Below are a few funny excerpts from newspaper articles and advertisements.... Hope they make you chuckle!
PEANUT BUTTER LABEL
______________
Nutty Butter for an Ogre's appetite. A protein rich product you should embrace. 2 tbs will fill you up, not out. This makes a dandy substitute for meat. Peanut butter is satiating and satisfying.
contains: peanuts, salt and no addictives.
NEWS PAPER ARTICLE ON INFLATION
______________________________
The shilling weakened to it's lowest ever in history by dissipating a whooping 15.2%
in only 7 days.
PRE-SCHOOL NAME
________________
God Cares Bio-Tech Pre- School
SIGN ON FRONT OF BUILDING (my personal favorite)
________________________
Houses for let
Plots for sale
Circumcision
Boda Boda hire (motorcycle taxi's)
All done here
Money section of the newspaper
_______________________
Cues for success in garment industry
* It is good to make money but one shouldn't make it at the expensive customers
Brand name Honey
_______________
Not Tonight Honey!
Name on a taxi ( they name their taxi's here)
_____________
Go disable ( I think they were going for God is able, but it ran together funny)
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
fun activities
The Nile River here has a Bungee jump. I haven't been brave enough to experience it, but my kids have and so have some of our visitors. Diving head first into the river to have your shirt yanked off over your head as you come up isn't quite my idea of fun.You can always shoot the class 5+ rapids in a kayak or in a raft if bungee jumping isn't quite your cup of tea. The locals like to strap on jerry cans and shoot the rapids that way. What ever "floats your boat" I guess.
school is almost out
The School in the village is winding down for the year. In a few weeks they will break for the holidays and won't return until the 1st of the year. The older kids are getting ready to "sit" for their exams to see if they move to the next grade level. They have to pay to take their exams so a lot of kids stay in lower level grades even if they are able to pass the test because they can't afford to pay for the testing.
Kaci playing ball with some of the school kids
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Testimony from the honeymooner's
Below is a testimony of the couple who came to Uganda on their honeymoon to help us with the work in the village. We loved having them here and they were a great help to us. Hope you enjoy.............
From: David and Bethany Allen
We wanted to start our lives together serving others in the nation of Africa, where we feel as though the Lord is leading us in the future. Therefore, after we were married on June 14th of this year, we headed off to Uganda. We were excited to get a wide variety of experiences, knowing that we would enjoy our first week in Uganda honeymooning with an African safari. After that, we met with the McKenzies and stayed with them, which allowed us to see and experience some of Kampala. Then, it was time to head out to the village of Bakka where we would spend the next 10 days.
We stayed in the one hotel in the village for 7,000 shillings a day ($4.25 US). It really wasn’t worth more than that. We had bucket showers and pit latrines for toilets (holes in the ground). I think the worst part though was that there was a bar attached to the hotel, which is really where they make all their money. The Africans can definitely party all night long. For some reason, they feel as though they must always keep the music REALLY loud. So, obviously, our big challenge was trying to get quality sleep. After a couple of nights, we learned to adjust. Our worst night was Saturday night; the music was loud until around 2am, there was prostitution going on in the room right across from us, and men chatting right outside our window till around 4am. Needless to say, we were tired the next day. We understand that is how village life is, but it is not great to come home and sleep in that environment. Because we were sort of the guinea pigs that went out there (we were told we were the first whites to come and stay longer than a day or two), these types of results can always be expected. However, I think we have all come to the realization now that for the next volunteers, there will be other accommodations out there to stay in. But hey, someone had to try it out to see what it would be like, and we were happy to be the ones to do it!
On the flip side, upon arriving, we received the usual and amazing welcoming from the children. Their smiles and “Hello muzungu” made us feel right at home along with the hospitality from the head-master of the school and Pastor, Joseph. This is something that never ceases to amaze us. We love the African children…it is pretty much impossible not to. Your heart falls in love immediately.
While we were there, we were able to do a variety of things. The major event that took place was 2 days of HIV testing; out of over 300 HIV tests given… only 18 came back positive. Praise Jesus!!! None of them the school children. On the same day, while the testing was taking place, we were able to get pictures and bio’s of all the children so that they can be put on the website. We also vaccinated and gave vitamins to the children and their families. It was a CRAZY day with lots and lots of people. They were terrified of the word “vaccination,” and refused to be vaccinated, but eventually agreed. This we believe will be a huge step for beginning to improve their health.
The other days in the village, we taught at the school before lunch and hung mosquito nets in the afternoon until evening. We were blessed to be able to teach English and Science to the children in grades P3 through P6. The children in these classes range from ages 8 to 16. Neither of us have any experience in teaching, but found delight as we saw the lights going off in the children’s heads. We taught: the respiratory system, health, insects that spread diseases and prevention of diseases, sentence structure, and conversational English. The education as you can imagine is not very good. Pretty much, what school consists of is the teacher writing something on the board and them copying it. There is really no “teaching” involved. Needless to say, the children can copy great…but they know nothing about what they are copying. This school has some students who are very gifted and intelligent. Unfortunately, they are not challenged by their current structure. However, we were extremely impressed at how fast some of the children caught on once they had a “teacher” to teach them.
