Back on our Continent

Our trip back to the US was, luckily, pretty uneventful...except for an "interesting" ride to the airport (felt a bit like being a sardine in a tightly packed can) and about an hour of wing de-icing in Amsterdam. C'est la vie - all in all, smooth sailing.

I can honestly say that trying to sum up what has transpired over the last two weeks is going to be a serious challenge. The tastes, the smells, the events, the celebrations, the roads, the children, the joy and the sorrow, the inspiration and peacefulness, the - the - the -I am so thankful we had this blog to capture so many of our daily events. I'd like to offer these things that I am so grateful for:

1. To have journied into Uganda with three amazing individuals - two certifiable :-)

2. Returning back home to a family and community of such love and support.

3. Reuniting with friends and making new ones in Uganda.

4. Being awakened to the depth and significant impact that the work we have been doing for the past two years has made in the lives of thousands of people.

5. Experiencing the joy and spirit of the children, women and villagers through their songs and welcoming hospitality.

6. Discovering new needs and new places that we can reach out to.

7. Not ever seeing a cobra :-)

8. For an amazing driver, Douglas, who brought us briskly and safely and from place to place.

9. Wonderful meals and fellowship enjoyed at the Kateeba, Obaikol, Nkoyoyo, Opol, Kasamba, Ochaloi and Noll homes.

10. And, for Chris Ochaloi and John Kateeba's loving organization of our Soroti/Kaberamaido, Kampala and Bushenyi itineraries.

Much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving eve. I am looking forward to the months to come...re-charged, re-energized and re-inspired by the children of Uganda.

Maama Martha

(a name that forever makes me smile)

Tuesday – Thursday November 18th to 20th

We’re struck by the beauty of the country again.
Visited the Faith Primary school near Bushenyi. David, a teacher, built a school on his own land for the underprivledged.

David, the school founder, shows a gourd hollowed out that is used as a bowl or drinkng vessel. School makes crafts for sale.

This is a primary boarding school – much of the work on the building was done by volunteers, parents and guardians. The children greeted us with song (Marching in the Light of God). We were really impressed with the dedication of the parents, guardians and teachers to the school and the children. So much work is being done with little or no compensation. The teachers continue to teach despite lack of funds to pay them. The children here, as with all the places we visited, were so excited to see us and very eager to please.
The children are really surprised to hear us whistling through our fingers and try to reproduce the sound. Much laughter and interaction with the children. They continued to sing through lunch. We enjoyed the traditional dances.

They all have a complex story and usually feature animals as symbols for human activities, longings, etc. We gave them the donated backpacks and presented scarves for the female teachers and solar calculators for the male teachers.

Rain water is collected to supply the school – they are in a relatively dry area and are in need of a well (among many other things). Interestingly enough, they didn’t really ask for much. They were simply happy we came (first American visitors ever) and for the supplies and clothing sent previously by Team Uganda and Call to Care. As mentioned before, this school was somewhat different in that the parents are deeply involved; constructing facilities, donating money for projects etc.

Children Marching in the Light of God

Farmland and trees for harvesting firewood on the site. There is plenty of land for expansion and the site is beautiful, albeit 15 km down one of the worst roads we’ve been on in Uganda.

From the school, we headed to Lake Mburo – a National Park for a day of R&R. We are staying at the Mihingo Lodge just on the outskirts of the park. Built by a German and run by a young British couple. It is wonderful to be able to relax for a while after what seems like constant running since we arrived in Uganda. The Lodge is perched atop a hill, and is a real paradise. The rooms are essentially treehouses with canvas screened tents. Completely open so we can hear all the sounds of the jungle. Highly recommended by the group if you’re ever in south central Uganda and need a place to stay about 1 hours drive from the main road! The national park has a lot to offer – zebras, baboons, bush babies (small monkeys which we could see from our room porch), hippos, unique birds (various kingfishers, herons and eagles), warthogs, (sometimes charging) water buffalo, eland (the only ones in Uganda), kob, obiri, leopards (not seen by us) and we even saw a crocodile.

Susan particularly enjoyed the on-site gift shop, going as far as having the manager open it after hours for a little midnight madness. After shopping the shelves clean, Susan was thanked profusely by the proprietor and her picture now hangs over the door – “Our Best Customer.”

