10th January, 2016

Dear friends,

We’ve had a week of contrasts, spending time in Kisenyi and swimming some days at the Munyonyo hotel.  Katie leaves today and I know I shall miss her so much.

This week we met Caleb and talked about the way forward with the Meals for Kids Project.  We also visited Wakisa Ministries and spent a morning being shown around by the pregnant girls, who taught us how to make banana pancakes Ugandan style with cassava flour, first batch we made at home turned out fine, second were inedible, trial and error!  One of the girls already had her baby, so Katie had a cuddle, there were 23 young girls who introduced themselves, told us what training skills they learnt, shared Bible verses and showed us around.  They have a gift shop selling some of the things they have made with candles, jewellery, scarves, etc., so we paid a visit.

We also visited a couple of the local hospitals to give out baby clothes, thank you to the MU at The Church of the Ascension for still knitting them and also thanks to the young mum at Jesus Church who had given me  so many baby grows I had to ship them here, they were all gratefully received.  At Lugago Hospital we visited the Nursery (Special Care Unit!) really sad, the incubators are very basic, there were twins that the mum hadn’t realised she was expecting and a very sick baby.

‘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.’  Isaiah 40 v31

Relaxing at the swimming pool has been a real treat, three afternoons Katie and I went off to sit on sun beds, swim, natter and relax – wonderful.

William, the new security young man has arrived, he gets on well with Tim and they play cards, snakes and ladders, ludo and football.  The garden is looking good and apart from the first night when he was so tired he couldn’t keep awake he has settled in and works well.  I’ve met Betty three times for walks and we intend to continue our keeping fit regime.  The weather has been wonderful, sunny and hot apart from Friday at the Meals for Kids project when the heavens opened and rain saturated the place, a real blessing, refreshing the open sewers, an opportunity for some to bathe and others to huddle together in fellowship, guess what we did! Katie has given me some lessons on ‘Dropbox’ and Excel which have been really useful.

We went for a pizza after church last week and met Mel and Fridah and I’ve been invited to a church prayer meeting this Sunday evening open by invitation only!

I’ve heard it’s cold back home which is hard to imagine when most of the time we are looking at how to keep cool.  I’ve just returned from taking Katie to Entebbe, Tim came with me and the traffic on the return journey was really good for a Saturday afternoon, missing her already!

With love and prayers.

Jane