BLOG NO 9 - 17TH OCTOBER 2014

BLOG 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 13^th 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

BLOG NO. 8 - 6TH SEPTEMBER 2014

Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the Lord delivers him in times of trouble.

The Lord will protect him and preserve his life; He will bless him in the land and not surrender him to the desire of his foes.

Psalm 41 1 : 2

We got back to Uganda on 4^th August expecting 500 students to be waiting for us. It was the last week of term and we had arranged a programme of activities, films and games as there would be no teaching whilst the teachers marked exams results and prepared reports for the students to take home – no mean feat when you have 500 + students and everything is prepared by hand.

However we were met by Charles, who told us that the students had been 'difficult' so had been sent home early!

We have noticed that some teachers struggle with keeping discipline without using physical punishment which is understandable as this is a fairly new phenomenon in Uganda (and, we are told, is still used in some schools although now illegal).

It may take some time before they come to understand there are other ways of maintaining school discipline rather than lashing out with a stick, but of course it's easier for us as it's been much longer since that type of punishment has been used in the UK, so like a lot of things here it will be slowly, slowly!

Anyway, may have been a blessing in disguise as it's given us all the opportunity of supporting Charles in dealing with a difficult issue that came up whilst we were in the UK that has resulted one member of staff being dismissed and another dismissal being a possibility, investigation is continuing.

So prayers please that the situation will be resolved soon.

And whilst you are praying can you also include prayers for the safe return of the students, some from villages far away.

As we have mentioned before, some of them may have left the relative safety of the school to go back to their home villages where they may face situations that could be dangerous, or could prevent them from returning, such as early marriages for some of the girls. In view of this the return to school is often a rather fraught time for many of them.

In addition to this is the continuing problem of finding the school fees which always needs sensitive handling. Fortunately both Charles and Patrick (the bursar) have a real knack of identifying those really in need, that can be helped a little, rather than those who are probably able to pay the fees. They called it 'giving the mango tree another shake'!

Despite the focus being diverted we have still managed to sort out a water pump, get some mosquito nets on the remaining beds, ready for the 12-strong team from New Life church who are coming out with the Dugdales (who clearly can't stay away!) in November, got a fridge (for vaccines) installed at The Bridge together with a generator, supervised pit latrine digging (the highlight of the week!), prepared a teacher training 2 - day course on phonics to be held at The Bridge, for some local primary school teachers (we have enjoyed doing the homework on this as both of us are much too old to have been taught this way!) and started the adult education Advanced English course, also at The Bridge.

We are almost there with improved security (involving lots of razor wire) around The Bridge and parts of the school that have been identified as 'hot spots' by wonderful Baptiste, the Head of Security.

The security improvements were crucial, not only to dissuade 'exits and entrances' from and to the school generally, but also needed before we install computers at The Bridge to enhance the learning opportunities for the primary school children who attend, thanks to a generous donation from a Dutch company who are also funding an IT teacher, so many thanks and blessings go to them.

We are always amazed at the generosity of people. When we left here to go back to the UK we had one suitcase between us, when we came back we had three, two of which were full up with sports kit and boots donated by local teams. Thanks go to the Richardsons for coordinating this. Their garage is still holding a fair bit of kit that we couldn't manage to fit in, so hopefully the balance will come with Will when he visits in October.

And this would be a good opportunity to thank the lovely lady at the BA check in desk, Barbara, who let us off the (very large) excess baggage charge when she knew who the football boots and kit were intended for. It helped that she was Ugandan – thank you Lord for directing us to her queue!

We have also had the pleasure of a visitor at the guest house, Chella, a teacher from Holland who tried without much success to teach us how to pronounce some Dutch words. She spent her time teaching at The Bridge as well as entertaining us. This is her third visit here and each time she has given up her holiday time to come here and help, so many thanks to her and we look forward to welcoming her back.

In view of the unexpected developments we were unable to take some time out before the start of term as originally planned and go farther afield and see some more of this pearl of a country, so will try to fit some of that in over the coming months.

