Close to in Congo/Bittersweet return

Ok, so I am back, but i haven't been able to type since my hand is all jacked up, but I'm going to give it a shot. so here we go.

9/3/09
We're heading over to Congo, there is a chance that we might get to cross over. We went with Darrie and Debbie Turner, who are resident missionaries in Uganda. I think it would be rad to get one of those stamps in the old passport. We drove from the Turners house in Kampala over to the Kasese district which is in the far west of Uganda at the foot of the Rwenzori mountains. The Rwrenzori mountain is actually the tallest solid rock mountain in Africa i believe, but anyways... it was huge. We stopped at a place that made handwoven baskets in the village of Rubono. I got one due to the extremely discounted price, they sell these things in Kampala for like 3 or 4 times what they do where they make them. Its a pretty rad basket. We went on through Fort Portal, and then south to Kasese. We saw the bible college that the Turners had been affiliated with for so long. They had installed a set of solar panels that powered a pump for irrigation and elephant fences around the colleges crops. He did a very good job. He has to be one of the smartest guys I know. We stayed at Kigongo Hospital in some rooms that they have for people who come to help out. It looked out over the Rwrenzori foothills. Steven and I shared a room with 3 beds... we had plenty.


Next day we went over to drop Derrie's Wife Debbie off at a church that was way the heck out the middle of nowhere. We could have almost thrown a rock over into the Congo. it would have been an unbelievable throw, but it was realistically maybe 2 kilometers. It was a really pretty place. The roads to get up there were crazy. I saw some of the biggest washouts on the road that I think I have ever seen. All the while, Derrie takes them at like 35 or 40 mph. There are some very beautiful people over there. After we dropped Debbie off we drove around for the rest of the day. We went and saw some of the crater lakes in the Rift Valley. there was one called Katwe that was HUGE. the Ugandans would harvest salt from the lake. They do it pretty much the same way that we do here by letting the water evaporate and scraping up the salt, only there they do it with their hands, and not machines.

***Sidenote***
I just went #2 for the first time in 5 weeks without my feet going numb in the process. Im sure the girls that read this know what I'm talking about, guys; not so much maybe. ...or, maybe it is a guy thing because girls always have to squat when they don't have a toilet... and know to do their business quickly... before the feet go numb.

back to the story:
We also drove through Queen Elizabeth National park and saw a Huge Bull Elephant just chilling off by himself. we got out and I had to get on Derrie's Luggage rack on top of the Land Cruiser to get a good shot of his butt; he wouldn't turn around completely, but its still a good shot. We saw a high school that was quite nice. they had vocational classes and nice facilities. They even had a dormitory for the children that lived too far away to walk to school every day. The kids were all away on Holiday though, so it was just us and the school master there, who was wondering who the heck we were but wouldn't tell us we couldn't be there. People in Uganda are very hospitable. We crossed the equator several times. I didn't do the cyclone toilet bowl trick thingy, but that would have been neat to try. I'm talking about how the water drains in a toilet clockwise in southern hemisphere, and counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere.
The time to pick up Debbie was getting close, so we headed back up to the church was speaking and hung out with some of the children there. They were a little shy, but we got to stare at each other and just wonder at what was going on inside each others heads; I remember wondering about all the things that those children have seen in their lives.
We left the next day. On our way back to Kampala we stopped at a coffee shop (awesome coffee in Uganda) and ordered some drinks, then went on to this place called "Camp Croc" we got to see a bunch of crocodiles that they slaughter for their skin. they sell the meat to 2 restaurants in Kampala, and the skin is sold to places like Gucci in Europe. It was a nice place that looked out on Lake Victoria. A lady there was telling us that it was a Military camp that Idi Amin had set up; pretty fascinating really. If you havent seen "Last King of Scotland" I recommend it. It is about Idi Amin.

Have you ever noticed that when you take a speed bump at lower speeds it is almost worse than going over them at a little higher speed? well as I mentioned before, Derrie is a speed bump assassin. He would take speed bumps at like 90 kph (which is like 60 mph). There would be a set of 5 speed bumps, and he would just take them all. it was quite smooth. Whoever thought speed bumps were a good incentive to slow people down on the highway (yes, highway. Ugandan highways have speed bumps) must have not have given that much consideration. ...because in Uganda, it makes people want to go faster. At least it makes Derrie want to go faster. =) It was a thrill.

9/9/08
Before we left for Congo, I was playing on the Neutron Spinner with some of the kids. They are brilliant. they figured out how to make that thing into a gear. they will find a big stick and put it in one of the holes on the underside of the handles. then the boy will walk around in a circle on the inside next to the pole pushing the stick. he walks at a slower pace, but the kids that are holding on to the handles are going so fast that their bodies are at a 45 with the ground. Anyways, I was playing, and got a pretty nice blister on the palm of my right hand. I didnt think too much of it. On our way back from Kasese,
it started getting very tender, and turning red. Then is started swelling. It became infected and swelled my middle finger, ring finger, and the whole upper pad of my hand. The pressure was outrageous. There was a good amount of pain, so when we got back to the orphanage, I asked Betty's husband John. who is a doctor, to take a look at it. he gave me all these pills to take, and said that it would get better. I took the pills. There was an antibiotic, and a pain killer called Dicofin. The next day it had gotten bigger and started being really painful. It would keep me up at night. So I went in to show the Nurse (who hadn't seen it yet), and she gave me some additional antibiotic pills to take and a cream to rub on it. So by this time I am taking the pain killer, Antibiotic A, and 2 pills of Antibiotic B. Then the puss started showing up. My skin had healed with the blister, so there was a pus pocket that was starting to form under my skin. Everyone would get all grossed out at it. The kids loved to look at it though. The day that we were leaving to come home the pus bubble had gotten maybe the size of a dime. So I took it to the Nurse, and she decided that it would be best to pop it. ...It was glorious. She filled 4 gauze pads with all different shades and hues of pus. Steven and I were wishing that we would have at least taken some pictures; it was so gross. So after she drained my hand, she decided that I needed another pain killer. I got a shot this time. She got out the syringe, and this little jar looking thing. she filled the thing with the pain killer fluid. I could not believe that she was about to pump all that into my arm. It must have been like 1/4th cup, not kidding. At least that's what it looked like to me. (Maybe you should ask Steven about it to get a realistic description. I just want to pump myself up and make it look like I am the man) I just sat and took it. There was a little bulge on my arm when she was done. Then she just attacked the thing; rubbing it in. My goodness, it felt like someone took a sledge hammer to my funny bone. So then we wrapped it up in a bandage, and that was that. she gave me some things to make new bandages with so that I could do it in an airport or something. While we were driving to the airport I had already filled the bandage with pus, so I had to setup "Adam's Backseat Kampala Road Clinic". Try driving over a million potholes and replacing a bandage totally saturated with pus. Double points if you can manage not to get blood and pus on your pants or the car. ..or your backpack. Adam's clinic is an international establishment. It has also been seen in Airport bathrooms, terminal waiting areas, and even airplane bathrooms. I wouldn't say it is the most sanitary of locations, but I got quite good at it.
Having my hand jacked up made it very hard to write or type, so I knew I wouldn't be able to blog or anything till I got home and my hand got better, so I had to scribble notes in my notebook lefty; and I mean SCRIBBLE. it looks like my brothers daughter got a hold of my pencil. Scribbling wasn't the only thing that I had to do lefty either. Try eating only with your left hand. You don't see many people eating with forks in the villages, so we ate with our hands a good amount. I had to lift the food from the floor to my mouth (I couldn't hold the plate in my right hand either) with my left hand; disaster. Try going to the bathroom not using your dominant hand. ...for anything. I have so much more respect for anyone who had the extreme misfortune of losing a hand. ...or any body part for that matter. Its better now; at least to the point that I can type.

