Sleeping in the village of Kamuli

We're really winding down in Kibaale now, putting the final touches on everything before we go and saying our goodbyes to good friends. It gets sad when you start planning out where you will be and with whom for the few weeks remaining! We had been trying to get to Kamuli town, about 45 minutes from Kibaale through the dirt roads, for weeks. This is the home of Samalie and Joseph, and they kindly invited us over to attend their church, see the project they are beginning (there are no lower level schools in Kamuli, and illiteracy is incredibly high, so they are going to start one) and spend a night sleeping at their place.

We've been here awhile now and slept in some interesting places, but we really enjoyed staying in Samalie and Joseph's house. They moved themselves into a neighbour's place and gave us the bed, and we went to sleep with the sounds of the village all around us. Quite different from Kibaale. Waking up was great and we were able to be part of a Ugandan morning watching goats be slaughtered for Sunday lunch, helping to cook cassava, taking care of the infinite number of small children running around the village, all while watching an amazing sunrise and idly chatting the minutes away until church. It was a great time.

Kyalulangira and back. . . the long way round

Riding motorbikes is the perfect way to take in Uganda's true beauty and a
great way to spend a Saturday morning. We took off early in the morning,
filled up with fuel and took off on a road we've never travelled. Three
hours later we returned having ventured off the maram road and discovering
some of the most amazing scenery that's been just a few kilometers from
where we've been living this entire time! If only we had ventured that
direction sooner. A couple failed photo ops later and we rolled back into
Kibaale. Sean spent the rest of the day giving riding lessons to people of
various ages, and then riding down (and up) stairs with some small kids for
laughs. A good day.

Jamie will come back to Canada a dirt bike veteran, so watch out everyone :)

Junk in ma Trunk

And by junk I mean goats. This is one way to transport a big goat delivery-
in the trunk of the car. We untied them all and all the kids came to collect
their "kid" gifts. **no goats were injured during the photo session**

Heidi's sponsor kid

Last week I went to visit my cousin Heidi's sponsor kid. So we drove for
about 30 minutes and then walked up a huge hill for another 15 minutes - and
he lived right on the top of the hill. As we were all catching our breathe,
we had the warmest welcome from his family! David is the oldest of 8
children! His mother cares for all of them and his father recently took off
from the family- nowhere to be seen. David is 11 years old and this is his
first year at our school. He is deaf and schools in his area never provided
the opportunity to learn sign language. So, now he is learning how to sign
and communicate with his teacher, family and friends!
- Jamie

Heather's Girl!

This is Nampijja Joan and my cousin Heather is sponsoring her! We are only
here for two more short weeks, so I wanted to make sure I met her family and
saw where she lived before taking off! Joan's smile brightens up my day and
I love her so much! Her family is so lovely! She's the oldest, and then she
has two brothers (Marvin & Baby Andrew) and her sister Flavia. I sat on a
woven matt on the house floor, baby chicks ran around me chirping away and
neighborhood children were peering in the door. These are some of the things
that I'm going to miss- I'm not really going to get that in a Canadian
household!
- Jamie

Hamburger soup anyone?

One of our cows, blind, stumbled into our fish pond and spent the better part of a weekend trapped inside, hopelessly churning circles trying to find a way out. So how do you get a cow out of a four foot deep pond? Like everything else in Uganda… labour! And a bare minimum of external equipment.

A piece of rope was quickly sourced, and our cook (Biira – who is a monster of a man) and the newly hired farm hand dove in with 1,000 tilapia and a very distressed bovine. It wasn’t pretty, but with some ear tugging, rump slapping, and Samson-feats of strength on part of all the workers we were eventually able to haul the thing out. And mend the fence a bit better.

30 seconds of rest on the ground for the cow, and then up and charging around blindly for the first shoot of grass it could find. Didn’t even thank us. But at least the fish were happy.

Forfeiture of Pallor... a Fire Fought

Dry season in Uganda is long. No rain, the earth scorched and brittle, our front yard blackened by the sun and the surrounding fields and hills awaiting the pyre of inevitability. So part of life becomes a battle against the blaze, a clash with conflagration, the march of brazened soldiers delving deep into the shimmering ashes of the grassland with little more than sandal, shovel, and moth-like determination to reach the light. Fate then determines which is extinguished first.

Poetic. Anyway, two of us headed out into a larger-than-normal fire yesterday and spent the better part of an hour beating the earth with our shovels and dashing frantically between the taller grasses in an effort to contain what could be dealt with. In the end we arose the victors, but not without forfeiting the pallor of our pieds.

Timothy Center

The organization we work with in Kibaale has a project associated with it an
hour away. It's a girl's "A Level" school starting up in 2011. From the time
we got here, the land has been purchased and it's been so exciting seeing
the changes come along- from roads being designed, plans being drawn, and
buildings coming up. Here are some photos of the dining hall, school rooms,
boarding room accommodations, and of course lots and lots of bricks.

Baby Kisakye

We were so excited to meet Mugabi and Margaret's baby girl today! She is the
cutest baby and she has the best parents ever. Margaret is always smiling
and has the most contagious laugh and Mugabi has the biggest and kindest
heart ever! She is a very lucky little girl and I was so excited to see her!
In fact, Sean banned me from taking pictures because I was shaking with
excitement and the pictures were too blurry.

Margaret gave birth to Kisakye (meaning by God's Grace)
very very early Friday morning by c-section and she is recovery mode until
the end of the week. Margaret says she's feeling a lot better and she will
be coming home at the end of this week. We live a few doors down from each
other, so there will probably be more photos to come!
- Jamie

Moses and I

This is Moses (my parent's sponsor kid) and his sister! He just got a gift
basket and a soccer ball and he was so excited! Well, he's a little on the
shy side, but his cute little smile and polite quiet "thank you's" gave away
his excitement! This is inside my office and my desk is at the back of the
photo.

2 Legged and 4 Legged Kids

Lizabee's sisters and friend came down to Kibaale for a day and we had a
goat give away day. We all piled in the truck with the goats in the back and
took off to a number of different homes. I guess I didn't get too many
photos of goats- but lots of pictures of the kids! The girl with her teeth
missing- she's available for sponsorship! Namatovu Margaret!