Pictures from past activities!

The room we leveled in Kanungu. After digging, leveling, and carrying rock by rock into this room it was read to be sludge hammered. Strenuous!
A day of mask making. Inspired by Spiderman.
An escapade of fort making! Chris headed it, the boys loved it. Later watched Spiderman from within.
Girls day out! We got done up in our nicest, went to town, and yes, had icecream!
Reagan pretending to help with the weeding...

Maviny (Marvin) weeding in the newly dug/planted garden.

Holiday!

Its officially school holiday here. Its funny how many of our words have changed. Kami and I are going to come back saying, "I'll take food now," and "should we play football this holiday after we have received our marks?" It was definitely an English province.
We're as happy as the kids that its holiday though. We spent the first week visiting Kunungu where the other home is. We went running through the mountains at dawn, worked and dug all morning, and laid around in the afternoon and read with the perpetual Ugandan breeze coming through the open house. Not a bad way to start the break.
We were invited by some friends to visit Fort Portal, and so from Kunungu we had a planes train s and automobiles day, taking an 8 hour trip north using a car, a bus, a special hire and a small taxi van to get there. But we made it and had a great friday night with our friends who run a home for children with AIDS in that area. On Sat we visited some missionaries from Oregon who Kami used to work with at Portland Urban Ministry Program. They just moved over to Uganda and to be in an actual house with friends from Oregon was unreal. We both just kept looking around wondering if we were still in Africa.
The trip home was a tough one though. Many of the taxi vans are in extremely poor conditions but their drives still speed around corners going 50 mph (or 65 k) and one the day we took the bus home there were many accidents. We had to stop at one point and directly out Kami's and my window was a distorted van, crushed to the point of being almost unrecognizable. There were bodies everywhere twisted and crushed from the crash. They were the first dead bodies Kami and I have ever seen and it was extremely sobering. Your brain immediately tries to believe its just like movies you've seen, but its so much different. There were several of these crashes all the way home, and the images stayed with us the entire ride.
For the last few days since we came home, we've been organizing break lessons for the kids, gardening everyday, and trying to take it easy. Some of our closest friends just left this week. They worked at an orphanage down the road and we already miss their company a lot.
Uganda's corruption continues to wear on us. We've come in contact with so much of it lately. This morning we gave a ride to one of the teachers into town. When we went to let her out, a taxi bus was on the side of the road so I pulled over as far as I could. The door handle wasn't working and it took a moment longer than it normally wood and we blocked a few cars for about 30 seconds. A police officer saw us and seeing we were right told us to pull over. (They are all on foot here and extremely corrupt, always looking for money and bribes.) He told me he was going to take me to the station and then to court for my traffic vialation while behind me vans without lights or blinkers carried 14 passengers sporadically pulling in and out of traffic to load and unload. I told him we wouldn't be going anywhere with him. He responded by getting into our car and told us to drive to the station. In the end I had to pay him 20,000 shillings to get out and leave us alone. I was so angry my hands were shaking. Anything they can do to rip you off here, they do. Sometimes, Kami and I get so fed up with the amount of corruption, brutality, molestation and child abandonment that goes on here, we don't want to deal with it anymore. But, its the exact reason we're here. From the government down (stealing money for roads and public safety) stretching to almost every family we've seen, Uganda is quite a broken country. Kids are ignored, often beat when parents aren't happy, many girls don't make it to 16 before experiencing molestation of some kind, and the list goes on and on. But, its why places like Dorcas Children's Home are so important. The kids are safe, fed and loved. It makes the greatest difference in their lives.
So thank-you to everyone who continues to support the work. Its vital here.
We love you all. Peace.

