Real quick tonight, the computer forgot to remind David V to bring its power cord to the hotel, as it was almost out of power.  Look for a double-blog tomorrow!  Attention MukoHOPE team, if you are reading this! Precious Arinda is sponsored by our team member and her husband, Diana and Roger Stubig! Rejoice!

Sunday, May 04, 2014:  Today was a special Sunday!  We started off with our usual drive to Muko.  It’s an hour each way, but it’s so beautiful we have yet to get tired of it.  Arriving at the ACT center we loaded up the violins and our older students, Henry, Boaz, Haward and Benson, then continued on to the Ikamiro Church of God. This church is located near our clinic overlooking Lake Bunyonyi.  We were greeted by Rev. Julius with tea, bananas and bread at his home.  The whole team was present for the beginning of the service, 3 very special baptisms.  The first was Josiah’s daughter, Angel.  Karen was honored to be asked to be god-parent for Angel.  Then Herbert’s son, Crispus was baptized, with Elizabeth and David standing as god-parents. David also served as god-parent for Dorcas, the daughter of one of our volunteers.  Following the baptisms, the team was recognized and introduced to the congregation, after which everyone but David, Karen and Elizabeth left to attend 3 other churches, all in the Muko area.  We all enjoyed our time with these often very different churches, which was an excellent lesson about how although we are all very different, we all worship the same God.  Some of the services included a lot of joyful and enthusiastic singing and dancing, others not as much.  Often people will bring produce or other items as an offering in lieu of money; these items are auctioned off at the end of the service.  Dave, Karen and Elizabeth had fun bidding against each other, to the delight of the congregation, and brought home beans, eggplant, passion fruit, and other produce, as did other members of our team.  Karen was asked to give the sermon at the church she attended and gave a beautiful message, using hymns and singing by Elizabeth to illustrate.  Lisa and Barbara were excited to attend Uganda Martyrs Catholic Church, sister church to Blessed Sacrament back in Midland.  Diana got to witness church politics in action, as church wardens were elected.  Some of us received lunch at the church after the service, others were served lunch back at the center, but eventually we were all fed.

Mid-afternoon it was time for church…..again!  ACT Uganda hosted an ecumenical service in what served as a soccer field a couple of days ago, under tents arranged facing each other across the grass.  Some people, including the ACT team and various ministers sat under the tents, others crowded the grass and a small hill.  It was a very different service from anything we’d experienced back home, part worship, part entertainment (dancing and singing), and part dance party!  Prayers were offered, and Karen and Elizabeth offered “special music”, “I Danced in the Morning”, with Karen playing the violin and Elizabeth singing.  Each minister spoke for a short time, with Generous concluding with reflections on the fact that we are all part of the body of Christ.  In fact the theme of the day was “unity in diversity”, and the whole day was a beautiful illustration of that.  God truly blessed us today!

The day ended with dinner out at the White Horse Inn, which is just a short walk away from the Jopfan. Tomorrow is the beginning of our last full week here in Kabale and Muko.  Time is flying!

Friday, May 2, 2014:  We’re almost halfway through our trip and are happy with all the work that is being accomplished here in Muko.  We’re getting used to sleeping under mosquito netting each night, and are happy to know that there is less malaria here in the Kabale area than in the rest of the country, according to Father John.  Of course since a low rate is still 3 cases a week.  On our way out of Kabale today we made a stop at the lumber yard to pay for materials for construction of shelving, Dave then returned later in the day to purchase the gutters  for the ACT center, and arrange for the materials preparation and delivery.  It wouldn’t have taken as long as it did, but it was like negotiating with the Teamsters!  Eventually we were on our way, spending our time loading pictures onto the laptop and chatting about the upcoming day.  Arriving at the center we quickly set up and began receiving our MukoHOPE children (ages 13 years old and up).  As with the younger children the day before, each child was greeted, presented with a gift from their sponsor, photographed, had their eyes tested, height and shoe size recorded, and was then interviewed.  We hope that all the information gathered will help their American sponsors to get to know their orphan better! All the gifts and letters were much appreciated.  Elizabeth was thrilled to be able to spend time with both of her orphans today, Moses and Eudia, and the Vieles were overjoyed to see their Grace.   Karen had a chance to talk to John Bosco, our orphan who would like to come study in the United States.  The whole process isn’t an easy one, but we still have hope! 