I don't know how many times we would go to order some food on a menu in a restaurant and they would come back 2 minutes after we would order and say, "we don't have Beef"
"well what about a chicken sandwich?"
"We don't have lettuce, tomatoes, or mayonnaise."
"I see. Do you have hamburgers?"
"No."
"Ill take the beans and rice."
You have to love it. It makes for a good time.

Oh look honey! One of the most disgusting looking birds I have ever seen. ...in my life!! =) I call them garbage birds because the eat garbage. I saw them sneak up to some dudes food while he was in the bathroom and swallow a whole chicken from his plate(Game hen size), then all of his french fries. ...but they eat garbage too, not just deliciously prepared food.



We went to see another movie; "District 9". It was a crazy movie. Different than any movie I have seen before. I liked it. I am not going to say it was amazing because I'm a people pleaser and many of you may not like it. =) but I liked it. I have this tendency to love movies that people hate. Steven and I both watched a ton of bootleg movies. You can buy new releases that are playing in theaters still. The DVD are just burned DVD with marker on them. its pretty funny.

We went to the Zoo near Entebee Airport on our way out, and checked some more animals out. We were at the Rhino exhibit, Steven was over looking at the board that had all the info about and just started shouting. There were ants all over his feet biting him. He had managed to stand in the middle of this huge and trail that happened to go right in front of where people are supposed to stand and read. Those things were so big.

On the way home while in Amsterdam we went to one of the coffee stores looking for a little caffeine. I was unable to sleep the whole time. sleeping on airplanes just doesn't happen naturally. There is just so much that happens. you cant get comfortable, your contacts are in and dry, there is a ton of noise.. i just cant do it. so i was looking to get some coffee. Steven was like "there is this place that I got some over here, he showed me. I went up to the counter and bought a macciato or whatever it is, however its spelled; I don't know. The thing was TINY. I had to pay 2.35 that is Euros, so it was like 5 bucks. what a joke. Although to its credit it had some good caffeine. I had to buy a small can of coffee on my way out of the place though. it was like a Starbucks double shot drink thing. We had to take a picture. It looked so pathetic next to my (amazingly) pathetic looking bandaged hand.


I know that I promised a "don't take these for granted" list a while back, so Steven and I threw a few together. These are a few things that we really noticed missing in our daily routine. Don't take these for granted!
Carpet, both hands, hand soap, chairs, not having to sleep in mosquito nets, dinner menus that can actually serve what you order, food with no bones or rocks in it, toilette seats, toilets, toilet paper, the English language, showering without using a jerrycan, not showering outside with the mosquitoes, and pavement.


It was really hard to leave. I haven't been able to play with the kids since I got back from Congo. The morning we left I got up real early (6:58) and all the kids were getting ready to go to school. I had the chance to say goodbye to a lot of the older kids that had already went to bed the night before. I snagged my camera and walked around hoping to catch some more pictures of the kids. I was walking over by the playground and just had to stop and take in God's amazing picture that he was showing me; the sun was rising in the distance over the hill on the far side of the church. Kids were swinging just before they had to go to school, but they were silhouetted against the bright and hazy morning sky. I could have stood there forever. I could hear kids laughing and singing. Just the commotion of the whole orphanage was beautiful. It was a picture more extravagant than I think anyone could ever take. God has this way of just touching you at times when you are not expecting it. Later in the day when we were leaving, the kids had mostly left that went to school in other areas The kids still there were starting to go to school in some of the homes. The orphanage has decided to put up a school on site because the local school upped its rates a little bit and made it too expensive for the school to send the kids to school. They hired some workers to put up a temporary school so that the kids can attend there until funding for a new and permanent school can be built. They are interviewing new teachers right now. Having a new school that they can control and monitor will really help the students focus and learn. Many of the younger children were failing most of their classes and could not speak English, so Jackson and Eve Senyonga decided this was the best decision for the children. I have to say; I agree.

My trip has ended. I'm sure that there will be more stories that pop into my head that I will wish I could have put into this blog, but I hope that I gave you the ability to see a little of what I saw and experienced when I was there. I know that many of the things that I said were just funny side notes, but just to reiterate; This trip was not so that I could have a good time while doing good, but to show some of the glory of God through my hands, which he made, to the children and mums in the orphanage.

I hope that you have enjoyed my blog, but I do not seek glory for anything that I have written. I hope and pray that in all I do, I can glorify our Creator and not myself. I don't see a need to continue to blog, so I will not be sending any more notifications that Adam updated his blog. I try to blog once in a while just to update people that may look about whatever is happening in my life. So thank you so much for your support by reading this. I pray that I'll be blessed enough to write some more about next year.

Down to 2 weeks left

August 27, 2009

So today hasn’t been all that exciting, but it is always nice to hang out with the kids. I got to play some checkers with some of the children. I was playing Maureen, and I kept winning. Then Deizy who is like 7 or something started to play and beat me 3 times in a row… I couldn’t believe it.. she is good. Just like everything else, they play differently. Talking to Steven… he taught them wrong. Now im starting to think I don’t know how to play. Maybe I have been playing it wrong my whole life.

Last night we had a bunch of the boys over to watch a movie on the computer. It is a movie that we bought for 4000 Ush ($2.00). The dude that sold it said that there were English subtitles, but nope. No subtitles. It was a rad Kung Fu movie though; “Ong-Bak 2”. The boys liked it. Well see how much the girls like it.

Yesterday we also decided that we were going to do some laundry. When I say laundry I mean underwear. We usually let some of the Mums do the pants, shorts, shirts, socks, etc. but we piled up our underwear in a box and kept it. A few days ago I thought it would be a good Idea to let them soak in some soapy water. It was a bad idea. I filled the tub about half way with soap and water, put our clothes in it, and walked away. I forgot about it and 2 days later (yesterday) the smell was terrible. Just curious what he would say, we asked Bill if he wanted to give it to one of the Mums, and he was like “I don’t think I could bring myself to do that. The smell is too terrible.” And it was. So we sat out on our front porch and scrubbed underwear for the next hour or so. A bunch of girls decided to come and crowd around us and play games on our porch while we did laundry; I was all self conscience, because I could smell our underwear… They had to be thinking that Americans are the stinkiest ever. We got it washed and hung to dry, so we should be good for a while on our (to a degree) clean underwear.

