9th April, 2016
Dear friends,
The house near Mbale is finished and the latrine will only take a couple more days to finish off. Mary and her grandchildren are so very happy with their new home.
Both the classrooms at Mission of Hope are now completed and I took Sam the young boy needing the hernia operation and his father back to the hospital on Thursday, another long wait to see the surgeon, Sam has been admitted and will have the operation Friday, he is in Luke Ward which was where Sirage was.
We have found Tim a school near George’s Place and he is starting Saturday morning 8am-1pm, he looks very smart in his uniform. It is a small private primary school; as he has missed so much schooling in the past he will begin in P5 until he has caught up. He is happy to be going, we were given a list of things to take which included 5 toilet rolls, two brooms, a ream of photocopying paper, school books, pencils, atlas, handkerchief, etc. so he should be well equipped. The head asked him some questions, he was so nervous but answered well.
Last Sunday Abdu drove Tim and I to visit Anton, it was a 6 1/2 hr. journey each way, we found Anton’s village which was down a small track and I can’t imagine cars are often seen, the whole village came out to stare and many tried to squeeze into the small home. Retrak have resettled Anton with his aunt who has no legs and runs a bar in the front room of her two roomed house, she has three children of her own to take care of as well as Anton. She seemed a really kind lady, but I don’t think I will ever get used to the situations women have to cope with here and the pressures of earning money, for food, rent, school fees etc. even in the village. We took groceries and helped with Anton’s school fees for this term, he was pleased to see us, we are in contact with the probation officer to see if Anton can possibly come and stay with Homes of Promise for more counselling and care during the school holidays, he was uprooted with very little preparation and didn’t even get to say goodbye to the nurse who had looked after him following his operation. Anton telephoned me on Wednesday morning – not an easy conversation as he is very quiet and shy and I’m not always sure he understands me especially on the phone.
‘But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Christ Jesus.’ 1 Corinthians 3 v 10b/11
Tresor and I have been looking around for places to be feeding the street boys and found an organisation feeding over 100 boys three days a week, it was good to see them being fed, no washing facilities though. We also attended a meeting held by Crane who bring NGO’s who are working with street children together, they are running a campaign Keep Smiling, it will be good to be registered with them and attend meetings to hear what others are doing. The International Day for Street Children is on 12th April and we are hoping to be involved.
I also went with Tresor to the International University of East Africa, (where he’s a student) one evening to attend a lecture and vigil commemorating the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, a young man who had survived gave a very moving testimony, the auditorium was full and holds 1,500, no other Muzungues though!
There has been rain this week but also plenty of sunshine. Life continues in Kampala to be challenging, tiring and interesting. Thank you for your love and support.
With love and blessings,
Jane
