Beach Time

I am very late in posting this but as I had such a good time a few weekends ago thought I'd still share with you what I got up to! 2 weeks ago I spent the weekend on a retreat. Africa Inland Mission had their annual Kampala Unit retreat at a beautiful beach resort on the edge of Lake Victoria. The rooms were wonderful, it was peaceful and we could hear the sound of the waves on the shore. It was a great time of rest, enjoyment, spiritual refreshment and good food!

The theme of our retreat was “Life-Long 

Learners”. We are a group of AIM workers who have been in Uganda for a various amount of time. Some a few days, others for 20 years or more. I loved being able to network, make new friends, to talk about the similarities and differences in our work and in the struggles we face here.  We were able to learn from each other and no matter how long or how experienced each of us were, it was great to hear that we are still on a jouney and that noone had it ‘sorted’ yet. As the saying goes; "The more you know, the more you realised that you have to learn".

We studied the book of Philippians in our session times and looked at Paul’s letter to the church. One of the discussions we had which has impacted me was about remembering that we working here in Africa do not deserve praise for the things we are doing. We should not be put on a pedestal for our work. We are not perfect,  just a vessel for God to use. When we are working we are striving to be like Him and to share God’s love. It’s not a glory that We should be given or should take when things go well. It should be directed to God (3:12-18). 

Also in Philippians 4 Paul talks about a fragrant offering when all parts of the body give to the cause. We here in Africa have amazing supporters praying, giving and encouraging which help us do what it is that we are trying to do here. The offering that is given is from the whole body not just us. We are striving to share God’s love side by side and do this by giving in different ways. Neither is more important than the other.

I have been listening to a song recently which I feel sums up the theme of our retreat well. The CD was sent to me a few weeks ago by some good friends and I was told to listen to track 6 as the words of this one would be of great encouragement in those difficult times I might face. The words of this song have really stuck with me. It's not me here working that should be thanked and getting praise for 'being so brave' and doing a great job. This praise should be directed to Jesus who is ever faithful and the One working in the lives of those I meet. 

Matt Redman - Never Once

'Standing on this mountaintop

Looking just how far we’ve come

Knowing that for every step

You were with us

Kneeling on this battle ground

Seeing just how much You’ve done

Knowing every victory

Was Your power in us

Scars and struggles on the way

But with joy our hearts can say

Yes, our hearts can say

Never once did we ever walk alone

Never once did You leave us on our own

You are faithful, God, You are faithful '

Humbling

Last Monday I saw a number of children in the sick bay at school. 2 of them had malaria and one was just feeling unwell with a high temperature and a cold. I arranged a vehicle so that we could take them home, as they just felt too unwell to stay at school for the rest of the day. I accompanied them, as I had to give their medication to their parents/carers and explain why they were home from school early. Driving around the local villages was a real adventure. Our driver pulled off from the dirt road onto a small mud path and started to drive between two huts. It turned out that behind the huts I have been seeing on the sides of the road as we drive backwards and forwards to and from GSF there are huge communities. I hadn’t realised but if you follow the web of tracks you will drive into massive villages and see large communities living just out of sight of the main roads.

As we took each child to their respective homes I was humbled by the people I met. We would park the van and walk to the homes (as the van could not reach all the homes and the roads only went so far).  As we would walk through the maze of paths between homes children, mothers  and grandmothers would shout out and wave to me. The children were all crying 'Muzungu' and wanting me to wave and acknowledge them. We reached the homes and the whole family always greeted me. If the children were off playing nearby they were called to come over and shake my hand. It is custom here for children and women to shake your hand, kneel on the floor and look downwards. It is a sign of respect but I have been finding  this very difficult, as I want to pull them up and say ‘you don’t have to do that for me’. It has been and continues to be a very humbling experience but one which still sits uncomfortably with me when it happens. I have been told that as it is a sign of respect and gratitude and something that children are taught to do from tiny. Children will kneel to any adult when they meet them so they should not be discouraged as that is the culture here. This will be something that I will just have to get used to. 

My enjoyment and humbling experience in the village continued when we reached one of the homes and a heavily pregnant lady got up off of her chair, brought it over to me and insisted that I sit on it. I felt slightly embarrassed that I should be the one to sit down. Another family wanted to give me food. When we left each of the families I would be thanked for visiting their home. I loved meeting such wonderful families that afternoon who are full of joy and gratitude for something I did which was so small. They gave me a lot to think about in how I come across to others and how I can always have a good attitude in all things. 