August 29, 2009

Had Mum Sara come to our door this morning screaming for Bill, that is a usual thing, but this morning we were supposed to go down and take some pictures of getting plantains and making Matooke. Matooke is made with a banana that is not sweet. They pick it, peel it, wrap it in banana leaves, steam it, then when it is nice and soft, mash it. They usually put all kinds of things on Matooke. Here at the orphanage they usually put Meat, or Beans on their Matooke. Its delicious. We went, cut the Plantains, and peeled them so that the Mums and Bonsiano (Cook) can start to prepare dinner for the birthdays tomorrow. Im pretty excited to be here for that tomorrow. I know that they celebrate birthdays twice a year; Half the children in the summer months, and half in the winter months.

August 31, 2009

Last night I got back from one of the kid’s houses around 10:00. I have bonded pretty well with the particular house that I was at. Bill and Zion were in our house watching a movie and Steven was in bed. I usually am a light sleeper, but I just went to bed and before I knew it the lights had been turned out and I was asleep. This morning I woke up, and Bill had woken up, got dressed and was practicing singing his songs that he wrote. Im not saying they are bad, but they sure are bad when you just want to get a little extra sleep. I woke up, did my usual round-off out of my bunk to the floor, and found my shorts and shirt. I have to lay the deodorant on thick these days; I don’t get to shower all that often. I put some toothpaste on my brush, then proceeded to lose control of it and it went crashing to the floor getting toothpaste all over the place, and getting little interesting hairs all over my toothbrush. Steven and I both agreed that it looked like someone had probably been trimming in there. So I had to do a thorough wash of the toothbrush, and get to scrubbing.

I went to get into bed the other day, and I hopped up to the second bunk, and did my usual wipe of the feet; don’t want to get dirt in my bed. There was something stuck on my heel. Thinking about it, the last place I was in was the bathroom, so I took my hand up to my face to give it a little sniff, and sure enough. A little poo had gotten in between my flip-flop and my foot… I think I have better aim than that. So I hope that it wasn’t mine… then again I hope it was… both answers are bad… Just so you know, I got down and washed that trash off before I got into bed.

Since we took the girls to the Ridar, we had to take some of the boys. We had little Simon, Jimmy, Edgar, and James. …and Bill, of course. We didn’t want to blow a bunch of money, which is hard to do when you are taking quantities of people out, so we decided that we would just watch a Football match, and eat some lunch, then come back. The boys had Pizzas for the most part, James had a cheeseburger that looked amazing. Steven, Bill, and I didn’t eat restaurant food, instead Steven made a run to the store and bought some more fruit so he could snack on that. I got some biscuits, which aren’t really biscuits at all. They are more like delicious cookies, and Bill got something else. But we paid far less for our snacks than we would have for lunches. The boys disappeared with my camera for a while and when they came back, they had gotten in front of every car in the parking lot, put their feet on the bumpers like they were on the front of a CD case. It was pretty funny.

So yesterday was the kids birthday party that they celebrate once, maybe twice a year. One of the pastors from Christian Life church (Deborah) came to decorate and to help with the whole thing. We had a huge display setup in the main hall. It looked very nice. The Mums were simultaneously cooking a huge lunch for all the children. There were Irish potatoes, cabbage, matooke, some crazy fish soup thingy, and of course, a whole cow; liver, intestines, meat, bone marrow, all of it. They gave the head away to the evangelists, which they cooked and ate. Steven went down to their houses and took some pictures with it. The weather turned a little bad while the mums were preparing food. It went from warm and sunny to warm and monsoon rainfall. It was the kind that you step out in it for 2 seconds and it looks like someone pushed you into a pool or something. So a bunch of the children were holed up in the church and Betty decided to play a Luganda game show. It was the strangest thing. It was boys vs. girls, and the children would give each other riddles. I have never heard of the kinds of riddles that they were giving each other and none of them made any sense whatsoever to Steven or I, but it did to them which is what matters. There was one that I remember Zion interpreted for me. It was “what can a white man not sew?” and the answer... “A crack in the ground.” …I can’t believe I didn’t get that one; it was obvious. But it was fun to watch. Bill went head to head against Becky, and got destroyed. Steven and I were like.. “Come on Bill.” He would get one wrong, and the whole girls side of the church would roar, then the boys side would roar at the girls side… All the while Betty and Zion (The officials) were totally on the girls side, so it didn’t help our cause. While we were sitting there, we were commenting on this goat that was tied to the soccer goal out in the middle of the soccer field just getting pounded by the rain. It would try to run for shelter, then the rope would tighten and it would try to go the other way and do the same thing. Betty decided to send two volunteers out to get it, so two boys took their shirts and shoes off, and booked it through the rain after this goat. The whole church was crowded at the window to watch, it was pretty funny.
The power was out all day. I was supposed to take pictures of the ceremony and of the children with their gifts. Everything was setup in the church, but there was no light, and I don’t have a good flash, so the pictures were going to be garbage. So they decided they were going to move it outside, but it was busy raining outside, so we had to wait till it stopped. By that time it was getting dark anyways. When the rain did stop, we had to move all the gifts out to one of the porches of the homes, and setup a table with the cake, and gifts there, so to distract them Betty organized a little competition for the children; Race around the soccer field. I have to hand it to her, she is a genius at keeping children occupied. When we actually got around to starting the celebration, Betty was stressed, the kids were hungry, the food was getting cold, everything was wet, and I had a layer of clay that was about an inch thick on the bottom of my flip flops. Betty was asking me what she was going to tell Eve when she talked to her on the phone about how it went, and all I could think of was that God has a plan that is bigger and better than our plans. No matter what plans we make, sometimes God decides that he wants to make sure that we understand that. Even though it seemed like the birthday was a disaster, I won’t ever forget it. I think if it had been flawless, I would just pass it off as another birthday party. I don’t think that I would forget this particular birthday being in Africa with orphan children, but it seems the times that you remember the best are usually the times that don’t work out the way you planned them. I had a blast.

Steven and I leave for a few day trip to the Congo here on the 2nd. Should be pretty awesome. Some of the Gosvener’s missionary friends from Montavilla church (Darrie and Debbie Turner) that have been here for like 12 years or something have some down time, so Darrie decided that he would take us around for a little while. I’m pretty excited about it. I hear that you can trade a dog for like 4 goats there. That would be so rad. I totally would do it. Steven and I were talking this morning about stealing the neighborhood pest here, and trading it for delicious goats there. Given the opportunity, I think I would try a little dog. Maybe make a BBQ pulled dog sandwich.. mmm…
YACK!!


