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...

Some African Stories

10 months from now, I think Kami and I will still be laughing over dinner at the daily happenings of this place. Here is a few of the latest stories we have laughed about at the end of the day.
1. I had my first soccer match on Wednesday. The kids were really excited and the game was set for 3:00 in the afternoon. At 2:30 we found out the pitch we were supposed to play on was being used (no one organizes anything here) so both schools (and I mean every student in both schools) walked 3 kilometers together to find another pitch. Warm up, practices and everything else on the field are always a scattered mess of me yelling the few Lugandan phrases I know trying to get a team of 40 kids to do one thing. But, by 4:30 the game we were finally ready to begin. This is how football matches go here. (Sorry, every bit of our lingo has switched, so yes its football and pitch and kilometer etc.) Everyone from both schools come as well as any passer by's who stop. Both sides of the field are littered with people and the girls from each team stand behind the keeper of the opposing team screaming, yelling, singing and trying to distract them. Then when a goal is scored (my team scored first after 5 minutes of playing) the entire school and team rushes the field to congratulate the players. After a few minutes play resumes again. Then my team scored again and as the time before, everyone rushes the field and both Kami and I look at each across the field like "what the heck?" The second half changed things. We were winning 2-0 and so the other team allowed 3 players from clubs around Kampala to put on a jersey and play for them. None of them went to the school and have been playing high-level football for a long time and they quickly scored two goals. My team went nuts. All of them starting yelling at the other coach and the ref came over to explain to me my team said they wouldn't play anymore because the other team was cheating. I came out on the field to see what was happening and suddenly both the teams were yelling at each other. Then both sides rushed the field so I was in the middle of 300-400 Ugandan high schoolers, coaches and villagers screaming at each other in Lugandan. There was nothing I could do but start laughing. What else can you do when that happens. I decided I would just start walking back to my side until things starting cooling down. I just wanted to leave. But, since we came, Kami and I both made an agreement that we wouldn't give up on things here no matter how tough they got. So I went back and just starting pulling my players back to my side one by one. I was yelling for about 10 minutes at my players and for the rest of the people to leave the pitch. I had to actually hold my hand over several of my players mouths until they were all quiet. I told them I knew the other team was cheating, and that was on their own conscience but I told them they were a better team and they could still beat them, whether they had new players or not. This got them pretty fired up and after several more minutes of clearing the field play resumed. And...we tied 2-0. But after, the ref asked us if we wanted to go to PK's to see who was the real winner. I talked to the other coach and told him, although it was only a friendly match, after everything that happened we should let the kids finish it...and that he should have only the players from his school kick. They were agreeing until this point, and then the other team all just walked away. I'm still not sure what really happened that day, but I was really proud with the way my team played.
2. Kami's daily lessons and experiences at the Primary school still continue to be pretty priceless. Everyday, even after months, the same smaller children run in and yell at the top of their lungs: "Muzungu!" and grab her legs and lift their own off the ground. She has to stop her lessons, waddle over to the door with kids on both legs and push them out of the classroom. She is also teaching in a class with such a shortage of pencils that half of the time is spent trying to sort out fights between students stealing each other's pencils.
3. Yesterday I went to school and found everyone still outside, even though I was a few minutes late. (I always show up late now because the first few weeks I was on time every day and had to wait over 10-15 minutes for students to enter my class. Since school is 9 hours every day, classes start at more of a general time than any specific one.) Anyways, on this particular day, everyone was looking at something and after squeezing through the crowd I saw there was a 16-17 year old standing facing a tree with his head down like he was in trouble in the corner. I asked the headmaster what was up, and he told me that the boy had been walking across the school grounds and he suspected him of wanting to talk to one of the girls...so he tied him to a tree! I'm not joking. Then for 20 minutes all the rest of the kids sat around sort of chuckling at this kid. (We are still in the middle ages here.) Punishment is public disgrace and beating with sticks. We just sort of try and figure it all out as we go along. And no, neither of us have adapted to punishing our students in this way.
Life continues everyday at the home. We are on as much a daily schedule as any other part of the world in the week. Chores in the morning, school, play, homework, fetching water, dinner, reading, fnishing more homework, reading lessons, prayers and singing and then lights out. But each day still brings with its own crazy events. The weather has been beautiful, although we have officially entered the rainy season and it has rained every day this week. But the rain is only periodically through the days and the rest of the time, its beautiful and sunny.
We're healthy, the kids are healthy, Sam is healthy.
Everyone is excited for Easter Sunday. The kids are having their first ever Easter egg hunt and everyone is excited to do a Jesus re-enactment play they do every year. Kami and I are are pretty excited to see what how these kids reenact the event. Either way its bound to be a good day because all the kids get meat, potatoes and several other types of food that only happen occasionally here.
We will let you know how it goes.

