rothwellsmission

Saturday, 17 May 2014

BLOG NO 5 - 17TH MAY 2014

BLOG NO 5 – 17TH MAY 2014

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake themselves

Isaiah 42 : 16

We have referred to this verse a number of times this week as we pray for the changes being considered for next term by Charles and the teachers. They may seem minor changes to us but they are massive for them.

First is the change being made to the timetabling to address the fact that on some days teachers can be without students or students can be without teachers.

The biggest leap forward is the decision (after a little persuasion) to stream Senior 1 and Senior 4, making 2 classes for each year of 60 rather 120. And yes we realise that still seems enormous by UK standards but is a giant step for a Ugandan school.

Incorporating these changes and changing the timetable using a large table and some post-it notes (courtesy of Stan) you can appreciate is quite a challenge, so please pray for the two DOS's (Directors of Study) Jimmy and Patrick as they tackle this.

School has been quiet since the end of term although The Rock and The Bridge have been busy. The Rock is still open for the community to receive treatment and The Bridge for a holiday club, ably assisted by Peter, the gap-year student who has been staying with us. Before the end of term Peter also did 'tag' rugby sessions, played his cello in church, prepared and presented some 'Activate' lessons and helped with prayer groups and English Literature revision, so we think we kept him fairly busy!

He left us this week to go white water rafting on the Nile before going back to the UK so the house is now devoid of cello music, which was rather soothing (he was pretty good thankfully!).

Just because it's been quiet we have still managed to keep busy – Stan has been knee deep (not literally, thankfully) in concerns about cess pits and incinerator (you really don't want to know the details!).

We also went to visit the old school site for the first time and it made us realise how far the school (and now The Bridge and The Rock) has come in such a short time.

And then of course there are are our trips to immigration. One day we feel we should write a book about our experiences but suffice to say we have now made four journeys into Kampala (90 minutes there and 90 back on a good day) to collect our volunteer work permits on the day stipulated by immigration.

Each time we have been passed through Rooms 5, 2, 6 and 5a, moved on by a pointed finger raised from the phone (texting, not business), computer (on Facebook) and paper (newspaper that is, not our permits) .

On our penultimate visit we got to the stage of paying for the permits and handing in our passports and told to return in 5 working days, yippee, the home stretch – or so we thought. We noticed that there was a public holiday in the middle of the '5 working days' period so decided to go back on the Tuesday rather than the Monday – clever eh! No.....

On returning to Room 5 (as instructed) she looked through her shoe box of passports (oh yes, pretty high tech at immigration) and said they were not ready, come back Thursday, or talk to Room 2!

Went to Room 2 where we were told not to come back Thursday, they wouldn't be ready!

HOWEVER … we are no longer worried because she told us to come back next Tuesday, they would be ready because she was giving us her word. Will let you know...in the meantime we are officially illegal aliens as our visas expired last Wednesday, but we were assured it will be fine as we have a little scrap of paper they gave us saying 'file number 1780, two permits' (no names!) that we can show the police, so that's ok then.

(Prior to this Jerry had made two trips on our behalf to do the 'preliminaries', so we can't complain too much!)

And that is the shortened version of Sue and Stan go to immigration......could be a new Enid Blyton?

The good news is we are now driving ourselves when we need to go to Kampala, Charles is lending us his car and has decided we don't need to hire a driver any more as we have got used to Ugandan drivers and know our way around Kampala.....I THINK this is good news!

We also have some changes to think about and discuss as things we have been asked by the students to do next term include book club, film club, extra English and Bible studies (at the school), Adult Education classes (at The Bridge), and in addition we will continue with our Activate classes, tennis, cricket and badminton!

Things we have heard recently that you don't often hear in the UK.......

Good morning Mohammed, how are both of your wives
(From a guard at the shopping mall in Kampala – with a big smile) – Good morning sir, do you have anything nice in your pocket for me?
I have put a chameleon in your sink because I know you like them
I need 5000 shillings to go and buy some mango medicine for your tree
You are now living in a house of bat (he thought they were nesting in our eaves!)
May the blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you (in an invoice from a drug company)
Don't go too near, that's a nest of killer bees in your door
Mind that mongoose in the middle of the road
Look out, a cow just stepped off the roundabout

Things that have made us think.........

The reason small babies have their ears pierced is because babies may be stolen by witch doctors to be used as sacrifices, but they will only take perfect ones, those with pierced ears are deemed 'not perfect' and so will not be taken.
(In response to requests by students at The Rock to be circumcised) – if I am circumcised I cannot catch HIV/Aids.