Rich and Mike headed out with our driver, Douglas, to go on an ATV adventure in the bush country. They took a wrong turn and ended up in a very wet area where the road became very poorly defined. After backtracking and choosing what was thought to be the road, they came upon an area of standing water and began to drive through it – but were bogged down and sunk in. Spinning wheels digging deeper and deeper into the mud. They were stuck! They began to walk a short while to see if they could find a main road. No luck. Amazingly, there was cell service – Uganda has better cell coverage than Madison. They called Martha back at the lodge and a truck was sent to rescue them. Unfortunately, due to the wrong turn, we told them the wrong location. The guys realized the mistake and Douglas climbed a tree to get a better signal, but by then, the cell minutes had run out (it’s pay as you go in Uganda). Rich was getting a little nervous since Mike told him that warthogs and water buffalo will charge and attack unprovoked and several were around. Mike was only half right – only the water buffalos will charge you for no reason (kind of like AT&T). So they decided to walk and estimated the lodge to be about five miles away. Before setting off, Douglas decided to try to get the van out one more time with Mike and Rich pushing in ankle deep mud. Utilizing rocking techniques developed in the snow of New England, they started to make progress. Back and forth, again and again. Rich and Mike totally covered in the mud being spun up by the tires – they finally got it out. Just then, the rescue truck arrived. Back on the road, they abandoned the ATV trip and went to the lodge for a shower and nap. It was quite the site at the lodge when Mike and Rich arrived – a great chuckle for all of the guests to see the mud puppies.

We stayed at the park on Wednesday and Thursday morning journeyed back to Kampala to change money and then land back at the University in Mukono. We said goodbye to Douglas our driver. He was a great traveling companion and guide and took excellent care of us on our trip. We hope to stay in touch with him, and gave him some small gifts for his two sons and daughter. He is a professional driver, and a great friend. One of the many gifts we received on our trip.

Thursday evening we had dinner with Sam Opol and his family. His wife Margaret is suffering from sciatica. His young sons greeted us by jumping on us and horsing around – very rare experience from us as most children are apprehensive around us. Martha gave his sons and his daughter some presents she brought and they really lit up. The house was out of power, so we dined by lantern light. It was a great evening of sharing and fellowship, and we’re happy that our last dinner in Uganda was spent this way. Friday we’re visiting CHAIN again, then packing and off to the airport for an 11 pm flight.

Monday, Nov 17th

Main agenda item on Monday was to visit the Mitooma School – a primary school for the underprivledged. 380 children, 120 of whom board there, The poor children often have no parents and are living with relatives. This school is where they get a sense of belonging. All children who don’t board there walk to school. Some as far as 5 miles. School begins at 7:30, so those that come from far must get up very early to get there.
the school day ends at 4:00 PM. They greeted us with song and a band (drum, trumpets, cymbals!)
The school buildings are painted with lessons (diagrams, letters, numbers, pictures) that are used in place of books.




The school is an amazing story- a man donated the land and John and Joyce Kateeba rounded up the funds and built the school. It started as a nursery school and was then later certified as a full fledged boarding school.

The kitchen is very rudimentary:


Dorms are rows and rows of bunk beds.
The children also learn farming and much of their food is grown on the school grounds.
They served us lunch (including goat meat, goat intestines, tiny sour eggplants, chichek, matooki and the works).
They ran through a welcome program (printed on an old crank mimeograph machine).

The children put on quite a performance of singing both welcome songs and traditional dance and were very happy we came. They do this very cool clapping thing we plan to bring to the St. Andrew's spirit choir.




We felt very welcomed!

The water source is a series of pipes that collect rainwater into a huge 200,000 liter cistern. A well is needed.

We are continually impressed by the importance put on education by the community and the children.

We saw books and clothing that have been donated from Call to Care efforts.

Later in the day we drove to a hot springs - water was up to 90 degrees centigrade ( that’s really crazy hot on Fahrenheit). 20 km each way on a bumpy road. This is a bathing spot, so no pictures allowed. Not an experience we’ll have every day.


A note about Joyce and John Kateeba – two people that are incredibly thankful to God for all they have and have dedicated their lives to serving the needs of others. They are continually in motion. Even after Joyce was confined to a wheelchair, she made the best use of her time by writing books on farming and family to help others, and was the “call center” for many of the efforts she and John started. She recognizes that without her accident, much would not have been accomplished. They are truly blessed and an inspiration.

