Monica Arrives!

Monica, Jamie’s good friend from back home, recently made the awesomely spontaneous decision to fly out and visit us here in Uganda. So we’re pumped. This past weekend we drove out to pick  her up. The day ended up being a funny one as we wanted to try and grab some entertainment at the same time so long as we were in the city, but nothing worked out. We tried to see a musical in the theatre (Sound of Music), but it was sold out. We tried to go out for a nice meal, but our order of nachos somehow came back in the form of leafy salad with potatoes, olives, and canned tuna lumped on top. We tried to go swimming after a long hot day in the car, only to have it promptly cloud over and turn freezing cold. So, an interesting day. Then we realized, after waiting at the airport for an hour for Monica, that we had accidentally driven up early and her flight wasn’t until the next day!

No matter, because she’s here now and it’s great to have friends here! We took her from the airport to Mpigi, the place Jamie and I stayed at our first time in Uganda back in 2007, and hung out with the kids. ‘Twas good. Now, back in Kibaale, waiting for tomorrow morning when we’ll leave for a safari in south-western Uganda. Here’s some pics so far.

I didn’t trek my paints all the way over here, but I did bring some oil pastels! My sketch book has been nice to have around during the quiet nights in Kibaale and it’s a nice way to keep up the artworks.

Confirming Auntie and Uncle status... baby Chloe

We get called Auntie and Uncle everyday here in Uganda. It’s a cultural thing, and it’s always felt a little bit weird. But no longer! On April 24^th 2010, weighing in at 6 pounds flat, and standing at 18.5 inches tall, Chloe Elizabeth was born to Lana (Jamie’s sister) and Ben Rempel. Congratulations guys, and happy birthday Chloe!

Water? Hydroperoxyl?

 

FIA Rally in Uganda

This is a cop sitting on the roof of my truck. He vaulted up there while I was still inside... the AK-47 told me not to complain

Jeff got word that the FIA East Africa Rally Championship was going to be coming to Uganda over the weekend, and I decided to check it out, so into the truck for four hours of driving with high hopes. It was pretty cool compared to other rallies I’ve attended… none of this “tow your car to the track” business. Nope – when I first arrived in the city there were Rally cars trying to drift around the first traffic circle to a throng of screaming boda drivers and cheering cops, engines pinning off the rev limiter with no mufflers. Later, driving down the main road in the city and pulling out to pass a slow fuel truck I had to quickly duck back in my lane, or else be hit head-on by some crazy guy in a Subaru at full throttle.

 

So, it was a fun time. I didn’t get the greatest spot to sit and watch, and rain came and ruined the end of the day, and it took two hours just to get out of the stadium where the first stage was being held (actually the King’s palace grounds), and I got ripped off buying a fake program, only to be ripped off again buying an official program that was no better (I should have clued in when they spelled “race” as “rece” on the front cover), and I had an interesting run-in with some drunk fans. But honestly, I didn’t expect any different. Here’s a few pics.

We love Sylvia!

We can’t say much more than this: we love Sylvia.

Sylvia is another girl that we’re sponsoring. But Sylvia’s case is a bit different than Merones’, as Sylvia doesn’t go to Kibaale School. She’s a part of a very small sponsorship program called “Communities of Hope” with 8 families. Christine, our social worker, expanded the community services programs to include caring for specific families who were having a really rough time with life. Most of the families in this program are child-led families, meaning that there are no parents and the eldest child, sometimes as young as 13, is caring for the entire group of kids at home. Sylvia has both a mom and dad, but that doesn’t mean that her situation at home is easy. Her mother abandoned the family due to abuse from the father, and the father continues to be a huge jerk, not providing food for his own kids and spending most of his days drinking.

Sylvia is a fantastic kid. She’s in P1 right now and eight years old, and just a shining star.

Proud parents that we pretend to be – she ranked second out of 87 students in her class :) She wants to be first next term. Sweet.

Pictured – her at home with her father, brother and sister.

Oh yeah, and Katonda means God. Saw it etched into the walls of her mud house, and thought it was cool.

Today I had lots of little visitors in the office drawing pictures for their sponsors and then I took off to visit a couple of the nursery students at their homes. One mother was so excited that her son got a sponsor that she let out a cry for joy, couldn't stop smiling and gave her son the biggest hug ever. It was so precious to see. She just loves her kid so much. Even though you may see all smiling faces here, I did happen to make 2 or 3 kids cry because of my freakishly white skin. It can be pretty scary.