27th May, 2017

Dear friends,

A very special thank you to all those who supported the ‘Quartets and Cake Concert’ last Sunday in aid of Homes of Promise.  I’ve been told it was a ‘brilliant occasion’, even the sun shone.  About 120 people attended and enjoyed the beautiful singing, wonderful cakes and Jackie’s update on what is happening here in Uganda.  £1,402 plus Gift Aid was raised on the day.  We also received anonymously a most generous gift of £2,000 plus Gift Aid. Thank you to everyone for your kindness and interest in our work, we are thanking and praising God for His many blessings.

Tuesday afternoon Sam and I took the boys swimming – there were so many of us that we hired a taxi which was great fun. 16,000UGX about £3.40 to get us there – much too far to walk!  Another afternoon on a walking trip to Munyonyo we met a Ugandan recording artist ‘King Saha’ and the boys were thrilled when they had their photo taken with him. Today, Saturday they went on an outing with the Sunday School to visit the Martyrs Shrine at Namugongo. I went and met up with Sue who is now a Trustee and Nora our Lawyer to discuss the way forward regarding staff contracts and work expectations – we are planning a meeting with the staff in the next few weeks.

‘As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.’ John 13 34-35

The boys are getting ready for the new school term which starts next week.  Yusuf, young Brian and Shaffick are having school interviews on Monday to determine which classes they should be put into.  We will then have 9 of our boys in school.  Samuel has finished his vocational training with CCP and completed his hairdressing exams.  He has returned to his family in the village and is looking for work.  We will visit in a couple of weeks to see how he is getting on and check that he’s fitting in well with his family.  Unfortunately, his grandmother is in a hospital here in Kampala which he didn’t know until he returned home.  If I get a chance I might call and see if I can find her next week.

Peace and I went to the market early Monday morning to buy the week’s vegetables.  William came with us as we can’t leave the car unattended – he waited in the car whilst we hired a young man to come with us and carry all we purchased back to the car in about 10 trips, it beats us carrying heavy bags of potatoes, water melons, pineapples, pawpaws etc. etc. especially in the heat.

So everything is fine at Homes of Promise, though a few minor hiccoughs this week – the car went wrong again so I was without it for a day and a half, hopefully, it’s fixed now.  My telephone was disconnected as they said it hadn’t been reregistered – sorted now.  I tried to get money from an ATM machine which they deducted from my accounts but didn’t give me the money.  The rat seems to be enjoying the poison put down for him in the office and is possibly thriving on it! Some of the boys had bed bugs so we have fumigated mattresses and had a massive clean up.  These are just a few of the things that you have to face here – thankfully I’m still smiling!

With love and prayers.

Jane