Fort Weekend

Welcome to Fort... goodbye dirt road

Last weekend our team took a trip to Fort Portal for a little r&r. It was truly refreshing. The temperature is always cooler in Fort and this trip was no exception. We arrived in early afternoon, dusty from the Bundibugyo road and had lunch at the Gardens. Our favorite restaurant which is described by my Uganda guide book as the most alluring place in town. They also have the best samosas I’ve ever had. After lunch we went to Y.E.S. (youth encouragement services), a hostel that is clean and efficient... and pastoral. This is vastly different from Bundibugyo scenery. In the morning when there is still mist hovering above the grass and the air is cool, minus the the banana trees, I feel like I could be in England.

We settled in for a much needed afternoon nap at Y.ES. We were happy to find that the mountain pillows valley mattresses are no more. New mattresses for Y.E.S. and I remembered to bring my own pillow this time. A thunder storm rolled it which made the nap that much more delicious.

The following day team Bundi went exploring in some caves where we listened to African legends from our Guide and stood behind waterfalls. Then we hiked to several crater lakes near by. Replenishing expended calories at Pier’s Pizzeria. A new favorite Fort restaurant. Then paid about 3 buck to spend the afternoon by the pool at Mountains of the Moon.

So wonderful to have fun as a team. To get rest from a tough last couple of weeks. Thank God for rest and keep praying for us!

Heidi Anna Susan and me behind the waterfall

Kids that followed us on our climb... crater lakes all around

Just Love 'em

Lately my life consists largely of nursery rhymes, counting the days of school with counting caterpillar, feeding objects and letters to sound muncher and getting pre-school songs in my head. I loved teaching middle school and still do love that age but I never realized just how much I would love teaching kindergarten and pre-school. Just a few highlights:

-A flower for the teacher from Lilli.

-Patton snuggling when we read books.
-Lilli asking me if I will come over and play after school or watch one of her favorite movies like Felicity.
-Sharing popcorn or cookies at snack and Lilli divvying up the fruit snacks (an American treat).
-Tuesday tea and talking with Lilli.
-Watching almost four year old Patton attempt to hoola hoop. Quite a challenge when your waste is only about 2 feet from the ground.
-Laughter and fun for over 30 minutes just blowing up balloons and letting them go.
-Ots and Cwafts (as Bryan says) aka arts and crafts time. An all around favorite (as long as Patton is sure that we can wash hands when we are done.)
-Never tiring of “Here is the church, Here is the steeple, open the doors and...”
-Listening to the prayers of little ones.
-Sitting on the couch at school reading the Box Car Children to Lilli.

Sure do love these kiddos. Bryan, can’t wait till you come back. We pray for you every day :)

Nowhere is safe

This little teacher was not expecting a creacher

To disturb her while she worked away.

But out jumped a rat, which she hit with a bat

Oh, what a way to start the day.

So nursery rhymes where the theme for the last week of pre-school and this popped into my head on the morning of this event. Our second kill in 48 hours. We have been having a lot of rain in Bundibugyo lately. This seems to be driving certain critters into our house in a higher quantity. We have killed 4 rats in our house in the past couple weeks. After each kill the hope is that we will sleep in peace as they tend to be very active at night rustling around, chewing my necklaces in half... infuriating! Doing something that sounds like furniture rearranging... equally infuriating at 2am, 4am... yet we can't seem to get a break. Just one after another.

A few days ago I was awaken to paper shredding that sounded like it was right by my head. I turned on my flashlight that I keep in bed with me and shined the light on two beady black eyes that starred right at me not moving from my night stand. I watched it crawl down behind the books... gross! At least this one was a little more mouse like in size. I think I made metion in my last post of how thankful I am for my mosquito nets and all that it keeps out of my bed. I am one to faithfully tuck it in every night insuring no unwanted visitors. I feel very safe under my net even if I hear scratching on the night stand by my bed.

Last night I woke up because something had crawled over my leg. I had caught a lizzard in there just a few days before and figured that somehow he had just got back in, but I turned on my flash light just to see. The net was moving so I looked down and there trapped between the side of the mattress and my net was a rat! Fortunately I did not scream as Heidi and Anna probably did not want to be awake at 4am any more than I did. But I am sure that I made some noise as by now I was practically standing up yanking out the net and saying to the rat GET OUT! GET OUT! shivers running down my spine as I realized that a rat had just awakened me by running up my leg! I went around the circumference of my bed forcibly re-tucking the net probably almost pulling it from the ceiling. Then laid down heart still pumping praying that I would be able to fall back to sleep. And God was gracious, it was certainly a work of the Lord that sleep came and that I am already laughing at this CRAZY experience.