Saturday and Sunday

Saturday, Nov 15th

Wow, only 7 days left. Time is really flying by.

The day started with sleeping in to 8:30. What a treat. Martha is really slacking up on us.

Had a new driver for the day who took us to Kampala. In a word – traffic. Like New Jersey around Christmas time, with the sweet addition of Diesel fumes, and no lines on the road, so it’s free form driving at its best. Like a real life video game.

We first stopped at Feed My Lambs – a school for underprivileged. Primary school is a day school, secondary school is boarding. They provide vocational education – cooking, sewing, crafts. They also learn and use a wafer maker to make Eucharist wafers.

The children had been waiting to wear their new uniforms until we arrived. These uniforms were purchased by craft sales through Team Uganda at St. Andrews. Joyce Kateeba supplies the crafts, many are made by the children. Joyce was the head of the school before she had an accident. She holds the place dear in her heart. There was a visible difference in the expression of the children before and after the uniforms were brought in to the room.
Martha was asked to dress two of the boys in their uniforms (shirts) in front of the class.
You could tell how proud and excited they were to be wearing these fresh clean shirts after removing their old street clothes.
Feed my Lambs children in new uniforms singing

A note about uniforms. Children who go to school wear a uniform. The uniform provides a sense of belonging. They wear them with pride. All along the roads, we see children walking to schools in bright colored uniforms, each school with a different color, typically bright colors. At Feed My Lambs, the uniforms are a beautiful red pinstripe.

They sang us welcome and praise songs including “Rise and Shine and give God the glory glory”


After Feed My Lambs, we had the privilege of meeting Chris’ wife and baby Martha, the namesake of our own Martha Hoffman. She is almost 5 months old, and didn’t mind being passed around at all! Chris’ wife, Grace, prepared us a lovely meal and friends of theirs came in and joined us.

We drove back to the guest house in Mukono at the University, stopped to do some blogging at an internet café, rested up before dinner. We had dinner at the home of Canon Kasamba his wife Salome and daughter Grace. We met 3 of their 8 children. All their children are adults, many have children and live around the country and one lives in Tanzania, his daughter Christine. We were also joined by Paul, a seminary student. Dinner was a feast of stuffed pumpkin, matooki, sweet potatoes, irish potatoes, beans, beef stew chicken and pineapple soda. Canon Kasamba and Salome spent 3 months at Calvary Church in Stonington, CT in 1999 as part of a clergy exchange. He also lived in Korea for 2 years as a teacher. He has a smart dry wit and the family was a lot of fun to be around - much laughter this evening.
The Kasambas and Martha



Sunday, Nov 16

Still have yet to see a monkey, although we can hear them in the trees. Hopefully soon…
Today is a church and travel day as the trip west is long…

We visited the Namarimbe Cathedral in Kampala – it is situated on the highest point in Kampala and the home of the archbishop of the country. Kampala has 7 hills – there is a church or a mosque on 4 of the 7 hills. Drove by Colonel Mumhar Khadaffi boulevard, next to the giant mosque he built in the city.
The service was joyous and uplifting. Over 1000 people attend service on Sunday. The choir was kids and adults, leading the congregation for 30 minutes in spirit filled praise music. (Hey Geoff – 1/3 of their monthly expenses for October went to the choir.)
We could follow lyrics and the sermon on TV screens. The sermon will be rebroadcast on radio.
After the children were all blessed and left for Sunday school, there was a skit. Hard to describe this performance. 2 figures in dark demon costumes and a large gorilla all represented evil. In the middle of the altar was a see-saw. Behind the see-saw was God and Jesus in Heaven. Several people tried to enter heaven, but as the demons put their sins on one side of the see-saw, their sins out weighed their goodness and they were overcome by the demons. The first was a smart, well dressed man who had all the sacraments, but he tried to do it on his own. The second was an old woman whose service to the church was 69 years as a choir member. She never asked for help, so she also fell prey to the demons. When the demons overcame the damned, the skit was incredibly violent and the people were dragged physically off the altar.
The last man, came with nothing for the see-saw, but told Jesus he needed help and trusted God. With God’s help, he overcame all and the demons were defeated and he entered into Heaven.

