Greetings to one and all, it is about time we wrote again. This past month has been cram packed so I'll try not to be too long-winded (yeah right).
On Jan 2nd we left for a few nights in Jinja to spend time with the Graingers. It was a lovely relaxing time and was especially good watching Alex and Simon learning to swim. We celebrated Bri's 16th birthday at Ling-Lings the Chinese restaurant we often eat at in Jinja and also took it as an early celebration of Marilyn's 60th. We returned home on the Saturday and continued to look after Joan here, she was such an easy girl to care for. When we took her back on Monday for a checkup at the hospital the change in her results was a dramatic improvement. We returned the following week to find that her liver had totally repaired and she was able to return to a full diet and could go back up to the home.We took her up on Wed and on Thursday morning she came back asking if she could stay the night with us. We have had her back one night and she comes down most afternoons at Rhode time often with other girls in tow, she has become another 'special' little girl to us.
In the second week of Jan. there was an opportunity to buy some brass instruments, about 22 pieces in all, trumpets,cornets, trombones, tubas, euphoniums, big bass drum, side drums, and others I can't think of at the moment. John, who was the leader of the group from Iganga who came in Dec.was able to supply a package deal and also arranged for some of his group to come as tutors during the holidays. So for the last three weeks the children have been learning to play brass instruments. It has been a wonderful time for them and they performed three pieces in church last Sunday. It has also kept them well occupied for the holidays. We have employed a young man, Daniel, who will stay as their tutor (along with doing other tasks) so it will be interesting to see if the initial interest continues once school returns.
Marilyn was unable to avoid celebrating her birthday here on the 10th and she shared the limelight with Iscaah, she even endured the "how old are you now, how old are you now...." ritual. It was a good day overall.
We have had two excursions swimming with groups of kids, the P7's from this year, and a group of the older 25 children from here (its a tough life but someone has to do it), and we were fortunate with the weather on both occasions. It is great to see the children in the water as they just love it. The results from the P7 again in the PLE had a 100% pass rate with some good results.
We are ready for the children to return to school tomorrow, we did some teacher interviews with limited success but have enough staff to cover most of the bases we think.
To finish off, I have been feeling unwell for the last couple of weeks so on Wednesday, after having the usual tests here, we went to International Hospital Kampala for some tests. A Liver Function Test showed some liver damage and on Friday when I went back I was diagnosed with Hepatitis A. I have had little energy, am jaundiced, have no appetite and just want to sleep. I could also say that my urine is a very dark colour but that would be too much information so I won't tell you that. The good news is that we know what it is, it is self-limiting, i.e. won't turn chronic, and although there is no specific treatment there are things I can do to help recovery (like rest and diet). In time the liver will repair itself and I go back on Friday for another test to see how things may have improved and in the meantime I can do little else. I may be contagious so I have to keep away from contact with children which is difficult here. We were both vaccinated for Hep A & B but it hasn't seemed to work with me. Please pray for Marilyn that she will be protected and give her a peace about this. Also please pray for healing in my body so that I can take up some work again and not just be a passenger. In addition please pray for the schools (all three) as students return for a new year and continue to uphold the management team.
One last thing, we were absolutely delighted to hear from our son Chris on Tuesday that he had asked Beck to marry him and to nobody's surprise she said YES. It's about time!!! They also signed up a house at Piha so were really rapt about that.
That's about all for now, till next time
God Bless
Welcome home Pita from Holland. We celebrate with a baby dropped at the gate, Napthali. God's timing is spot on.
an hour later three carloads of children rescued from a supposed "school", locked in a room without food or water. There were 26 of them ranging in age from 2yrs to 16 yrs. They are staying the night here and hopefully some (all) will be returned to parents in the next few days.
gathered in the old church somewhat nervously. Please pray for these children that they can be reunited with family.
