18th April, 2020
Dear friends,
I arrived back in the U.K. late on Sunday evening. Nicky my son, kindly met me at Heathrow and I am staying with him and his family, keeping my distance for a week to make sure I am virus free! It was a long journey back, I was up at 4am and arrived at Heathrow midnight South African time, thankfully everything went smoothly and there were no hiccups.
The boys and staff at George’s Place are keeping well. Shadrach has managed to pay the tax and National insurance bills – he is having to go by bicycle as cars are not allowed on the roads. Consequently, he has to ride to Ken Modoe’s home and then to Nora my lawyer to get them to sign the cheques before going to the bank – all seems to be working nicely though and confirmation of payments have come through.
‘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. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.’ Psalm 23 v1/4
The lockdown continues in Uganda. Easter Sunday was a time of thanksgiving at George’s Place, they held their own service, ate chicken for lunch with sodas – a real treat and all very informal. I’ve had a few messages from the older boys saying they miss me – I miss them all so much. Simon Peter and Patrick continue cooking the meals – they’ll probably be able to get work as cooks in the future, not plumbers and welders! We have paid them a little so that they can send this to their families.
Thank you for all your prayers and support for Homes of Promise a number of you have been in contact and we appreciate all your concern for the boys at this difficult time. A few of the boys, who have returned to relatives have been in contact and we have also managed to send small amounts of money to help their families to buy groceries etc.
As we spend so much time isolated in these difficult times we give thanks to the Lord for his provision, we all have so much here – good food, books, iPads, Netflix and we can easily contact our friends and relatives. Over the past few weeks I’ve had time to reflect on how different and difficult some of my friends and colleagues lives are in Uganda and the strain and stress of providing for their families, your prayers please as they enter yet another phase of lockdown with so little.
With much love
Jane
PS: I’m sorry about the quality of the photos these are all taken on Shadrach’s rather temperamental phone, sometimes he can only send audio messages!
