Monday, April 28^th: Greetings from Uganda Friends and Family!  What a successful day we’ve had!  We got a good night’s sleep last night and were rested and ready to go this morning.  Our mood was much improved with the establishment of a strong internet access at the inn using the computer taken over for the Empowerment Center.  This access will make it much easier to upload blogs on a daily basis and stay in touch with you folks back home and with our families.  After breakfast we loaded the suitcases full of gifts from the sponsors, tools, musical equipment and pillow case dresses for the hour-long drive out to the village.  The road was full of trucks packed full of furniture, matooke, and more people than you’d believe possible. Along the way we saw a tea plantation that had been in the process of being planted the last time ACT sent a team to Uganda. It was lush and flourishing….it’s fun to see progress.  Upon reaching the village we unloaded the suitcases and organized all the dresses and gifts for distribution, which will happen in a few days.  Dave and David worked on getting internet set up at the center, and were at least partially successful with 2g access easily attainable on the back porch, although there was no success obtaining internet access in the office.  The existing computers were made functional with the installation of a new battery and charger in one computer, and a charger in the second computer making it work for the first time in months.  The third computer has been deemed unfixable with a broken hard drive

The main focus of the day was our planning meeting, which was a full-day affair.  We opened with prayer and the exchanging of gifts between the staff and the team…shirts, photos, jewelry and bottle openers.  We then set to work reviewing the schedule for the next 2 weeks, day by day.  The music program was discussed.  We now have 13 violins in Uganda, with plans to bring more in the future along with a violas, cellos, and a string bass.  The plan is to work toward a group that will be playing together by September, and we will be looking to hire someone here in Uganda that will be able to work with the students.  Schedules were set for the distribution of the pillow case dresses and the gifts from the MukoHOPE sponsors.  We very much appreciate all of you who worked on these dresses and sent gifts to the children….thank you! Those of us on the team with orphans in the program are very excited at the prospect of visiting our children in their homes and meeting their guardians; this will happen sometime next week.  The MEP program was reviewed; this program now involves around 30 women in the village who are working hard and continuing to improve their skills.  They are introducing new types of baskets and adding vivid new colors to their repertoire.  They’re also making some beautiful beaded jewelry.  We look forward to introducing you to some of their work when we return!   Pictures were taken of the staff, the center and the garden in the back, which has grown substantially since we last visited!

Eventually we broke for lunch and walked down the hill to the Heritage Campground on the shore of beautiful Lake Bunyonyi.  We had a nice lunch and then were given a tour of the grounds and facilities.  They’ve offered us shelf space to showcase items produced by the MEP program, and we have an agreement to begin selling handcraft items in June 2014.  Upon returning to the village, Dave Viele made arrangements with a contractor to do work on the exterior of the center, completing the re-plastering of the two remaining exterior walls.  Upon a review of the center, it was obvious that the exterior of the building has incurred a substantial amount of water damage to the stucco on the east side due to the lack of gutters.  The stucco on the lower half of the wall will be removed and plastered.  To solve this problem permanently, gutters will be installed with work beginning in the morning. The work day ended with much-anticipated violin lessons. It was wonderful hearing the sounds of the violins sounding through the center, as Karen worked with Francis, Haward, Boaz and Benson, reviewing and preparing to move forward.  Tomorrow will be an early day, but we’re looking forward to it already!