It is ok to give babies soda (Coke, Fanta etc) as their teeth won't rot and they fall out anyway.

(The last two have prompted the planning of health talks by The Rock)

Thank you for your prayers, we have remained safe despite a few security hiccups and term starts on Monday, so please pray for the safe return of the students. This is always a worrying time for Charles and his team as they know many of the students will find it difficult to get away as some will have been put to work, promised in marriage or even married off by now. And of course finding the school fees continues to be a worry for many of the families.

We thought you may like to see some photos we have taken on our route on our last few journeys to Kampala.

UPDATE....

Although we wrote this a few days ago we are now only just attempting to send it, so a couple of bits of latest news.

Firstly, praise the Lord, we got our volunteer work permits from immigration so are now here legally.

Secondly, we have just heard that the clinical officer at The Rock, Hafswa, has been involved in a boda boda accident and has injuries to her chest and leg. We have no more information at the moment but can you please pray for her. She is holding her introduction and marriage on June 22^nd so please pray that this will still be able to go ahead.

With love and thanks Sue and Stan x

DOS's Jimmy and Patrick working on the timetable

Eva with Patience and Immaculate

barefoot football

poor little ghecko finding out the hard way about Ugandan electrics!

helping mother

journey to Kampala starts here......

.......and ends here - Kampala cathedral

Maria the cook in the kitchen with her cooking pots

barefoot netball

beautiful night sky

Peter and his cello

art project - making bags

school goats

slow internet - estimated time to download Stan's football game -more than 1 year!

Sue and the children from St Stephen's disabled unit

The Bridge - children with Stella and Linus

we visited the old school site - see how far they have come.......

the (only) classroom

dormitory - three to a bed (they now have one each)

the only residents left at the old school

there's a chameleon in your sink!

Kampala from the cathedral

visitor to Kampala International Church

good seats to watch the football

Tabane weighing the beans for supper

Sunday, 13 April 2014

BLOG NO. 4 - THE PICTURES!

first badminton lessons - with instructor Stan!

birthday cake!

traditional Ugandan dress - made to measure in Kampala

birthday presents - including a teapot!

chameleon - disguised as a tree!

WTA church music group

WTA church - preparation before the service

WTA church - worship dancers

WTA cricketers - wearing the shirts donated by one of the Dentaid team

Director Opio Charles nd his wife Annet came to dinner

sunset outside our door

Football tournament

football tournament - sharing the pitch!

Maranatha church sunday school, Katikamu

New instruments arriving - this is an ubongo (I think!)

playing the new instruments

rainy season is here!

Stan preaching at WTA church on forgiveness

athletic S1's!

teacher training day

Cissy prepares the matoke for lunch

group photo - teacher training day

visit of the primary school students

washing time for the girls (the boys seem to do it less often!)

Friday, 11 April 2014

ROTHWELL'S MISSION - BLOG NO. 4

BLOG NO 4 – FRIDAY 11TH APRIL 2014

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Colossians 3 : 13

After speaking about forgiveness in an Activate session we were reminded how easy this is to say, but just how difficult it can be to do, after we were passed a note from one of the students which read:

'Someone killed my brother in 2013 and up to now I have had difficulties whenever I try to forgive him. I now feel I want to forgive him and ask for God's help to do it'.

It reminded us that many of the students here have had, and are still having, such awful events in their lives that we would find it hard to imagine.

As a result of this note Stan preached in the WTA church on Sunday on the theme of forgiveness and many came forward for prayer afterwards asking for help to forgive others, and to receive closure themselves. We prayed that the student who wrote the note was amongst them.

On looking at our prayer requests on the last blog we are reminded of God's grace.

The S5 intake who arrived late seem to be settling in well, the distribution of the malaria nets is almost complete, the students with Hep B and TB are both now back at school and recovering and the stolen items and money following the theft have now been recovered. God is so good.

In the last few weeks we have been involved in such a variety of things -

Teacher training day, a birthday weekend (for Sue) in Kampala complete with cake, a football tournament (Stan), a discussion on 'peer pressure, sex and personal hygiene', (Sue) with all the girls and some female teachers, she learnt a lot of new information about African customs too graphic to go into here. The boys had a separate session at the same time but we can't comment on that, Stan was at the football tournament and Sue kept well away!.What was commendable (certainly from the girls meeting) was the close relationship and trust between the girls and the female teachers.