However we did manage a visit to Jinja and a stay in a banda next to the Nile at the weekend, so the dust was blown off the credit card! And – thanks to the Dugdales we now have our own (their) car so were able to make the trip overland on murram roads, avoiding the main roads, almost without going wrong - much!

The lovely thing is, it is not a hardship 'staying home' as we are surrounded by beautiful countryside – and have just discovered we have a cobra at the bottom of our garden, so can't get much better than that!

Interesting things we have seen this week -

Census forms –

Don't arrive in the post like at home - people come round to each individual and ask them questions, such as –

What transport do you use? – motorbike, bicycle, matatu taxi, boda-boda or donkey

Do you graze? - we are guessing this refers to cow or goats!

Wildlife this week – as well as the cobra at the bottom of the garden (no photo as we ran away too quick) we had two little monkeys up the tree in the garden, saw two magnificent fish eagles outside our banda at Jinja and take a look at the picture of the leaf on the car wheel – or is it? You decide.

Two more additions to the prayer request – can you please pray for Patrick who has typhoid. We spoke to him a few days ago and the handsome man with the sparkling eyes is looking a shadow of his former self, so please pray for healing. However, Stan took him to the hospital today for another blood test and Patrick came away delighted that he doesn't have brucellosis as well, as he suspected, but 'only' typhoid.

And finally, please keep a young couple known to us in your prayers. Their baby, a boy, died a week before the expected birth date but they were not aware of this until the baby was born. The reason given was that the girl had suffered from malaria during the pregnancy, which is sadly not unusual.

She has returned to her village to bury the baby as is traditional, travelling with the baby in a box. She first had to seek permission from the bus company before they would take the box.

They are a lovely young couple who have so many responsibilities already – they support their siblings who are at this school as their parents are dead – and they are still only in their early 20's.

With our love and prayers, and thanks for your support, both in prayer and financially, we are so grateful.

Sue and Stan xx

Back in the UK with Will

graduation!

relaxing in a Sheffield pub after graduation

reminder of Uganda!

coming back  :)

banda by the River Nile at Jinja

River Nile

our car (courtesy of the Dugdales) and our lodgers (also courtesy of the Dugdales!)

Patrick - needing healing prayers

preparing for the new term with Baptiste

more preparation - Tobane in the pit and Mohammed and Jasper supervising

the rainy season has arrived

still raining

signs seen in a Ugandan hotel room that made us laugh

seen in Birmingham - showing re-runs of Mastermind on the big screen!

at Prunes - our cappuccino bolt hole in Kampala

Chella teaching at The Bridge

alert and ready for action!

a leaf - or is it?

goat on  a termite mound

fish eagles by the River Nile

BLOG NO 7 - 14TH JULY 2014

The Lord replied, 'My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest'

Exodus 33 : 14

Hi all

We have had an amazing time here in the last few months and are still learning – about Wobulenzi Town Academy, The Rock, The Bridge, the disabled unit attached to St Stephen's school just up the road, the staff of all of these but most of all the students and the children who we are still getting to know and trying to remember over 500 names!

We have been back at home for an hour, and it will be good to see the family and catch up with some friends and have a bit of a rest, and of course attend Will's graduation, (2:2 in Biomedical Science – woop woop), but we do feel we have found another family in Uganda. Elspeth and Jerry, Michele and Phil, who we have known for such a short time but already feel like (younger of course!) brothers and sisters, Charles and Annet who are probably the wisest and kindest people we have ever met and last but certainly not least the students – we feel like the parents of a very large, sometimes unruly but always great fun, extended family.

We have just completed our last 'Book and Film club' of this term – The Lord of the Flies – which as well as having a great message, which was not lost on many of the students who have had first hand knowledge of tribalism, is also a book that some of the Literature students are studying for A Level, so we were able (we hope) to give them some tips on what to look out for and write about in exams.

Adult Education classes also finished last week – at least the 'Intermediate' class. We issued certificates to our students, they were delighted. We start the 12 session 'Advanced' class in August.

Last week we changed our planned Activate lesson to talk about speaking up when you know something is wrong. It was prompted by a recent incident when a couple of foolish students tampered with the electrics, which could have had disastrous effects was in not for the excellent cut-off switch at the school which prevented serious damage and injury.