After the morning teaching and lunch, we would go to hang nets in the student’s homes. We went on foot to all the homes; the distance to the homes can be up to 4 miles and they can sometimes be hard to locate, so the job of getting to the houses can prove to be difficult. We definitely experienced that on Saturday, as we spend the whole day walking to the homes and hanging the nets. If we tell you we were out for a good 8 hours, you would think that we hung a lot of nets. But the reality is that it is hard work…and we only hung 14 that day!! However, we were still proud! Total, we were only able to hang 39 nets but feel some peace in the fact that every net hung will protect at least 2 people, because a person who has their own bed is rare. Unfortunately, there is still much work to be done in hanging the nets (the people have absolutely no clue how to hang them), but we pray that the Lord will provide workers in order to finish the job. This task and opportunity that we were given to hang the nets was very pleasurable to us. We loved working together and actually getting to know more of the village adults. Nothing beats the smile and gratefulness they had on their faces once they saw the net up.
We have loved being here and living in the village (although it definitely was not long enough). We have memories of the children’s laughter and experiences that we will treasure forever. We believe that there is HOPE for the school, for the village, and for the people of the town. What we think is really needed there is some people to commit to living out there (or close) to work with them. It is such a BIG task, and the McKenzies cannot do it alone (as they are doing sooo much now!). Short term and long term would both be effective and useful…but most of all long term. They need someone who really has a heart for village life and wanting to commit to these people. There is so much physical and spiritual work that needs to be done there, but we think you would find it more than amazing! We find ourselves very thankful for this opportunity that we were given and hope to be able to come back and do more.
From: David and Bethany Allen
We wanted to start our lives together serving others in the nation of Africa, where we feel as though the Lord is leading us in the future. Therefore, after we were married on June 14th of this year, we headed off to Uganda. We were excited to get a wide variety of experiences, knowing that we would enjoy our first week in Uganda honeymooning with an African safari. After that, we met with the McKenzies and stayed with them, which allowed us to see and experience some of Kampala. Then, it was time to head out to the village of Bakka where we would spend the next 10 days.
We stayed in the one hotel in the village for 7,000 shillings a day ($4.25 US). It really wasn’t worth more than that. We had bucket showers and pit latrines for toilets (holes in the ground). I think the worst part though was that there was a bar attached to the hotel, which is really where they make all their money. The Africans can definitely party all night long. For some reason, they feel as though they must always keep the music REALLY loud. So, obviously, our big challenge was trying to get quality sleep. After a couple of nights, we learned to adjust. Our worst night was Saturday night; the music was loud until around 2am, there was prostitution going on in the room right across from us, and men chatting right outside our window till around 4am. Needless to say, we were tired the next day. We understand that is how village life is, but it is not great to come home and sleep in that environment. Because we were sort of the guinea pigs that went out there (we were told we were the first whites to come and stay longer than a day or two), these types of results can always be expected. However, I think we have all come to the realization now that for the next volunteers, there will be other accommodations out there to stay in. But hey, someone had to try it out to see what it would be like, and we were happy to be the ones to do it!
On the flip side, upon arriving, we received the usual and amazing welcoming from the children. Their smiles and “Hello muzungu” made us feel right at home along with the hospitality from the head-master of the school and Pastor, Joseph. This is something that never ceases to amaze us. We love the African children…it is pretty much impossible not to. Your heart falls in love immediately.
While we were there, we were able to do a variety of things. The major event that took place was 2 days of HIV testing; out of over 300 HIV tests given… only 18 came back positive. Praise Jesus!!! None of them the school children. On the same day, while the testing was taking place, we were able to get pictures and bio’s of all the children so that they can be put on the website. We also vaccinated and gave vitamins to the children and their families. It was a CRAZY day with lots and lots of people. They were terrified of the word “vaccination,” and refused to be vaccinated, but eventually agreed. This we believe will be a huge step for beginning to improve their health.
The other days in the village, we taught at the school before lunch and hung mosquito nets in the afternoon until evening. We were blessed to be able to teach English and Science to the children in grades P3 through P6. The children in these classes range from ages 8 to 16. Neither of us have any experience in teaching, but found delight as we saw the lights going off in the children’s heads. We taught: the respiratory system, health, insects that spread diseases and prevention of diseases, sentence structure, and conversational English. The education as you can imagine is not very good. Pretty much, what school consists of is the teacher writing something on the board and them copying it. There is really no “teaching” involved. Needless to say, the children can copy great…but they know nothing about what they are copying. This school has some students who are very gifted and intelligent. Unfortunately, they are not challenged by their current structure. However, we were extremely impressed at how fast some of the children caught on once they had a “teacher” to teach them.