In addition Sue accompanied Michele to the Sanyu babies home in Kampala. They take in babies who have been orphaned, abandoned or removed from the family following cruelty. They were told that the police often turn up in the middle of the night with a new born baby that has been found in a drain or a ditch. They went there without appointment and feared the worse, but came away pleasantly surprised that this old, dark building was clean, welcoming and joyful with a large happy staff (almost one-to-one) and well-cared for babies.

What was also surprising was to be told that they have a waiting list of Ugandan families for baby adoptions, and children going to ex-pats and abroad are now the last resort, often for older children and children with disabilities. As they explained, children are still better off in any loving family than in a children's home, however good it may be.

Also in the last week we have been involved in presenting some sessions on exam revision techniques, remedial English grammar and a prayer session prior to the end of term exams, which started Monday.

We have found over these last few weeks that just 'being around' when there are students around and being available for a chat about anything and everything has, we think, been helpful to them. This is even more noticeable now that exams are on as they are under such incredible pressure and offers of help with reading or revision have been well received.

Exams finish on Good Friday and most of the students will be leaving, apart from Senior 5 who are not doing exams (as they started the term so late) and their lessons continue until the following week.

It will be very strange to be here when the only people around will be us and the askari (the guards).

However we won't be completely alone as our first 'official' volunteer arrived on Saturday – a gap-year student called Peter who is here for 6 weeks, together with his cello!

He is rehearsing this week with the students to play in church on Sunday and has been helping out at The Bridge with some of the children from the community, together with helping us with the exam techniques and prayer sessions. In addition he did some 'touch rugby' training, something completely alien to us!

The rainy season is certainly upon us, in the last few day we have had some amazing storms and an awful lot of rain. The good thing is, the plants we have recently put in – banana, avocado, mango, coffee, tamarind and orange – seem to be growing as we watch them, so hopefully we will soon be seeing the fruits (literally).

Thanks for your messages of encouragement, it is so good to know we are on your thoughts.

Finally (1) - things we have learnt since being here -

'later' means in the next day or so - possibly
'somewhat fair' - means 'that was a terrible exam'
'it was fine' means ' I think I did ok'
how to work a generator
that a banana is a herb, not a plant
how to tell the difference between the call of a monkey and a monkey bird
a large blue Turaco is a real bird and not a figment of the imagination of someone writing a script for Jurassic Park
how to get water out of a bore hole
the words of the Ugandan national anthem (the shortest one in the world by the way)
that we CAN find our way to Kampala on our own
lots about Wole Soyinka (Google him!)

Finally (2) - we have tried unsuccessfully for the last 3 hours to add photos to this blog, so we are now giving up and will publish it anyway - will try again tomorrow :)

Prayer requests

For peace and calm for the students taking exams over the next two weeks.
For protection for us during the school closure – this is the time in the past that the school has suffered break ins and theft and we are vulnerable as the only ones left!
For Elspeth and Jerry back in the UK – pray they can have a blessed time and a well-deserved rest.
For Peter, that he enjoys his experience here and knows he has made a real difference.
For our work permit – still waiting for our application to be accepted - our visas expire at the end of the month.
For the primary school children who visited WTA for a quiz and a tour – that they tell their parents to send them here next year!
For wisdom for Charles and the team as we investigate and consider ways to improve timetabling and teaching methods.
For our family and friends in the UK – we miss you!

Friday, 14 March 2014

ROTHWELL'S MISSION - BLOG NO. 3

“He has shown you , O man, what is good. And what does The Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Micah 6 : 8

Hello everyone

Thank you for your prayers and messages. It is such a comfort knowing we are in your thoughts and in your prayers.

From our last prayer requests we are seeing the results. The students are still coming, even those who had been awaiting results, and the school is almost full. After sending the last blog, when the mood here was very heavy, a few of us did a prayer walk around the perimeter and prayed for protection on the school and everyone in it. The following day the mood had lifted and we thank The Lord for that immediate answer to prayer.

It has been a while since the last blog, but we've now got to grips with the variable and very slow internet signal – we are doing this in the school library (up the hill and thus a better signal) instead of in the guest house (down the hill)! And it reminds us how blessed Wobulenzi Town Academy is to have a library, so few schools in the area do.

Jerry did a great talk at the recent Parent's Day (see below) explaining the role of ServeDirect here, using a bag of tools, and it was a perfect illustration. ServeDirect supply the tools, such as the library building and the books, but it is up to the workers, the teachers and the pupils, to use them.