September 1, 2009
Had a little more restless leg last night, I had to get up around 1:30 to adjust the sheets and the blanket in my bed. I think it may be a combination of a few different things. I haven’t bathed in like 3 days, Steven hasn’t bathed in a week… but Ill cover that in a second. I got up at 1:30, and I noticed that the computer was on in our main room, so I wandered out there to find Bill watching a king fu movie. We bought this 9 in 1 Kung Fu DVD. The quality is somewhere around a youtube video, but the kids love them. Bill had been watching TV all day, and he was on his 4th movie. I walked out there, and was like “Bill… Really?! Go to bed and give the computer a break.” He is like a little kid that is addicted to TV. So I adjusted the sheets and went back to bed.

Last night Steven, Zion, and I were playing some Rummy, and Zion got called to Mummy Benna’s House. So to pass time while she was gone, I got up and went outside in the dark for a bit to find several girls huddled on the ground with their cups. I went to check it out and had to call Steven outside. The girls were eating bugs… The were like “You eat.”
“are you kidding me?!”
Again, they told me “you eat.”
“I wish I could, but they give me really bad gas.”
They were just chowing down on them. They are white ants that don’t bite. Supposedly they are a delicacy or something around here. I wasn’t about to eat that trash, so Steven said he would, then I had to. They had gobs of them in their little cups. When I finally got one in my mouth, the little jerk made a B-line for my throat. Just about made me gag. I actually have a picture with me looking like I was going to gag, but you can only see half the bug in my mouth because it was moving so fast. so I put one of the girls on there. I had to crunch down on him before he got into my esophagus and made a little home for himself down there somewhere. We ended up eating around 4 each, and taking a bunch of pictures of it. I got a good one of Steven, and a ton of the girls. So thats bugs off the list, now we got to get some dog in the Congo.

Speaking of bugs, we killed two monsters last night, we came in after eating dinner at another one of the kids houses, and there were these to HUGE cockroaches just chilling inside. So we smacked them with some flip-flops, and now they are just chilling over there in the corner being eaten by ants. I put my pencil in the picture so that you could get an idea of how big they are.

Also speaking of bugs. I got a bug inside my chin I think... It's just making a little nest for its babies in there, I know it is... I haven't had a pimple that size since I was like 15. made me look like I had a double chin. I was forced to shave some Lamb chops...

Its been almost a week since we posted last, but I don’t know if we will get a chance. I hope that Darrie and Debbie have internet that we could post with, but who knows. It might be a long time before we get to.

September 2, 2009
Made it to the Turner residence. We were blessed with some delicious sandwiches on hoagie rolls. I think that was the best sandwich I have had in a long time, and I don’t mean that because I haven’t had one in a long time. The avacados are to die for, the bread was so soft, and the cheese was Gouda! We went to this Italian store because Debbie needed to find some things for the pizzas that she wants to make for dinner tonight. They had all kinds of things there. Steven even bought Harry Potter 6 on DVD… wait, that isn’t out yet… (bootleg) We were hoping that they had internet so I could post, and thank you Lord, they do! We are planning on heading out to Kasesse tomorrow. It is about a 6 hour drive over there, and Darrie wants to take us to a game park, or something fun. We would like to go into the Congo, and he said that is fine, so we will have to see what happens.

2 more weeks...

August 22, 2009

Steven and I have been finding fun things to do that we haven’t ever had time to do. For example; A couple days ago, we tried to get over to the other side of the swamp and see what’s over there. We were unsuccessful, but I think it would be really cool to take a picture of the orphanage from that side looking back. We also took a walk back to the place where the children used to walk to get water. It looked the same as it did last year, only it was a little less crowded. We went because there were these plants that Bill wanted us to pick so he could make some necklaces. They are like little bead things that grow at the end of the stalk and they are super hard. So we did that and then came back to the village.

Last night I was sitting in the mission house drinking a cup of tea, and I had the cup about up to my mouth when I got a little splash in my face. A HUGE bug took a dive and landed right in it. That was all I needed to send me to bed. =)

Yesterday, I plowed through Steven’s book that I have been reading, ‘Dwarves’… I feel the slightest bit nerdy, but its really fun to read. Steven’s book is ‘Orcs’…
…I read for a little while, then walked around looking for my deck of cards that some of the kids were using. I like to keep a deck in my pocket because the children always want to play cards with me when I come visit their houses. I didn’t find them, but when you walk by a house, they say “come and jump”, “come and eat”, “you are most welcome.” or “come and play” in their softest voice. So I went in and jump-roped with the girls for a good hour or so. They have all their little games that they play with jump ropes. I showed them a few tricks that I know. I think they will have them down in another day or so. I fell on my butt too. I was jumping while two of them were swinging the rope, and they were like “Adam you must get out!” so I darted out of the jump rope only to step in a huge puddle on the side of the room… Let me tell you; It’s really slippery when its wet. It got super quiet all of the sudden. You would think that someone got punished or something. “sorry.”, “sorry”, “Sorry!” they all say to me as if it was their fault. Its pretty cute.

It has been raining pretty hard over here lately, yesterday we had a few thunder storms, today we are having thunder storms. Our thunderstorms back home don’t hold a candle to their thunder storms. It gets SOOO loud. Its not like it hits and stops, it thunders for like 10 seconds straight... Right now I am sitting at the table Steven and I put up in our room typing this all out, and it is pouring outside… oh wait… some more thunder.

August 23, 2009
We went to the children’s service here at the orphanage. It was amazing, as usual. Steven and I are about to head to the Ridar, When we update, you will know that we made it to the Ridar, but we plan on swimming, reading, doing a little internet, having dinner at Richard’s house (Ridar employee), then returning around dusk. It should be pretty cool. Tomorrow we plan on heading with Robert into town to do a little shopping. We have to come up with a little shopping list.

We have been playing the same card game over and over and over, I am starting to miss all the other card games that I know how to play. My family game is “Hand and Foot” but I cant really teach that to the children with the language barrier and all. I told Steven that I’d show him how to play. The trouble is we need to find another deck of cards… so we tried playing a little rummy. That was nice. We taught Zion how to play, so we can play with three.

I was reading my book the other day, and Barbara from the house next to the orhnanage came up to me and started asking me all kinds of questions… like do you eat pork… I was like “of course”. That wasn’t the answer she was looking for so for the next 10 minutes she was telling me that I was going to be judged for it. I tried to find the place in the Bible that said it was ok, but I failed and just took the verbal bashing from her instead. Joel, if you could send me a little reminder of why we can eat pork, that would be rad. =)