During the service, Martha recognized someone up on the altar. Her names is Christine Kinto and she is the senior warden.

After service, we began the long drive to Bushenyi. Crossed the equator but it was raining – plan to stop for some cheesy tourist photos on the way back. Not sure if there is a toilet to flush there.

This part of the country (the west) is increasingly hilly and mountainous. Very lush and densely forested. There is more development here – farming is more organized and plantations are common. Homes are more advanced than in the norther, more rural areas we have visited so far. We were stopped by police for inspection, but Douglas and Canon John Kateeba smoothed our passage forward. Along the way were noticed several trucks of soldiers as we passed by the road leading to the president of Uganda’s, Yoweri Museveni, home. John told us that the president was probably due to arrive shortly by helicopter and the troops were there awaiting him.
We passed by cattle with huge horns and also saw Uganda kob along the way. They are a lot like antelope, but more the size of moose. We stopped by pick up some snacks along the way (vegetable samosas, French fries and ginger soda) and Susan and Martha were thrilled their restroom actually had toilets!

We are staying at the Valley Inn in Bushenyi.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

The Road to Kaberamaido

Stopped in Soroti at the market to pick up more school supplies for the village children, water and the bank. Exchanged $2000, which was 35,000,000 Ugandan shillings. We are all walking around with bricks of cash in our possesion. The main road to Kaberemaido goes all the way to Sudan and is not yet paved.

We stopped in a town along the way to drop off Bishop Obaikol’s grandmother. A desperate and naked man was walking down the middle of the street. Douglas (remember our driver?) redirected him.

Rich pointed out how Kaberamaido is kind of like the old west - no electricity, one main street, a string of shops on either side….only thing missing was the tumbleweed. Some of the homes have solar power.

Village #1 – Akatakwi – We were greeted with ladies ululating and welcoming us with flags. This well is also awaiting completion and will be getting it’s pump later this week. The is Bishop and Mama Obaikol’s home village. We saw the site where the first well that was drilled failed. drill broke.
Real performance. Toured the village – huts, church, granary, chicken coop. Huts are unbaked brick covered with mud and grass roofs. Looks like the Indian villages at Plymouth plantation. Very clean and well kept. Many people have cell phones (elders) dichotomy of epochs. They invited Martha to come and stay with them.
Women did a song. Martha spoke again in Kumam. We were presented with special chicken dish and coca cola. Girls performed a song. They did a performance where they mimicked pumping, with an old woman coming out of a hut and limping towards the pump. Mike grabbed an empty container, and pretended to fill it up, walk with it on his head and dump it on Rich. Finally a captive audience for the two goofballs.
Local politician spoke of additional needs – health center, 3 more wells and a school. Chris reiterated that we were not rich, rather Martha is an ambassador from the Rotary and from the US.


Village #2 – Allipa - well a pumpin. Palm trees and flowers around the roadway. Walked to the stale water source (swamp) where they used to get their water (picture included below) . Kids all in blue. School nearby – About 250 kids showed up.
Rich and Mike had planed to teach the kids the Macarena, but fortunately for Africa we did not have the opportunity.

Old source of the water for the village - praise God for the new well!

(Can you find, Martha, Rich and Susan in this picture? Where's Waldo meets Uganda...)

Girls sang (asked for school supplies). Toto Mama Obaikol dressed them down for spending all their time at the trading center (source of alcohol). Told them not to do what their fathers do, but go to school and work hard.
They gave us a rooster whch is significant.
We met with the local council for the children's center, called the KAATCO Board in Jane's fronth yard. Meetigns are extremely formal and egendas are written and followed to the letter. From there we drove to the site of the new childrens center. It was emotional for Martha and all of us to see for the first time to see where it would be built. Sue Morris- a rock is forthcoming!
We then visited Calvin and Josephine (2 St. Andrews sponsored children) at their school – they are doing well and appreciated their gifts. Their boarding school has 1000 students and 18 teachers. Dorms are in classrooms.
Messages about sex are painted on buildings – "Virginity is healthy", "Abstain and be healthy"
That night we stayed at guest house Ararak in Kaberemaido- no electricity – Martha and Susan slept in an authentic hut with some solar light and 1 mosquito net and a few large uninvited guests of the arachnid family. Grass roof. Missy would not have been happy with the uninvited guests

Al Jazeera is the source of news - we got a good dose of the alternative view.

