Gifts

Two friends who live in Eureka send gifts of clothing, toys, candy, etc each year to Ali, a father of 4 children. Cindy and Dyann shop for new or nearly new items to match the current sizes of the two girls and two boys in Ali's household. They also find wonderful, colorful clothes for Takia, their mom and for Ali as well.

Each year they mail the boxes out in August or Sept timing the arrival here by the end of October. Ali loves to open the boxes and examines each item, thinking about which of the children it should go to. He is so excited to see these things from America, especially when items such as Strawberry jam or powdered milk are included.




Ali finds a way to carry all these things home to his family, where they immediately begin their Christmas.

Here in Uganda at Christmas time, the biggest focus for each person is having new clothes to wear on Christmas day. Wives have been known to leave their husbands if they aren't provided with new clothes to wear to church and to be seen in. The cost of outfitting each family member with a set of clothes is huge.

This blessing from America and from people Ali has never met is just one of the Christmas miracles that he likes to talk about.

Thanks and blessings to each of you who reach beyond friends and family to make a stranger's heart warmer this season.

Christmas gift

Sounds of crying from a young animal and sounds of beating filled the air. Grabbing my shoes I hurried down the road to intervene. By the time I'd reached the spot, the young men had gone back to work, laughing. In a corner, huddled down, was a small golden brown puppy, about 3 months old. There were spots of blood on his coat and he growled as I moved nearer. With soft word and time, he let me pick him up and we went back to my place.

After a little food and water, and one small encounter with the cat, he seemed less fearful and willing to explore. The two big dogs, Simaba and Tiger were tied up at their house. Taking Tiger with her chain to the front porch, we began the introduction process of this baby to a new auntie. After a few hours, it was clear that Tiger could manage him and he was willing to obey her. Simba wasn't quite so sure about this new addition and barked every time he saw this little intruder in our yard. (Today he is much quieter about it all.)

Here is shot of Tiger, coming to see what I'm doing.













Here is Siraf dozing in a corner at the back door.




I know I don't need 3 dogs, especially since this little guy might grow to be bigger than Simba. But for the time being, he is gift to us for Christmas. By the way, he has some Rhodesian Ridgeback genes, evidenced in the fur strip along his spine. These were the dogs used to hunt lions in southern Africa.
Hence his name, Siraf, meaning fearless.

Mail

It used to be, here in Uganda, that mail was "delivered" by people tossing the letters or parcels into the round-about at the center of the town. People near by would collect and give to the addressee when next seen.

Currently, in Uganda, mail is hand delivered through friends, bus drivers going to the destination or through the post system. Many people have post office boxes, and any business of any size has one too. In Kampala there are two post offices, one downtown and one nearer to where I stay.

There is no home delivery, and no junk mail!! Since living here I have received mail in each of the following ways:
-delivered by interns or staff coming to eMi EA
-from the eMi EA post office box
-from my own PO box
-from Heritage School

It still takes 3 weeks to receive a letter posted from the US to here, and about the same for the return. Good thing there is email and the fb chat and blogs to keep us well connected.

Next time you are at the Post Office or see you mail carrier, be sure to thank them for the good work they do. I certainly appreciate the staff at Clock Tower Post Office where I have my box.

School staff

Florence had 5 of the students present gifts to each of the volunteers and teachers too.

Kara, wife of an eMi EA staff, volunteers twice a week, to read, teach and play with the students. Her daughter, Leah, sometimes comes along.














Brittany, an eMi EA intern for this past 9 months, has been teaching one morning a week for the past 4 months. She will return to Uganda in March, hopefully on staff.













Frances, wife of the American Embassy's Head of Maintenance, has come on Friday mornings for the entire year. An experienced foster mom, she has a heart for kids as strong as Florence's.














Miriam teaches the middle group of students and works with them on the letters and numbers. (She is studying accounting!)














Rachel has charge of the "baby" class, the 3-4 year olds. But one of them can already read!