August 24, 2009
Today we went into town with Robert to go to the store. We wanted to make Zion and Bill something American, and the only thing we could think of that we couldn’t decide where it came from other that America was Chili dogs. So we picked up some hot dogs (which were actually quite good), pinto beans, baked beans, chopped tomatoes, cheese, onion, chili powder, and the closest thing we could find to a hotdog bun. We bought a few other things, I got some tea, and Steven got a small bag of dried fruit that was unmarked. I looked at the receipt after we were out of the store, and Steven’s fruit cost more than anything else that we paid for. We paid around $9.00 for the small bag of dried fruit; it didn’t even taste that good and its probably what made his stomach upset. Its funny; you can walk around the corner on the street and but a huge delicious pineapple for 1500 Ush. (that is like $.75)… or you can pay 12 times that amount for something small and disgusting in the store.
Anyways, we bought the stuff, then we took it home, and whipped up some good old chilidogs. We added a little too much chili powder; it was really spicy, but really good. It was too bad for Steven, he said that he was having a stomach problem, so he didn’t eat any. He said that it smelled really good and that he was hungry, but he couldn’t eat. Bill whipped up some tea for him which would supposedly calm the stomach that he called “Conk” Steven said “What is this?!”… I tasted it, and it tasted like poo. I’m glad that my stomach is okay. Bill says women take it for abortions…
On a different note, I got an email from a friend who is going on a mission to Italy from my church about some of the equipment that I borrowed from. I was supposed to send it back to him when my team came back, but forgot to do it. I am feeling really bad about it. It is totally my fault, so I just want to apologize to him and to the Italy team for not getting his things back to him. I told him that I would send it back with the team and fell through on my word. It is a huge insignificance for him because I know that he is really busy and probably doesn’t have time to search around for equipment to borrow from other people. I didn’t get a chance to reply to his email, so I thought Id type it on here.
I also got an email from Dave Hamilton that had a “To do” list attached to it. There were a lot of words on it. I got through about half of the email, and had to save it as a word document on my hard drive because we were in some internet café in Mukono. I only had about 3 minutes remaining, so now that I can look at it as long as I want; Dave: Got it taped to the wall in our main room here, and we are going to make sure that all of the items are taken care of..

August 25, 2009

Woke up this morning suffering from insomnia last night, we seem to be getting it more and more. Its like the restless leg in your whole body. Steven and I both have it. I have this one bug bite that won’t go away because its on the inside of my elbow. It’s pretty much the worst spot to have one because you always unintentionally irritate it.
We wanted to get some of the items on Dave Hamilton’s list accomplished, so we started working on that this morning when one of the mums told us that she was going to go over to the other side of the swamp. We have been wanting to do that pretty badly, so we decided to accompany her over there expecting it to be a 20 minute little hike. Well, it ended up being 3 hours and 3 ½ miles to get to where we wanted to go. We just blindly follow, and they just go. We went around the swamp, down this road for a while, then started going up hill, then down these trails that went through peoples farms, and property. We ended where we wanted to go, on the other side of the swamp looking back at the orphanage. It was more than we bargained for… we picked and ate Guava, Sugarcane, and Pumpkin. It felt really good to walk on the trails. I felt like I was on a real hike… I guess that hike was more real than most of the hikes that I do at home.

When we got back, Betty came to the orphanage with mail for the children. There were so many of them crowded around her while she sat in her chair and read their names. I understand now how often I write to my kids. Joan and Florence both had around 6 letters from me each. I feel good, but then I felt bad at the same time, because there were so many kids that didn’t get letters from their sponsors. They just looked around at me, at Betty, at the kids who got letters hoping that their names would be called. It was hard for me to watch Betty turn the kids away; especially the ones whose sponsors I know. I didn’t take any pictures of it, but I got some video. It was just sad to me. Every piece of mail that was sent to the village was already opened. It just confirms for me that you can’t send anything of value in your letters or packages. They won’t receive it. The Uganda post office opens everyone’s mail and takes what they want out. Often times they just throw the mail away after they open it. Betty showed me a package for one of the kids; a rat had chewed a hole clean through it. Looking at the letters that I sent, I noticed that the letter that I sent when I got home from last years trip was there… It took a whole year for the mail to get here. The Post office just lets it sit and accumulate… That just frustrates me. I told Betty that I was just going to keep all my letters and bring them when I come back and give them out in person. Then she corrected me saying “These children love to hear their names called to accept letters from you in front of their friends. Don’t stop sending mail. Your letters mean so much to them.”

When we got back to the Village here, I could see all the children crowded around Betty getting mail. I wanted to get the video camera real fast but had to stop to go to the bathroom on the way. So I did my business, and got the camera. On my way over to the crowd of kids I started feeling a little heat coming from my pants. It was getting hotter and hotter. I was starting to think maybe a fire ant got down there and was doing a number on me. Then it hit me… on the way up to the other side of the swamp we saw a couple bushes with wild peppers on them, so we picked them and I got a little of the fiery juice on my hands…

August 26, 2009

I know this has been a long one, but we have our excuses; last time we came to update we could not find Cosmas (Hotel Manager) or the Secretary, who usually generates the little slips that give you internet. This time she was in a meeting and Steven and I are just sitting on a couch outside her office waiting for her. I didn’t tolerate all the Mzungu shouts, and people asking me for money on our way here for nothing! We were walking and talking as usual when we heard a crash. There was truck that was full of brick and the wheel sheared off the axle leaving the truck all tilted over in the middle of the road. We just walked by thinking “man that sucks…”

I saw many emails last time, but I just don’t get enough internet time to reply to everyone, so If I don’t respond, I apologize. Ill get back to you when I can.

Best place on earth.

August 10, 2009

I got to shoot some testimonies of some of the kids today. It is really hard just to watch and hear them talk not even knowing what they are saying. Bill told me a few of the things that they were saying, two of the three that we filmed were to be sacrificed… makes me want to punch the family… We had lunch and dinner with Mummy Sara’s home today. That was pretty neat. Back to beans and posho. If you don’t know what that is, it is Maize (corn) that they mash into a paste, and it becomes firm. Then they put beans and whatever else on it. Yesterday we got meat because the children get meat on Sundays. Steven and I were in the Mission house eating with Bill when they served up the lunch. There was the beef! And there was something that looked like a piece of carpet sitting in there with it…?! I was like “What the heck is that Bill?”
“It is the meat of a cow.”
“No, I mean the carpet next to it…”
“Oh, that is the intestine.”
All of the sudden the meat didn’t seem so great anymore. There was a really gamey smell to the meat that all came clear. For the rest of the day I could smell it on all the children’s breath. Awesome! I have to say, I didn’t even try it. Bill sure gobbled it up though. They didn’t mind us not wanting it at all.

Oh, here are a few rules to sitting for supper that bill told us about... and yes, they are true:
1. You have to sit without holding yourself up or they hit your elbow and it bends and you fall over. And you can’t bend over. They sit on the floor, so not bracing yourself was a little difficult for me.
2. You can’t have your legs out in front of you crossed like I love to do.
3. Only the father gets to sit in a chair.
4. Only the father is served his meal with the sauce and matoke or posho separated. All the children get it mixed together.

We just found those kinda funny.

So when we went to the Ridar to update the Blog last, there was a concert going on. ‘The Eagles’ is their name. Not The Eagles that immediately come to mind, but they were pretty good. It was pretty neat how they do their concerts. The place was packed. We actually came a little earlier in the day and went swimming, then went to buy some dishes and cups for eating. When we got back to the hotel, they wouldn’t let us come back in without paying. It was a little different Uganda crowd than we are used to... Steven and I don’t think we have ever heard anyone talk so fast in Luganda before. We ended up getting in after the security guard argued to the concert guys for a good 5 minutes or so. There were people coming up to the performers mid song, and they would give money. Some would dance with the singer, others would just walk off. Bill loves to dance, so we gave him 500 shillings to go up there so he could do his thing on stage... it was rad.

