Denis goes missing, the boys all back at school, staff meeting, Jade and her friend go travelling.

Dear friends,

Last Sunday Trésor took Brian back to school following his medical examination (some schools insist on this each term before they begin!), he also took Joseph with him to buy him some work boots. Tresor distributed all the school requirements – most boys have to take 10 loo rolls each if they are in boarding, plus toothpaste, soap, brooms, deodorant, etc. We had some thin jackets that had been sent from the U.K. and six of the boys in vocational college received these. Sadly there wasn’t one to send for Omoding!

Ian sent some photos of Griffin helping at the church barbecue and said how hard and well he worked, Ian can possibly find him work (when he finishes his course) at a Lodge. We really like to relocate the boys near family if at all possible, and will look into this at the beginning of next year – Griffin has definitely done well and I don’t think it will be hard for him to find work.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭27‬ ‭

The boys are all back at school but sadly young Denis disappeared after school on Monday. He and his friends were enjoying riding a friend’s bike but it seems Denis went off on the bike and didn’t return. We have contacted the police and given them a photo but children go missing here all the time and no one seems to worry too much. Benard and Trésor have been searching the area and we know that Denis visited a church friend on the bike on the Monday. Godfrey went to Kisenyi on Thursday to see if he could find him there. So far nothing has materialised. Your prayers please.

We’ve had a busy week with a staff meeting/lunch on Wednesday which was helpful in planning the next few weeks when I am in the U.K. and reviewing the camp. Petra and I met at the bank on Thursday morning, following a breakfast meeting I had with Ian. We now have a GBP account as well as a UGX account but we don’t seem able to bring the new account up for online banking – hopefully this will soon be resolved. We also went to the NGO Board offices and I submitted my application for a letter to renew my work permit – all these things are fairly time consuming as some information had to be notorised and copies of all our NGO/Charity Commission/Children’s Home/Data protection certificates/my appointment letter/DBS etc. have to be in a file which is scrutinised before submission, plus fees paid and receipts filed – this is just to receive a letter from the NGO Board so that I can then apply for the Work Permit, where more information is needed. This is the fourth or fifth permit I have applied for and you would think I would be getting good at it, but I’m not!

Jade’s friend Nate arrived from the U.K. early Thursday evening and they went off in a hired car (Jade driving) at 6.45am Friday morning to Bwindi (it took them 11 hours), today they went gorilla trekking, they then plan to go hiking/climbing in the Ruwenzori Mountains with a guide, cook and security for a few days before visiting Queen Elizabeth National Park and enjoying white water rafting at Jinja. They are away for 2 weeks. Jade will then come back and stay at my apartment before travelling to Kenya – she certainly is adventurous! It’s been lovely having her to stay, I shall really miss her.

This week the weather has been very hot but there has also been torrential rain at times so everything in Kampala is green and lush. Christine returned to the U.S. last Sunday for a few weeks to celebrate a special birthday with her family. We had cake at church before she left.

Today I have been to Garuga to see the boys, when I arrived they were out playing football at a local school, they came back ‘sweaty’ and tired but soon revived after lunch, we then walked to the swimming pool for them to cool off! On our return Tim had arrived, he has been working in a dance group being shown on ‘tik tok’ and earning some money, he seemed fine.

Looking forward to seeing some of you when I’m back.

Thank you for all your kindness, love and support.

Love Jane x