Fresh New Start
for 2011!!
Uganda
Our main purpose
was to attend the wedding of
Edgar & Jaki.
Edgar had stayed with us back in 2002.
We decided to make it a
duel purpose trip,
and arranged to do some Mission work
while there.
Just before arriving at the
Entebee Airport, at 10pm
We were happy to have friends
pop out of the crowd, there to pick us up.
We had e-mailed them,but gotten
no response, so had no idea if we would
have to take a taxi to the bus,
and a bus to Mbale?
We spent 2 days in Mbale (M-Ball-ie),
which is in the East of Uganda,
the rest of the trip was planned
for the West of Uganda.
We checked up on some of the
churches started in2008 and 2009.
This is the Costy church funded by
the members of the
Kelowna SDA church
This church was sponsored in
2008 by Vinko, a Senior
from the Kelowna Church.
Our main purpose of going to Mbale
was to visit our little Danny,
in 2009 we had taken him for
cleft lip surgery.
This picture was taken in 2008
when Hector first met Danny.
Our handsome Danny now!
Danny in center looking up,
to his left his brother, sister,
then mom holding the baby.
We had taken a suitcase of stuff to give
away,so here we are distributing it.
The girls with dresses sewed by a member
of theRutland SDA church.
Hector and Beth with Danny's family
(his dad was in town)
A number of people from
Danny's cluster of huts.
The house Danny lives in.
The hut they cook in.
Our second day in Mbale,
we found 2 goats to buy,
and took them to Danny's family to help
with their income. We made it clear
they were not to eat, but to use to
raise baby goats to sell.
Gratitude!
Danny's grandparents on left,
and his dad in the blue shirt.
Watch Danny's Grandmother display her
excitement over the gifts we gave to her
and the rest of her little village, she was
very excited that we gave her the empty
suitcase at the end, she had her eye on it
saying that now she would have a place
to keep her cloths.
Mbale to Fort Portal (Pore-Tall)
Left 4 am, arrived 7pm.
Had a long stop-over in
the major city of Kampala.
We located the bus going to Fort Portal,
but had to wait for it to fill up
with passengers before it could leave.
As we pulled out on the street,
this was the scene, can you believe it,
the bus made it through??!!
Random Street Scenes.
Where's Waldo?
Merchandise Displayed
Scaffolding
The Home of Gertrude,
the Groom's Mother.
5-6 miles out of Fort Portal.
When we arrived on Friday
evening in Fort Portal,
the power had been out since morning.
It was still out on Sabbath,
and well into Sunday.
No power = no water,
so they had to carry it from the spring.
10 days of Evangelistic meetings,
Hector did some
co-preaching for a few evenings.
Off to the Baptism we go.
8 of the 9 who were baptized.
One day the pastor borrowed a van
to take us to see some of the churches
in his district, but he doesn't have
a drivers licence, so Hector had to drive,
& of course on the
wrong side of the road.
The Mission Projects
We came with money to help
several churches with construction
projects, this was one of them.
In 2009,
they were using the mud building as a
church while they were constructing
the new brick walls around it.
When we arrived this time,
it was at this stage.
Hector checking the progress!
this is called the "tie beam" stage.
By the time we left,
it had reached this point, and money
was left for the Zinc roof panels
to be bought & installed.
In 2009 we had visited an Auntie of Edgar,
who was building a church
on her property
brick by brick as she could afford it.
This was the stage at that time.
When we arrived,
she had it up to the tie beam,
and we helped with the roof,
the gables, window frames,
doors, and furniture,
see the progress below.
The third project was to
start a new church
in the area where the
meetings were held,
close to Edgar's mom's house.
Her brother had donated some of his land,
but the first thing was to clear it.
Mixing cement.
Carrying bricks.
By the time we left it was at this stage,
but now it may have the roofing sheets
on already, some money was
left to get it that far.
Animals
One day before the Wedding
the group from Canada took a Safari to
Queen Elizabeth National Park Game Park
We drove a couple hours,
arriving at sun-up.
Scroll down, and enjoy.
Lunch at the Lodge
where Princess Elizabeth was staying
when she got word of her father's death.
Humm... checking out the menu!
Kingfisher
Smile!
The Hipos, live in "schools"
the male of the family is very jealous,
he will kill any baby male
if he gets the chance.
So the mother will move her baby
away from the rest of the school until
it is big enough to survive. When it is
grown, it must start it's own school.
Here you can see the baby
right in front of her nose.
Neat picture.
On the way back in daylight we stopped to
experience the Equator.
Later in Kampala, we visited a zoo.
where we saw some of the animals
that were not at the National Park.
Lake Victoria from the zoo grounds.
Look at those legs!!
Mini-skirts aren't for everyone.
One evening after the wedding
we went to see monkeys.
Ceremonies
Preparing for the Introduction
on January 28.
These green bananas
loaded on Gertrudes Truck
become an African staple called Metoka.
The manicurist came
right to our guest house.
The Introduction:
Friday January 28, 2011
Beautiful cultural apparel.
The Canadians in traditional outfits.
Edgar and his bestman Jeff,
traditional outfits.
The home of the Bride's family.
I can't explain all of what happened,
I just know there is a
cultural reason for it.
Three groups of girls came out
each group dressed
in different coloured outfits.
