Saturday, June 23, Jinja

Saturday, June 23

Happy Birthday, Ryan! Sorry you’re having to work.

Speaking of ‘sorry,’ that’s a word we hear often around here. Anytime anything not so good happens, like you bump your head going into a hut or drop your piece of sugar cane, the Ugandan with you will say, “Oooh, sorry.” Another common phrase is “welcome back.” Whenever we get back home, Irene’s babysitter Annette or cousin Esther will say “welcome back” as they let us in the gate. As we see people here that we’ve known from previous visits, they say “welcome back”. After our trips to Mbale or western Uganda, everyone says “welcome back” and also “how is there?” As we leave, the phrase is “safe journey.” I’m sure I’ll think of others but those are the ones for right now.

That last few days have been fun, productive and full. Wednesday, Lexie and Seth went rafting on the Nile and returned to us unscathed even though they had a few gulps of river water. While they were off on their project, David and I went to the home of James Okumu who lives about a 2 ½ to 3 hour drive—1/2 of it on a bad public road to Iganga and then the last half was basically out into the bush, driving on dirt paths. Had we known what the drive would be like, we might have thought Irene’s car wouldn’t make the trip but it did. If it had rained and turned the paths to mud, we might still be there. Okumu has a very big farm raising goats and pigs as well as cassava, g-nuts and other staples like bananas. He has donated land for a church building that was built with the help of Dr. Ganus (the chancellor one) who has helped many of the native ministers and churches in this area of Uganda

Okumu has also started a Bible training program with 12 men who come in from surrounding villages and since October have been spending every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at Okumu’s place studying the scriptures together. They’ve finished the History of Israel parts 1, 2 and 3 and are now studying one of the gospels. I enjoyed getting to meet Okumu. I’d heard about him from Zach and David when they went to visit and spend the night at his place seven years ago. The trip was so long that David said a visit every seven years is about right.

Irene took the day off work on Thursday so we could all spend a fun day together. Rachel stayed home from school. We had a relaxing morning at the house and then drove to the Nile Resort to let the kids (Rachel, Zach, Seth and Lexie) swim there for the afternoon. Mid-afternoon, Philip and Laura Shero and family joined us on their way from picking up Seth’s dad from the airport and going to Mbale. (By the way, Ken, Irene says you look entirely too young to have a son as old as Seth—and you don’t even dye your hair!)

On Friday, Lexie and I got to join Ida and Erica Pierson on a visit to another village for what I thought was probably going to be a ladies’ day. We rode with Ben Langford who was going on for a men’s Bible study. It ended up not being a ladies’ day but we joined Alice and Robert at a ladies meeting at the church there. Alice and Robert are volunteers for CAN (Christian Aids Network). They go to village churches and train the ladies there to counsel and encourage those suffering from AIDS or who are HIV positive. I think it’s a really good program. Alice said she would get in touch with Elizabeth in Fort Portal who takes care of those AIDS widows and children to encourage her and also teach about good nutrition for those who have tested positive for HIV.

While Lexie and I were enjoying our trip, David and Seth stayed in Jinja. They heard a very interesting proposal from Geoffrey Menya, a young man who is starting a fruit juice distribution business. In the afternoon, they went to meet and take pictures of some of the children from New Victory School who are needing support. David said the conditions were pretty bad and it was hard for him to keep his composure. They went to the homes with Earnest, the headmaster, and his wife Phoebe. David is quite impressed with both of them and feels very good about the work that they’re doing with Ricky and Jackie. You’ll hear more about that later and find info on the MDM website in the future about all of these projects.

Last night, we got to spend time with the local missionary families—Spencer and Emily Bogle, Kym and Ben Langford, and Mark and Lori Manry plus about 5 kids with 2 on the way. I thought a lot about Adam Langford yesterday. I rode up front with Ben on our trip to and from the village so we’d had some time to talk about Adam and then last night was my first time back to the Bogles’ house where we’d spent several evenings with Adam last summer.

Today we’re at the Source Café in Jinja writing reports, meeting with folks and eating banana bread—it’s the best! (The common sugar here is raw sugar and the bananas are very tasty so putting those two together is wonderful.) Lexie still hasn’t gotten her fill of avocados here so she’s going to the market with one of the guys from here to buy more avocados and pineapples. Seth and I will probably go to the grocery store for a few staples. I’ll make spaghetti again tonight and Irene will make chicken tenders and chipati for tomorrow. We’re having a 1st Birthday Party for Zach tomorrow afternoon. It’ll be time to pull out more of Lexie’s bubbles then hand out more pens and gum.

David has taken Irene for two driving lessons this week and will try to do that most days from now until we leave. He said the second lesson this morning was much better than the first. I’m posting some more pics out on the blog and I’ll write again before we leave Jinja a week from tomorrow on July 1.

(A marching band just went past the cafe with cars bedecked with ribbons following.
Apparently it was for someone's wedding. Very interesting.)
Love and blessings to you all, mj