s house that was really neat but she only had one chicken. On the way back we stopped off at the bible society but Joseph and Jolieen had to go to a different bible society and they brought me a bible. I used my tooth money to buy it. (According to Mary the cook, in Uganda, there are rat fairies that come out at night collecting teeth and leaving behind money. One came and took Noah’s tooth away…)

(While Joesph and Jolieen were in the society building, across the street was a primary school and teachers there spotted Ben and Noah and invited them in. Little children sang songs to Ben and Noah.)

Samuel:
Last night a baby grey calf was born from one of the cows. Herbert asked me to watch the gloop coming out of the cow’s sore bum because he did not want the cow to eat the gloop. Then the cook came over and asked me where the baby calf was because he wanted to see. Soon it was time to do my schoolwork which I am doing right now.

After my school lesson on the way to devotions, I saw a big yellow worm that was eating a yummy red ant. It looked like a caterpillar mixed with a leech. it had a head of a leech and a body og a yellow caterpillar with orange stripes. It was not hairy but it looked about 4 cm long and 1 cm wide. You could only see the head and the feelers.

Jill:
It’s already March and I don’t feel like I’ve been here long enough. Everything is done at such at a slow pace that when you try to get things done, it’s being done slowly, which makes the time crawl too!
Living without some of our modern appliances to help speed up tasks and make life more enjoyable is quite daunting and I do admire the locals for carrying on, regardless of their circumstances. I do miss my washing machine, especially with 3 young explorers!
I have finally finished painting bible verses and quotes on the beams in the open meeting Banda, a resting thatched hut for the students to eat and hang around. I haven’t taken photographs of them yet but will do it next week. Next I hope to do some tailoring with the students for a little while before doing some more painting on walls in a classroom.
The boys are all mixing well with the students and the students look after the boys as like brothers and sisters. I find it strange for young Ugandans to call Guy ‘Uncle Guy’ and me ‘Aunt Jill’ when we are not blood related other than in Christ. Older Ugandans who are older than me and Guy call us plain ‘Guy’ and ‘Jill’ but I guess they expect Guy and me to call them uncle and aunt!

Guy:
What a great week we’ve had for wildlife, chameleons, praying mantis, frogs and the many different species of ants. My snakeskin is now dry and I’ve now covered it in moisturiser mix. Not really sure what to make from it so any sensible suggestions would be appreciated. The 2 banda have had rats running around in the last week and we’ve been trying to get rid of them with poison but to no avail. This week Mary went into town and picked up some rat traps that have worked really well. Setting them is a bit of a scary affair as the spring is really strong.

Yesterday I was out watching a black kite flying around our area when I noticed it discard the wing of what looked like a chicken. Maybe I’ve watched kes too many times but I wondered if I could get the Kite to take the wing from me. After running up and down and chucking the wing in the air numerous times I only managed to attract the attention of all students and a little interest from the bird. BUT then I remembered the rat I had caught from the previous night and used that instead. This time it continued to circle me and after a few naff throws where I got the timing wrong the Black Kite a majestic master of the skies swooped down and snatched the rat out of the air with its talons. What a wonderful buzz charged through me to be linked so closely with it. I can see why people pay thousands to become falconers. I was this morning helping the local village improve the road but when I returned Alice (a great student that helps us out alot) told me the bird returned at around 11 the same time as yesterday. So I’m planning on stock pilling rats and keep my eyes to skies. I’ll keep you posted and let you know when it lands on arm for brunch.

Josephs’ son is getting married tomorrow and we’re all going to the wedding which from what I’ve heard should be interesting. Apparently it’s not unusual for the bride to be hours late. Even 5 hours late. The service should go on for 3 hours and the reception well into the night. I’ll let you know how it goes but I’m not looking forward to wearing long trousers a shirt and tie all day when even Ruth tells me it will be hot and long. We’ll see.

Christopher and Eddy are having a go with paint.

Noah is hard at work plunking corn. Corns are to be grinded for making yummy maize meals.

‘Left is loosing and right is tightening,’ says Guy to Washington