Back to school

This is the day we have been waiting for, school is back!!! We have survived the holidays. I now have some time to write to update the happenings from here.
Firstly, the good news was that Matthew, Owen and Timothy all passed their PLE and are now officially S1's. We were delighted with the results, not only did they pass, but the whole class did. We are now preparing them for the new Secondary Vocational school. It is the usual rush to get things finished as the official opening of the school is this Saturday, though the students don't start until Monday 13th (the day after we leave for NZ).
During these last few weeks we have been swimming with one of the activity groups (about 30 children) at a nearby pool. It was a great day and, thanks to Marilyn's coaching, many have definitely improved their skills. We were also involved in interviewing teachers for both the Nursery and Primary school as well as the Secondary school. It has been an interesting exercise to say the least. Last week we ran two workshops for teachers, one on Mathematics and one on Teaching Reading using phonics, we will wait and see what effect they might have but they seemed to go well.
Last Friday was the end of holidays disco which was a lot of fun for all.
Today we celebrated the beginning of the school year by giving out new crocs (shoes) to the whole Nursery school and to some of the Primary school children. We hope to complete the Primary school tomorrow. It is a very rewarding task, and we are very fortunate to have shoes to give them.
We are also making preparation for our trip to NZ in less than two weeks time, we are really looking forward to catching up with family and friends. It is amazing how quickly six weeks can be filled up.
Pita continues to make progress in recovery and Piet seems to be now back into full swing again, please pray for their continued progress.
As part of the new year, eight of the babies have moved from the nurses to the toddlers section in the home. Rhode is one of them. It was her first day today as a 'toddler' and when we got her down here this afternoon, she was very tired. She is at a very delightful stage (the pre-2yr old stage), full of cuddles, and smiles and laughs and mimcs words in conversation. We will probably miss her more when we are away than she will miss us. Please pray that she will settle into her new routines.
That's about all for now, till next time
God Bless

After church on Sunday

Is this what I do Grandad?
I just love my new bike
cutting jackfruit
Hannah making sure tere is enough to go around
Joshua and Peace with typical poses, joshua with a plastic smile and Peace just natural

P7 celebrations

The P7 group before their party
Matooke and meat sauce
A real treat-ice cream!
Hannah and Christine

New Year

Fantastic long sparklers from Holland
Ready set go!
Our New Year's "fireworks"
Olle Bola
Preparing the faces with facepacks provided by Auntie Tama.

Happy New Year

Greetings to all for 2012. We ushered in the New Year with about 50 children who mostly managed to stay awake. The evening started with the traditional ollie bolle (sp) a dutch delicacy(?) which is a favourite with the kids. This was followed by the parade of lights. All children had made a lantern during the week in their craft time and a tea-light candle was placed in each so the children paraded around with these on sticks and they really looked good. My job was to relight their candles when they went out prematurely, I was kept quite busy. After this the younger children went to bed while others stayed up to play pictionary and watch a DVD until nearly midnight.
We celebrated the New Year in with pink champagne (strawberry fanta), fireworks (popping about 300 balloons) and sparklers, a real treat for young and old. We took a break from Sunday School on the first and had a much needed relaxing morning, but had church as usual in the afternoon.
On Monday morning the 'chores' began again. This involves the children from 8 yrs and upwards spending time in a department of the home from 9am until 10.30, three days a week. these holidays the children have been really good in turning up, it is a real win-win situation, they get to experience what goes on in the laundry or kitchen or construction and the Aunties/Uncles get to know the kids a bit better. Our task is to monitor the children turning up and so far it has been excellent.
We took Ezra and Paul shopping with us last Wednesday and had a really good time with them, next week it will be Mark and Richard's turn.
Last Friday we had our own Pictionary night with 6 teams competing. It was a very loud and extremely fun night, with many 'arguments' as to which team guessed their drawing first. We were grateful that we had enough helpers to be with each team. It is through these activities that the children learn how to win gracefully and, more importantly, how to accept defeat when they don't win.
We are in ourlast night of three in Jinja having some final 'time out' before we return to NZ for six weeks. Marilyn's birthday was yesterday and she wanted a quieter celebration. We have enjoyed being able to relax by the pool and have also done some much needed shopping. We are looking forward to returning home tomorrow.
Please continue to pray for Piet and Pita to be restored to full health and for the many projects which need to be completed especially the Secondary Vocational school.
Until next time, God Bless