After the morning teaching and lunch, we would go to hang nets in the student’s homes. We went on foot to all the homes; the distance to the homes can be up to 4 miles and they can sometimes be hard to locate, so the job of getting to the houses can prove to be difficult. We definitely experienced that on Saturday, as we spend the whole day walking to the homes and hanging the nets. If we tell you we were out for a good 8 hours, you would think that we hung a lot of nets. But the reality is that it is hard work…and we only hung 14 that day!! However, we were still proud! Total, we were only able to hang 39 nets but feel some peace in the fact that every net hung will protect at least 2 people, because a person who has their own bed is rare. Unfortunately, there is still much work to be done in hanging the nets (the people have absolutely no clue how to hang them), but we pray that the Lord will provide workers in order to finish the job. This task and opportunity that we were given to hang the nets was very pleasurable to us. We loved working together and actually getting to know more of the village adults. Nothing beats the smile and gratefulness they had on their faces once they saw the net up.
We have loved being here and living in the village (although it definitely was not long enough). We have memories of the children’s laughter and experiences that we will treasure forever. We believe that there is HOPE for the school, for the village, and for the people of the town. What we think is really needed there is some people to commit to living out there (or close) to work with them. It is such a BIG task, and the McKenzies cannot do it alone (as they are doing sooo much now!). Short term and long term would both be effective and useful…but most of all long term. They need someone who really has a heart for village life and wanting to commit to these people. There is so much physical and spiritual work that needs to be done there, but we think you would find it more than amazing! We find ourselves very thankful for this opportunity that we were given and hope to be able to come back and do more.
Monday, September 29, 2008
beggars
In Kampala there are a lot of street beggars. You see ones that are crazy, ones with no clothes (literally) young boys who live on the streets and beg, able bodied young and old who beg to make a living, small children who's parents or guardians put them on the street to beg for them, disabled people of all ages and disabilities and so on. You see them so much here that you get hardened to it all.
There is a group of people who come to Kampala to beg from the north east. Their tactics are to bring young girls 5-10 and have them put babies under 6 months on their backs and beg. These girls are all dirty, clothes tattered,if they have any and the babies look very sad and lethargic on their backs. These never cease to tug at my heart when I see them. I have tried different tactics to help them with out giving them money as I don't think they ever get any of it as an adult takes whatever money they get.
Yesterday, we were in town and we passed a woman who was begging. She had the usual tattered clothes, but not too bad. She looked relatively clean and seemed as though she hadn't missed any meals. In her arms was the smallest baby I think I have ever seen. This child had to be about 9 months old and probably weighed 3 pounds. Words cannot describe the sight. I found the picture above that I think would best describe what I saw.
There is a group of people who come to Kampala to beg from the north east. Their tactics are to bring young girls 5-10 and have them put babies under 6 months on their backs and beg. These girls are all dirty, clothes tattered,if they have any and the babies look very sad and lethargic on their backs. These never cease to tug at my heart when I see them. I have tried different tactics to help them with out giving them money as I don't think they ever get any of it as an adult takes whatever money they get.
Yesterday, we were in town and we passed a woman who was begging. She had the usual tattered clothes, but not too bad. She looked relatively clean and seemed as though she hadn't missed any meals. In her arms was the smallest baby I think I have ever seen. This child had to be about 9 months old and probably weighed 3 pounds. Words cannot describe the sight. I found the picture above that I think would best describe what I saw.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
We are alive!
Sorry for the long silence. It has been a crazy 2 months. We "shifted" as they call it here or moved houses. We found a great house with a fantastic "garden" or yard pretty close to our last place. This one is closer into town and a 5 minute walk from our friends. We have a 3 year lease, so we won't have to worry about moving again soon.
We have many updates that I will fill you in on later. For now a quick over view.
The school is back in session from their break. Our son Jesse is enrolled this semester so that is a relief for us to be able to get back into school.
David will be going to our farm soon to make introductions and have our farm manager see the property. That has been a long time coming and we are so excited to get started up there.
We are planning on coming home to the states for the holidays as I posted in an earlier blog. We are still collecting funds to buy the tickets as well as looking for a vehicle to use while we are back. If anyone has an extra car that seats 6 that they could lend us that would be great. Please let us know.
More later..........
We have many updates that I will fill you in on later. For now a quick over view.
The school is back in session from their break. Our son Jesse is enrolled this semester so that is a relief for us to be able to get back into school.
David will be going to our farm soon to make introductions and have our farm manager see the property. That has been a long time coming and we are so excited to get started up there.
We are planning on coming home to the states for the holidays as I posted in an earlier blog. We are still collecting funds to buy the tickets as well as looking for a vehicle to use while we are back. If anyone has an extra car that seats 6 that they could lend us that would be great. Please let us know.
More later..........