I pray that God will help me to deal with the feelings that are produced in me when I am greeted like this. Feelings of unworthiness and embarrassment and that I will learn to embrace this greeting as part of the culture that I am in.

Micah 6 v 8 "…And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?" 

Eye Clinic

3 weeks ago we have had a visiting team with us from North Carolina. They were a church team made up of two eye doctors, 2 nurses and 3 amazing helpers who had all come out to give their time and skills to bless the children, staff and school here at GSF. They set up a mobile clinic in our church and for 3 full days went about treating hundreds of adults and children each day. They would do a vision test and then for the adults and for those children that needed it would carry out a full eye examination.

I was informed that we hadn’t had any eye doctors visit GSF for 11 years and that it is particularly difficult to find eye specialists in our area of Uganda. We were able to ensure that each child, staff member and missionary on site was tested. They also saw the children in the school, the teachers and school staff. They were also able to see local children and families who attend programmes run by our Social Worker and then on Thursday afternoon travelled into the surrounding villages to offer their service to villagers who live in this area.

Being an observer during the week was such a privilege. You could see what a  blessing this team were to those in need here and what an answer to prayer they were to many. The team picked up that some children and adults had cataracts so we will try and look into options surrounding surgery for these. They also picked up cases of glaucoma which if left untreated would have caused blindness within the next few years. We now have the medication to treat this and to save their sight.

The best part for me was watching those at the glasses station (affectionately known as ‘googles’ as the children here like to call them). The team had brought hundreds of pairs of prescription glasses with them and if it was picked up by the doctor that they would need glasses they would be sent to the next station and be fitted for and given their glasses. They were even able to choose from a variety of frames, colours and designs. Watching them as they read clearly for the first time was like being part of a miracle. The smiles I watched as glasses were put on and sight was restored was an amazing experience to see.

The team have been a blessing to those at GSF and were a real support and encouragement to us working here. They were fun, hard working and amazing servants following God’s calling to come and serve here. 


It was also a great experience for me, to come all the way to Africa to have my eyes tested! And for those of you wondering….I passed! I have 20/20 vision so am all good!!

This Is Africa!

I have had many friends asking me all about my experiences and wanting to know more about Uganda? So, here is some information for you….

What do people eat?

Central and Southern Uganda are very fertile and produce a wide variety and plentiful crops. Fruits such as pineapple, papaya, guava, avocado, passion fruit, watermelon, bananas to name a few are widely grown. Vegetables such as cabbage, carrots, potatos, sweet potatos, kidney beans, corn, courgette and tomatoes are also produced.

The staple diet for many Ugandans includes posho and beans, matoke, rice ground nut sauce, potatoes, meat and chapattis. Posho is corn that is ground to flour and mixed with water for porridge in the mornings. In the evenings it is mixed with less water and it becomes thick enough to slice and beans are put on top of it. Matoke is a type of banana that is pealed, steamed and eaten with the Posho. It can also be mashed. Ground nut sauce is like a gravy sauce made out of peanuts and can be poured over posho, rice or matoke. Chapatis are a fried flat bread, similar to a tortilla but more greasy! The food in Uganda is good but can be bland.

How do you buy things?

There is rarely a fixed price in Uganda unless you are in a supermarket. Almost every price is negotiable and most of the trade particularly in the markets is done by bartering. It is common to be charged a ‘Muzungu’ price so it is wise to have an idea of what you should be paying before you go shopping.

How do people live?

Living conditions are very different between the rural areas and the city. In the rural areas the poorest people may be lucky enough to live in a mud hut and hand dig their own gardens to try and produce enough to live on. There is an emerging middle class who are folks who have jobs and live in hand made brick houses. Not many people will own their own vehicle. The upper class live in and around Kampala in beautiful homes. The gap between the rich and the poor is wide.

What is the Language spoken?

There are many different languages spoken depending on what area of Uganda you are in. There will be a variety of languages and dialects in each place. Children all learn English in schools and the government have made English Ugandan’s official language,. However, older generations will not have any English and we will rely on children and young people to interpret for them. In Jinja, the language spoken is Luganda. Here are a few greetings that I am learning and trying to use each day;

Webalae - Thank you

Wasuze otya  - Good Morning (literally 'how was your night?')

