Last Post

Home: loving family arms reach to hug me... and I them; a light snow is falling; the accumulated winter's snow is retreating from the front wall of the house to reveal the very first tiny plant pushing up ~ a dandelion!; cosy flannel sheets on the bed (no ceiling fan circling lazily above my humid body); slowly coming to terms with no longer being in Uganda; enjoying being with my family again; gradually taking up all my usual responsibilities....

Just a few last notes:

Bridget and I spent an interesting and impressive morning at Watoto Bulrushes in Kampala ~ their baby home. It is very well set up and equipped, and seemed to be smooth-running, but we were only there for a morning. I'd like to go back some time for a longer visit. We helped feed the 4- to 6-month olds their rice cereal, then their bottles. I managed the interesting task of feeding two babies at a time ~ there are so many babies to be fed that this becomes necessary. Bridget fed a very active little guy who was actually 10 months old. He had arrived as a tiny newborn preemie of only 850 grams, so was actually doing quite well.

A story I didn't have time to tell you at the time it happened:

While I was still at Amani, all we volunteers spent part of one Saturday visiting two other local orphanages. One, "Our Own Home" was started by a young woman named Holly who had come at age 19 to work at Amani for a year, and then stayed for another year. After that, she felt that she wanted to open her own orphanage, but for children who are all HIV positive, which she has. She is now married to a Ugandan, and they are caring for about 35 children, mostly aged about six to sixteen, though they recently received their first baby ~ a very small boy of two years old.

When we arrived, all the children were asked to introduce themselves. When it came to the turn of one 9-year-old boy, he introduced himself as "Spiderman"! Apparently he lived and breathed his hero, and he longed for some Spiderman items, such as a poster or clothing. One of the volunteers had recently arrived at Amani, and had brought a large bag of clothing with him from his church. Since they were too large for the Amani babies, we had brought the bag to this orphanage instead. When they went through it later, they found a Spiderman T-shirt... just the right size! God hears the heartfelt prayers of the young.

Several days later, as I helped Camille sort out sheets and blankets at AOSC, I found a large Spiderman blanket. Camille agreed that we could give it to the same little boy, and I'm sure he was delighted.

As before I had a riveting journey flying over northern Uganda, Sudan (not far from Darfur), and especially the Sahara. A very nice young man was sitting next to me who was equally fascinated by all we could see below us. In the Libyan Desert ~ part of the Sahara ~ we flew almost right over a huge volcano. It turned out that Kevin, my companion, was part of a contingent of soldiers from the British Army, and he remembered that he had his Global Positioning Device (?) in his bag. He was able to get a "fix" on the volcano, and when I returned home I found an e-mail telling me exactly where to find it on Google Earth! Very interesting.

So, dear friends, this blog comes to an end for now. I've enjoyed writing it, and the feedback I have received is appreciative, which is nice. I'll probably write another one the next time I go to Uganda....!

God bless you all,
Jill

Photos: (probably not in thei order... sorry)
1. Spiderman
2. William, Holly and their family
3. Camille and Jill
4. Bridget with ex-preemie
5. Jill feeding bottles for two!

Bunalwenyi free Secondary School and Dorm

Hello all,
Here are some photos of the new Secondary School and Dorm at Bunalwenyi.
1. & 3. The dorms: the left half of the building is the 'Lasalle Community Safe Haven' dorm for girls. The middle section is the Matrons' house, and the right hand side is another dorm, also for girls. So far 60 girls are living here, with 2 matrons, but more girls will be coming. It is now completely roofed, but the rest still needs to be finished.
2. The Bunalwenyi free Secondary School ~ four classrooms in one long building. They are already overcrowded with almost 400 students.
4. Sec. 3 class in their classroom.
5. Janet Konso, age 14.

I want to tell you about Janet, because she exemplifies the vulnerability of teenage girls in rural Uganda, and also the real need for the dorms. After the opening ceremony and the meal, we started the drive home, giving a lift to the principal, Sarah...... As we drove down the dirt road, she suddenly asked us to stop to pick up Janet, one of her students, to give her a lift home since she has a very long way to walk (maybe 2 miles or more). Sarah was concerned about Janet's vulnerability on that long walk, and also because another girl, who until recently had walked to and from school with Janet, was now no longer attending school. Sarah asked Janet what had happened to her friend, and was told that she had been married off to an older man, and could not continue her education.

Sarah then asked Janet about her own situation, and Janet said that her mother and father had both died, and she was living with her uncle, but that she was afraid that her uncle was planning to sell her off to an older man as his second or third wife, and that she would no longer be able to attend school, as happened to her friend. Sarah told Janet to bring all her possessions (a blanket and not much more) to school the next day in order to move into the dorm, then cell-phoned the Matron right away to tell her to receive Janet the next day.

The next problem was that Janet had absolutely no money with which to pay the 40,000 U. shillings ($24 CAD) that was needed to cover the cost of board and lodging at the Dorm for the semester. My heart leaped with joy, because a friend in Montreal, before I left, had given me a certain amount of money to use "where most needed". She said, "you'll know when to use it" ~ and I did, and gladly paid for Janet's expenses.

We dropped Janet off at her little thatched hut compound, and I pray that she made it successfully to the dorm the next day. I'll try to find out.

Blessings to all,
Jill

Bunalwenyi Secondary School and DORM

Hello all,

Well I am back in Entebbe and will fly to the UK in two days, so this odyssey, and this blog will soon be over.