Each child had a gift bag containing: a pencil, eraser, exercise book, 8-10 pieces of candy, 2 candy canes and 2 toys. Every one went home very happy.

King of Kings - Florence's School

Florence is a teacher with a loving heart to teach children: about letters and numbers, about Jesus, about tying shoes and washing hands and sharing toys. She and her two daughters, Miriam, 24, and Rachel, 23, work hard to make schooling interesting and fun for these children, ages 3 to 6. Sometimes they share their frustrations with me.

Some of the kids have health issues that haven't been recognized, i.e. one girl who finally had surgery to remove a piece of metal that was in her lung or a youngster with a serious ear infection. Some children are sent only intermittently by their families, especially when there is no money to pay the fees. There have been times when the child has no snack for mid-morning or even juice, so the teachers share out whatever they have brought.

This one room school, with a latrine behind, is full of kids having fun learning and playing. There is room outside for running around and kicking balls, or riding small bikes, when the tires work.


At the end of November, the end of last term for the year, there was a wonderful Christmas party for the children. Volunteers who have worked for the past 4 months brought pencils, exercise books, candy, and erasers. Another volunteer made carry bags to put things into. Because of generous donations from friends in the States, there were small toys for each child and foods to eat that they had only heard about but never eaten: pasta, sausage, watermelon, apples and ice cream.

Wow

Oh My Gosh,
It is almost the end of the year! Where has the time gone??

Since Sept's blog, I've been to CA for 3 fun-filled weeks, hosted Tony v here coming and going from his trips to western Uganda, completed teaching the SAT preparation course at Heritage International School for a class of 11 students, and committed to continue the class with 1 hour a week beginning in Jan.

Recently it has been cookie making time. This is one of the Christmas traditions I really like, making a sharing fancy cookies with others. I've tried making some simple candy, but what a mess that usually comes out to be! That's one skill/talent that hasn't improved with age.

My friends from Ukiah United Methodist and from Redwood Coast Regional Center blessed my housemate Florence abundantly by buying the potholders, and other items that I "hawked" when we were hanging out together. Florence used all the raised funds to buy more teaching materials for her school, provide a great Christmas party (with the help of some of her volunteers here) and has enough savings to expand her school building to 2 rooms for the next term. God is very good, all the time.

This entry is more like a Christmas letter, as it brings my heartfelt wonder at what miracles still happen when we let God run our lives, all parts of our life, and the blessings that can be poured out for the good of others.

May this season and your next year be full of blessings, so that you can continue to bless others.

Shalom

termination

That has such a final sound to it, doesn't it?

A few weeks ago, I declared one of my staff “redundant” a phrase used here to describe that the position is no longer needed. After giving the notice letter, paying out benefits and providing a reference letter, what more was there to do?

Speaking the truth, with love. This one is, like me, imperfect, a beloved child of God, and in need of healing and forgiveness. So surrounded by prayer, seeking God's heart, I opened to this one, the need for honesty in all parts of working, of serving faithfully and not giving in to temptation. The model we live is copied by our children, no words needed. If this one wants children to grow up, ethically and spiritually strong, then the daily life is the teaching tool.

After some time, it was clear that the surprise at being “caught” was replaced by wonder at forgiveness and finding a ready welcome to return for a visit or conversation. I do pray that a soft heart, ready to change into a more honest, trustworthy employee comes into being. This employee is smart, caring and loving. A great person, in need of continued growth and nurture....just like all of us. May God walk close and whisper frequently, showing the way to go.

Next generation in Tiika

As we sat on the veranda one evening sheltered a bit from the wind and the showers, 3 teen girls passed by the side of the house, very surprised to find us there. One of the 3 greeted me in English, while the others greeted in the local language. As they moved away, Josephine and her niece, Daisylanda, chided them on their rudeness. Finally all three came and greeted “properly”. With some encouragement they began to talk with me answering my questions carefully.