This one was much bigger than the one in my bed. Thank the Lord!

Not your average sleep over

Last Sunday brought Anna our summer intern! As part of Anna’s welcome and orientation to Bundibugyo and Africa, I arranged for the 2 of us to spend the night with Eusta, one of my Ugandan friends. We arrived at Eusta’s place about 4:30 on Friday afternoon bearing gifts of sugar, rice, and a pumpkin. We sat and chatted with Eusta and her neighbor, while a brood of neighborhood kids stood around mostly staring at us and giving us shy smiles from time to time. Then we walked down the dirt road through... well the jungle to greet Eusta’s sister-in-law who had just produced her second set of twins. We sat in the dark room mostly just watching after I had exhausted the little Lubwisi I know. But I do love visiting with Ugandan’s and just watching how life works for them.

Back at Eusta’s dinner was in preparation. I donned my long sleeves and slathered on the bug repellant to fight the never ending (and probably never winning) battle with the obakakuni (no-see-ums). We peeled sweet potatoes and two types of bananas that were to be boiled for dinner. The simmering pot of beans was removed from the little charcoal stove to make way for the two new pots to be added to the tower. Dinner bubbled away as we swatted bugs and chatted. I got to hear about the new school where Eusta is teaching and her boss (and friend) came to greet us. And the story began. One of the great privileges of being in a place where missionaries have preceded you is the rich stories and getting to see the kingdom worked out over time. Eusta and her friend are both graduates of Christ School (the secondary school started my World Harvest) It has been a long time dream of World Harvest to have a primary school as well. World Harvest as a mission has yet to start a primary school but we keep praying. And they continue to keep springing up. This story was another answer to that prayer for sure. After attending teachers college it is very hard to get a job. This hardship has been water to the seed of vision planted by Kevin Bartkovitch (founder of CSB) in the hearts of this particular student. Since work was not to be found... why not start your own primary school. So classmates were recruited along with Eusta, the community was rallied, and support of parents gained. And a school was born, without the aid of a single missionary or American dollar. WOW! They still don’t have a building or land of their own, but they are dreaming and praying.

Eusta’s friend ended up staying for dinner so in Eusta’s tiny candle lit eating room over rice, beans, gonja,and matoke. The story of God’s faithfulness continued. He went on to tell me that he was a scholarship student at CSB as his mother died when he was small and his father was killed in the war. We talked on until it was time to go to bed. Since after dinner that is what you do. We went out back and brushed teeth spitting into the bushes and made a quick trip to the pit latrine. When we went back to Eusta’s tiny bedroom we found that she had moved one of the foam mats from her bed to the floor, which completely covered the remaining space. She was giving up her bed and even more precious mosquito net for us, her guests. So with the door shut and the a candle out Anna and I settled in to the single bed with Eusta on the floor. As we lay there Eusta said, “oh, I for got to tell you the rats sometimes make a lot of noise on the roof.” I assured her we would be fine as we also had a rat problem in our place. I was surprised at how quickly I fell asleep, but this was not to last. I awoke with a damp shirt... our tiny room had transformed into a hot box. I could also hear scurrying and squeaking and I am pretty sure that it was not happening on the roof. I thanked Eusta in my heart for the gift of her net that doesn’t just keep the mosquitoes out. I did sleep some and the heat subsided by morning, but I was pretty happy when I realized it was light outside.

First job of the day was to sweep the compound. Passers by starred at the 2 white women and continually thanked us for working. We sat eating oranges again battling the morning bugs while kids played soccer with a tiny rubber ball. One little neighbor boy pounding g-nuts for breakfast. Anna commented on the difference in Saturday morning activities... no cartoons and fruit loops here.

After breakfast we visited some more neighbors. As it was time to leave Eusta presented us with gifts, oranges from her tree and sugarcane. We were thanking each other back and forth. Eusta told us not make this stay our last. She expressed honor in hosting. She walked us a bit down the road and bid wesalo. Anna and I continued down the road each with sugarcane in hand and bags under our eyes, but our hearts were full with Ugandan hospitality and generosity.