It was clear that someone either knew about or saw what happened, but chose to keep quiet. We used quotations from Nelson Mandela, William Wilberforce and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who all saw wrong and decided to speak up about it. We then looked at what the Bible had to say. It provoked some interesting discussion and hopefully will make a difference if if a similar situation were to arise.

We also did our last English lesson this term with Senior 4. They have O Level 'mocks' this week so we took the opportunity to talk about revision techniques and exam preparation, and then showed them a Mr Bean episode of how not to sit an exam for a bit of light relief (and actually some useful advise!).

We mentioned in the last blog the birth of a baby at The Rock. A bit like buses, there was another one less than 12 hours later! Another girl arrived, this one as yet unnamed. Mother, baby and nurse Zahara (who also had to deal with an asthma attack needing hospitalization and a collapse in the same evening) are all well.

We went to Hafswa's wedding and Annet insisted on dressing Michele and me in gomesi, traditional Ugandan dress. I hadn't quite realized how incredibly complicated they are 'underneath', a cross between a kimono and a sari, and very, very hot! However it was certainly worth it as we had many compliments from the guests, who said they were honoured that we had chosen to wear their national dress. A word of advise, however, for anyone thinking of wearing one – lay off the water for a few hours. Trying to lift yards of material over a long-drop latrine is not a good look!

It was interesting that the bride's mother traditionally does not appear at the wedding – anyone who has ever done verger duty at a wedding (as Stan and I have) may think that is no bad thing.

Good news from The Rock. After many twists and turns (and the inspector who wanted 'facilitating' - now replaced), The Rock has finally been re-registered – and complimented by the new and very supportive inspector. We also have a lovely new nurse, Efrance, (Stan insists on pronouncing it like the airline), as it was recognised that Zahara needed some additional help. She is a christian who is keen on being involved in the spiritual support of the students as well as the medical which is very encouraging.

Visitors to the guest house recently - Helen, who works for a charity in Kampala came and stayed to do a dance and drama workshop with some of the students. They learnt a routine which they performed in church the following day.

On the same day we were visited by some of Elspeth and Jerry's home group who toured the school, came to church and had lunch with us. They are planning to make it a regular visit and next time will stay over so they can spend more time with the students – that's the effect they have on you!

Last Sunday was 'Visitation Day' attended by 104 parents, a record, and incredible when you heard the distances they had travelled to be here. The students put on some great entertainment, singing and dancing, and of course karaoke without which no celebration would be complete.

Recently 11 of our students were selected to represent Luwero district at the national athletics competition. What was incredible was that they had only started athletics coaching this term. Unfortunately, due to a bureaucratic slip up which was no fault of the school they were unable to compete. What impressed us was the way they coped with the disappointment, so as a recognition of their achievement we, on behalf of ServeDirect, presented them with certificates and badges in last Monday's assembly.

Saturday was the 'Celebration Day' to say goodbye to Elspeth and Jerry. The students put on a wonderful display of traditional dance and music. It was a day of happiness tinged with sadness – some of the students have known Elspeth and Jerry since they started at WTA. The good news is they will be back in November with a group from their church, so we know it's only au revoir.

We left the school Sunday morning and went to the airport via Jerry and Elspeth's house. The flight was at 1am this morning. Increased security at the airport because of the world cup final, as four years ago a bomb was set off where people were watching it on a big screen.

We return to Uganda on the 4^th August, so the next blog will be later that month. We hope to have the chance to catch up with some of you while we are in the UK. Photos in very random order - apologies!

With love

Sue and Stan

new footie kit

another new baby at The Rock

fun at The Bridge

headline you don't want to see before you fly! (and why is he dressed like a yeti?)

dressed in gomesi for Hafswa's wedding - Zahara, Michele and Sue

visitation day

guest at Hafswa's wedding

onlookers from the village

entertainment for visitation day

wide load - on a boda boda!

The Goat Escape!

surprise visitor in the kitchen - a malachite kingfisher

WTA athletics team with Juliet the PE teacher

entertainment at Hafswa's wedding

guests arriving

the bridesmaids

the bride