Greetings to you all, we are in Jinja for some much needed rest so have some time to write. Since we last wrote we have celebrated my 60th birthday with the children from the home. We bought ice creams for them all so it was a real joy to see their pleasure (ice cream is somewhat of a treat). Marilyn had made a cake so we had a wee party at home and on the Saturday night the Muzungus gathered for pizza and soda so the celebrations continued. We then have since celebrated Ezra's 12th birthday in the usual style last Friday, and Marilyn played for a wedding on Saturday for two of our workers who were getting married after 10 yrs of being together. Weddings in Uganda are well known for not keeping to time but this time it was with a difference. The wedding was timed for 1pm and at that time both the bride and groom were there, but they had to wait for the congregation to arrive. The wedding service eventually began at 2.30pm (we had been there since midday to set up) and once started the day proceeded smoothly, we got home about 8.30pm.
Our time at Jinja has been good, we return home tomorrow, but it has been amusing to us the last two days there have been busloads of Secondary students who have 'stopped off' at Kingfisher to stretch their legs while on field trips and many of them want a photo with us (because we are whites), we feel like celebrities.
Marilyn is ready for us to go out for dinner so I will end now.
Till next time
God Bless
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Warwick's 60th
Warwick with Rhode sharing a pancake.
The FU kids all eating up at the home.
Fleur and Rose-healthy kids now.
Nathan with Renske, our hero. She saved this young boy's life last week when he choked and stopped breathing.
Baby Jacinta, 2 weeks old and suffering from malaria.Note it is never too young to be put on the wall for misbehaving!
Even the babies got to taste ice cream.
Warwick and Nathan share the birthday cake.
Arnout and his babies. Young girl in pink dress is our latest recruit. She was found by one of our Secondary Students, in a ditch, tied up in a maize sack. The student's mother took her to the police and from there she came to us. Welcome Tabitha!
some captions
For some reason the blog is not allowing captions with the photos so for the last postings here they are.
Sports -explaining tabloid sports and sorting out the teams, one activity - over and under, the dress up relay - a lot of fun, Richard reading a book to his friend Ibra, sporting new uniforms courtesy of GAIN Germany.
Then library, a typical library period with P4. Marilyn reading a Robert Munsch book to the class, obvious enjoyment of the students, then some choose to do puzzles, Marilyn helps a couple of students who have difficulty reading, while others choose books to read.
Many thanks to those in NZ who have given money for books, they are, like you, a treasure.
Sports -explaining tabloid sports and sorting out the teams, one activity - over and under, the dress up relay - a lot of fun, Richard reading a book to his friend Ibra, sporting new uniforms courtesy of GAIN Germany.
Then library, a typical library period with P4. Marilyn reading a Robert Munsch book to the class, obvious enjoyment of the students, then some choose to do puzzles, Marilyn helps a couple of students who have difficulty reading, while others choose books to read.
Many thanks to those in NZ who have given money for books, they are, like you, a treasure.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Rat, B'days and farewells
Greetings to all, it has been a busy time for us as we have been becoming more involved in the schools recently and feel quite tired by the end of the day. Since we last wrote we were plagued by a rat in the house (our first since being here). for those who know Marilyn she doesn't cope well with mice let alone a rat so you can imagine her reaction one evening to wake up with a rat on her bedside table. It escaped. We set some baits which it seemed to enjoy so much that it kept coming back. We bought a trap which it totally ignored but after three nights we heard it in the store and I was able to put my great 'hunter and gatherer skills to the fore and frightened it out whereupon I killed it with the broom. I also killed the broom too as I broke the handle but it was worth it, we are now vermin free, we think!!
Our latest pests are the monkeys who are plentiful at present. The avocado tree outside our bedroom is laden with avocados so we are woken in the morning by the sound of monkeys on our roof and avocados falling on the ground or on the roof. The monkeys are not afraid and they come close to the house, I try to scare them by shouting 'bang' but they just seem to laugh at me and carry on foraging. Mangoes are plentiful too at the moment so we are enjoying those and the watermelon from the farm.
At the Secondary Vocational school the students initiated a fellowship group to meet for prayer one day a week. It has been a real joy to be part of that with over three quarters of the school meeting on a Tuesday for worship and prayer. Pastor John has agreed to come when he can to do some specific teaching so that is a blessing too.
At the Primary school Marilyn is involved again in teaching music to four classes and takes a library session with all classes which keeps her busy. In doing some diagnostic testing, she discovered 18 students from P4 -P7 (11-15 yrs old) who couldn't read so Aunty Inneke, Aunty Reny, and Marilyn have embarked on a programme to teach them using Jolly Phonics. The difference after only two days is remarkable. We have also introduced the concept of tabloid sports to involve all students on a friday afternoon. We talked to the teachers last week and will have our first round this week. So far the response from the teachers has been positive. There have been many teachers away through illness the last few school days, there is a lot of malaria around, please pray for our continued health too.
