Weird and wonderful things at GSF.....

My life at GSF....

GSF is located in a small village called Buundo, about 15 miles from the town of Jinja, where the water of the River Nile begins its journey from Lake Victoria to the Egyptian delta. GSF is surrounded by sugar cane fields, small villages and farming land.  The area really is rural in that there is one dirt road that runs past the orphanage and then webs of paths that will run between all the mud huts that are scattered around off the sides of the roads.

At GSF we have 5 directing families who head up various ministries which ensure that all the children are healthy, well fed, protected and receive a good education. The directors also work with local families and provide community services of various forms such as the feeding programme. There are also Ugandan staff that work here and live on site. We have security guards, cooks, housemothers, farmers, drivers, workmen, housekeepers, a nurse, a social worker, teachers and office workers to name a few. They also are an integral part of providing the best care to the 79 children that live onsite and approximately 320 children that attend the school.  Then there are the ‘single ladies’ that live in my house, currently; Amanda who teaches the Missionary Kids, and Sarah and I who are nursing. Sarah sadly leaves me to my own devices next week when she returns home and she will be greatly missed. All together we are a busy team!

There is a farm on the land that is a great source of income for GSF. The cows that are here provide enough fresh milk for every child each day. Some of the animals and food that are grown here will be sold at the market creating extra funds.

The maintenance team keep the team vehicles running and deal with day-to-day DIY issues as well as building projects that are ongoing.

There is also a church building on-site which is used throughout the week for various activities as well as for a service on Sundays. The singing each week is beautiful and the children at GSF all take an active part of the church service in singing, presenting or giving testimonies.

My day is busy and varied but I feel that I am only just starting to learn everything and just beginning to get stuck into life here. I have been here a little under a month and will post a blog in a short while to describe a routine day of mine.  For the time being I thought that I would describe the weird, wonderful and new things I am experiencing living at GSF and in Uganda;

• ·      I am now known as ‘Nurse Kate’ or ‘Auntie Katie’ which I like!
• ·      The electricity supply is intermittent which takes some getting used to. I am getting better at wandering around the house to find candles/torches and leaving my laptop plugged in at all times so that it is always ready to go even when we have no power!
• ·      Intermittent electricity means that there is not always hot water and when there is hot water for a shower it lasts for 4 minutes at a time.
•       It is the rainy season and I am hearing and seeing (& sometimes being caught in!) some amazing storms.
• ·     When it’s not raining it is HOT. I used SPF 70 yesterday and still got ‘pink’ shoulders.
• ·      The children’s laughter is beautiful. I wake up most mornings to hear the sound of laughter and chatter around GSF.
• ·      The sky at night is amazing, I spend ages staring at the stars.
• ·      We are on the equator which means that it is light from 7am till 7pm every day, this will stay pretty constant throughout the year.
• ·      I am seeing lots of new bugs and insects but haven’t eaten any yet despite the children trying to convince me they are ‘nice’! Geckos are funny things and scuttle across the walls in my house at times. There are also snakes…..
• ·      When shopping I often feel rich – Ugandan shillings come in 'thousands'. £1 is equivalent to around 4000 shillings. A weekly shopping bill can easily be over 100,000 shillings!
• ·      At night I lay in bed and hear the strangest sounds. The most disturbing is the Hyrax. The hyrax is a small mammal that I have never seen, only heard. At night it makes a screaming/shrieking sound which I am getting used too now. Initially, when I first arrived I thought it was children crying!
• ·      Everything starts late – This Is Africa!
•        Matooke (a type of cooked banana), Posho (maize) and beans are on the menu at GSF every day. The kids love it!

• ·     When it rains everything seems to stop.
• ·     I can never ever get my feet totally clean no matter how many showers I take. The orange soil just gets everywhere.
• •      Everyone in Uganda appears to have a phone but many do not have easy access to clean water. I can’t get my head around that.
• •      When going out at dusk at GSF be prepared to have bats ‘whoosh’ past your head.
• •      Living with Americans I have found that Peanut butter is eaten in abundance – even with carrots!...and Oreo cookies are always close at hand :)
• •      The childen love playing with ‘Muzungus’ hair.
•        Potatoes are referred to as 'Irish' here!
• •      Hugs are in abundance here and one is never far away. The children are beautiful and so loving.