Thursday

Visited the girls’ school where Chris is chaplin and teaches. There are 90 girls, sleeping 3 to a twin mattress. The girls were very shy at first, but eventually they opened up . The girls asked questions – what is above the clouds and what is a hurricane and will we help them (sponsorship).

We treked to St Paul’s Church to donate choir robes and cash donated by the St. Andrews Music Committee to replace instruments that burned in a fire. Given chicken to eat on the spot. Church has been under renovation for 10 years - no windows, they put the doors on for our visit.

At long last we visited the final well site in Chris' home village – Alwa, well is named Owiris after a tree that was previously in its spot. Susan was carried from the car to the place of honor they set up for the team. We got up to dance to delay the program as the bumpy ride made Martha require a “freshening” stop. They constructed a makeshift lean –to for us to sit under. “old” women (over 45) sang, children sang, there was a band with harps and drums, flags waving. A real celebration. We were given a hen and a rooster and a bag of oranges. The gift of a rooster is a real honor.

Near the village, we visited the first Call to Care project – orange trees planted in a grove – they will bear fruit next year. Money from the oranges will go into the community’s hands to help educate children.

Took a walk to Chris’s home and family – given a large bunch of bananas and an avocado. Great to see his father and the hut where he grew up.

Stayed at the Plain Country Home guest house. Ate one of the two chickens given to us by Alwa village. They charged is $3 to prepare the food we brought. One hen we received from Alwa laid an egg in transit.

Met one of Chris’ uncles whose child Rogers has been helped out by parishioners at St. Andrews.

Friday
Mama Martha’s Mad Market Mayhem or how to spend 1.8 M shillings 10,000 at a time.

Left the guesthouse littered with dead cockroaches from Mike’s previous night’s killing spree. Susan is providing council for his remorse.

Bank exchange – got another 25 million shillings. Mike was on security detail. Rich and Susan distracted the locals with shadow puppets. Rich hugged a G-TV mascot in the parking lot (Sorry Lexi). Meanwhile Douglas and Chris didn’t know where we were and we got a scolding!

5 hour drive to the market. Market was wild. Martha and Chris were wheeling and dealing like Bob Barker. Rich and Mike were toting and hauling and blending in with spontaneous drum performances. Chris was renamed “Stanbic” after the local bank because he was in charge of the money. Mike tried hitchiking to downtown Kampala. We're not sure why no one picked him up.

Stopped shopping because it started raining.

Get ready to buy everyone – jewelry, instruments, animal carvings, baskets, placemats – so much stuff. Christmas is coming everyone – Ellen you’re going to be happy, in addition to the crafts to sell, Mike bought you a live pig for thanksgiving.
Someone walking around with some kind of insect in a bucket to sell to eat as a snack. Yum Yum.

Dinner at the retired archbishop Nkoyoyo. You name it we ate it (no grasshoppers). Young volunteers from Chain Foundation – 2 Germans and an American student vounteer who on the side sells American pancakes on the streets of Mkono joined us. We wore authentic African outfits purchased from the market. See a sampling at www.mzungos_go_shopping.com.

stay tuned

Wednesday and thursday - very filled days visiting the wells, a school and Josephine and Calvin. All is well and everyone is very welcoming, but we don't often have electricity or internet.
We delivered choir robes to 2 churches in the diocese of Soroti.
Please be patient - will most likely post on Friday night or sat am
Love to all!
The travelling mzungos

