How to celebrate Christmas 'African style'!

I have very much enjoyed my African Christmas. We had a whirlwind 5 days of exciting and entertaining events with the children. There is so much I want to tell you about what we got up to that I think that the best way to try and tell you some of what we did is through photos.

23rd December

Staff Christmas Party

The House Mum's presenting their songs at the Staff Christmas Party. We held a Talent Contest and each department presented a song, dance or sketch. The House mum's came in 1st place.

The 'Single Ladies' dancing during the Missionaries song! The party was great fun and everyone got to eat together and have lots of fun. Each staff member got a Christmas gift, a Christmas Bonus and a bag of 'fresh' meat from the farm.

Christmas Eve

Cookie Decorating

This was a mess but great fun. Each child decorated 2 cookies with a LOT of icing!!!

Lauren showing off her creations!

African "Snowball Fight" (aka water fight with melted snowballs!)

It took us around an hour to fill 300 water balloons and they were gone in about 10 seconds!!

The 'Snowball' fight in full swing

Bonfire with juice, snacks, carol singing and dancing

A very special Christmas Eve night around the bonfire with all the children

Christmas Day

Present Opening. Each child got a stocking Christmas morning.

I was blessed this year and also received many gifts to open!

Christmas Day Church service including nativity

The little girls taking part in the Nativity. Mercy, one of our special needs children was Baby Jesus and behaved perfectly!

Christmas lunch and kids party with even more gifts

Ready to serve Christmas Lunch

Joel enjoying his soda!

Helping to hand out the presents

Gayla very happy with her new doll!

Christmas Skype at sunset 

Just as the sun was setting on Christmas day I managed to get a Skype connection which enabled me to chat to my dear family and share my day with them. After this I was able to enjoy the movie "Elf" and some yummy snacks with my house mates and the visitors. A perfect end to a fun filled day.

Boxing Day

Lunch in the village

On Boxing day we were invited to our house helper's home for lunch. Betty is an amazing lady and on Boxing Day invites the elderly to her home for a free lunch. We were special guests so had to dress up in our tradional dress ('Gomez'). Here I am carrying Betty's Christmas gift.

Balloons, bubbles and lolly pops for the village children.

The Boxing Day lunch guests

27th December

Quad Biking for the Teenagers!

As a Christmas treat we were able to take the teenagers on a Quad Bike Safari along the River Nile. It was so much fun!

The girls during their Safari and then it was off to town for Chicken and Chips!

I have been part of a special celebration this year which I will treasure and remember for many, many years to come. My special African Christmas! How blessed I am.

Happy Christmas Eve!

It’s Christmas Eve and I am sitting here reflecting on the season that is before us.

I have enjoyed the Holiday season but it has been very different this year. I have experienced a bit of homesickness but have also had lots of fun trying to recreate a special Christmas feel in the middle of a very HOT season. You know, having scorching hot weather makes it pretty hard to feel like it is Christmas! We have been playing Christmas music, been carol singing, had a staff party, decorated our own tree and done some Christmas baking. I do however find myself reflecting on what all my friends and family will be getting up to at home; missing the family traditions, the cold and Christmassy feel that naturally comes with the icy weather, Christmas parties, spending time with friends, having candle lit carol services and all the yummy delights that come out at Christmas, like brandy snaps and Christmas pudding! I then naturally think about all the stress and work that everyone at home must be under with the shopping, buying, cooking, wrapping and manic rushing that comes with this time of year!!! This has made me realise how much of Christmas is overtaken with the expectation from the consumerism side that money must be spent and that everthing must be perfect – what a distraction we have in the west with 3 months of adverts and shops playing music ‘demanding’ that we buy gifts and that Christmas be ‘made’ special. 

This year I have been able to enjoy the Christmas season without any hype and have truly discovered how special it is. We do not need to make it anything – it’s all there in front of us ready to be enjoyed;

Matthew 1 v 23 says; “The Virgin will be with Child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” which means, “God with us.”

I have had a real chance to remember the real meaning of Christmas and to truly think and reflect on the fact that Christ was born and came to be with us so that we could be saved.

My Christmas is going to be different and certainly one to remember this year, being able to celebrate it in Africa. It’s good to remember that God is always trying to communicate with us, to show himself to us in our everyday’s. I am grateful that I am in a place of quiet and calm where miracles are seen daily amongst the most adorable people, who have such huge faith in such difficult circumstances. During the holiday season it sometimes seems harder to hear the message that God is with us due to all the extra volume that surrounds us. This Christmas I wish you a joyous time filled with moments when you can reflect on the true season. I pray that your Christmas does not deteriorate into a buzz of jingling bells and frazzled days, one's that are full of decorations, deadlines and dashing! 
If God is with us, then God is with you. If God is with you, then there is no reason to fear or doubt anything. I’m thankful and blessed that I have had God with me every step of my last 5 months here. In all the fun and tough times I have had I have not been alone. I'm happy to be experiencing an African Christmas this year and am grateful for the best gift I have ever received - that of Jesus Christ.

Mercy Ministries Party!!

Last Thursday GSF hosted a Christmas party for the villagers who are signed up to the Mercy Ministry programme. On the programme we have two groups;

Elderly villagers who have financial problems and little family support so are unable to buy themselves food.
Babies, children and their families. The babies come from poor families who are unable to supply the nutrition they need. They are sometimes cared for by their parents who have a low income and some are cared for buy grandmothers/aunties who are also feeding a number of other mouths.

Enjoying Soda!

As it's Christmas, GSF thought that we should celebrate and love on this very special group who we see weekly when they come to collect their food supplies and visit the clinic. It was the first time that GSF have held a party for the Mercy Ministry folk and it was well received.