Friday, August 8, 2008
Funny Story
Something that us Ex-Pats do when we get together to keep our sanity is tell stories about what has happened to us over the week. It helps us to know that we aren't the only ones in Uganda going through tough experiences. Sometimes they are bad stories, sometimes sad and almost always someone has a funny one. Well, this past week I thought that this story won the prize for being the funniest and thought I would pass it along...........
An NGO that has an office here sent some of their team members to the village to do AIDS awareness, safe sex and family planning teachings. They had finished their talk on the importance of safe sex not only to avoid sexually transmitted diseases, but also to reduce the number of pregnancies or to space their children better. Uganda by the way has the highest birth rate in the world at an average of 7.4 children per woman.
Anyway, at the end of their talk they wanted to show the people how to use condoms properly. So, they took out carrots and placed the condoms on the carrots so they could see how to do it and also practice it.
They distributed the condoms and left the village to return in a few months to see how things were going.
Upon their return a couple of months later the people were so excited to show the team that they had been practicing family planning and safe sex. As they were led to the peoples homes they noticed carrots in the yards with condoms placed on them. The people were beaming with joy to show the team that they were properly using the condoms just as they had been taught!
Can you imagine??? There are no words.
An NGO that has an office here sent some of their team members to the village to do AIDS awareness, safe sex and family planning teachings. They had finished their talk on the importance of safe sex not only to avoid sexually transmitted diseases, but also to reduce the number of pregnancies or to space their children better. Uganda by the way has the highest birth rate in the world at an average of 7.4 children per woman.
Anyway, at the end of their talk they wanted to show the people how to use condoms properly. So, they took out carrots and placed the condoms on the carrots so they could see how to do it and also practice it.
They distributed the condoms and left the village to return in a few months to see how things were going.
Upon their return a couple of months later the people were so excited to show the team that they had been practicing family planning and safe sex. As they were led to the peoples homes they noticed carrots in the yards with condoms placed on them. The people were beaming with joy to show the team that they were properly using the condoms just as they had been taught!
Can you imagine??? There are no words.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Computer Crash
This last week we had our hard drive crash on us. After 6 days of working on it and many hours we finally were able to get a new hard drive and get the computer up and running again.
We lost some files and some programs, but all in all it is in tact. If anyone has emailed us at david@orphanchildrenfund.com or jamie@ or Info@ the same address or any of the @orphanchildrenrescue's then we haven't gotten your emails. We still are having issues with outlook, so please use the orphanchildrenfund@gmail address.
We have been crazy busy getting the new house ready to move in as well as packing the old one up. It is coming along and we are still shooting for a August 15th move in date. We might have a day or two down when we move with the computers, so don't be alarmed if you don't hear from us at that time for a day or so.
School is starting up in the States in the next few weeks. Here we are just finishing up a term. The upper grades (1-6) at our school are taking their exams. We paid for 59 orphans to be able to take their exams at our school in Bakka. They have sitting fee's here in Uganda and if they can't afford the fees then they don't pass that grade and have to repeat it. We still have 157 students that do not have sponsors for school fees. As you are getting your kids ready for school this fall think about sponsoring a student here. $30.00 a month covers food, school fees, uniforms, books, test fees, and medical insurance.
Just a reminder.... we will be coming back to the States for the holidays in Nov. and Dec. Most of our time will be in Texas, Oklahoma, Minnesota and New York. We are looking forward to seeing friends and family and celebrating the season. It will also be a nice time to relax a bit.
We lost some files and some programs, but all in all it is in tact. If anyone has emailed us at david@orphanchildrenfund.com or jamie@ or Info@ the same address or any of the @orphanchildrenrescue's then we haven't gotten your emails. We still are having issues with outlook, so please use the orphanchildrenfund@gmail address.
We have been crazy busy getting the new house ready to move in as well as packing the old one up. It is coming along and we are still shooting for a August 15th move in date. We might have a day or two down when we move with the computers, so don't be alarmed if you don't hear from us at that time for a day or so.
School is starting up in the States in the next few weeks. Here we are just finishing up a term. The upper grades (1-6) at our school are taking their exams. We paid for 59 orphans to be able to take their exams at our school in Bakka. They have sitting fee's here in Uganda and if they can't afford the fees then they don't pass that grade and have to repeat it. We still have 157 students that do not have sponsors for school fees. As you are getting your kids ready for school this fall think about sponsoring a student here. $30.00 a month covers food, school fees, uniforms, books, test fees, and medical insurance.
Just a reminder.... we will be coming back to the States for the holidays in Nov. and Dec. Most of our time will be in Texas, Oklahoma, Minnesota and New York. We are looking forward to seeing friends and family and celebrating the season. It will also be a nice time to relax a bit.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
July
We are heading towards the end of July and I wanted to give you an update on what has happened this month.
It has been a full month with a lot of things going on, many things accomplished and lives changed.
As many of you know from reading the blog we had two medical clinics this past month. We tested the students their siblings and family members for HIV as well as vaccinating them. They all received de-worming and vitamins.