 Afterwards, Karen and Diana again treated the girls to mini-manicures with polish and materials donated by Tina Regan of Serenity Hair and Nail Salon in Holt, MI.  There were many giggles and proud smiles as the girls showed off their pink nails.  The boys meanwhile headed out to a nearby field for another fast-paced and enthusiastic game of barefoot football (soccer) with their new balls. Elizabeth watched from a nearby hill, surrounded by giggling children, and there were shout of muzungu! (white person) every time Dave or David touched the ball! A hearty lunch of matooke, yams, g-nuts, rice and cabbage was served to the children, staff and volunteers, and then the team sat down for a talk with the children.  As with the group yesterday, Karen, assisted by Josiah, led a discussion on the importance of education, hygiene, and how men and women should treat each other, among other things.  We then left for Kabale, in a van packed with sixteen people, whom we dropped off along the way.  After dinner and devotionals, Karen and Elizabeth rehearsed for the weekend’s music and then we all headed to bed.

 

 

 

Saturday, May 03, 2014:  Upon arriving at the ACT center we were once again greeted by the sound of violins on the back porch.   We quickly loaded the sponsor gifts to take with us for our visit to Murole Primary School.  Some of our ACT children are at the school right now taking some extra classes while the rest of the students are on break.  We were met at Murole by Norman, the school’s Director, who talked to us for awhile, tell us of how hard the students are working, speaking of how grateful they are, and how committed they are to cooperating with ACT. We currently have 71 of our 100 orphans here, so this is an important thing for us.  He then gave us a tour of the new buildings that have been completed since our last visit.  Their progress is encouraging!  We were treated to a wonderful assembly with the 40+ students who were present at the school today (there are almost 500 enrolled).  There was singing, testimony and dancing, Karen spoke, and played hymns on the violin to illustrate her message, accompanied by Elizabeth in song.  Afterwards, the students were dismissed, with the exception of the ACT children.  They stayed with us to receive the gifts from their sponsors, be interviewed, etc.  We were served yet another wonderful lunch, and were then treated to traditional dancing by the students. Then it was time to head back to distribute the pillow case dresses which had been made

Waiting for us back at the center was a crowd of about 200 people, which eventually swelled to at least 500 people.  Seeing as we only had about 255 dresses to hand out, this made things interesting!  After organizing the dresses by size we began bringing the girls in in groups and matching them up with dresses. Things outside quickly got out of hand unfortunately, with far more people wanting dresses than we have available. The original plan had been for each of the 7 parishes to choose a certain number of girls to receive dresses, and the plan was not followed.  Generous halted the dress distribution and directed the people to figure it out and return the following Saturday so we could finish handing out the dresses.  Karen conducted violin lessons while David conducted business in the village, and then we headed back to Muko.  Tomorrow will be a full day, with multiple church services being attended and with the ecumenical service being held in the afternoon.  We feel very blessed, and continue to ask for your prayers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was last Sunday, when after church, all of the children waited for me outside.  They surrounded me, with hopes we would be able to touch each other.  Another 'humbling' moment! === Diana

 

Here I am with my new buddies, watching a fast and furious game of football (that would be soccer for you folks back home!).  We love interacting and having fun with the children here in Muko!  === Elizabeth

Thursday, May 01, 2014:  Greetings from Uganda!  It was another early morning today, up before dawn and on the road by 7:00.  But we were all very excited to be heading to Muko because today we spent the day with the younger children (ages 5 to 12 years) from the MukoHOPE program!  When we arrived in the village there was already a hum of activity. Violins were playing in the back, and construction was underway.  During the day electrical work was completed on solar panels and to add more lighting to the center, which will be much appreciated. Another crew was hard at work plastering over the brick and finishing the exterior of the center.  Dave V continued to work on the attempting to improve the internet activity working with the electricians to install the antenna extenders to the top of the roof.  Unfortunately the attempt failed to obtain a strong signal, nothing has worked to obtain a strong 2g signal for an extended period.  What is frustrating is that if you move less than two hundred yards closer to the lake, there is a strong 3g signal.  We believe it is the steel of the roofs around our center including the new potato storage building that hinder our ability for a strong signal.  Children were already arriving with their guardians, so we quickly got to work organizing the gifts from the sponsors and getting ready to greet them.  As each orphan came in, they were greeted by Karen and one of the other adults and photographed with the gift from their sponsors. We then tested their vision (all seem to have great vision!), and measured their height and their shoe size.  We hope this will be helpful to the sponsors in the future when shopping for their orphan.  Each child then opened their gift, tried on clothing if that was part of the gift, and interviewed with questions such as “What is your favorite color?”, “Who else lives with you in your home?”, and “What do you want to do when you grow up?”.  For the most part the clothing that was sent was the correct size.  The most popular item may have been the many soccer balls that were included.  Some of the older boys stayed busy pumping up the balls and the children began playing with them as soon as they could. The smiles and happiness were priceless! Thank you so much to all the sponsors who continue to make such a difference in the lives of these children!