For each group,
Edgar had to check them out and see
if the girl he wanted to marry
was in the group.
Jaki was in this 3rd group,
4th from the right.
Here Edgar is actually touching
her on the shoulder to indicate
that he is choosing Jaki as his Bride.
She then went to change
and came back out in Blue.
Here the ladies from the groom's side
are giving gifts to family members
of the bride's side. (Beth 2nd from left)
A picture with the groom.
Another full meal
back at the home of the groom for
his family and friends.
Only 40 of his side were accepted
at the first celebration, and even
his mother was not to be there.
So when the groom and family return,
there is another party
for his side at his home.
Beautiful day ending is a gorgeous sunset.
The Wedding:
Sunday January 30, 2011
The Church
The Reception:
Bride's Table
Shopping...
(not the best picture, but that's reality)
Main part of Fort Portal
The Heavens Declare...
Ps 19:1
I find when I am far from home,
that looking at the moon,
and especially the stars, is so comforting.
If I can pick the same constellations
that I see at home, I feel not
so far away. And this time I had an
ah-ha moment.
Being at the equator,
I noticed that Orion is directly overhead.
I have heard it said that there is one"star"
actually a hole that is like a tunnel
where our telescopes can't see the end,
and it is speculated
that Jesus will return through that tunnel.
Which makes total sense, because
"every eye shall see Him."
And being directly over the equator,
would be the place that it can happen!!!
So Awesome!!
The evening after seeing the monkey's
we went to a resort.
(After 5 of the Canadian group had left)
It was a lovely place, no power,
so we had a candle light dinner!
Owned & operated by the 2nd generation
of a European family.
Random Pictures of Interest:
A neat tree on the grounds of the
King's Palace.
Cactus Tree.
Jackfruit Tree.
Coke is pretty important.
This van had driven
all the way from Germany.
CAUTION:
BANANA THEIF AT WORK!!
Hector trying to show
how big the banana stock was.
oops... he left his glasses as evidence!
A "Cabbage Patch"...
... and the cabbege
The oven for baking bricks.
A tea plantation and people at work.
The "weigh shed"
where they bring their pick for weighing.
A Poinsettia Tree.
Ugly Birds...
they are as tall as a first grade child!!!
The Guest House
Gertrude just put the finishing touches
on this guest house before we arrived.
She had started it
when we visited in 2009.
It is on the property where
she raised her children,
the small house is still
at the back of the lot.
It is a very lovely place to stay
as you will see by the pictures.
The staff.
Mike
The afternoon of the Introduction,
Hector saw this boy.
He asked about him and
learned who the parents were.
He asked if they would like
this taken care of, and they
were very excited, as they wanted to,
but couldn't afford it.
Arrangements were made to
take him to the Hospital in Kampala.
Hector, Mike and the father
left at 3am on the bus one morning,
had a break-down, but finally arrived,
but were told they would have to
come back another time.
They were met in the city by Fred a
friend from 2009,
and he helped them in many ways.
Finally by the end of the day
everything had worked out
and they were able to come back,
arriving again about 3am.
Thankfully it was cheap to have
cell phones in Uganda,
so Hector had ours with him,
and Lina, our companion from Kelowna
had one and we could stay in touch.
Here Mike is thanking Lina
for the school supplies she gave to him,
this is their way of respect.
A grateful and happy Mike!!
With Mike's family.
A Day Out of Town
Before leaving Kelowna,
two friends asked us to look for the
children they are sponsoring in Uganda.
We hired a car one day,
and spent all day locating and
visiting these students
(the hottest day of our stay)
The first 2 students in the line
are the ones we were looking
at this school.
We gave each student
a notebook, and a pencil,
some of which had been brought
by Jeff and his wife Sheila,
but they didn't have opportunity to
find students to give them to.
This grandmother is caring for
the children of 2 of her sons.
They live in this little room,
their sponsor, also sent a back-pack
of things, including shoes for the
Grandmother.
They were so happy, darling children.
Pillows
Lina, and friends,
prepared 90 pillows to give to children.
She brought them hopping
to give the children a chance to actually
put them together themselves,
but that didn't work out,
so, many of us worked together
tying all those knots,
and then stuffing them.
She tried to get cotton,
but even though it is grown there,
it is not available, so it turned out
Gertrude had a number of sacks of
foam chips, she had taken out
of the new pillows for the guest rooms,
because they were
way to hard to sleep on.
She had come to a point where
she almost threw it out, but hadn't yet.
God sees our needs,
and answers before we ever ask!!!
Children at a day care receiving pillows.
More pillows for the children
at the AIDS Orphanage.
And even more for the children this
elderly couple aretaking care of.
Another respectful thank-you.
A friend gave us money to do something
to help children, so we ended up paying
for uniforms for some of the children
the elderly couple care for.
Kampala
Back to the congestion of the city!!!
Two hot days,
and terrible beds to sleep on!
We walked long distances
to get to the Taxi Park,
From here visited the Zoo...
(pictures included above)
Bugema
SDA University
Friday before leaving,
we met a grade school friend of mine,
who was working there,
after a tour of the campus
we all took a taxi into the city,
had Chinese food,
and did some shopping.
My friend Debbie on the left,
& a lady who has a cousin Grace, in India,
who we know... it is a small world!
My Mail-box picture collection!