All of the students received mosquito nets and instructions on how to use and care for them and 39 of them were hung in the homes.
We finished the social work with pictures on all of the students. Now the job of putting them together and getting them on the web so that you can see them and hear their stories.
We purchased a water filtration system for the school so that the children can drink clean water during the school day.
We had 2 volunteers from the states come and help out in the school as well as others who came and helped out for the medical clinics.
We were finally able to purchase a car!
Our quest for another house to rent is over. We found one and will move in August.
We celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary. We escaped to Jinga to spend the night overlooking the Nile in a private Banda. It was a much needed break for us.
Our son competed in 2 motocross races placing 8th in one and 4th in the other.
August we are looking forward to several families being able to come and pick up their kids, moving into our new house and more renovations to the school. We are still waiting to start in Nakasongola which we hope will be in August as well.
We are planning on coming back to the states for a vacation during the holidays. At that time we will have been away from home for 18months. We are looking forward to seeing friends and family again. (not to mention eating Mexican food) We will be in Texas and Minnesota for sure in November and December. Please let us know if you would like us to come and speak for any group.
It has been a full month with a lot of things going on, many things accomplished and lives changed.
As many of you know from reading the blog we had two medical clinics this past month. We tested the students their siblings and family members for HIV as well as vaccinating them. They all received de-worming and vitamins.
All of the students received mosquito nets and instructions on how to use and care for them and 39 of them were hung in the homes.
We finished the social work with pictures on all of the students. Now the job of putting them together and getting them on the web so that you can see them and hear their stories.
We purchased a water filtration system for the school so that the children can drink clean water during the school day.
We had 2 volunteers from the states come and help out in the school as well as others who came and helped out for the medical clinics.
We were finally able to purchase a car!
Our quest for another house to rent is over. We found one and will move in August.
We celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary. We escaped to Jinga to spend the night overlooking the Nile in a private Banda. It was a much needed break for us.
Our son competed in 2 motocross races placing 8th in one and 4th in the other.
August we are looking forward to several families being able to come and pick up their kids, moving into our new house and more renovations to the school. We are still waiting to start in Nakasongola which we hope will be in August as well.
We are planning on coming back to the states for a vacation during the holidays. At that time we will have been away from home for 18months. We are looking forward to seeing friends and family again. (not to mention eating Mexican food) We will be in Texas and Minnesota for sure in November and December. Please let us know if you would like us to come and speak for any group.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
pictures of 2nd vaccine clinic
Jesse got in on the "jabbing" action this past week where he helped us out with the vaccinating.
Our honeymooners helped out with paperwork and David ended up "jabbing" in the end as well. We vaccinated and gave bottles of vitamins to 87 more people. So in the end the vaccine clinic, HIV testing and net distribution over the past 2 weeks were a huge success. Our students and their families and some of the village people were all tested for HIV, vaccinated, de-wormed, vitamins given and nets distributed and 39 hung so far. A huge thank you to Mild May again, Wentz Clinic, especially Faith, Buy a Net from Canada, David and Bethany Allen, Help International, Sarah White and the McKenzie family for all of their hard work during the past 2 weeks for the clinic/net distribution. Thank you to the Penner family for donating funds to help make this all happen.2nd vaccination clinic /unsuspecting babies
Here are some of the babies before we vaccinated them. I thought they were so cute and wanted you to see their precious little faces.
This one in the hat didn't cry at all when we"stuck" her. What a trooper.
Porridge line at school during clinic
Kids waiting for porridge and watching the show of the scared people getting tested for HIV.
pictures of round 2 of the HIV Testing
This was a boy who was so scared of getting tested that he ended up shirtless, but at least he didn't bite anyone. They had 4 people holding him down to draw the blood and he kept screaming that, "It was hurting him" even though they hadn't touched him yet. His anticks made for quite a show for the kids waiting in line for their porridge. It was another long day for everyone. We tested another 87 people and had 9 more positive for HIV. Only one child tested positive out of the 300 people that we tested.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Team from Canada here to distribute nets
The team from Canada came on Thursday to deliver and educate the students and their families how to use and care for the nets that they were donating. In all they brought 160 for our students, their family members and teachers. We had Jimmy (he works for us) and David (a volunteer from our church in the USA) go and hang nets in 4 homes. This next week David will be going to the students homes and showing them how to hang them and making sure they all get up. It will be a big job for him. We are thankful for his help to get this done. This should, if properly used, cut the rate of malaria down in the village significantly. Most months we have a minimum of 10% of our students out with malaria and most of the parents of the orphans that we have in our school have died from it.
A huge thank you to Wentz Medical Clinic, Dr. Martin, African Renewal Ministries and the Canadian team for helping to make this happen for our students and their families.
Net education
"Net team" from Canada educating the kids and their families how to properly care for and use the nets
Net distribution- thankful recipients
These are some of the recipients of the nets that were donated on Thursday.