Kali - OK

Mpolampola – Slowly (mainly used when trying to get a boda driver to slow down!)

Mujjanjabi - Nurse

Nnyabo/Ssabo - man/woman. Always put at the end of a greeting (to an adult) as a sign of respect

I will be having language lessons every Thursday evening with Teacher Pele at the GSF school.

What is the Population?

Children make up 66% of the population in Uganda.

75% of the population is under 30 years old and 50% are under 15 years old.

Life expectancy 52.17 years

Scary Statistics.

Over 1,900,000 Ugandan Children have lost at least one parent to AIDS. With numbers ranging from 1.2 million to 1.7 million, Uganda currently has of the highest population of orphans in the world.

Proverbs 3v5

Two Thursdays ago I was called by one of the directors to come to the offices as there were some babies there that needed to be seen. I wandered over and as I got closer I could see a lady with two small babies. It turned out that the lady was the JaJa (grandmother) and she was the main carer for the twins who were her daughter’s children. The twins were about 14-16 months old and the story she told was that their mother had developed a mental illness and abandoned them. The grandmother had her own children and was struggling to care for these two as well. She was concerned for their health and arrived seeking help after having walked for an hour carrying them both.

On first glance both children appeared very malnourished. Their hair was a brownish colour and very wispy (a sign of malnutrition). Their skin was oedematous and had areas that were sore, weeping and broken down. They had large tummies and puffy cheeks. The boy weighed in at 5.5 kgs and the girl at 5kgs (A new born baby usually weighs around 3.5-4kgs). I stood and listened to the discussion that took place on how we as an organisation would be able to help them.  The decision was made that we would send them to our local hospital for a check up and whilst they were gone decide what else could be done. On their return our Social Worker informed the grandmother that she should take the babies home and start giving formula feeds in a bottle which we would provide. Our social worker had a long discussion with the Jaja who obviously did care and love the babies and wanted them with her but had financial problems, which meant that she was not able to give them all they needed. That day the babies were enrolled on the feeding programme at GSF, which means that they will be brought in each Thursday by their Jaja so that the Social Worker can monitor their situation and supply them with formula feeds for the week ahead. 

Their grandmother said that they had been walking until they became so unwell.

I helped administer medication for the twins;  antibiotics for their chest infections, multivitamins, iron supplements, antibiotic creams, paracetamol and a multitude of creams for their skin. Transport was arranged to take the 3 of them back to their village. The grandmother left happier and with the support she needed to continue supporting her family which included new clothes for the twins, a mattress for the babies to sleep on and new sheets and blankets. Our social worker is planning to visit them in their home to assess their situation there at some point in the near future.

The whole process above took all day. They had arrived at 9am and left around 5pm. During this time I had lots of cuddles with them both and we were able to feed them (the grandmother also) and give them formula milk to drink that they really enjoyed! 

On first seeing the children I couldn’t believe how neglected they had been and was thinking about how in England the babies would have been admitted to hospital as an emergency case, both for medical attention and whilst teams had investigated the neglect of their care. I was surprised that the hospital that had seen them here had not commented on any part of the social situation. They checked their physical health and discussed commencing them on the immunisation programme and then sent them back to us. I have been informed that hospitals here see malnutrition often and as this wasn’t ‘serious’ the hospital would not have wanted to admit them or look into this case on any level.  I was even surprised that our social worker was not rushing to do a home visit that day and that the babies could go straight home to a environment we hadn’t seen or assessed. I find situations like these hard to deal with in my head, as I will be thinking “if we were in England now a, b and c would happen”. Instead I have to trust the system that is here and the support that GSF can give, and remember that we are giving more help than villagers like this grandmother would otherwise have been able to access. I also have to trust the process that our Social Worker is following and remember all the amazing things she and the feeding programme do and yes, it isn’t a perfect system in any way but she does an outstanding job with very minimal resources. 