Last night, we ate dinner at Mummy Imerida’s house. I’m not telling any names, but Tiffany G’s sponsored child was not allowed any tea because she would wet the bed if she took tea at night... It was really nice; we had dinner then played Uno for about 45 minutes. They took a regular deck of cards and turned it into an Uno deck. They pick a few different cards, and designate them as the skip, and reverse, and wilds… draw two… it looks like chaos, but its pretty fun….and they pretty much all cheat.

I came back inside our house here to get some things for fixing some light bulbs and switches, and I was shocked to see like 5 girls in Bill’s bed… Bill wasn’t in his bed, but there was a ton of girls just passed out in our room. Made me laugh. Steven was reading, and they were coloring. Steven fell asleep, then they all passed out after he did.

So, not only is there no seat in the bathroom, they definitely don’t have light. At night, it is pitch black in there. I was just in there, Steven and I were power dumping together… you just have to get in there and hope that you are standing over the hole. You don’t want to feel around with your foot and actually have the misfortune of finding it, so you just squat and hope… well, I totally missed, and dropped one on the floor…. Disgusting, I know... I had to come back with my head lamp and take care of it.

Right now, Steven is in his bed, and Zion and Bill are sitting here interpreting the testimonies that we have on tape. I think I am going to type it out, so that in the not so rare case that we lose the notebook, I will have a backup.


August 13, 2009
We are going to Kampala today. Robert is coming at 10:00 or 10:30… Its 10:45 right now. I think we are going to maybe see a movie, eat at Nando’s (a burger Joint), then hit up the store before we come back. We have a few things that we need to buy.

We saw the biggest frog today. Some of the girls were using a stick to hit it over into a hole near the place where the bathrooms drain into. I had to run to take a picture of it real quick. Was thinking I should put a coin down next to it so you could see how big it was, but I didn’t have any, so I just took the picture.

The other night we also saw one of the biggest cockroaches on the floor. Once again… the biggest I have ever seen. This wasn’t a macro setting or anything, but there is some good detail in the picture.

We saw Harry Potter 6 at the Cinaplex theatre in Kampala. They had some delicious popcorn. It was like chili tomato or something like that. I loved it.

The last couple days have been all rain. It’s good for the area, but you have a hard time not falling on your butt when you walk around. It’s pretty nasty.

We made it back to the Ridar, we wanted to bring some of the children here to have dinner with us, so I have Maureen, Joan, Florence, and Deizy here crowded around the computer watching me type. We watched the Tribal show here at the Ridar, Maureen and Joan went swimming. They had so much fun swimming back and forth in the pool. I took some fun shots. They ate popcorn, and drank Mirinda Sodas. Now we are in the restaurant. We ordered our food and drinks; we got seven cheeseburgers and one fish and chips. And three Mirinda Fruities, two Orange Fantas, one Sprite, and to Cokes. We are all ready for our supper here so I thought I’d post some things to the internet real fast. Too bad I forgot my prepaid internet slip back at the village, so I don’t even get to post. We have to ride some boda-bodas back tomorrow morning to get the money that Mark left behind to pay Felix, so we will just post then.


August 17, 2009

Well Last night was a lot of fun. The girls had a good time. I talked to Richard earlier in the day to arrange a bus, I forgot to notify Robert the day before for the bus, so we had to get another. There were 8 of us. We were planning on riding a bus back to the village, and a walk to the Ridar. So we had our fun, then they called the bus to come to the Hotel… Well it was a car. So the 8 of us packed into the car. 2 in the front seat, and 6 in the back… it was actually more fun that way. =) Cosmas couldn’t come to the hotel last night, so we had to walk back here this morning. We are just hanging out here in the bar, drinking some delicious sodas, and getting the internet time in. Then we’ll head back and do a little more hanging out with the kids. Coming into town always gives us a good excuse to hit up the store, so I’m sure that well do it on our way back.

On the way to the Hotel today, there was a ton of people all crowded around something. We didn’t know what it was, but we were curious. There was a horse and a camel. They were giving rides!!! So we checked it out. It was rad.

One more thing; I know that we promised to give you a list of things that we shouldn’t take for granted back home, but we got a little sidetracked, not to mention bored. Just consider everything to be a luxury.

On our own...

July 29, 2009
Since last time, we have gotten the last of the playground structures up. We have assembled all the Futbol Goals. We actually had a Uganda vs. USA match the other day on the small field… and by field I mean sloped hard packed dirt area. It was so fun, because the field was may be 50 yards by who knows how wide. There were children crowded around. It was the Guys on the mission team that wanted to play, and the interpreters that we hired to translate for VBS for us. We had bricks set up as goals, which were about 2 feet wide. We ended up winning 1 to 0. They didn’t like it all that much, but we dominated…

Electrically we have been tearing it up. I can wire one of these houses with my eyes closed pretty much. I know a good amount about the system, so I am somewhat of a go-to guy in that department, but I have Andrew and Steven on a team, and we form the “Trifecta” just a little name we gave ourselves. We have come up with Acronyms for our Trifecta maneuvers. Since we only have 2 ladders on a good day, we have to swap ladders, it’s a little hard to explain, but we have a ladder hopping technique that my Skanska safety people would probably not really think was all that great. We are attaching wires to roof trusses, and since it’s quicker, we just have the guy at the top of the ladder hold onto the truss while the guy on the floor moves the ladder. “H.A.S.” also known as the Hold and Scoot. There are a few more. But I won’t bore you with those details. As of Wednesday the 29th, we had 36 houses completely wired; give or take a few.

We had our Re-match today against the Interpreters. It is so much fun. There are tons of kids that come to watch. Every time you mess up, they all laugh, and they cheer when you do well. It is awesome. We played on the big field this time. It is still a little sloped, and a little rough, but it serves its purpose. There needs to be a little raking or dragging of some HUGE rocks and hard packed dirt clods. But it still is 10 times better than what they had before with tree trunks, and pot holes. It was much more interesting though.
We ended up winning again. We scored 2, they scored 1. but we have a tactic that is catered to a bunch of guys that cant play soccer; boot it down the field toward their goal as hard as you can, and hope that you get a lucky shot. We did.

Having the swings around is awesome, because those times when you have absolutely nothing to do with the kids and you just sit and stare at each other and smile, you can now fill with things like swinging or spinning on the Neutron Spinner. It is very nice to have that. I got to push Joan, Florence, and quite a few other kids on the swings today after our Game. I actually got on there a few times, and Joan tried to help me slow down, and I just blew her over. I felt really bad, but that is the way it goes I guess. I am sorry, and she was okay. She is awesome. She is like a little enforcer, and she understands what I am trying to say ALL THE TIME. It is awesome.