After all the gifts were distributed, interviews finished, and pictures taken, the boys and girls went their separate ways for a while.  The boys took some of their new soccer balls (or what they call “footballs”), and walked over to a village field for a rowdy and happy game of “football”.  Dave Mozahn and Josiah joined in for a game very different from what you would usually see in the United States!  A hill in the middle of the pitch? No problem! No soccer cleats or shin guards? No problem!  There are some soccer coaches we know back home who would’ve been pretty impressed with some of the skills we saw out there this afternoon…. Meanwhile, back at the ACT center the girls were treated to mini-manicures by Karen and Diana with polish and supplies donated by Tina Regan, the owner of Serenity Hair and Nails in Holt, MI. The girls really enjoyed themselves, showing off their pretty pink nails with big smiles and happy faces! After an hour or so we all came back together to have a talk with the children.  With Josiah’s help, Karen led a discussion about standing up for yourself, being assertive, and encouraging cleanliness, among other topics.  After this we all headed back to the field for some fun and games! Some played more football (soccer), and some tried their hand at baseball and Duck, Duck, Goose. But the most popular activity may have been playing catch with water soaked nerf balls of all shapes and sizes!  Every time a catch showered someone with water there were smiles and laughter.  Even some of the women from the village joined in, and they were pretty good at jump rope too!  What a great way to spend a sunny afternoon.  The last thing we did with the children was helping them write letters and draw pictures for their sponsors.  Then it was time to say good bye.

After the children left, Karen worked with some of her violin students. The students who returned this week seemed to play through the last year, using the knowledge from last May to play by ear. So it was back to the beginning, with emphasis on music reading. Every day one student adds to our group so we currently have six with one waiting to start. Henry Arimpa, Boaz Twikirize, Frances Girukwayo, Haward Biryomuriwe, Isobel Akanduhura, and a young man from Muko High School named Benson are in the “advanced” class. A young man named Deacons came in today and will get started on Saturday. There is much to do, not only to teach new techniques, but to straighten out misconceptions occurring during the past year with no teacher.          Meanwhile, a few of us made a few choices from among the beautiful baskets made by the women of the MEP handicraft program. Then it was time to head back to Kabale.  On the way home we made a stop at the market to shop for food to feed the older orphans (13 years and up) and their guardians who would be arriving at the ACT center in the morning.  Tomorrow will be another busy and wonderful day!

P.S.  there will be pictures in a separate blog tonight, we are doing pictures as a separate blog

Wednesday, April 30, 2014:  Greetings from Uganda! It was time for a change of pace, and we were able to sleep in a little later than past days.  Today our group would be attending several meetings in the Kabale area, so Rashid made the trip out to Muko and brought Generous, Josiah, Alexander, Moses, Tito and Mackline back to the Jopfan Hotel.  Justus and Stephen who work with our Ag program would be joining us also.  During the wait, we explored the Jopfan’s gardens, looking at the plants there that are so different than what we see back home.  And Karen learned a very important lesson…..don’t walk around outside with a piece of toast when there’s an eagle in the area.  While looking for Gordon and Judith (her chickens), Karen was dive bombed by an eagle, which stole her toast, and she lived to tell the tale! After all the excitement, it was time for our group to split up, so as to be more efficient and cover   more ground.  Karen, Diana, Lisa, Generous, Josiah and Alexander set off on foot for their first meeting, while the rest of the group boarded the van and set off for Kabale University, where we would be dropping off Mackline for her first day of classes.  She is enrolled as our first vocational student and will be studying Records Management.  So exciting to see her start the next chapter in her life!

The group with Elizabeth, Dave, David, Barbara, Justus, Stephen, Tito and Moses set off for a meeting with Dr. Wilson Bamwerinde, who works with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.  Along the way we saw the usual hustle and bustle of the streets of Kabale, red dust coating plants, buildings and people alike, and hillsides stripped to bedrock for timber and gravel.  Our meeting took place at a lovely pavilion overlooking Lake Bunyonyi.  We discussed the HANDS program and its successes and failures, particularly the recent Irish potato effort which had a less than stellar result.  We were looking for feedback on what may have gone wrong, what we can do differently and where we can improve in future efforts.  Dr. Bamwerinde was very personable and knowledgeable, and gave us an enormous amount of information and insight into agricultural practices and attitudes in Uganda.  We’ve set up another meeting with him next week, at which time he’ll be showing his ongoing efforts in agricultural education, the Center for Rural Development.  We also discussed the MEP (Muko Empowerment Program) handicraft program and Muko HOPE program.

