All good things have to come to an end

My 9 weeks in Uganda has been so much fun. Time really does fly when you are having the time of your life. What was so great about this trip was living life and being part of a Ugandan community. You can imagine after so many weeks you really do make lots of relationships which doesn't make it easy saying goodbye. 

Joy, Ruth, Bosco, Ishmael and Lillian

Above is a family I came across. Joy is the Grandma looking after her 4 Grandchildren. The only income she gets is from selling the odd crop she grows. This is usually not enough for all of them. Having no place to live, Pastor George let her stay in their mud hut store. Even though half of the mud hut was still used as a store, the 5 of them still managed to live in this terrible condition. After sharing this story with people back at home they agreed to help this family. Only paying £11 per month, they get a 2 roomed brick house. They were so pleased when I broke this news to them and that day I helped them move in. When my Parents and I moved recently it took at least two days with lorries, a van and many car loads. This took 30 minutes. About 5 sacks of clothes and blankets, 3 peaces of foam to sleep on and 2 cans of drinking water was all they had. Still looks so basic to us but for them, this was a dream come true. 

I was so shocked with what they had to sleep on. These piece of foam were smelly, dirty and full of bugs. All 5 of them including the old Grandma had to share these pieces of foam laid on the floor every night with no mosquito nets protecting them. To buy 5 mattresses and beds with mosquito nets would only cost £260. If you feel like you could help with this by donating money, even if thats in a small way, please get in touch with me because it would be amazing if we could bless this needy family.

We would never question not having our own bed, but the option is that or food for many…….

Please contact me if you think you would like to help. 

Trevor and Coline

 Above is Trevor and his Father. If you have read my other posts you would have met Trevor before. Coline didn't have a job so Trevor wasn't able to go to school. Again people were touched by his story and were able to support him by paying his school fees. He now attends school and has extra tuition to help him catch up with what he has missed.

Trevor in his school uniform 

It wasn't just money that was needed to make a difference. A lot of them just needed your time and love. This trip wasn't just about me going out there making a difference, I have actually come back feeling that they have made a difference in my life.

Hearing them pray is something that stood out to me. Often our prayers are about 'Wants'. Ugandans prayers are about basic 'Needs'. Food, water, somewhere to live, school fees……

…...Yet they are so grateful for what they have.  Realising that life is truly a gift is a lesson all of us should learn.   

This morning was the first day waking up here in England. What hit me was the choice of what I could do today. In Uganda there seem to be very little choice. You get up and do what you have to do to live.

Thank you to all my family and friends who have been a constant encouragement through my time away. It really kept us going through the hard times. You can imagine the emotions I am feeling right now and the questions I have about my own life.

One day I hope to return to see all those beautiful people again.

The last 2 nights we spent at the Maasai Mara in Kenya on Safari. This was a great way to end a fantastic trip. Seeing Gods creation at its best. 

 Here are some picture of the last week.

A gun made out of plants by Peter 

Teaching Joram how to play Piano

Raaja from the Village of Hope

Riding Pastor Georges boda boda

Ojiah from the Village of Hope

Regan

Trevor's Family 

'Set your minds on things above, not on earthy things' Colossians 3:2

A young Liam Neeson

The day starts when we were at a sports day with over 30 different schools competing. This was a truly Ugandan ran sports day……nobody really knew what was going on. Rachael had placed her camera in her bag, placed it with the other bags and turned round to watch the sports. Minutes later a child from the school we were with shouted to us, "they have taken your bag" All confused we turn round and saw loads of orange topped children running down the road. Rachael and I decided to follow them. 

As we catch up, everyone was following this boy Owen. Owen was a skinny boy about the age 12, wearing only a ripped vest, shorts and no shoes. With one eye partially shut due to being stung by a bee, a chimney sweepers hat and a Moses stick in his right hand, he points forward and says they ran this way. While both following Owen, Rachael with no shoes on falls to the floor in bits. As the local community see this they crowd round her and comfort her. 

Owen and I continue running for over 2 miles. As we ran through loads of communities, people were pointing and shouting to us to help us find these boys. Every time I turned round more and more people (with no shoes and sticks in their hands) had joined on to this mass search for the camera. We eventually stopped on this over grown train track. Completely out of breath I start to question myself, what on earth am I doing? Surrounded by 25 kids with sticks…..stood on a train track in the middle of nowhere…who do I think I am…. 

While questioning my life situation all the kids were shouting in local language. Owen was using his stick to point in different directions and addressing the group…all I can imagine he is doing is a 'Liam Neeson'

Eventually we followed Owen up the train track and miraculously came across a boy who was involved. They surrounded this boy holding their sticks at him shouting in local language. This boy was crying his eyes out looking at me. I was so confused because at this point I had no idea who this boy was. The situation escalated where a man came over from his house and grabbed the boys hands and instructed the others to bring something over. To my surprise and shock they brought over this huge bolder and started to raise it above his head……. Im stood in the middle of nowhere, with about 30 people I don't even know, with a boy about to be stoned. I start to ask questions and try and prevent this boy from being hurt, but I am completely ignored because no one can speak English. 

As Rachael catches up, a taxi man (Motorbike man) explains that this boy was involved and agreed to take us to the police station. Rachael gets on a bike with Owen and starts to set off. This little girl starts crying and people are saying its Owen's sister, so Rachael lifts the crying girl up and puts her on the bike. I'm on the bike with this boy who had just nearly been stoned. As my hands wrap round him as his seatbelt, I can feel his little heart beating so fast. 

When we arrived at the police station the police asked us who everyone was. When it got to the little girl we just said thats Owens sister. Owen denied this and said he didn't even know this girl. To cut a long story short….Rachael had basically kidnapped this child for the day !!

After spending 3 hours at the police station, the detectives idea was for Rachael and I to go round town and look out for someone spending a lot of money…. What a ground breaking idea, why didn't I think of that??

We then found ourselves advising the Police and telling them what the best strategy is. 

Unfortunately after many failed attempts we didn't get the camera back. But in this whole situation we both got to learn and see so much. What really touched me was when I was running through these communities, so many people joined us to help find this camera. There is such a sense of community to help one another. What an experience.

A few weeks later we went to find Owen, thank him and give him a present for all he did for us that day. If it wasn't for Owen we would have never had any leads. What a Legend.