Interesting myths and fears
Our day in the village on Wednesday was a huge success, but almost didn't happen. It was due to myths and fears that the villagers had concerning having blood drawn and immunizations administered. These are the things that we deal with here on a daily basis which makes our work harder and things taking longer as well.
I thought you would find this interesting..............
When we arrived at the village Wed. morning to start the HIV testing and immunizations we had a surprise waiting for us. 50 of the parents from the school and refused to allow their children and themselves be tested. From there the others had decided to reject the testing as well based on the myth that "white people or Muzungus" come into the villages and "suck" peoples blood and then take it and sell it for alot of money. We had to spend quite a bit of time counseling them and explaining to them how the process worked, how much blood was actually being taken and that we weren't going to "sell" their blood. We got them settled down and ok with having the HIV test but then they all refused having the children and themselves immunized.
The fear there was that they were all going to die or be crippled. We didn't know this but apparently in 1991 one of the government heads went on a campaign to immunize all of the villagers. They said that many people died afterwards and that the children all became crippled. I have no idea if there is any truth to the story, but it was firmly ingrained in their minds that this would happen to them. So we again had to speak to them and let them know how it actually worked and the benefits to them. After much talking and reassuring they finally consented and they all agreed. Afterwards when we ran out of vaccines the ones who didn't get done begged us to please come again so that they could be taken care of. We will see them again on Wednesday.
I thought you would find this interesting..............
When we arrived at the village Wed. morning to start the HIV testing and immunizations we had a surprise waiting for us. 50 of the parents from the school and refused to allow their children and themselves be tested. From there the others had decided to reject the testing as well based on the myth that "white people or Muzungus" come into the villages and "suck" peoples blood and then take it and sell it for alot of money. We had to spend quite a bit of time counseling them and explaining to them how the process worked, how much blood was actually being taken and that we weren't going to "sell" their blood. We got them settled down and ok with having the HIV test but then they all refused having the children and themselves immunized.
The fear there was that they were all going to die or be crippled. We didn't know this but apparently in 1991 one of the government heads went on a campaign to immunize all of the villagers. They said that many people died afterwards and that the children all became crippled. I have no idea if there is any truth to the story, but it was firmly ingrained in their minds that this would happen to them. So we again had to speak to them and let them know how it actually worked and the benefits to them. After much talking and reassuring they finally consented and they all agreed. Afterwards when we ran out of vaccines the ones who didn't get done begged us to please come again so that they could be taken care of. We will see them again on Wednesday.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Bakka HIV Testing
We had a very successful day yesterday in the village. We had MildMay clinic come and do the HIV testing and Wentz Medical Clinic donate the vaccines, de-wormer's and vitamins for all of the students and their families. Help International volunteered 11 of their people and we had an additional 23 volunteers come and help make this possible. We were able to test 212 for HIV. Only 9 were positive which really surprised us and we are so thankful for the numbers being that low. We were able to vaccinate, de-worm and supply vitamins for 128 people. We ran out of supplies so we will be out again next week on the 9th to finish up with everyone who did not get tested or vaccinated.
Every student had some kind of fungal infection, was malnourished to some degree and all had worms. We will see what we can do about the fungal infections, but the de-worming is now being taken care of and the malnutrition will only be helped with education on how to eat properly and raising the level of incomes for these families.
A big thank you to all fo the volunteers. We started at 6:30am and arrived back home at 8:00pm. Everyone worked so hard and it was hot yesterday. We couldn't have done it without their help. We had one person bit while holding down a child to draw blood and another stuck with a needle after drawing blood. Everyone is ok. The volunteer was stuck with the needle after he had dawn blood and the child flinched. The child's blood was tested 3 times and was neg for HIV, but we took him to the clinic so that they could test for other things to make sure he was ok.
I was helping in the vaccination room. I have become an expert now on "jabbing" people. I feel so bad when I do it and have to tell them I am sorry afterwards. I was afraid that the kids wouldn't like me anymore after I did it, but they all came around and I think have forgiven me. We will continue to supply the school with vitamins and de-wormer as the Wentz Medical Clinic has agreed to keep supplying them for us. We will begin having regular vaccination clinics as well.
The clinic has also supplied us with 360 mosquito nets which we got today and are taking out to the village. They have a team from Canada that will deliver them and also educate the kids and families how to hang, care for, clean and use properly. We have a couple from our church that is staying in the village right now that will begin hanging the nets for all of our students. He will have some of the villagers come with them so that they can learn how to intall them properly.
Will have another update on how the net distribution went and then again next week after our 2nd clinic is finished.
We are also busy getting all of the students stories so that we can better raise support for these precious little guys. Look for that in the next 3 weeks. Enjoy the pictures below of the HIV testing, vaccinations and kids being played with during the process.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Happy 4th of July!
