19th February, 2017

Dear friends,

The car has been in the garage and is working well, though still needs some more TLC which hopefully will happen next week. Pat introduced me to a reliable mechanic, and although he is not cheap I believe he knows what he is doing.

The boys are all well and happy. Sam and I have been taking the three younger ones out every afternoon. (Following Jackie’s timetable). (The other six are at school).
Thursday was a bank holiday, so the boys were off school, Sharon taught them in the morning and we took them to KK beach in the afternoon for them to play football, enjoy the swings and look at the boats, with a treat of sodas. William called later to shave the boys heads so they are looking smart. Five are off swimming with the school on Friday. Dennis who is in P7 has to work as his class aren’t allowed such pleasures, he even returned to school after church on Sunday.

I have been working in the office and this week handed Nora, our lawyer, all the information required for reregistering Homes of Promise as an NGO for three years, initially we could only register for a year. So many papers are needed – hopefully we have everything in place. Peace has taken the boys details/photos to the Probation Officer and we are hoping to have Court Orders in place for them shortly. Yusif opened up to Peace when she asked him to draw a picture of his family, he has been with us a month and although we had tried on different occasions to find out information from him about his family we weren’t getting very far. God is good. Yusif is only six and a really nice young boy. The latest figures given out by the government say there are 10,000 street children across Uganda – very worrying.

‘The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul’Psalm 23 v 1-2

The weather is wonderful, although it’s hot about 32 degrees there seems to be a breeze most of the time. We have two new chicks at home, Jenny laid three eggs but one got broken, I’m not sure how many chickens we have now, probably time to start eating, difficult when they have names. At George’s Place there are eight new chicks!

So life is quite quiet at present – still lots of paperwork to get on with as well as sorting out the storeroom which seems to be bursting at the seams. Hopefully the boxes I sent by sea will arrive soon as shoes, football boots and trainers are always needed, I get cries from the boys of ‘Aunt Jane I need………..for school’. The boys are good at washing their clothes when they come in from school ready for the next day – use incredible amounts of shoe polish – the shoes get covered in red dust, and they’re all getting good at giving thanks for food in English. So lots of blessings. Sunday following church we had ‘General Cleaning, (thorough house cleaning) more water games I think than actual cleaning! Saturday Paul and I took them swimming as usual.

I’m sitting having a coffee in a local shop and just been approached by three young boys saying they were hungry – I usually carry around biscuits in the car but have run out so found them a few shillings and they have gone on their way.

Life in Kampala can have its challenges – not always easy to know who to trust – but I believe you have to leave some things with the Lord – it’s His work, not mine and we can only be His servants.

Have a blessed week.

Jane