I had to slow my speech and improve my enunciation of each letter in a word to be more readily understood. One girl hopes to study the raising of cattle, another, maize and the third, trees. They are all in P7, the last year of elementary school, although they were about 15 or 16 years of age. Whether they can continue will depend upon their families' ability to raise the required school fees.

Gold Mining III

Once the dirt is removed the sand is washed with powdered white mercury.








The mercury adheres to gold dust and is also heavier than the sand or water, so all the stirring moves this to the bottom of the basin. When all the sand is washed away, only the gold and mercury are left.













This mixture is placed into a cloth and wrung out tightly, forcing most of the mercury thru the cloth, leaving the gold dust and some mercury behind.









These small balls are carefully gathered up and collected for sale to brokers in Busia.





The sand is collected and taken back for re-pounding to attempt to retrieve more gold dust.

The work would go easier if they had some equipment, like a pump for removing the ground water from the caves and a gold metal detector to trace the ore veins. But in the meantime, they do what they can do and work very hard at it.

Gold Mining II

The rock pieces are bagged and carried by back or bicycle to a pounding place. There, with lead weighted metal poles the rocks are pulverized into fine sand, which is placed into large basins.






















These basins are taken to the nearby “river”, actually a small stream this time of year, with pools of water. The basins are wetted with water, held just below the surface and the dirt is washed away. Gold particles and the sand it adheres to are heavier than the dust and dirt and water.

Gold Mining I

One labor intensive industry that supports some families in the “off” season from agriculture is digging for gold. The process here is detailed with pictures as it is very different from what was initially used in CA 170 years back.
Rock is dug out of the ground by pick and hammer, sometimes creating 15' deep caves/tunnels. This cavern was made over a 2 year period. It curves to follow the band of rock containing the gold.




The ground water that comes in is removed by buckets or basins. The same containers are used to lift out the ore and rocks broken loose by the miners.

Family History

Josephine, 58, and her brother Moses, 81, are the surviving children from a family that had only 4 kids. Their father was very progressive in that he gave land to his daughters as well as his sons. Moses has had 4 different wives, with 15 children altogether. His last wife left him with 4 kids and ran off to another man. The youngest and next youngest are with him. The 5 year old is very independent and has abilities beyond his age, able to make a fire and cook porridge. The 12 year old is learning to drive a boda-boda and makes 2-4,000/= a day when there is work.

Josephine has 3 daughters, one in the US, one in Norway and one in Uganda. She lives in Kampala, fairly near to the former eMi office, but her heart is clearly in this village and with her family here.

Karamoja

Karamoja is a district in north eastern Uganda, bordering Kenya. The people there are famous for their love of cattle and their tendency to keep to old ways rather than adapt to more modern styles of living working, etc. Most people in Uganda fear them, for they are fierce warriors, even the women, and believe that all cattle not yet in their control are just waiting to come home to them. So their reputation also includes cattle rustling. They have picked up and use modern rifles, which has added to their infamy. (The rest of Uganda has strict gun control laws which are enforced.)

The lady staying in one of Josephine's rooms is from Karamoja. She wears clothes, greets in the local language and is learning to dig. Josephine explained that the lady does not pay rent, nor will she be asked to pay rent. It is common knowledge, that if one asks a Karamajong to pay rent, the one asking will be murdered. Now, Karamajong usually sleep outside, with or near their cattle, so the concept of house/home, rent, utilities, etc really is foreign to them.

One day this lady had visitors, including this cute baby and his older brother. I was allowed to hold the baby for a while, then the mom came and took him for a feeding.

Healing

Thanks be to God for great medical care! Saturday I saw the doctor on-call for a sore on the back of my thigh that was getting sorer by the day. Turns out it wasn't a mango fly larva as I had assumed (not being able to see the spot at all), likely a spider bite that got infected.

Two days later, the area is improving, with twice daily antibiotics and wound care packing, even with honey!

Am so grateful that it happened when it did and should be all well before I begin my travels home.

PS The wound is only 4 mm deep and 7 mm wide!

Walking with Moses

One morning when Josephine had gone visiting, Moses, her 81 year old brother, came to take me to see some land. He was not comfortable with his English, but was willing to try. We passed the school I'd been to previously and kept walking. He greeted every one who passed us on the road, all the people working in the fields near the roads and the people in the houses and compounds along the road. Good thing he did or I would have been left far behind. He is a fast walker.

After the first set of greetings, he laughed and said people said he was strong. After the next set of people, he said they said he was tough. These same comments were made by most of the adults he spoke with.

After 45 minutes of walking, we entered near another primary school. I resisted going further. I was hot, tired, thirsty ( having not brought a hat, or water or being in reasonable physical shape). I told Moses I would wait for him under a tree near a small shop. He said he'd be gone 5 minutes to talk with the Head Master at the school. Half an hour later I was taking photos of some beautiful children who were just hanging around.















Later Moses appeared and we began the walk back home. Along the way we were joined by many of the older students from yesterday's school, who wanted to keep us company, wanted to see the photos and in genereal were making a good sized parade with us. I was so glad to get back and find Josephine there who explained to the students that the photos were already at the school and that I needed a rest after all the walking.

When I told her of our adventure, she broke out into peals of laughter. People were assuming that I was Moses' new wife....thus all the comments about “tough” and “strong”. Now, I had suspicion that perhaps that was what was happening. There is just something about Moses, even at 81 years, that would make it possible for him to take another wife. Not me!

Local schooling

A visit to the nearest elementary school was truly educational for me. The school, sponsored in part by World Vision and funded by the Ugandan government is an example of a free school. There is no tuition charged. However students have to buy the uniform, books and supplies, help with planting in the garden which supplies the food for the midday meal.

For grades P1 (age 5) to P7 (12+) there are 16 teachers, 1 head master, 1 asst head master and 1400 students!!!


They were in their last week of school before a 2 week break, so energy was high as was excitement over having a visitor with a camera. Prints were made later the same day and given to the Head Master to post. Not all students were in the photos as many were playing football in the field, or still taking exams in class.

Plowing

While much work is done by hand, some fields are so large that other means of tilling have to be employed. The usual option is a team of oxen with a plow. This team passed us by one morning, pulling the plow inside an old tire. The tire keeps the plow from digging up the road. Also, in a different position on the tire, the field is more shallowly plowed than it would be otherwise.

Greeting

Greeting others is a way of life here in Africa. It is one of the customs that is difficult for many of us from the west to adapt to. But sitting with Josephine on the veranda of her house and watching the interactions, I learned a bit of the value of it.

Josephine greeted every person who passed by, whether they were footing, on a bicycle or boda. The person would always answer back. Sometimes there was a prolonged interchange as the mover continued on their journey. Sometimes Josephine went to the road and they stopped for a longer conversation. This happened all day long, with some people greeted numerous times as they passed by going to work, returning home for lunch, returning to work and then returning home in the evening. Even children passing by the house or on the road might stop to greet, some kneeling to greet as well, a custom for young ladies and children when greeting an old person (like me and Josephine).
One morning she greeted over 100 people, had conversations with more than 12 of them and showed off photos to more than 10 students – all this before 9:30, when she left to go visit a niece who was ill.

One day, her greeting brought into the yard a young woman selling chapatis, which we decided to purchase. Another morning, she learned the vendor with the big box on his bicycle has mandazi (like square heavy cake donuts). So she asked for the passerby to call the vendor back. He came and we purchased snacks for 2 days, a bag of mandazi and one of mahamri (my favorite Kenyan style yeasted snack bread).

Footwear

Moses went barefoot every where we went. Josephine worn blue and yellow slippers/thongs. I wore ankle high hiking boots. Guess which one of us had a blister after all the walking?

Paul's Family home

The family compound was spacious, with much room for playing, working and entertaining.










There was a raised shed that housed the goats









A mud and stick house for the older children, with a fruit bearing orange tree nearby.









A cook house/kitchen











The family banda, where the parents and the babies stay.