The source of life....

                                                                         Water. 

It’s something that until I came here I didn’t give much thought to. It’s always there and there is an abundance of it at home. We use it daily and lots of it and usually pay no attention to it’s provision.

Since I have been here I have seen water differently. I have observed the importance in day to day routines and it's huge value to people here in their daily lives which depend on it and are ruled by collecting it. Those who do not have instant, fuss-free access to the stuff have a hard time and over the last week I have been out and about around GSF observing this. GSF is located in a rural area surrounded by sugar-cane fields and set amongst tiny villages. As we have gone out in the cars I have watched locals – mainly women and children, walking to or from their local water supply. They carry heavy loads and walk for miles to carry the water back to their homes for their families, crops and animals. 

At GSF we have unlimited access to clean, filtered water, which is supplied by two large water tanks that are visible from afar. The water tanks stand high above the ground and act as a locator for GSF from a distance but also a reminder to the locals who live in the surrounding areas of the fact that this orphanage is built on holy ground. This week Mark, one of the directors was telling  our visiting team about the amazing story behind the water tanks; 
When the land was initially brought by Samaritan's Purse the water tanks were being built when the local villagers informed GSF that the land was cursed and that rituals and dark worship used to occur on this land. The team prayed as the water tanks went up. The tanks collapsed. The team prayed again. The water tanks collapsed again. The locals were saying that the land was 'bad' and that the team should not continue. The GSF team at the time then gathered folks together and walked across the land of GSF praying over it and declaring it for the Lord's work. The third time the water towers were built (in the same spot) they stayed up and have been there and functioning well for the last 10 years. The water towers declare God's presence and work in this area for all to see.

John 4:13-14 'Jesus replied, "Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life." 

Pause for thought:
- Every day 10,000 children under the age of 5 die from water related diseases.
- Each flush of the toilet uses the same amount of water that one person in the third world uses all day for washing, cooking, cleaning and drinking.

Casa Mead!

My surprise visitors!

This blog is too hard to write just now so I figured if I just sent a lot of pictures that might please all my wonderful supporters until I can find the words to describe how to put into words my first few days here at GSF Orphanage. I arrived on Friday evening after a surprise visit in the morning as I was getting ready to leave Kampala. Thank you Eric & Helen for calling by and seeing me even though you had just got off a night flight!!

I spent the day travelling and arrived at GSF to the most amazing welcome - all the children and staff had gathered at the gate to welcome me to GSF. There was singing, dancing, clapping, drumming and lots and lots of welcomes and handshakes. It was so amazing and a little overwhelming that they would do that for me!! I have spent the weekend settling into my new home and trying to learn hundreds of names!! Once I have settled a little I will post more stories of what I have been getting up to but for now please enjoy the pictures of my new home!!! At the moment my senses are just totally overwhelmed!

The children decorated all the windows of the house I am sharing!

The children left these on my bed :)

My bedroom

My bathroom

My kitchen

The lounge

The GSF site

My house

My house

All the amazing donations that were sent for the children - 8 cases full!!

For those of you that have been asking my postal address is:

Katie Mead

Good Shepherds Fold Orphanage

PO Box 1281

Jinja

Uganda

Boda Boda!!

Jack Fruit

This week I have been based at AIM’s central regional office, just outside of Kampala City. I am here for Orientation and have had a really great week of making new friends and learning new things. It has been a week full of adventure, challenges and has shown us a taste of the new culture we are entering. I have been so excited about being here and it has been such a long process to make it this far I was itching to start and have enjoyed every moment of learning a little about Africa and how AIM work through the central region.

On Monday we spent the morning being briefed, discussing dangers and differences of this culture compared to Western cultures and what we needed to know was acceptable behaviour in the areas we are going to.