There was dancing, singing, praising, presentations, speeches, cake, soda and lunch!! I enjoyed watching the fun and laughter that young and old had together. 

A humbling experience to have a grandma on her knees thanking you.

One of the wonderful grandmothers and her twins!

When the Christmas gifts were given out it was very emotional, I had a tear in my eye. The men and women were so grateful and thankful to God and GSF for giving them Christmas gifts. It was a honour to be there and watch as they knelt and thanked and thanked for the gifts they were presented with. Everyone got a basin, t-shirt, bag and some food supplies. The children at GSF had made the t-shirts themselves the previous day so it was fun identifying each one which was a personal gift from each child here.

Decorating t-shirts to give as gifts

Tie Die!

At the end of the party (and after lots of dancing!!) I opened the clinic for a short time to offer free health care to those in need. I always really enjoy these sessions and seeing women and children who have not had medical treatment because of a lack of funds. What a gift it is for me to be able to open the clinic door and easily treat cases of malaria and infections....for free! And what a gift we are reminded of at this time of year, the free gift we have received in Jesus Christ coming to earth for us. A free gift that God offers us: the gift of complete forgiveness, freedom from sin, and eternal life with Him in heaven. 


John 3 v 16-18 (The Message)  "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him".

Faziri

Faziri is a 4 year old boy brought to us a couple of weeks ago. His family were unable to give him the care that he needed and were also unable to maintain the hospital bills that were constantly coming in as he is a ‘sickly’ child and often in and out of hospitals and clinics. He has been with us a few weeks and on our first visit to the doctor to investigate his unusually large stomach we were told that he had Hirschsprungs disease. Sadly this has never been picked up before despite the numerous times he has been taken to have medical treatment.

“Hirschsprung's disease (HD) is a disease of the large intestine that causes severe constipation or intestinal obstruction. People with HD are born with it and are usually diagnosed when they are infants. Less severe cases are sometimes diagnosed when a child is older. An HD diagnosis in an older child or adult is rare".

We are amazed that Faziri has survived until now. His growth and development have been stunted and he has suffered from years of pain, dicomfort and missed medical diagnosis. We hope to have him admitted to hospital in the New Year for surgery and for him to have a biposy and then to have a Colostomy formed. Please hold him in your prayers as he is likely to need up to 3 operations. 

Care Packages

Below is a list of items that many of you have been asking me for. 

So many of you have already supported me and treated me to many amazing parcels and for that I am so grateful. For anyone still wondering what would make me happy I have had a think and here it is. 

(Please understand that this blog is here because of demand and not in the slightest because I want or need anything! Having lived among the people here in Uganda for the last 4 months I have learnt quickly that I do not want or need for anything and what a privilege and security that is. It is humbling to see how little some people have and to see the Real needs that they face. I am blessed to have been brought up never having to experience that and I am so thankful each day for all that I do have and have been given).

Things that would make me (and the children!) smile if anyone would like to post them;

• Baking packets to cook with children i.e fairy cakes, instant cake mixes
• Sunday school books/material/gifts age 10
• Cooking packets like beef stew, pasta bake
• Bubbles for the toddlers
• White and milk chocolate...actually any chocolate of any kind and in any form will not be rejected! (my guilty indulgence) :D
• Teabags
• Cereal bars
• Snacks like pretzels, nuts, yoghurt covered raisins
• Chewing gum
• Dessert/pudding mixes
• Nail varnish
• Hot chocolate

If you do not want to send a package but would just like to write to me, letters and post cards also make me smile a lot! You can post them to;

Katie Mead

Good Shepherd's Fold Orphanage

PO Box 1281

Jinja

Uganda

Thanking YOU all for all your continued support :) x

Speech Day

Last Thursday I was invited to attend "Speech Day" held at the GSF school. At Speech Day all the classes present a song, dance, drama sketch or poem to the audience. Some of their parents come to watch and it is a celebration of the end of term, their achievements and an occasion where they are presented with their end of term reports. There was a big buzz in the air that day and I was excited and honoured to be included in the occasion and have another reason to wear my beautiful Gomez (Ugandan dress)!

Speech Day was also a particularly big day for K5 (the oldest Kindergarten class) who were graduating and will next year be in Primary 1!

The day was long starting at 10am (an hour late) and finishing at 4pm when lunch was served. However, I really enjoyed watching another cultural event and taking in the music, songs and traditions of this group. It was awesome to watch the spirit of celebration and some very proud parents and grandparents who were there supporting their babies! The teachers, children and parents danced and sang together throughout the event.

My two favourite parts of the day were the achievement awards and the children's presentations.

During the achievement awards certain pupils were called to the front because they had been the best in the school that year for punctuality, discipline, kindness etc. There were also awards for the top 3 positions in each class. As each child was called to the front they received a glass or china plate and a lolly as well as a certificate. I got choked up every time a very proud grandparent or mother ran to the front to congratulate their child and have their photo taken!

I also really enjoyed the children's presentations especially their dancing and singing. It is custom here that when there is a group on stage dancing those in the audience will go forward and give money to the one who is dancing/performing the best. This encouraged all the children to give 110% and also encouraged lots of hip swinging and bottom wiggling as that is the language of the dances here. I loved watching as more and more parents went forward giving money to children and the children got more and more energetic!!

At the end of the ceremony the children all received an end of year report with their test results in and the all important information of whether they were being promoted to the next class. In schools here in Uganda children do not progress through school by age but by ability. This means that each class will often have very mixed ages. There was a lot of excitement from the children who had performed well enough and after the summer holidays will return to school and be in a different year.

So, now it is the summer holidays! The compound here at GSF is quiet. The school is closed for 6 weeks so we will have around 250 less children and staff on site every day. I am looking forward to the pace slowing a little and getting some quality time to sit, chat and play and to enjoy December with those living here at GSF .