July 30, 2009
We got to the orphanage and started wiring homes. We actually wired 6 homes today; that is a good amount. It’s the most that we have done in a day so far. We got it pretty much complete by lunch time. Then the rest of the day I was basically sleep walking around the place. I was doing laundry last night till around midnight, then our bus left at 7:30 so that we could get as much finished as possible. It’s a vicious cycle, but its for God, and his orphans, so I’m down with it. =)
I got a shower tonight, last night our water heater was out, so I showered with a wet towel. Right now I have a couple extra people in my room; we just played a little beans, and now I'm about ready to hit the rack.

August 7, 2009
Its been a really long time since I have been able to update. Right now, it is just Steven and I at the orphanage. One of the interpreters, Bill, is still here with us. The team has already arrived back in Portland and the other places that we were from.
The last couple days were nice with the team. We had a miniature water celebration when we turned on the borehole for the kids; we are able to drink the water straight out of the ground because it is from so deep down. I believe the well is somewhere around 280 feet deep. We also had a light celebration in the Main Hall. The kids all crowded into the place in the dark, then we just turned the lights on; the Children went NUTS. They must have danced around in a huge circle for about an hour. All the dust in the place was in the air. It was hard to breathe, but it was worth it. That same day we also had a show from the orphans. They sang a number of songs, had 3 testimonies, and then we had popcorn and sodas for all the kids… Count it, 750 sodas.. I couldn’t believe that they had that many sodas for the kids. The last day the team was here we went to buy beads at the rock quarry from Stella, did our usual Souvenir shopping, then went to eat at a sweet restaurant on the beach at Lake Victoria. The Pizzas there were awesome. I didn’t take any pictures of the place, because I didn’t want to lug a camera all day shopping and to the airport. So many people have cameras that you can count on at least 2 other people having the same picture that you have.
That night we saw everyone off at the airport, then Robert, Scott, Steven, and I drove back to the Hotel through Kampala. Night driving always gets me. There is so much going on at night here. People are walking through the streets, music is playing, and it is all so dark. I think people like to go do things at night because it is usually so hot during the day. We had a nice chat with Robert about Ugandan Politics. I was shocked to hear that Their president Musevini has been in power for something like 25 years. According to Robert he has rigged the elections so that he continues to win. He also gave us a rundown of some tribal stuff. We also had a nice chat with Scott about what it takes to get into the FBI. Sounds like fun to me.
That same night we went back to the hotel, grabbed all the things that the team left for us in the board room, and took it to the orphanage. I cant believe how much food that we have. We are talking around 90 lbs. We have eaten some of it, but we have been passing it out to the kids when we wire at night. Bill has also been eating a lot of it. I think we had around 9 jars of peanut butter.. haha.
The first night here, it was pretty funny, we had our amazing experience of bathing… outside… in the moonlight… Let me tell you the Mzungu skin stands out a lot better in the dark than Mudugov skin. Zion (former interpreter, now works at the orphanage) boiled up some water for us, and handed us a small jerry can of hot water, a big jerry can of cold water, a pan, and a rag. Steven and I looked at each other…. Then Zion was like “To Bathe.” Bill gave us a rundown of what you can do, but I think I am figuring out my own technique.
So the other day (Dave Hamilton: Don’t read), we were going through the homes on the maps that we have been tracing just checking them and fixing problems as we go. We got to Jimmy’s house (Mark and Susan’s sponsored child) and the lights weren’t working. The panel that feeds that house was labeled, but the cover was hiding a good portion of the writing so we couldn’t really read what it said. For example, if it said 36, you could see the 3, and part of the 6, but the half of the 6 that we could see looked like a 1. I was down testing the junction box and I had Steven turn the power off to Jimmy’s house since we had a problem. Looking at our map we could see that House #31 could have been feeding House #36 (don’t worry if you don’t get any of this..) We turned off the breaker at the panel that we thought was feeding Jimmy’s Home. I was up on the ladder with the junction box open, and I pulled out the Line wires (Black) and one of the wires slipped out of the wire nut. I was like ”Well, there’s our Problem!” While pilling them out a little more, a spark came from the black wire that I pulled out… I looked at Steven and asked, “Is it Hot?!”
He said, “I turned the breaker off!”.
I busted out Dave’s testers that he gave me to use, and stuck one of the probes into the wire nut that had the black wires in it, and got another blast. I didn’t get shocked or anything, but pretty darn close. The wire nut caught on fire, and I had a nice big flame coming up from the J-box.. The wire nut was the only thing that caught fire, but I was just standing there in amazement looking at this big ‘ol flame coming from the wire nut.. I gave it a casual blow, and turned to Steven and told him to turn off the main. We had a little audience of like 5 kids all laughing and amazed. I don’t think they are ever going to touch a wire any time soon.
There are about 9 homes to a breaker in some cases, some more, some less. We have encountered a few instances where there is one short in the whole circuit, but all the boxes, switches, and lights are all screwed shut. Soooooo, we have had to go through each house; opening all the interior boxes, lights, switches, and exterior boxes looking for places where we had shorts. We have found many. There are a lot of places that the wires were stripped and in direct contact with other wires in the box. We have taken off decorative cones that don’t let the light bulb touch the socket, replaced light bulbs, mounted switches, we’ve found junction boxes completely open and unfinished, wired, re-wired, all the while feeding the kids leftover American lunch food(which the love). Speaking of kids eating, There is a child named Mustafa. He will come up to our house just before meal time pretty much every day and eat more food than Steven and I combined. He doesn’t say much when he is eating, I’d say because he puts food into his mouth around every 2 seconds. We have nicknamed him Bulldozer, cause the kid ploughs through the serving dish. He is 6, and he is just a little guy, but his belly is HUGE.
We went into Joan’s (my kid) and Rachel’s (Gosvener’s kid) house the other night after we got them power, and we made them English, Science, and Math tests. They asked us to... but we made them, and then corrected them. They want Steven and I to spend the night one of these nights. They were talking to Steven. And the told him, “Please stay, we have two open beds!” I love it. When you walk in, they say “You are most welcome.” If you let them use a camera for a little bit, they will run back to you and say “It has refused!” if they cant get it to take a picture. They are so cute.
I know this is a lot to read, but I have not been with a computer for like a week. We didn’t have a whole lot of time to use it at the Hotel even while we were there the last couple of days. I asked Felix (Project Manager for the Orphanage) to get me two outlets so we could charge some batteries, and run the computer back on Monday, and we just got them from Micah (Ugandan Electrician) today. So I am trying to remember all the things that have happened since I last updated, but that was quite a while ago.
We are heading back to the Ridar tonight for a little concert, and some swimming. We have a little checking up on some wiring to do before we go though. Luganda classes start on Monday from the Mums… What I would give for a toilet seat around here. Speaking of which, Steven and I will work on a list of things that you should NOT take for granted in the US. Stay tuned. Not complaining, just being thankful for how fortunate we are to have what God has blessed us with at home in the US. Sorry I don’t have many pictures. My batteries have all been dead for a few days. =)

Playground is up!!