We recently celebrated Timothy's birthday and the two Rebeccas so we have had a lot of cake and they do enjoy choosing what to have for supper that night (often pancakes).
We decided that it was time for a Muzungu dinner (white missionaries, volunteers and visitors) and used the excuse of farwelling Nathalie who had been here for three months and Corne & Anna-Saar who had been here for eight months. So we cooked a three course dinner (the collective 'we' probably isn't fair, Marilyn cooked....) and had a really good time chatting together. We sometimes can feel somewhat isolated down here so it was good to catch up with the others. Marilyn's cooking is becoming legendary here, as indeed it is in NZ. We enjoyed hosting everyone. Corne and Anna-saar left yesterday and will be missed, we were very grateful that they took the Sunday School for us while we were in NZ. Anna-Saar had taught my Sunday School class the song 'Carry your Candle' which they sang to the church the week before last and we heard it sung all over the compound the whole week, it was quite special.
Piet and Pita return from The Netherlands this week, Saturday we think. It will be nice having them back again hopefully having been able to have some R & R, I know the children are missing them as indeed we are. We pray for safe travels.
Well, that's enough for now except to say something about Rhode (you didn't think you could escape that easily did you?). Rhode continues to be delightful, she is a real parrot and mimics most of what we say. I love it when I say 'I love you' and she says back 'I wuv you'. She is developing into quite a character, so far we haven't had any two year old tantrums, lets hope it lasts. It is always a special time for us when we get her down here, and the boys love it too.
Till next time
God Bless
Our latest pests are the monkeys who are plentiful at present. The avocado tree outside our bedroom is laden with avocados so we are woken in the morning by the sound of monkeys on our roof and avocados falling on the ground or on the roof. The monkeys are not afraid and they come close to the house, I try to scare them by shouting 'bang' but they just seem to laugh at me and carry on foraging. Mangoes are plentiful too at the moment so we are enjoying those and the watermelon from the farm.
At the Secondary Vocational school the students initiated a fellowship group to meet for prayer one day a week. It has been a real joy to be part of that with over three quarters of the school meeting on a Tuesday for worship and prayer. Pastor John has agreed to come when he can to do some specific teaching so that is a blessing too.
At the Primary school Marilyn is involved again in teaching music to four classes and takes a library session with all classes which keeps her busy. In doing some diagnostic testing, she discovered 18 students from P4 -P7 (11-15 yrs old) who couldn't read so Aunty Inneke, Aunty Reny, and Marilyn have embarked on a programme to teach them using Jolly Phonics. The difference after only two days is remarkable. We have also introduced the concept of tabloid sports to involve all students on a friday afternoon. We talked to the teachers last week and will have our first round this week. So far the response from the teachers has been positive. There have been many teachers away through illness the last few school days, there is a lot of malaria around, please pray for our continued health too.
We recently celebrated Timothy's birthday and the two Rebeccas so we have had a lot of cake and they do enjoy choosing what to have for supper that night (often pancakes).
We decided that it was time for a Muzungu dinner (white missionaries, volunteers and visitors) and used the excuse of farwelling Nathalie who had been here for three months and Corne & Anna-Saar who had been here for eight months. So we cooked a three course dinner (the collective 'we' probably isn't fair, Marilyn cooked....) and had a really good time chatting together. We sometimes can feel somewhat isolated down here so it was good to catch up with the others. Marilyn's cooking is becoming legendary here, as indeed it is in NZ. We enjoyed hosting everyone. Corne and Anna-saar left yesterday and will be missed, we were very grateful that they took the Sunday School for us while we were in NZ. Anna-Saar had taught my Sunday School class the song 'Carry your Candle' which they sang to the church the week before last and we heard it sung all over the compound the whole week, it was quite special.
Piet and Pita return from The Netherlands this week, Saturday we think. It will be nice having them back again hopefully having been able to have some R & R, I know the children are missing them as indeed we are. We pray for safe travels.
Well, that's enough for now except to say something about Rhode (you didn't think you could escape that easily did you?). Rhode continues to be delightful, she is a real parrot and mimics most of what we say. I love it when I say 'I love you' and she says back 'I wuv you'. She is developing into quite a character, so far we haven't had any two year old tantrums, lets hope it lasts. It is always a special time for us when we get her down here, and the boys love it too.
Till next time
God Bless
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Farewell Anna-Saar and Corne
Coffee and cake to farewell AS & C
Inneke concentrating on 'Traffic Jam'Some pics
Rhode, great pose, and love the 'hair'
Timothy's birthday
soccer training skills
Rebecca on her 14th birthday yesterday
Rebecca Atim on her 10th birthday celebrated yesterday
The two Rebeccas
Christine, now used to wearing her glasses
Hannah and Matthew on the latest craze, stilts, courtesy of Uncle Corne
Hannah and Gloria who managed with help from Matthew
the latest guitar pupil, Dorah
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