Happy Independence Day! We already celebrated here as the US Embassy threw a celebration on the 29th. Burgers, hot dogs and fireworks. Not quite like being at home, but it was better than nothing.
This past month has flown by. We are getting ready for the village medical clinic tomorrow. We will begin testing all of the students and their families for HIV and also immunizing all of them as well. We will do half tomorrow and then the other half on the 9th. We have 34 volunteers coming to help us out.
We saw our first family take home their precious new daughter this past month. What a privilege to be able to help facilitate that. We have several more families coming to pick up there waiting children this summer.
All of the birthing kits have been passed out. So far every woman that has delivered with the kit has had a healthy baby and no problems with the mom. What a blessing for these babies and mothers.
Our school grew when we reopened from 150 to 210. We had to send them home as we don't have room for them. They heard that Muzungu's (white people)had taken over the school and wanted their kids to be able to attend. Our students are now eating breakfast and lunch and the teachers are much happier as they are eating as well and getting morning tea.
We have had some volunteers and visitors from the states this past month. They have been so gracious as to donate some items for the school and one couple is here for two weeks to live in the village and help with the school, do some social work for us and hang "mozzie"nets. They are doing all of this while on their honeymoon!
On a personal note....
We have started our house hunting as we have to move out of our home in August. We have found one house that seems like it will meet our needs, so now we negotiate and look some more. We are also starting to look at some vehicles as we feel like we will be able to purchase one in the next month or so. So that is a positive.
Our son Jesse competed in his first East African Motocross race this past weekend. He did very well and we are really proud of him. I posted a picture of him.
Our daughter Kaci's internship in Switzerland fell through so she will be staying here for now.
We hope that you are all doing well and enjoying your summer vacations. We will miss hanging out at the lake and playing at Schlitterbahn. Those of you in Texas know what I mean.
I will update again after we get back from the village.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Passion
We had the privilege this week of having The Passion Tour come to Kampala. Their site is www.268generation.com if you are not familiar with the event. What an incredible opportunity for Uganda to be able to host this team. They had 25,000 students register and participate in the 2 day event. I believe that the students of Makerere University will never be the same.A friend from Austin who now lives in Israel, who has been part of the Passion Team for 10 years came and we were able to spend some time with her. We had a wonderful visit with her although way too short. I know that she thinks that she came to be part of this event, but God had other plans for her as well.
Last Monday night I collapsed in our kitchen and started seizing. I was rushed to our local clinic where they did tests to see what had caused this to happen. The tests were inconclusive so I was sent home to rest. The next day I went back for more tests that all came back normal. So, the conclusion was that the seizure was brought on with a slightly elevated white blood count, dehydration, low blood sugar and stress. I continued to feel "funny" for the rest of the week, resting a lot. Fear tried to grip my heart as well as my families and we all had a hard time shaking it. On her way over from Israel, David had called her to tell her what had happened with me and she said that God told her two things to do and pray over me when she was here. 1. that my head and brain would be healed and restored to normal and 2. to bind fear and that it would be gone. I am happy to report that fear is gone and today is the 1st day that I have felt normal since the attack! God is good. It brings me to my knees in tears to think that God loves me so much that He would send someone all of the way from Israel to minister to me. Those of you who knew what was going on with my health and that have been praying for me, thank you!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
School Repairs
The repairs have been started on the school. Here is a picture of the front set of classroom buildings with new window and door frames, plaster and security bars so that we can store things in the rooms after we get the doors put on. These were the mandatory repairs to reopen the school. The blackboards were replastered and painted black. The kids can now see what is written on them. The kids started back on Monday with teachers salaries paid up to date, new repairs on the buildings, porridge for breakfast and beans and casava for lunch. The teachers are getting tea in the morning with their porridge which makes them much happier. Can you imagine a teacher in the USA going to school to teach without eating breakfast or having their starbucks?
Monday, May 19, 2008
Boda riding
Those of you that have been keeping up with my blog will remember me writing about the modes of transport here in Uganda. Well, the car that we have been blessed with that was on loan for the past 4 months is now in the shop getting repainted and fixed up for our friends that will be returning next week. We are so excited to have them back It has been too long!
Anyway, we are now back to public transportation which means smoking taxis, crazy Boda(motorcycle) drivers and walking. The walking is good except for when the Boda drivers see how close they can get to you or the taxi's run you off the road. I don't think I ever told you about the Boda's trying to see how close they can get to you. Anyway, they think it is funny to come up behind you and drive as close as they can possibly get (sometimes even hitting you) to you. I haven't quite figured out why they do it but I must confess that sometimes I think about stiff arming them or kicking the bike over as it goes by. WWJD? I struggle with that one:)
I am getting pretty good at riding on the back of the motorcycles with no foot pegs hanging my legs out. There is an art to doing it. If you hang them to far out to the side (mostly to avoiding dragging them or getting your leg burned by the exhaust pipe which I did on Friday and now have a large burn to prove it) you may get them hit by oncoming traffic or smashed between the cars that the Motorcycle is squeezing through. So, this week as I am riding trying to hold on, keeping my legs from dragging or getting burned or hit I was thinking how nice it is to experience the country on the back of a bike. It was really nice until I got cramps in my thighs and we were almost squished between a lory (large truck) and a Toyota Prado (landcruiser) We accelerated at the last minute to squeeze through them.
