If you missed it or would like more information on our work with Mhoira and the hospital, we’ll be giving a presentation at the Caireas annual gathering on Saturday 30 October at Shedocksly Baptist Church.

See you soon,

Love,

Uganda 2010

Travelled back safely from safari and looking forward to our last day in this beautiful country tomorrow.

Love,

Uganda2010

Tomorrow we go on Safari at Murchison Falls Park in the west of Uganda for rest and relaxation.

Sorry for short blog but Internet access has been very sporadic. We’re all well and looking forward to tomorrow.

Love,

Uganda 2010.

this morning one team went to Mulago hospital whilst the others went to Compassion.

The team in the hospital had the opportunity to re-visit many of their patients. We were amazed to witness the fruits of our prayers. In particular, we returned to spend time with a severely malnurished young boy (14yrs) suffering from nasopharangeal cancer (nose & throat). Although he was very close to death at the start of this week, today he was free from pain with a normal temperature. He is now beginning to eat & engage well with people. God answers prayer!!!!!

The other team had a rewarding day at Compassion Ministries. We were asked to run three seminars to teenagers from the age of 12 -19yrs of age. Matthew & Rachel led a seminar on ‘The knowledge of God’, Ruth led a seminar on ‘The importance of study’, & finally Diana led a seminar on ‘Sexually Transmitted Diseases’. The teenagers interacted well with the sessions & we were pleased to have the opportunity to be part of this programme.

In the midst of our seminars, African t.v. arrived!!! The teenagers were given an important opportunity to share their views on children’s rights. Diana and Ruth were asked to speak in support of the children and back-up their views. (Was rather ‘eeek!’, but we were honoured to support them!)

We said our goodbyes to some of the patients at Mulago and Compassion children. This was an emotional experience where some hearts ached yet rejoiced at the privilege of meeting these wonderful people.

The team joined forces for a de-brief session back at our hideaway.

Blessings,

Uganda 2010.

the whole team spent the day helping out at Compassion. It was eventful with many of the team from yesterday leading the teaching sessions on the Bible, maths & English.

The children responded well to the teaching and fun was had by all.

After an exhausting yet thoroughly rewarding day, we headed back to our Hideaway.

Love Uganda 2010

The team split into two; one half went to Mulago hospital whilst the others helped out at Compassion ministries, which brought a new dimension to the mission. Compassion International exists as a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults. If you would like more info. please visit their website: http://www.compassion.com/.

We had the opportunity to partake in the teaching of the children. Many were orphans or lived with extended family and had to walk long distances in order to attend compassion. It was incredible to witness the desire of the children to attend and the lengths they were willing to go to.  This was shown in the footwear as many had ill-fitting shoes or none at all. The ages of the children ranged from 3-11years. The teaching focused on both emotional and spiritual development whilst also addressing their educational needs. This afternoon the children attended a child protection seminar, run by a social worker, to make children aware of their rights. The children engaged well with the material and were enthusiastic to learn.

The other team started their day with a ward round led by Mhoira. This was such an eye-opening experience as they met four patients, all of whom were in the final stages of cancer. Mhoira had the challenging task of having to break this awful news to them. Another challenge for the palliative care unit was the lack of morphine availability, even their emergency supply was running out fast. There were many patients who were diagnosed with severe symptoms of liver cancer.  Sara & Cherith also attended a seminar on Ethics in palliative care taught by Mhoira.  Derek and Laura had the privilege of visiting a patient (who we’ve mentioned in previous blogs with Karposies Sarcoma) who committed his life to Jesus today.  Praise God!

We arrived back at our hideaway to enjoy chilli which was cooked by Bekah, Rachel & Julie. We then shared our thoughts of the day by candlelight.

All our love Uganda 2010.

p.s. Derek’s pig is called ‘Bacon!’ )

We arrivd at Lugogo Baptist church at 10am in order to begin the task of clearing out the local slum. We were joined by many helpers as we put on our wellies, heavy duty gloves etc all ready for the day ahead.

It was our first visit to the slums and was a real eye-opener for us all! We witnessed extreme poverty. The sheer volume of small shacks packed tightly together, separated by streams of sewage running into the river below. Children ran around and played in the rubbish infested alleyways. They walked barefoot wearing only rags…however they still smiled as they shouted ‘mzungu!’ (meaning white person).

We were astonished to witness the whole slum descending into a mud bath as the rain poured down. We cleared many of the sewage drains to allow water to flow into the river. We also filled many large bags of litter and helped to sweep up mess outside their homes. Many of the men from church helped to replace an existing rickety, extremely narrow bridge (around 0.5metres) that was the main walkway into & out of the slum. This was over a fast flowing river which posed a real danger to the residents, in particular the children.

We felt this whole experience of helping to inprove the living conditions of the slums enabled us to demonstrate love in action through Jesus.  

At 3pm we returned to Lugogo for a lovely African lunch…using our fingers! (Don’t worry…we washed our hands!) Cheriths plate was full of runny beans so this posed an amusing challenge for us to behold!

As usual, we returned to our hideaway for a relaxing evening to ponder the day.

Love Uganda 2010

Quote of the day: …”Oh no we’re nearly half way through the trip” (Kim)…”but wait, we have the rest of our lives!”… (Bekah)