Well, most of the playground is up at least. The “Neutron Spinner” is a huge hit, we are definitely testing the strength of the thing. I don’t think there was a moment after we put the top on there that it saw any less than 15 children at a time. They love it. I decided that I wanted to have at least the swings and the spinner up and running by Friday noon so that they could play with them as we go to Bujugali falls tomorrow. These playground pics are from today. I spent most of the day in the attics of the orphan homes wiring lights. If you think that it is hot in your attic, you are probably right, its hot. These places have metal roofs and it is SUPER muggy. You start pouring sweat about 2 minutes after you go up in those things. Id say that the temp was around 115 degrees F up there. I got 2 orphan homes done with the help of Eric, Kellie, Bob, and Tiffany G. We were divided up into teams, and got to tackle different homes simultaneously. After I got that one house done, I really enjoyed just watching all the kids go crazy with all the new playground equipment. Its quite a step up from kicking around a filthy wadded and taped piece of paper as a soccer ball in the dirt. (although they still do it.) It was really just amazing to see the joy on their faces as they played. I got to take it in for a solid 15 minutes and just smile at the whole thing. Thanks to Playcraft Direct for the awesome equipment.

Yesterday we had a translator appreciation evening. We invited them over to the Ridar (Hotel) for a fun evening of swimming and BBQ. We ended up dancing after the BBQ also. It was a ton of fun. This is me sneaking into a picture that they were posing for… I had a really good time with them. They don’t really know how to swim all that well, but we had fun in the shallow end just goofing off together. They Ugandan BBQ is amazing. If I could describe the flavor; mmm… Heaven in your mouth? Yeah, that sounds about right to me. I am a steak guy for sure, and they have just the right amount of char, juice, deliciousness.. yeah.

Bob and I were chatting while taking a 15 minute break today. We noticed a few kids that were sitting over near us watching us talk. We decided to teach them how to say “hasta la vista baby.” It is pretty cute to hear their little voices saying it. They will pretty much say anything you want them to say. And they all say it. Their voices are so soft and sweet. And their laughs are unforgettable.

Pastor George and Mike left for India today. They are going into some pretty dangerous areas where Christians are persecuted pretty regularly. They need your prayer. My roomies are in bed for the night, so I better get off this thing so I can get some rest for Bujugali Falls. !!!

Opened the Container

Ok, so I am forgetting what I have said in the past postings, and don't have the time to check, so if I repeat myself ever, forgive me.

We had some awesome things happen in the past 2 days. Started with a service at Christian Life Church Sunday morning, which was amazing, and ended with an amazing night of baptisms at the Ridar Hotel pool of 255 orphans. It was real cool, I got to see Joan (child I sponsor) baptized. she had a HUGE smile on her face. A lot of the people here would like to get baptized but cant afford it. Everywhere that has water charges. there aren't many bodies of water around. and those that are are either private, or too harsh for something like that. The baptisms were unforgettable, and it made for a wonderful evening. I did a ton of filming. The picture is of me showing one of the Interpreters how to run the camera. They are all very fascinated with cameras.

Today we actually got word that the contents of the container is all ours. We have paid the Ugandan Government their Tariff, and received custody of the container. We started the day with that knowledge, but we wanted to spend the cooler part of the morning getting more trench dug for the electrical conduit and water piping. We knocked out a good 600 feet or so. We did somewhere around that amount Friday as well, but now we are getting accustomed to it and creating a rhythm; makes the work go by so much faster. after we dug, we decided to unload what we could of the container. We got most of the Clothes out, playground equipment out, AMERICAN PICKS AND SHOVELS OUT.... Finally we get to swing a pick with something other than a tree branch as the handle.. =) I am really excited about that if you cant tell... =) I'm sitting over in the massage area with Pastor George and Mike at the moment, they are waiting to use the computer watching Spanish soap operas in English... haha...

Had some Chipote on the walk back from Seeta this morning, was DE-Lish!!

Day 3 (container arrives)

Ok, so today was an awesome day. I mostly just sat out in the sun filming huge celebrations all day. Our container arrived on site today. I filmed the container coming around the corner, I interviewed Pastor George, I filmed us opening the container, I filmed everyone being happy too. I know it sounds amazing when I say it like that, but seriously it was really fun. I am looking foreward to editing the video that I shot today. This is a shot from my Nikkon (that Steven took) of everyone helping unload part of the container. I was sitting on the roof of the kitchen filming the children pandamonium that was taking place. I actually did that all day. I got a great tan... if you dont count the chest.

It was really awesome to see the kids get so excited when we brought the container.

We were really blessed today. We worked with a man that Mark and Dave met in the Amsterdam airport, of all places, that have a very large circle of influence in the Ugandan shipping industry. They have done tons of work with other orphanages in the Kampala area. We actually got an "Official" from the government that was supposed to verify that we had what we said we had in the container. She was an orphan when she was young; we did rather well in that category. We even got the Tarrif reduced from 12,000 to 7,000. Right now its about 10:00PM. I have about 12 minutes left on my internet time. Im sitting in the hotel room with Andrew and Steven just goofing off... other picture is from yesterday, me and some orphans... =)

Day 1 Africa

Well, we made it to Uganda. We actually did it with only 1 bag missing, and 1 person missing.....
.....actually one person forgot that we were leaving on Tuesday. he thought Wednesday was the 14th, so he ended up getting his flight changed to the 16th or so. Not bad for the bags though. The picture is of a mid travel stretch by the girls. Don't have any of me available quite yet, but I'm workin on it.

Spent the majority of the day at the orphanage, we got up around 7:15, had a wonderful breakfast of french toast, these fiber biscuit thingies, the most amazing pineapple in the world, and a little instant coffee, and then we loaded on the bus and headed to the orphanage. I took a video of the 15 minute voyage to the village to do a time lapse later on, and when we got close to the village, the children that were there gave us a little welcoming party with some little dances that they had been practicing for 3 months they said. I got it all on tape. Then they took us unto the church that we built from year one, and sang some songs and did some synchronized dancing for us. An African children's choir is so amazing. they can really belt it out there.. got it all on tape of course.

We actually are trying to get a hold of some people that we met while we were travelling that are actually very influential when it comes to tariffs and importing containers. We have found out that the container is being held very near the village and the Ugandan Government is wanting to collect tariffs amounting to 12 thousand dollars in order to free it. That is just not something that we have in the mission budget. If you want to read more about all this, please see the Ukids.org website, I believe Mark Gosvener has posted a few words as well. I will try to get some rad shots tomorrow to upload. I am using a friends laptop, and I was able to buy an hour of Internet for $3 dollars, so I should be able to do this for a while. at least until I go to the Orphanage for the 5 week period.

One thing that I want to mention is how good it was to see my little girls. they are so sweet. Florence is shy as always, but I got a hug out of her, and Joan just ran straight to me and gave me the hug of a lifetime. Joan gets out of class at 5:00, so I didn't get to see her much, but I want to walk home a little later tomorrow so that I can see her more. Those kids are amazing. Hope all is well. I am going to go and play a little card game with the team!!! God Bless!