There is SO much I haven't told you, due to lack of time to write and only intermittent access to the internet, and also because I have been trying to process all I have been learning and experiencing as I go. Maybe I'll write after I get home when I'll have more time to think through all this trip has meant. In general, though, it has been even more beneficial than I had ever imagined, and I have much food for thought, and discussion with Jack, for which I am most grateful to God.

In the meantime, I have one more adventure to tell you about.

Two days after the land-transfer trip to Bunafu, Camille and I were back in her truck and on our way to the official opening of the brand new TMU Secondary School 2 hours away in Bunalwenyi. I had got up early that morning to continue to paint the compound gates before the sun got too hot to work, by about 9:30 am, and was trying to scrape the worst of the dark grey paint from my fingernails as we bounced over the usual deeply rutted red earth road. We travelled past fields of new maise, a couple of towns and lots of little compounds of round thatched huts and small semi-naked children who would wave enthusiastically and shout, "Jambo. Howareyou? Howareyou?" as we lurched by.

I was expecially excited because this is the Rescue Unit where I had worked on my first M. trip to Uganda in 2005, and I was very much hoping to see the two sisters, Rose and Gladys, now 13 and 10, with whom I had fallen in love on that visit, and to give them the little gifts I had brought.

When we turned the corner on the track to the site of the new school, I was startled to see TMU's huge yellow and white 'Big Top' tent. It was an interesting contrast to the natural bush for miles all around it. Apparently they had been holding the classes there until the school could be built. Behind the tent was the school. The basic brick building has been built, and the metal sheeting roof is on, but it still in need of plastering inside and out, there are as yet no windows or doors, an earth floor, and no steps up to each doorway... which made getting in to each classroom an interesting climb. I was given a tour of the school, going in to each of the 4 classrooms and greeting the children in Sec. 1,2,3 and 4. They already have almost 400 children registered, and more are expected. Consequently they are already overcrowded, and are considering building some temporary classrooms until more brick ones can be built.

The children attending the school are all orphans serviced by TMUganda from several of their Rescue Units around eastern Uganda. Interestingly they are thus from several different tribal backgrounds and language groups. So, the rule is that only English can be spoken as a common language (it's Uganda's official language anyway, and it is essential for success that every child become fluent in it), and it also helps prevent tribal cliques and promote community harmony. Amusingly, if a child is caught speaking their tribal language, they have to give up one of their shoes, and hop for the rest of the day! We were there in the late afternoon when the confiscated shoes were being returned to their chagrined owners.


Behind the school is the DORM - one of the three that we at St. Stephen's raised funds to build through the "Safe Haven $100 Challenge!" some 3 years ago, as some of you will remember. The other two dorms have been built in Zambia (we are still awaiting photos). This new one in Bunalwenyi is the "Lasalle Community Safe Haven" dorm for which funds were specifially raised by Steve Francom's class at the school where he teaches in Lasalle - yay Steve! I am thrilled that this dorm is being built here at Bunalwenyi - it is much needed by the orphan girls who are attending this school. The building is actually two dorms with a Matron's Unit in between. So far it is housing 60 girls, but more are coming. The matrons are Bible School graduates. They live with the girls, and they supervise them, help with their schoolwork, teach them how to grow crops for food to eat, sewing etc. They already have a little garden where seedlings are growing.

The opening ceremony was quite long, and hot under the big top. It was attended by lots of interested local parents, and local, area and government officials who all made speeches in Lusoga. Some of it was translated to us in a whisper. Camille also made a speech. It was clear that everyone was very enthusiastic about the school and what it means to the area. There is no other S. School for many miles in all directions - let alone a free one. Much support was offered by the officials, but whether that translates into action - who knows! A major common priority was for the 3-acre area to be completely fenced. This would prevent neighbours encroaching on the property, but more importantly it would protect the children, especially the girls, from possible abduction, rape and murder.

When you get to know the culture a bit more, you become aware that many of the Ugandan people are trapped in superstition, and, out of ignorance, poverty, lack of alternatives or avarice, use the services of a local witchdoctor to try to obtain what they want/need. Unbelievably, but appallingly true, there are cases of child sacrifice, usually girls, in which the child is captured, murdered, and sometimes body parts used, to try to appease “the gods” due to illness, or, a desire to get riches.

TMU currently has no idea where they could get the money or labour needed to complete this necessary fence. (I might have some ideas....!)

The important officials were then led away to be given a traditional meal, after which we lesser mortals were offered the meal too. For the first time in my experience, though it is the preferred method of eating for many, even upper-echelon, Ugandans, no cutlery was offered and we all ate with our fingers. I was somewhat messy with lack of recent experience, but it was kind of fun to mush the matoke up with the greens and rice with my fingers and slurp it around in the gravy!! I did have to avail myself of the offer of water and soap before signing the visitor's book.

We were able to have a very brief visit to Rose and Gladys. Rose came running into my arms, and Gladys hung her head as though she was about to cry. But we had warm hugs, and they enjoyed my little gifts, so it was nice. I do hope that they will learn English soon because it is frustrating not really to be able to communicate with them. Hopefully Rose will start attending the new school next year, so she'll be speaking English there.

Well, Blogees, I am actually now writing from the UK where I have enjoyed visiting my Mum, my sister and my brother, and tomorrow I will return to Montreal.

For those who have followed this blog - thank you! I hope that it has been interesting for you. I would love to receive your comments - e-mail (jjstafiej@gmail.com) is maybe better than trying to do it on the blog, which some have found problematic.

I will publish at least one more edition before I close this blog, and send more photos too.

God bless you all,

Ja Ja Jello