Never a dull moment!
Anyway, we are now back to public transportation which means smoking taxis, crazy Boda(motorcycle) drivers and walking. The walking is good except for when the Boda drivers see how close they can get to you or the taxi's run you off the road. I don't think I ever told you about the Boda's trying to see how close they can get to you. Anyway, they think it is funny to come up behind you and drive as close as they can possibly get (sometimes even hitting you) to you. I haven't quite figured out why they do it but I must confess that sometimes I think about stiff arming them or kicking the bike over as it goes by. WWJD? I struggle with that one:)
I am getting pretty good at riding on the back of the motorcycles with no foot pegs hanging my legs out. There is an art to doing it. If you hang them to far out to the side (mostly to avoiding dragging them or getting your leg burned by the exhaust pipe which I did on Friday and now have a large burn to prove it) you may get them hit by oncoming traffic or smashed between the cars that the Motorcycle is squeezing through. So, this week as I am riding trying to hold on, keeping my legs from dragging or getting burned or hit I was thinking how nice it is to experience the country on the back of a bike. It was really nice until I got cramps in my thighs and we were almost squished between a lory (large truck) and a Toyota Prado (landcruiser) We accelerated at the last minute to squeeze through them.
Never a dull moment!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Bakka Village Crusade
Here is an update on our crusade that we held in the village over the weekend. Sorry no pictures as I took the battery out of the camera to charge it before we left, picked up the camera and forgot the battery. We did get some interesting video though:)
Part of our team arrived in the morning to set up the area for the meeting and the the rest of the team came later on in the afternoon. We started with 3 hours of music then we had the evangelist speak for about 30 minutes, we prayed for the sick watched the 2nd half of the 10 commandments movie with the evangelist narrating the dialogs in Lugandan and then prayed for salvations and other needs.
There were 11 first time dedications which were followed up by the local pastor, 8 instant healings, two demon possessed people manifesting and 1 witch doctor chanting and dancing around. It was quite a night. 4 of the instant healings were of children with malaria which the fever left instantly and no sign of any symptoms after prayer. The others were headaches, stomach aches and one with severe chest pains unable to breath.
The witch doctor was interesting to say the least. He came out during praise and worship with a suit on and animal skins strapped to his body. Had a pipe in his mouth, some kind of animal tail on a stick in one hand and then another stick in the other. He danced around waving the sticks and blowing smoke everywhere. He did this for 2 hours and then decided to give up and go home. Some of the natives were worried and scared and watched to see what we would do. We prayed and laughed under our breath as it was really quite ridiculous to watch. We serve the one true God!
Part of our team arrived in the morning to set up the area for the meeting and the the rest of the team came later on in the afternoon. We started with 3 hours of music then we had the evangelist speak for about 30 minutes, we prayed for the sick watched the 2nd half of the 10 commandments movie with the evangelist narrating the dialogs in Lugandan and then prayed for salvations and other needs.
There were 11 first time dedications which were followed up by the local pastor, 8 instant healings, two demon possessed people manifesting and 1 witch doctor chanting and dancing around. It was quite a night. 4 of the instant healings were of children with malaria which the fever left instantly and no sign of any symptoms after prayer. The others were headaches, stomach aches and one with severe chest pains unable to breath.
The witch doctor was interesting to say the least. He came out during praise and worship with a suit on and animal skins strapped to his body. Had a pipe in his mouth, some kind of animal tail on a stick in one hand and then another stick in the other. He danced around waving the sticks and blowing smoke everywhere. He did this for 2 hours and then decided to give up and go home. Some of the natives were worried and scared and watched to see what we would do. We prayed and laughed under our breath as it was really quite ridiculous to watch. We serve the one true God!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
World Orphan Day
Today is World Orphan Day. It is a great time to reflect upon the orphan crisis all around the world. Uganda has 3.1 million orphans and the number is rising. Malaria is the #1 killer of the parents of these orphans and all children under the age of 5 killing more than 300 a day in Uganda alone.
We had one of the children in Bakka village die this past week. We had just seen him a few weeks ago and he was well. He spent several days in the hospital before he finally died. It is a very hard thing for us to see these children die, but for the people here it is their daily reality.
We had one of the children in Bakka village die this past week. We had just seen him a few weeks ago and he was well. He spent several days in the hospital before he finally died. It is a very hard thing for us to see these children die, but for the people here it is their daily reality.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
pictures
Kaci and David explaining the birthing kits, Kaci passing out snacks to the village kids and a rainy day at the school.
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