Saturday forts.
Who said flooding was a bad thing?
Kami grading endless finals.
Some of the girls at Kampala City Secondary School
Boys outside one of the classrooms

Today is Wednesday, April 16^th and we arrived at the home Wednesday January 16^th, so I its officially 3 months. A lot has happened this month. With Sam’s health continually wavering, Kami and I have taken over almost all managerial aspects of the home. It’s both challenging and exhausting, but its work we are both proud of. With a full home of boys, school teaching, helping with homework, repairs, gardening, traveling for supplies, budgets, planning upcoming work and projects for the home’s continual presence here, there is never a dull moment. I think we are both learning more about life in this year than the rest we’ve lived combined. We sound like a married couple with a family when we talk at night. (…”This boy needs new socks, we need to pay the night guard, someone’s school fees are due, we need flour and cooking oil from town when we pick up supplies, three of the boys have exams in the morning so we need to help them study tonight for math…”) It’s like growing up warp speed. But we love it. The kids are amazing, and so responsive to love and a true interest in them. When you focus on them, they open up so much.

We’ve definitely had an eventful month in the city. This last week the government started impounding taxi buses that they deemed unsafe on the road. (Most local transport from the villages to the city is based on these bus taxi’s called “Mutatu’s.”) The swerve in and out of traffic picking people up and taking them far distances for the equivalent of .50 US. The few drivers whose buses were impounded started a riot downtown. We had just left town when they started trying to force other taxi’s not to drive and to strike. They lit fires and protested. The police sent out detachments and downtown erupted in tear gas, riots, fights and looting. Not knowing who was causing it, the police just began beating and arresting anyone near the occurrence. Over 500 people were arrested (most beat first) and only a few were actually the cause. Don’t worry too much moms. Kami and I have been very safe here, even when events out of our control have taken place.

Actually, that’s just what happened on Monday. We went into town to buy medical supplies and other needs of the homes and as I made a turn onto the street, a motorcycle taxi (called a “Boda-Boda”) went to pass me. He collided into my driver’s side door and his head actually went through the window I had just rolled down so our heads were nearly touching. Whenever anything like this happens, huge crowds form, and it was pretty intense for a few moments. I drove to the side of the road, we helped him with his bike and got his helmet off. More and more people were coming so we had him leave his bike at a shop right where the accident occurred and took him to a clinic. Nothing was seriously injured and he was just sore. We got him pain medicine and helped fix his bike. Although it was such an unfortunate event, everything that could have gone well did. Kami and I were uninjured, the man had nothing broken, the accident happened directly in front of a motorcycle repair shop so his bike could be fixed easily, and a really nice man helped us take him to the hospital, translated everything for us and when we tried to pay him a little in the end for all his help, refused payment. Its definitely Africa, there is definitely danger, but no matter what happens here, both Kami and I feel taken care of by God. We are always thankful for prayers of everyone supporting the home and have seen them answered.

Its officially the rainy season which means it rains every morning. When all the paths to school are nothing but thick clay, I usually end up at the school soaked and a few inches taller. (Clay doesn't come off like mud, it just builds up more. But, the rain does make some fun times for playing with the kids, as seen above.

Every Saturday we find something fun to do as a break from school, and this last week we used the mattresses to make forts with the kids. They had a blast.

We love and miss you all.

It is strange the way we as humans adapt to our environment around us. Seriously when does goats running on the street in the middle of a major city, 40 chickens on the back of a boda boda(motorcycle), or women carrying pounds and pounds of charcoal become common place. This lifestyle which at first appeared so mind blowing now does not cause a second look.

Welp, Chris is officially in Zanzabar soaking in too many rays. The word on the street is he stopped taking his malaria meds as docy causes skin to be more sensitive to the sun. That is just the word on the street...but maybe for good measure we could get some extra prayers for the boy's health. Just in case some lil bug gets him whilest on the beautiful island.

Sam's health is not so A-okay right now. So prayers would be helpful on that one. The boys on the other hand are all healthy and great lil buggers. Less than a month and a 3 week holiday will be here! I may be more excited than the kids...but lets not tell huh?!

Here is the trouble we get into when Chris is gone: Abudduh being his cute lil self...
Marvin with one of his typical expressions...