what an emotional ride

Tuesday, Nov 11
(Sorry no pics - no internet. Blog entered on Blackberry)
Took off in the morning for the local Habitat office in Mbale and met with David the local HfH person. He explained the process (much different than in the US)- the homeowner comes to habitat with the land they already own. HfH supplies some or all of the supplies and labor and builds the home in 2 weeks. The cost to the homeowner is 3,000,000 shillings ($2000).
David took us to see a house.the owner, Rebecca, ran out of the house and hugged Mike, thanking Habitat and God. She was filled with joy and excitement! She is a spirit filled woman.She designed her own pit toilet - a great design that she was proud of. Her home is spotless and well cared for.she built an extension to have an indoor kitchen. She showed us a picture of baby and told us she had a dream of a white baby. Then shw found a 4 day old baby in the garbage. She took the baby home and cared for it. Then she blew us away by bringing out the baby- little Peace is 10 months old and doing great! What a blessing!
Rebecca insisted that we take 2 paw paws (papayas) from her garden andprayed and thanked God in swahili. She has created a paradise for her and her baby.he life has been transformed from utter misery into paradise- rock walk, gardens. We were all overcome with joy and the presence.
We then met kathy (one of the children St Andrews sponsors) and her mother Gertrude. Kathy is a little hard of hearing and was a bit overwhelmed with all the attention. She is a beautiful girl- she loves science, has finished her exams and is off school until Feb. This is their big break. Her mom runs a small cafe or shop.
Sam Opols family has some land near Soroti. Sam has a dream of building a secondary school there- the nearest school is 5-7 miles away, so most kids don't go. Sam wants to build a boarding school to provide secondary ed. He showed us the land and discussed his vision.
On the road we saw a big monitor lizard, 2 crested cranes - national bird- rock formations with drawings from the stone age (no time to see)
It is clear from our talks that water and children are Chris' mission as well as Marthas.
Off to the villages to see the wells.
Well #1-Ongoratok-the bore hole is dug. Pump is en route. They named the pump "God is Good" - Ajokis edeke in Ateso language (Soroti). There was singing and dancing and rejoicing! The villiage has a well committee that cares for the well.initially everyone was a bit subdued.
Eventually as the crowd rolled in,the celebration began -much ululating.




We gave out school supplies, candy and a soccer ball and drove on to
Well #2- Agulamando. Water is flowing. PRAISE GOD!



The well was a pumpin when we rolled in. The community named the well Martha. More rejoicing and Martha gave a prayer in Kuman- she rocked the hosue. Mike worked the crowd like a local lounge lizard. The joy and love was flowing. The well is marked "Funded by the Madison Rotary and St Andrews church Madison Ct. We're etched in stone!
At each villiage, the celebrations were accented by beautiful high pitched calls (ululating). mike wants his nieces and nephews to know that the family call is alive and well in Africa!
Headed back to the guest house for a mtg with a builder to go over the plans and estimates for the community ctr. Finished the evening with dinner with Bishopb Obaikol and his wife Margaret - they send their love to all of you. Dinner was a feast of pork, chicken, fish,potatoes, rice, local veggies and of course Matooke.

Tuesday, Nov 11

Monday was a travel day from Kampala to Soroti. Went through Jinja and stopped at the source of the Nile River. It's the spot where Ghandi's ashes were thrown into the river as he requested upon his death.
Stopped in Mbale for refreshment, and met Florence, the mother of Timothy, one of the children that St. Andrews sponsors.
No internet connection- blogging done via the Blackberry. Sorry no pics. More to come once we find an internet spot.
Tuesday we'll meet with the Habitat folks and visit 2 wells.
Everyone is doing great, thanks to our expert driver, Douglas

Sunday - Resting, Feasting, and Raising the Roof!

Retired Arch Bishop Nkoyoyo stopped by first thing this morning. Greeted by all except Mike who was still sleeping off his jet lag. We started the day by attending a rousing church service. The music was amazing. The choir sang, danced, and rocked the rafters. We sang and danced a bit too! The whole service was conducted by reading songs and prayers from a giant PowerPoint presentation at the front of the church - complete with appropriate animations. It was interesting to hear the celebrant spend a significant amount of time blessing and praising the election of Obama. After church we took a tour of the campus with the Vice Chancellor. The campus is being transformed with several new buildings and a huge new library planned. Susan initiated a mud surfing contest – she won the gold – face down. After the tour, Rev. Chris Ochaloi joined us for the afternoon. We presented the Priest’s stole Ellen bought for him and he was so thrilled. (see the picture!) Martha gave him the choir robes and other gifts for his ministry – including a number of wonderful things for his new baby Martha – named after our very own.

We had dinner at the home at home of Joyce and John Kateeba. It was amazing – mushroom soup (mushrooms grown by Joyce.) Next was Motoki (mashed and boiled green bananas), millet bread (soft, hand turned millet flour). Rich and Martha discovered the joy and enhanced flavor brought about by eating the traditional way – with their hands. The rest of the meal included pumpkin, fried fish, goat, peas and various salads. Desert – pineapple, papaya and watermelon.