We briefly discussed the impact that witchcraft and sorcery has on Ugandans and how deeply embedded it is in their traditions. Witchcraft has a huge impact on people’s lives here for a number of reasons and deeply underlies thoughts, beliefs and traditions much like materialism and wealth underlie a lot of western culture.

“Witchcraft is interrelated with superstition, which is also a practice founded on unreasoning beliefs in magic. It is also irrational fear of what is unknown or mysterious. At the same time it is associated with sorcery which also deals with cannibalism and child sacrifice”

The chat we had about witchcraft impacted me as the area in which I will be going to work; Jinja is where the Source of the Nile lays at Lake Victoria. We were informed that water symbolizes darkness within withchraft and sorcery so the people I meet and come across will most probably have deep rooted beliefs in this area.

We met with two wonderful and Inspirational woman on Wednesday, one of these called Faith who is from Kenya but works with a charity in Uganda. She was telling us a little more about witchcraft beliefs and how it affects families that she works with. She said that it is common for parents in Uganda to pierce their baby’s ears and that they do not do it for fashion but out of fear of loosing a child to a kidnapper who may take them to present the child as a human sacrifice. If a child has pierced ears they are then seen as impure. This was a shocking reality to hear and something that must be a terrifying reality to parents in rural areas where this occurs.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8444047.stm

On Tuesday I met with an inspiring nurse who has worked out here for years. She was briefing me on my role and what things I will and will not be allowed to do. I am here on a work permit but not as a registered nurse in Uganda so there will be some restrictions on what I can and cannot do like not giving IV drugs. However, from what I was told I will still be busy and face many challenges in the role ahead as I learn how to test for and treat multiple cases of malaria and administer drug prescriptions for those with HIV. I’m excited about getting started in my role. There has been a lot of thought, discussions and ‘wonderings’ on what I will actually be doing over the months so I’m excited to get stuck in to the tasks ahead.

She briefed me on the increasing occurrence of HIV in Uganda. HIV is often been referred to as ‘Slim’ here over the years because sufferers became like skeletons and loose lots of weight.  At one stage Uganda was a leading country in the management and control of this disease but as people have ‘got used’ to it in their society and education and attitude has lapsed so there has been an increase in the rise of Ugandan’s being seen with it.

As part of our chat I also learnt about the following (both what I may treat others with and may suffer from myself!!);

• ·      Jardia worms – an intestinal parasite caught from contaminated food and water leaves the sufferer very unwell and sick.
• ·      Mango fly – a worm that gets under your skin. Caused when a mango fly lays eggs on clothes that are out to dry. Will get under the skin if clothes are not dried/ironed properly.
• ·      Jiggers – a flea that burrows under the skin mainly the feet

Some of these are very yucky to think about so I will definitely be following advice given about always wearing shoes and washing my hands when eating!

Entebbe Road

On Tuesday afternoon we had a really practical and hands on lesson about using public transport - learning how to ride a boda boda!! This was fun and does feel a little scary at times. Crash helmets are not included! The Boda-Boda will be our main mode of public transport now we are here so getting used to them was a very important lesson.

  Wikipedia explains the Boda Boda as;

  “a Motorcycle in which the passenger sits   

  behind the driver as you would if you were a  

  second person on a motorbike. The  

  boda-boda taxis are part of the African  

  bicycle culture; they started in the 1960s and  

  1970s and are still spreading from their  

  origin on the Kenyan-Ugandan border to  

  other regions. The name originated from a need to transport people across the "no-mans-land" between the border posts without the paperwork involved with using motor vehicles crossing the international border. The bicycle owners would shout out boda-boda (border-to-border) to potential customers “.

Boda boda riding is a very new experience and our first trip out as a group is one that I will always remember! We ‘doubled up’ to take a ride down to Entebbe Road. When I arrived two of the other girls were already there and were surrounded by Boda Boda drivers. The longer we waited there (we were to wait for the AIM coordinator who was to take us to the taxis) the more drivers that surrounded us and herded us in next to a ditch so we couldn’t escape! They were ‘fighting’ over who was going to drive us to the next place. At one point one of the guys took the key out of his ‘friends’ motorbike and threw it across the ditch and into the grass!!