To us it ably demonstrates why the partnership between ServeDirect and Wobulenzi Town Academy (and The Rock and The Bridge) works. If ServeDirect walked away tomorrow all three of the projects could continue, and that is the joy of the relationship.

Will now try and do a brief-ish update of the last almost three weeks and add some photos.

A team of young people from Wototo church in Kampala have been out a few times to speak at church on Sunday, run some small group discussion with the very active school CU and do some training in sport – netball, basketball and football.

New birthing bed for The Rock arrived, Stan, Jerry and Phil erected it - eventually – and Stan even tried it out. Lots of giggles from the medical team! (The photo seems to have mysteriously disappeared - will keep searching).

Helen and Steve Richardson arrived. What a joy to have them here, felt like a little bit of home had arrived (and it had,in the shape of chocolate!). And bless them for bringing champagne all the way from England to toast the house!

Dentaid team arrived – Team of UK and Ugandan dentists who set up surgery in The Rock and started work within the hour. They examined and treated the whole school, the teachers and 73 members of the community. Stan was very brave (being scared of dentists) and went into the surgery to take pictures and generally comfort some scared students while Sue helped as dental assistant – holding hands and washing some bloody instruments. We provided lunch for the team of 13 at the guest house – our first official visitors.

Parents Day – lasted most of Sunday 2^nd. Was due to start at 10am, Africa time, so got under way at around 12. The students put on some incredible entertainment – the choir performed and then there were traditional dances from all four corners of Uganda including the circumcision dance which according to Stan was “very interesting”! The WTA cook, Maria, catered for 800 (guests, parents and students) with a meat and rice meal in a delicious sauce. It was humbling to see the students fetching bowls of water for the parents to wash themselves before eating – some of them had travelled hours to get here. It was great to see exhibitions of art in the Art Room and experiments taking place in the laboratories – both recent additions to the school.

We are at last having some Senior 5 students arriving – the 'O'Level results had been delayed and they are unable to start school until they are published. The results for WTA had again improved, which is a credit to Charles and his teaching staff. Some of the students have done so well they have been offered free bursaries at other schools, and that is a compliment to the standards here, that WTA have given these students such a good grounding.

We were able to listen to Will on Forge Radio last week, the Tom and Will show every Monday at 4pm (for us, pm) on www.forgetoday.com. As the signal is so variable it faded in and out but we were able to hear Will give us a name check which was such a treat – again another link with home – so good to hear his voice.

On Saturday Elspeth and Sue celebrated Womens Day (very big here – a public holiday) by showing a girly film and having a discussion group for the girls (plus an awful lot of boys who wanted to see the film).

Our Activate sessions have been a delight – so far the subjects have chosen themselves following things said by the students or concerns that have arisen. In the last two weeks we have covered 'water' (from the bore hole and the spiritual kind) and the 'End of Days/being ready'. This week there are mid-term exams, so no lessons, but Stan has cricket tonight and Sue has tennis tomorrow – the sport never stops!

We experienced our first matatu ride from Kampala to Wobulenzi this week. We likened it to a Famous Five adventure – we had to change vehicle (or as we called it, sardine can) three times, walk through two deep ditches (fortunately no water in them), cross two three-lane fast roads and had two near-misses. All part of the fun of living here!

After two false starts Stan was able to open up a guest house bank account at Wobulenzi bank. And then he spent four hours there trying to draw out some money. However, so that he didn't waste any more time he was encouraged by the staff to join the 'fast' queue – the sign said 'For the Elderly'!

We have had some other successes this week - Said the soda man now knows Stan by name and has a supply of ginger beer ready for him when he calls, and Dhama in the water shop had the large 20 litre bottle of water we had ordered from him three weeks ago (which he said would be there on Tuesday). Even better news – he had ordered 50 of the bottles from his supplier – his shop was full of them. Fortunately he didn't want us to take them all at once! And the 'smiley pineapple lady' now gives us the 'locals' price and not the 'mzungu' one.

We walked through the school early this week and were amazed again at how early they are at work - prep and then getting water, washing and clearing up. And the sunrise was spectacular.

PRAYER REQUESTS

For the Senior 5's arriving half way through the term – pray that they will settle in and feel at home very quickly.

For malaria nets – they are prepared and ready the challenge is getting them on the beds.

For the student diagnosed with Hepatitis B and another with TB – they have returned to their villages until they are better – please pray for healing.

For wisdom for Charles as he deals with theft of items from the school. We pray that justice and mercy will prevail in this situation. The quote from Micah is the school motto and it has been quoted many times during our time here, and is a good reminder of what He asks us to do.