On the way back I noticed the massive mango tree outside our cottage – about 200 feet high – wish I had one in my back yard!

Tomorrow we are off to Soroti to see the wells and the grounds for the new children's center– passing through Jinja, the source of the Nile, along the way

Day 1 - What a "croc"

We all have agreed that it works well to fly in at night, get here at midnight – dead tired – wake up everybody I the guest house and then go straight to bed. We all got a decent night’s sleep…which will really help with the 8 hour time zone change and major jet lag. Mike says that Rich snores like a banshee. Rich says that Mike needs to cut his toenails.

We had a lovely breakfast here at the guest house and then a man named Vincent came to show us his batik artwork. Very beautiful. He explained the whole process – which is incredibly labor intensive.

Our friend, Sam Opol, stopped in next and we figured out when we could have dinner with his family. Next came John and Joyce Kateeba to visit. Joyce Kateeba is walking so well now after having some surgery to repair her leg (badly damaged in an accident). John will be securing a van and a driver that will take us on all our travels during the next two weeks. We are so grateful for his help…

We arrived at the CHAIN orphanage to a welcome performance of singing, dancing and drumming from all ages (tiny to teens) that was amazing. (Videos will be uploaded once we get a real connection).
A number of welcome speeches, thanking Martha and everyone for all the gifts and fundraising that is making a real impact on their lives. Martha did a fabulous job on her speech giving love and blessings from CT, and how we are all one family! There were 140 children in all, including a number from the village that came for the excitement. The CHAIN foundation provides outreach and support to those in the community in addition to those in residence.
More performances from the kids (not sure what Rich said in drum language, but it wasn’t good). We gave out crocs and harmonicas that Susan brought – “mouth pianos” from one of the kids. We got a tour of the dorms, school that is under construction, offices and grounds. A child took each of our hands as we walked around. Bitten by a few red ants – glad it only made it ¾ up the leg.

It’s truly amazing to see the impact that Martha has had since her initial visit here 2 years ago. One person really makes a difference. The seed she has nurtured is growing, and the children and the staff really love Mama Martha! The indoor toilets for the blind children’s dorm are functioning!

We finished with a meeting with the staff, hearing of the continued needs of the foundation.

Thank you for all your comments, love, support and prayers!

arrived in amsterdam!

Everything good so far. Mike and puppet - more in a future posting. We're amazed at how many "muzungus"(caucasians) are on the plane to Entebbe. Beautiful sunrise over London on the flight in. Really loking forward to landing in 9 hours.

Luggage Alert!!!

I made major headway with packing today....which felt great. When I went two years ago, I didn't pack until 2 hours before I left for the airport :-O Not good! This time, organization is key - - but packing light is definitely NOT AN OPTION. We are going over bearing so many gifts for the children.

I am posting a picture of Benjamin and Hailee on top of 5 of the 9 bags we will check. We will also each have two carry-ons!

Our checked bags contain 140 pair of crocs, 120 harmonicas and instruction booklets, 80 toothbrushes, 17 choir robes, 38 backpacks, various gifts for our hosts and children...and plenty of candy :-)

I packed my personal suitcase too, and by the time I got all the things I am bringing for friends there, I didn't have much room for my clothes! Oh well, this is no fashion show...

Over and out -

Martha

Sunday, November 2

We just had our last get-together at the Fisler's home tonight, with a lovely dinner, a cake made by Haley Hoffman, and lots of laughs. Rich showed me how to create an account so that I can begin to blog. It has been an all Team Uganda day, beginning at St. Andrew's this morning when our group was blessed at the 9:15 service. Then I spent most of the day looking at all the stuff I have to jam into my suitcase and wondering how it will ever happen. I have delivered 120 harmonicas and three guitars to Martha, and have taken possession of the computer I will carry for Chris. No clothes have been bug sprayed as yet, but I surely have enough lotions and potions, sprays and wipes, pills and salves to accomodate the entire continent.

Mike thinks he has the best hat, but he hasn't seen mine yet! I must admit that he looks quite fine in it -- a bit of the Great White Hunter to my Scarlett O'Hara working on the plantation.

Only three more busy days beforeThursday and then our expedition begins!