As we drove around the smaller towns and villages on the boda’s adults and children were all calling out “Muzungu” which Ugandans shout out when they see a white person. It created quite a stir as 4 boda’s of muzungu’s sped through their homes. Whilst we were out and about we went to visit other AIM placements. One was Dwelling Places which an AIM nurse is based long term and works within a team to take in street kids, restore their lives and reintegrate them back into families or adoptive homes, the other Reformed Theological College where an AIM worker has been in place setting up a coding system in their college library and teaching how to code and log the books. 

 On Wednesday we had a day   

 out in the city. We visited 

 Kampala town which gave us 

 the chance to use public  

 transport again – Boda Boda’s  

 and the standard white taxi van.   

  We spent the day looking around the city, visiting parliament buildings, wandering around the streets, visiting a craft market and lunching in a shopping mall called Garden City! On the way home we had to figure out the taxi  rank which was just a massive car park of white vans heading to different destinations (and all facing different directions) outside Kampala. Fortunately, our guide knew exactly which area the taxi left from and got us on the right one!

I have been starting to pay for things out of my expenses budget and It’s taking me a while to get used to Ugandan currency. Money is in Ugandan shillings and following my first ATM withdrawal I had 400,000 shillings in my wallet – I felt rich!  This is about £90 in GBP. Hopefully, it wont take too long for me to grips with it all.

So, today is Thursday and I am preparing to go to GSF tomorrow. My internet time is probably going to be much reduced once I’ve travelled there and while I settle in, spend time meeting and leaning the names of hundreds of kids and getting comfy in my new surroundings.

Love you all and thank you for the multitude of messages, cards, emails and Facebook messages you have sent they have been a real blessing and encouragemet to me over this first week.

I’d appreciate prayer as I travel to GSF and settle into my new home. I have been told to expect some sort of culture shock when I settle into life in a rural area.

Please also pray that I would continue to develop a heart of love for this culture and the children that I will be working with. This first week has been just a taster of what is to come and it has really got me excited about the year ahead.

Psalm 89:1  "I will sing of the LORD's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations."

Goodbye Blighty, Hello Africa!

I have arrived in Uganda!!!! My plane landed this morning and I stepped out to beautiful sunshine (we have had a thunderstorm since! : / ). Thank you to everyone for all your prayers - the whole journey, right from leaving home went so smoothly. We got to the airport in plenty of time so that I could check all my bags in and then enjoy a long sit down, drink and a chat (& some of my favourite crisps - thanks mum :) with my beautiful and very special family and my amazing and wonderful friend who had come to see me off. I had a very tearful goodbye at the airport. It was as hard as I had been thinking (and dreading) it might be and a really tough moment to go through. I haven't cried so much in a very long time! It was a strange mixture of emotions to be feeling all at once ranging from sadness and huge amounts of tears to excitement and expectancy. I had to compose myself when I went through security as I was walking through the airport on my own and I knew people must have been looking at me crying and thinking I was a freak! I had a good flight and was sat next to an angel who lifted my hand luggage (all 11.5kgs of it!) into and out of the overhead locker. I had been panicking about this as I can't even reach the overhead lockers let alone lift that weight above my head! I got my visa in Entebbe airport easily when I arrived. Big thanks to all who had been praying for my luggage as all 8 of my suitcases came through straight away, nothing went missing and a lovely airport porter helped me lift them all and wheel them to my taxi where Lawrence, my taxi driver was waiting. One smooth, uncomplicated journey!! To think I was worried about how I would manage on my own - as it turns out from when all 8 suitcases were lifted into the cars at home by Mick, Jimmy and Leah I never picked one of them up again until we got to the guest house and I helped unload them from the taxi. Amazing - I didn't do anything except get totally looked after the whole journey. I shouldn't have spent all those hours worrying!