Above all I have to trust in Jesus. Even when I don’t understand the why’s and how’s in these situations I know that he is working in this place and will be the rock of hope that I and the families here are leaning on. The amazing thing here in Uganda is that the people here, even though they are faced with suffering each day don't seem to question God. They trust Him in every situation. They cling to him in hard times because they have learnt to trust him in all times. God hasn't changed, even when their circumstances have. I am praying that I learn to rely on Him in that same way and that I can try to put aside my understanding of things and hand them over to God.  I know that there will be many situations over the next year that will be difficult to see and handle but I firmly believe in His power to restore all situations and pray that I stay close to him in all my days, whether they be easy or tough. 

 Proverbs 3 v 5-6  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight".

Different eyes

Over the last few weeks while on the way to hospital appointments with the kids I have been observing local villagers working in the fields as we drive along the road. I am constantly amazed at how hard people work here. There seems to be no let up for them and everything I have seen them do appears so physically demanding and draining on their time.

On our drive we have passed many men, women, children and jaja’s (grandmothers) working hard in the fields, on their land, washing clothes, cooking on small fires. Walking from the water pump with heavy loads balanced on their heads. From dawn till dusk they are working in order to get enough money to feed their families, pay for school fees and survive each day.

This has made me reflect on how ‘hard’ we work in the western world. I know it’s a different sort of work. Our work is more about time restraints, moneymaking, stress, appointments, paying bills, paying for holidays etc however, we generally don’t have to physically labour every day in every aspect of our day to day lives. We wake up and boil the kettle for a drink and heat up some porridge in the microwave/on the stove. Here the staff at GSF have to wake up at around 4.30 in the morning to light the fires so that the children’s porridge is ready for when they get up. Each meal will take ages to prepare here as everything is cooked on small charcoal fires and people do sit for hours cooking. At home, we will get in our car/jump on the train to go to work. Here people walk everywhere. Some of the children will walk for an hour and a half to get here for school, which starts at 8am. We ‘pop’ to Tesco’s when we need some groceries. Here food is grown and many families have their own plots of land. If there has not been a good harvest or not enough rain, their food supply is directly affected in that they do not have enough to eat or sell. I have seen disposable nappies reused here in the orphanage. If the baby has only wet them they are dried out in the sun and then used again.  We will pay childminders/nannies/nurseries to care for children whilst we are at work. Here children are cared for by children whilst their parents/families labour during the day.

I am struck by how hard life is on those here and how little people have. We have so much at our convenience, and during our week become so protective of ‘our’ time and what it is being used up by. I know that I was one who would stress that I had already done too much in my week, that I was too busy or getting too tired and would become selfish about what I chose to do and give my time to. Looking at that now I can see with different eyes what a blessing it is to have so much in the way of possessions and to be able to choose what we do with our time which here would be taken up with collecting water, walking, farming, cooking. For me, I pray that when I do return home to my luxuries in a year, that I remember how blessed I am to have so much. When I am using my car I will try and remember what a privilege that is and how I can bless others with it. I will try not to grumble about dropping others home after an event.  So what if I would get home half an hour later than normal; I have a car, I didn’t have to walk anywhere and would have the luxury of being out anyway!! I pray that I will see through different eyes how I can share better the things that I have both in possessions and with my time and gifts.

I am also praying that for this week, that I will be able to give generously with my skills and time that I have. This week I have felt tired. I had been eased in gently to nursing life here thanks to Sarah, to the fantastic handover she gave me and to the support I have had from the team. Sarah left on Tuesday to return to the states and I am now the responsible nurse for all of the children and staff at GSF and those that attend the school. On Tuesday just after Sarah drove away everything went pear shaped! We have had a nasty virus type illnesses spreading through the orphanage and there has been so many sick children everywhere I turn. Each morning and every evening over the last couple of weeks I have been shattered. I’m thinking its probably to do with adjusting to life in a new place, having my senses saturated every day and adjusting to living with a new routine, different people and lots of new nursing things to learn about each day.  However as I start my journey here at GSF I am praying that god will soften my heart towards these children that I am serving and that I will learn to lean away from my natural ‘me’ attitude and to give as much as I physically can. When someone knocks on my door during lunch I want to be able to leap up and help no matter how tired I am feeling or how much work I feel that I may have already done that day. And I pray that when my energy is depleted and I am out of steam that I will be able to lean on the One who gives strength and refreshment to those that are weary and in need of support.

Nurse Katie and Nurse Sarah

Isaiah 40:28- 31  “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”