Generous, Josiah, Karen, Lisa, and Diana met with two separate educational officials regarding curriculum, schools and their inspections. We learned about some topics to discuss with our orphans to help them with success in school and improvement in hygiene. We met Francis at Kabale University who enrolled as our first orphan to attend university. He will begin classes in August and intends to study Public Administration. The team celebrated this historical day! It might interest you to know that to sign a student up for university classes at Kabale, we had to go to one of two banks to pay the fees, obtain a receipt, and deliver the receipt back to the university.

After taking care of Mackline and Francis, we went to three vocational schools to gather information about what skills could be learned, what prerequisites were necessary, and costs to attend. The meetings were extremely helpful in preparing our Life Pathways planning which is developing as a plan for our orphans as they grow older.

At the end of the day our group was reunited and walked over to the White Horse Inn for dinner.  We enjoyed a nice meal and fellowship, talking about our day and making plans for tomorrow.  Thursday and Friday will be spent with the orphans, distributing gifts from sponsors, talking with the kids, playing games, and strengthening our relationships with them, bringing special hellos from their American moms and dads.  Things are going very well!  Please continue to keep us in your prayers…..

Wednesday, April 30, 2014:  Greetings from Uganda! It was time for a change of pace, and we were able to sleep in a little later than past days.  Today our group would be attending several meetings in the Kabale area, so Rashid made the trip out to Muko and brought Generous, Josiah, Alexander, Moses, Tito and Mackline back to the Jopfan Hotel.  Justus and Stephen who work with our Ag program would be joining us also.  During the wait, we explored the Jopfan’s gardens, looking at the plants there that are so different than what we see back home.  And Karen learned a very important lesson…..don’t walk around outside with a piece of toast when there’s an eagle in the area.  While looking for Gordon and Judith (her chickens), Karen was dive bombed by an eagle, which stole her toast, and she lived to tell the tale! After all the excitement, it was time for our group to split up, so as to be more efficient and cover  more ground.  Karen, Diana, Lisa, Generous, Josiah and Alexander set off on foot for their first meeting, while the rest of the group boarded the van and set off for Kabale University, where we would be dropping off Mackline for her first day of classes.  She is enrolled as our first vocational student and will be studying Records Management.  So exciting to see her start the next chapter in her life!

The group with Elizabeth, Dave, David, Barbara, Justus, Stephen, Tito and Moses set off for a meeting with Dr. Wilson Bamwerinde, who works with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.  Along the way we saw the usual hustle and bustle of the streets of Kabale, red dust coating plants, buildings and people alike, and hillsides stripped to bedrock for timber and gravel.  Our meeting took place at a lovely pavilion overlooking Lake Bunyonyi.  We discussed the HANDS program and its successes and failures, particularly the recent Irish potato effort which had a less than stellar result.  We were looking for feedback on what may have gone wrong, what we can do differently and where we can improve in future efforts.  Dr. Bamwerinde was very personable and knowledgeable, and gave us an enormous amount of information and insight into agricultural practices and attitudes in Uganda.  We’ve set up another meeting with him next week, at which time he’ll be showing his ongoing efforts in agricultural education, the Center for Rural Development.  We also discussed the MEP (Muko Empowerment Program) handicraft program and Muko HOPE program.

Generous, Josiah, Karen, Lisa, and Diana met with two separate educational officials regarding curriculum, schools and their inspections. We learned about some topics to discuss with our orphans to help them with success in school and improvement in hygiene. We met Francis at Kabale University who enrolled as our first orphan to attend university. He will begin classes in August and intends to study Public Administration. The team celebrated this historical day! It might interest you to know that to sign a student up for university classes at Kabale, we had to go to one of two banks to pay the fees, obtain a receipt, and deliver the receipt back to the university.  After taking care of Mackline and Francis, we went to three vocational schools to gather information about what skills could be learned, what prerequisites were necessary, and costs to attend. The meetings were extremely helpful in preparing our Life Pathways planning which is developing as a plan for our orphans as they grow older.

At the end of the day our group was reunited and walked over to the White Horse Inn for dinner.  We enjoyed a nice meal and fellowship, talking about our day and making plans for tomorrow.  Thursday and Friday will be spent with the orphans, distributing gifts from sponsors, talking with the kids, playing games, and strengthening our relationships with them, bringing special hellos from their American moms and dads.  Things are going very well!  Please continue to keep us in your prayers…..