 

Lawrence drove me from the airport to Matoke Inn guest house. Along the roadside I spotted so many signs and little shops displaying signs for Coca-Cola – I should have kept a count!! Matoke Inn is a 40 minute drive from Entebbe International Airport which is the only International airport for Uganda. Matoke is operated by Africa Inland Mission and has it's name from Matoke which is a particular type of banana which is part of the local staple diet and is eaten cooked.

The Inn is known for its beautiful surroundings and also for its peace and quiet. It is set in a large garden compound and enjoys tropical and semi tropical flowers and birds. I haven’t explored much yet but have heard a wide range of birds, chickens and monkeys!! Matoke is only 15 miles or so north of the equator and has an altitude of approximately 3000 feet above sea level which makes the climate very pleasant. It is also just a mile or two from Lake Victoria Which is the second largest inland lake in the world.

I am staying here with 3 girls from the US who have also come here at the start of their trip. They are going off to different projects over the next few days and we are all going to be doing our Orientation together this week. They have been acclimatising to jet-lag so I have enjoyed a quiet, relaxing and chilled out day today.

My first impressions of Uganda:

The lovely hot sunshine.

The warm, friendly welcome I have received.

It’s very green and there is a lot of orange/red mud everywhere.

Never-ending supply of tea in the guest house! My tea habit has been well supplied since my arrival.

The locals brilliant English – apparently there are 30-40 different tribal languages spoken here (National language is English) but from first impressions I won’t have to spend too much time studying :)

My temporary bedroom!

Tick boxes galore!

Wish it had been this tidy when I lived there!!

Last Sunday I moved out of my much adored flat. It has been sad moving out as I love that little place and it feels as though it has been a bit of a journey emotionally, finishing up at work over the last few weeks whilst in every spare moment I had I was packing, sorting and storing my worldly goods away for the year.  I have had help from some amazing friends and family who have fed me, encouraged me, done multiple trips to charity shops and the dump, spent hours on end lifting boxes into my loft as well as helping me helping me stay focused & sane and ensured that I got out of my flat in time for my new tenant moving in! 


I am now in 'limbo' waiting to go. It's been great to have the chance to have a couple of weeks between finishing work and moving before my leave date. I've been able to spend time with family & friends and start mentally preparing myself for the next step. It is giving me a chance to look ahead and as best I can to prepare for what is to come which fills me with excitement (& a few nerves!)  


So, I guess that I am finally ready to go! It's a strange feeling to be 'sorted'. I have spent the last months living by an endless list of jobs which just seemed to grow each time I spoke to someone new who would say.....'Don't forget to do this'.....'Have you thought of doing this'....'You'll need to ring and cancel this'....!!!!! It also seemed that I had an unending list of boxes which have slowly been ticked off and completed so that everything is in order for my departure. I have had some last minute glitches which have now been sorted (Woohoo!!) and feel free now that I am not living by a tick box every day! :)  Praise God!!




My fundraising total was met and totally overflowed as I shot over my target months ago! I have a lot of folks to thank in getting me here so "THANK YOU" to all who have smiled, hugged, packed, fed me, donated money, organised events, wiped away tears, stayed in touch, encouraged and helped me along my way.


As I sit here now I have my 8 cases packed and am waiting for Saturday to arrive. British Airways have been amazing an given me a huge charity allowance so I can take everything with me and ensure all donations make it to their destination.  It's now only 5 days till I fly to Uganda and I often wonder what my 'new' home will be like, where I will sleep and what adventures I will see in my house over the next year. My next big challenge will be getting through the "goodbye" at the airport. For those of you praying for me please keep myself and my family in your thoughts and prayers as we travel to Heathrow on Saturday evening that we get through the goodbye and that no-one crumbles into a too big a mess! I'm excited, nervous, scared but overall filled with joy and peace. God has watched over me during these months of worry and everything has worked out just perfectly. 

Luke 12:22-29
And He said to His disciples, "For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing? Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life's span? If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith! And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying.