First day on the Building Site

We were up early this morning (19th January)... 5:30am! This is much earlier than I would rise on a normal work day but with two girls sharing a bathroom and a 7am departure time, it is necessary. We got into the minibus (which would become our second sleeping spot after our beds) and drove the hour across town to the Suubi 2 village. As we drove, children everywhere would spot the Mzungu (white people) and run up to the edge of the road waving with great big grins on their faces. It was a brilliant way to start the day and I felt a bit like a celebrity.

The building site looked exactly like you might imagine. Lots of buildings all in various stages of completion with our plot ready for us. The foundation had been laid and the corner stones started and we were to do the rest of the brick work in one week. Hats, sunscreen and work boots on, we got a brick laying lesson in five minutes which consisted of mortar (musenyu) down, lay the block, straighten it against the string used to level each course, wait til the course is finished and then fill between the blocks with more mortar. Smooth and then repeat, layer after layer. I call them blocks as they are larger than house bricks, around 12lbs each and we moved hundreds over the course of the week.

The day started off with light rain which kept the temperature nice and cool. It was such a blessing to get this great start to the day. If I'd had to start in the blazing sun, I would have found the work much harder. Our site looked down into the valley over the previously built houses, into the green trees beyond to the hills. Local children from villages around the site would wander through, often with yellow jerry cans on their heads fetching water.



Our breaks were under a wooden shelter, a couple of planks for seats with a table in the middle. Here we ate our sandwiches and freshly cut pineapple & watermelon. We had to keep hydrated with plenty of bottled water and this eventually meant a trip to the toilet which turned out to be not what I expected.



(Read at the following at your own risk) From the outside the toilet was a small, two cubicle brick building that looked as modern as the rest of the buildings on site. Pulling open the rickety door, I found before a rectangular concrete hole in the ground! I've used long drops in Australia and squat toilets in India and this was just a combination of the two but definitely the least civilised of anything I've used before. Just hold your breath, close the door, avoid your shoes, do your business and get out as quick as possible!

After lunch, a guy called Fred came down to the site to say hello (different guy than our host). He is another of the original Watoto children and another success story. He has just completed a Bachelor of International Business... one more reminder of the opportunities given to the orphans from this great organisation.

Most of us slept in the minibus after a hard day putting down bricks or moving them about the site. The cry of "more musenyu" in my ears and the dirt of Uganda in my shoes... what a great start to the working week. We got back to the guesthouse to find Ope, Gretl and I had been moved to bigger more comfortable rooms which was a wonderful blessing!. The shower felt amazing and even with sunburnt legs from the afternoon sun (you should see the sock marks!) I was ready for an early night but very content.

UK team

I think it is time I introduce my team mates on this trip. Firstly there is Chas, the UK director of the Watoto Child Care Ministries. He was our calm voice in the chaos. He's been on a build team before so knew what to expect and was able to organise us (mostly!) to wherever we needed to be on time. I have a lot of respect for the man, we weren't an easy team to handle at times and there were only seven of us. I must confess I regressed quite a bit (who knew the teenager was still inside of me?) but he managed to deal with me and the others with incredible patience.



Also from the Watoto UK office was Ope, my roommate. She is four years younger than me, the youngest on the team, but was a great mate and we had lots of giggles together. She too had been to Uganda before, for the conference in September 2008 so knew what to expect regards to the country itself, but had not built before. I had been a bit worried before I left the UK, that I would not find anyone that I "clicked with" but the Lord took good care of me and provided me with a crazy friend to keep me company. Thank you Father!



Gretl came over for her 50th birthday, to give something back to God. A lover of cane sugar and groundnuts and a blessing to the team with her gentle spirit and ready smile.



Peter and Janet were the oldest on the team, well into their 60's but definitely pulling their weight on the building site. Peter constantly had a song on his lips and when things were good, they were "tickety boo". Janet was amazing, not letting physical impairments (a plastic hip) prevent her mucking in and doing her share. We lost them for a couple of days on site when they went to visit their Compassion sponsor child in Mbale, but they both impressed me with their determination to do their bit.



Martin the solicitor, was ending his sabbatical of three months with the Uganda trip. I am not sure if he regressed with Ope & myself or if he is usually the joker, but he was great to share a giggle with. He was the man who you want on a quiz night, the one with the random facts and the expressive eyebrows (they won't help on a quiz night but sure were entertaining!). He turned out to be the "stirrer" of the team but not maliciously, just to keep us on our toes and develop my quick wit to retort when necessary.



Lastly but most importantly was Fred, our host. As I mentioned earlier, he is one of the first Watoto children and a testiment to the organisation. He knew answers to most of our questions and was very patient with us. He is the great entertainer and certainly had some wonderful stories to share with us of life in Uganda. He was definitely a blessing to us and it was sad to say goodbye to him on our last day - may the Lord grant him the desires of his heart and bless him in all he does.

Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC)

KPC began in 1984 with 75 people and is the birth place of Watoto Child Care Ministries. It is cell based (around 1,600 in all) with six district churches across Kampala. Our first Sunday in Kampala saw us at KPC Central and I was impressed with what I saw. They run four services back to back on a Sunday morning from 8am to 4pm. The congregation come in one door, worship, listen to the sermon etc. then go out the other door during the last song as the next lot come in.

The service was very well organised, from the choir helping lead the worship to the audio/visual team recording the service and projecting it on the big screen. During the taking up of the offering, a dance troup and rapper came out and entertained us (there were around 1,200 people for the offering bags to be passed around to which takes some time!) and the sermon we heard was the same as the one heard at all the other KPC services across the city. With all this "production", I didn't feel God was lost and really enjoyed worshipping together with such a large number of people. I particulary liked one thing I heard one of the leaders say and that was "God bless you... King size". I certainly feel He is blessing this church and community King size!

Jinja - source of the Nile

Saturday the 17th was our day trip to Jinja - about a 2 hour drive from Kampala and is Uganda's second largest urban centre. We didn't see much of the city itself, we skirted around it and headed out towards the Nile. The source of the Nile is a spring coming up from the ground out of Lake Victoria. You can't see the spring now as the river has been dammed and the only evidence it is there are bubbles breaking the surface.









It was beautiful on the Nile itself, very calm with just a few fishing boats about and resting by the water. Uganda is a bird watchers dream, however I am not studied enough (or interested enough to be honest!) to worry what their names are.

Our next stop after the River Nile was to Bujagali Falls where we were able to see the rapids. We paid two local men 5,000 shillings each to ride down the rapids holding only a jerry can. I know it's something they must do regularly for tourists and it was obvious they knew the best parts to swim through, but I did wonder if it were wise to be encouraging this sort of behaviour.

Lunch was at the Nile Resort, a beautiful hotel down the road from the Falls. I ate my first Tilapia, a local fish which was absolutely gorgeous. I know it doesn't look particularly appealing but it was yum, I assure you!

I'm here ... and it's HOT!

I'm made it to Uganda safely and without any dramas... Praise God! The flight was uneventful, it was easy to get a visa and all our luggage turned up. I can't believe it was only this morning we arrived, it feels like days ago now.

The team and I have just returned from the Bulrushes Babies Home and the babies were really sweet.





















These are children found abandoned at hospitals, police stations and rescued off rubbish dumps. The home is designed to hold 60 children between the ages of 0 - 2 years but there are currently 109 in residence... that's a lot of nappies, changes of clothes, bathing and feeding to do!



The most premature baby they ever had there weighed just 850g and was 5 months early but now he is thriving; they have excellent care for premature babies. I got to hold a few, the most determined I think! Those that could crawl or walk would come to you and try climbing up your legs and into your lap and then they were very difficult to put down. Not because I didn't want to let go but they didn't.



When they started to cry as I walked away, it was heartbreaking but it is obvious they are in great hands so that made it easier. We were told we weren't allowed to take any with us, so unfortunately I had to leave all those gorgeous kids behind. At least I know they have an excellent future ahead of them in the hands of the Watoto Organisation.



The country is much as I expected after having travelled to India in 2005, though there are some subtle differences. The billboards on the sides of the roads are similar to what I'd see in the UK, however I did see one today that said "HIV Positive? Take your medicine daily". Just a reminder of a disease that affects so many out here.

I will leave the rest of my observations from the last 7 hours (has it really only been that long since we arrived?) for another time, and will have to post photos on here (if they will all fit) when I get back. Tomorrow we are off to Jinja where I will get to go on the Nile and see it's source. How exciting!

Away I go!

After a year of thinking and planning, the day has come when I depart for Uganda. Only 9 hours to go and I'll be on the plane and I am nervous and excited at the same time. I started the Malaria tablets yesterday and thankfully there have been no side-effects, so I am off to a good start! I've just been into town and bought my builders gloves so I can lay bricks without breaking a nail and made sure I have enough foreign currency. Now I am finishing packing and ticking off my mental/paper lists to make sure I've got of everything.

I hope to update this a little whilst I am in Kampala - there are internet cafes around I am told, however it depends on whether we have time to get to one that will determine how often I write here. If there isn't much added in the next two weeks, there certainly will be when I get back!

Thanks for all the prayer and support everyone is giving me, it has provided me with extra confidence and anticipation of good things to come. I look forward to sharing news with you shortly.

Right on Target

Thanks to my friends, family & church I have finally raised the full amount of money I need for my trip and have paid my account in full! It is a wonderful feeling and means I feel at peace about this part of the trip and can think now about all the things I will need to pack. Well, one stress at a time I can probably handle :-)

It's only 25 more sleeps until I depart... gulp! I hadn't counted the days until now and although I knew it was less than a month away, this really clarifies the timeline. With Christmas and New Year still to go, it can feel like it's a while away but once 2009 celebrations are done it will be barely any time at all before I am on a plane to Uganda. So many things to be excited about all at one time; I may pop!