24th October, 2016

Dear friends,

I arrived safely back in Kampala Saturday afternoon and after a quick shower went to visit George’s Place. It was lovely to be with the boys again. We went to Ggaba beach on Lake Victoria where the boys played football and danced until 7pm.

The chickens at the home are thriving and we now have 9 baby chicks who seem to be surviving – obviously not many cats in this area. I also met the new boy, Herbert, (Sharif went missing for a day last month and came back with him). Herbert is very young probably about 8 or 9, quiet and well behaved. He has told us he was sold by his grandmother to a lady to work on her land, but the woman had beaten him and he had run away. His family originally came from Rwanda and live near the border. Daniel and Sandy went missing last week, but are back now, they went to Kisenyi but were beaten up by some ‘good meaning’ older boys who told them to return to us; Bob collected them Saturday afternoon. I think we need to visit Kisenyi later this week and explain our non-violence policy! So we are back to 10 boys in the home and four in Mbale doing vocational training.

Sunday morning I went to Kampala International Church and was amazed when a notice was given out that the Christmas charity they are collecting gifts for, is Homes of Promise. I haven’t really been involved there since George’s Place started up as when I’m here I take the boys to St. Paul’s in Katuuso and only catch the end of the service at KIC, but it looks as though the boys will be receiving Christmas presents of note books, pencils etc. which are always appreciated.

‘I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go………’ Genesis 28 v 15

It’s Monday morning and I’m working in the office at George’s Place. I caught a ‘taxi’ here which carries about 15 people legally, (19 today) if they can possibly pack in more they will. Most of the taxis are in an awful state of repair, seats falling apart, the bodywork held together by rust. Half way through the journey you call into a petrol station to buy diesel, today they paid 11,000 Ugandan shillings about £2.50. I’m not sure if they are concerned that the taxi might break down so they just buy enough for the journey or perhaps they think the diesel or vehicle will be stolen, who knows! Then there are the variety of characters who travel in them with unbelievable luggage – live chickens, matoke stalks holding dozens of bananas, fresh fish, mattresses, trunks, etc. if it’s going with you there is a space somewhere to put it, hopefully on top. They also use the taxis for delivering letters, shopping, etc. so you can advise a conductor that someone will collect the item at a certain stage – of course you have to pay a small fee but it seems to work well.

Bob went off to get the weekly shop of perishable foods. After lunch William and I walked the boys to Munyonyo with the dogs – there was a new man on the gate who didn’t look very happy about letting us in but eventually agreed – we probably look a bit rough for the grounds of the best resort in Kampala!

Peace and Sam went to a meeting at Crane. The temperature here is between 80/90 degrees, so very pleasant.

Just a short newsletter today, I will write next weekend in more detail. I really appreciated my time in the UK, catching up with many of you and sharing about the work here.

With love, prayers and blessings.

Jane