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NO 9 – 17TH OCTOBER 2014
And
the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ,
after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and
make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power for ever and
ever. Amen.
1Peter
5 : 10-11
First
of all thank you for your prayers -
The
problems at the school have been resolved and and it does feel as if
a cloud has lifted to allow life to return to normal.
Kato
Patrick is now back at work having recovered from typhoid, the eyes
are twinkling again!
A
few days ago we saw the young couple who lost the baby. They are very
philosophical and so strong. They thank you for your prayers.
All
504 of our students had returned safely by the third week of term –
for some it takes a while to remember the day and then to travel, and
for some they are waiting until the school fees can be found.
Our
Activate and English lessons have resumed, as has cricket!
The
security improvements at The Bridge have been completed and the
computers installed. They will be such a blessing to the local
primary school children who come to The Bridge as there are no such
opportunities in the local schools. The computer teacher, Brenda, has
started her first lessons. We sat in on the first one when the
students went nowhere near the computers – it was entitled 'This is
a computer and this is what it can do'. They were awestruck!
We
now have another new nurse/midwife at The Rock, Lillian. She is
delightful and the two nurses are working well together.
Did
you spot the deliberate mistake in the last blog photos – the goat
on a termite mound – was a sheep!
Bad
timing of the week – Stan went into Kampala, into the bank,
shopping malls and a café, on the 13th September. When he
got home we heard on BBC World Service that the US embassy had told
it's citizens not to go anywhere near malls or cafés that day as
they had received intelligence that a bomb was to be planted (it was
four years to the day since a café in Kampala was bombed).
The
police did in fact arrest someone with explosives so this time not a
false alarm. However the good old UK embassy said nothing and the
malls were full of us stiff upper lip British who would not be put
off shopping!
We
spent a brief but very enjoyable couple of days going to Murchison
Falls Game Reserve, calling in at Ziwa rhino sanctuary on the way.
Both places were awesome in the real sense of the word. Stan trekked
with a guide through the bush after a herd of rhino. I stayed in the
car and the rhino obliged by turning abruptly and walking right in
front of the car, causing Stan and the guide to jump back in
sharpish!
In
Murchison we drove through the reserve in our own car which involved
a great deal of off-road driving in the torrential rain by Stan, who
secretly loved it! We were fortunate to see herds of buffalo and
various types of antelope – hundreds, as far as the eye could see.
We also saw elephants, giraffe, warthogs, everything in fact we
wanted to see except leopards and lions. But as the guide explained,
cats don't like water! We plan on going back when Will is here and
will hope to see some big cats then.
To
get to the game reserve involved crossing the Nile on a car ferry,
and later that day we even managed to fit in a brief boat trip up
river to the falls.
We
realised that two items on our 'bucket list' had been crossed off in
one day – a safari in Africa and a boat ride up the Nile!
Recently
we had a group of volunteers from Kampala International School, 25
students and 4 teachers. They used the guest house as a base/chill
out area/shower area! They were great fun and very enthusiastic. They
spent the mornings planting grass and making 'Tippy' bottles for hand
washing outside the latrines, and the afternoons in running workshops
for Senior 1 in such diverse subjects as drama, creative writing,
making a WTA newsletter, making 'house' boards, art projects and
making a 'lip-dub video' (no we didn't know what it meant either) of
the song 'Happy'.
In
the evenings they prepared a myriad of games and sports tournaments
which the whole school were able to take part in.
On
Friday all the projects were presented to the school followed by
lunch provided and prepared by the KISU students. We needed a few
days to lie down in a darkened room with a gin and tonic, but apart
from that it really was great fun!
Will
arrived last Friday and we have already got him in the timetable to
teach Biology, he's already successfully completed his first three
Activate lessons and played a couple of football matches. So great to
have him here and be able to show him around.
You
will remember in the last blog we said we had a cobra at the bottom
of the garden. We still haven't got a photo of it (and I confess I am
quite pleased), but we did find this very large skin that it had
shed, which means there is an even larger cobra slithering about now!
On a positive note – there are no mice around!
And
on the subject of wildlife – you will have seen in the previous
blog the pictures of our two ferocious guard dogs Tusker and Juno.
They belong to Jerry and Elspeth who one day will be taking them back
to the UK, and we have loved having them. In reality they are lovely
and very soft, except (with Tusker) where chickens are concerned.
Unfortunately
one day the gate was left open and he followed Stan (unbeknown to
Stan) through the school into the village where he found a slow
chicken. And unfortunately the worst happened.
Stan
then had to trace the owner and offer blood money, but the lovely old
lady told him that of course she didn't want money as we were her
neighbours! She then offered the chicken to him to take home for the
dog!
Tusker
was in disgrace, but a few days later redeemed himself when he
rescued Sue from a rat the size of Lichtenstein that was in the house
– the end was swift!
Sad
news recently – our Biology and PE teacher Nesimye Juliet died
suddenly after suffering a heart attack, she was only 24. Stan took
Charles and some of her colleagues to the funeral in her village
which was three hours drive north and was attended by over 600
people. Such a reminder of how fragile life is here.
We
changed our Activate lessons that week to be able to talk about how
the students felt and about the promise for us all that was such a
comfort to them. They knew Juliet was a very strong Christian so we
were able to talk about where she had gone.
And
– under the heading of 'things you never thought you would do' –
Sue was given the task of answering all the questions raised
following the last health talk from The Rock. As both members of
staff are new (the other two have recently left) it seemed unfair to
ask them to do it, so Sue drew the short straw!
Of
the 150 questions 50% were about sex and 50% about disease, in
particular HIV/Aids. Most were myths, and dangerous ones at that –
examples – you can't catch Aids if you drink merinda soda before
sex, you can't catch Aids if you are circumcised, you can't get
pregnant the first time you have sex. The questions were answered
over two assemblies.
The
students were quiet and attentive, and many of them said afterwards
how grateful they were to have some proper answers to their questions
from someone they trusted, which was a wonderful compliment. As we
are still learning – God only asks you to do things He knows you
can handle!
Best
email of the week – from our medical suppliers after we reminded
them for the refund they had promised us in August, “the process is
a bit long because the paper work has to move from one desk to
another” - fair enough then!
As
this was written in haste the photos aren't labelled, so you will see
– in no particular order – returning to school, revision, the KISU visit – workshops, sport, games, grass planting and lunch preparation. Rhino trekking at Ziwa, various wild animals at Murchison
Falls Game Reserve, the Nile (note British engine powering the
ferry!), the falls. The bungalow at the side of the Nile is where the
Queen stayed! Will getting stuck in to football – and the hammock –
and Nile Special! And – beautiful African sunsets.
And
finally please pray for one of our students who nearly died during
the night recently from lack of blood. It seems she had a botched
abortion in one of the villages. Thank the Lord that she was
discovered by another girl in the dorm and taken to hospital and is
now recovering. The procedure happened when she was away from the
school supposedly to collect school fees from her parents.
With
love
Sue
and Stan x
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