New Peoples

January 16, 2007 - Tuesday

New Peoples Hi Y'all, I have two new Americans friends from LA and so I guess I should practice my American vernacular. Lauren and Kelli arrived on Friday at about 9pm Uganda time. We thought that they may want to rest on Saturday after the long trip bout we got a call early the next morning with them saying take us with you to the kids… please… They are both ready and excited to be here and working with kids and got right into it on the first day with Lauren getting 17 different hairstyles done by the young girls and Kelli teaching Volleyball to the older ones. This was good seeing it gave me the opportunity to play soccer with the boys longer that day. This is Lauren getting hair styling number 3… This is Dennis, he's my new favorite, and he doesn't stop smiling at anytime… He was found abandoned on the Pastors doorstep a few years ago. Some good stuff has happened recently, on being me randomly meeting a Canadian who has been here for 6 years and basically 'Networks'. He meets people who are doing charity stuff in Uganda and then gives them contacts that can help in their certain area. So in a day or two Anthony and I have got contacts for computer people, other orphanages in the same situations and many other helpful people. This has been a big blessing from God because we were in need of someone like this to find these contacts that we were already looking for… so good… In the next 3 weeks we will be touring around the countryside. I am looking forward to this since we have not had the opportunity to get out of the city area yet. The first place we are going is Jinja in the east, which is the source of the Nile. The next place is Gulu in the north, which is the main area that has been affected by the Lord's Resistance Army (A rebel group that have killed, raped and kidnapped 10's of thousands of Men, Women and Children over a 25 year period, in case you didn't know of them). We are then off to Torroro in the west which is Anthony's home village area. We are mainly focusing on seeing how other orphanages are run and if this will be beneficial to our programs. This is mainly the girl's area, they are experienced in writing proposals and organizing things and other paperery stuff… yay… it's not for me… In Gulu we will be visiting the refuge camps in which there is a huge population of kids with nothing and no one. Anthony has plans to set up a center there as well. I have only about a month to go here before the call of the UK and the prospect of eating cheese calls me away. I still have a lot to do here and it will not get finished while I'm here so please continue to pray for Anthony and the orphans that are here. Lake Victoria is amazing; it basically seems like an ocean. The other side cannot be seen by along way. An odd fact is that the majority of Ugandans fear water and no one can swim even though they have this immense lake in the backyard… maybe it's the Croc factor… Here's a few fishermen… yes I know you can see the other side it's only a little 'bay' area… There is a whole heap of other stuff that is bloggable but if you want to know anything at all just email me. James