Month 2

This week will make 2 months since we left the states. And we have definitely settled in. At first we needed a driver to take us everywhere, but now as confusing as any capital city can be with no street signs and about 4 lights, we can easily manage our way around it driving by ourselves. At first we had to ask people we could trust to tell us prices so we wouldn’t get ripped off, but now we are well versed in all forms of buying in Kampala. The general rule of thumb is that there is no set price, so whatever you think is far in your head, you offer 2,000 shillings less. By the time you’ve agreed, you pay the price you wanted, and they feel happy they got 2,000 more out of you. We have found some great places to eat if we ever need to have a meal other than potatoes, rice, beans and cabbage and have finally gotten plugged back in…meaning we bought a cell phone here. We fought it for awhile, but they really are a must with how many contacts we’ve been making here in Africa. To buy a new phone was 40,000shillings which is $25.00 USD. Then each month you put on however many minutes you need. We put $6.00 on to start and it will probably last us 2 or 3 weeks. ($12 a month is definitely a little less than Kami and I were paying for our cell phone bills at home, especially since we share the phone.)

We have become good friends with 3 Americans who live less than a kilometer down the road, working on building a school. After long weeks, we go into the city with them on Fridays and talk normally again. It’s so nice to have the outlet. As soon as we started going out on Fridays, we began meeting different people every week. And normally, since white people are in Africa for some pretty cool reasons, we have had some incredible conversations with people from all over the world. It’s brought a sort of normality to life, and suddenly Africa has not only become a place we are enjoying because of our work and the children, but also because of the times and conversations we’re sharing with people who are like-minded from completely different countries. Its been really inspiring.

The thunder storms here are out of this world. We’ve never seen anything like it. A few nights ago it started raining at 4 AM and became this massive, ear piercing storm. The thunder was so loud outside our house it sounded like something was smashing against the wall. It was so loud and repetitive that both Kami and I got up thinking our metal door was not locked and was opening and slamming shut. But it was just the thunder. The wind was so fierce it knocked down several trees around the home. With all of this on a tin roof, and lightning continually coming through the window as bright as someone turning on a light, Kami and I lay in our beds for a long time without sleep just listening to the storm and yelling back and forth to see if the other could hear a yell over the storm.

We’re clearing land and starting a garden this week for the home. We’ve met some good friends who know how to garden better than Kami and I are at speaking English. Once we clear the land, they are going to teach the kids and us how to plant and keep the garden going. In a few months, our hope is that the kids will have vegetables apart of every meal from a garden they cultivate.

Month 2

This week will make 2 months since we left the states. And we have definitely settled in. At first we needed a driver to take us everywhere, but now as confusing as any capital city can be with no street signs and about 4 lights, we can easily manage our way around it driving by ourselves. At first we had to ask people we could trust to tell us prices so we wouldn’t get ripped off, but now we are well versed in all forms of buying in Kampala. The general rule of thumb is that there is no set price, so whatever you think is far in your head, you offer 2,000 shillings less. By the time you’ve agreed, you pay the price you wanted, and they feel happy they got 2,000 more out of you. We have found some great places to eat if we ever need to have a meal other than potatoes, rice, beans and cabbage and have finally gotten plugged back in…meaning we bought a cell phone here. We fought it for awhile, but they really are a must with how many contacts we’ve been making here in Africa. To buy a new phone was 40,000shillings which is $25.00 USD. Then each month you put on however many minutes you need. We put $6.00 on to start and it will probably last us 2 or 3 weeks. ($12 a month is definitely a little less than Kami and I were paying for our cell phone bills at home, especially since we share the phone.)
We have become good friends with 3 Americans who live less than a kilometer down the road, working on building a school. After long weeks, we go into the city with them on Fridays and talk normally again. It’s so nice to have the outlet. As soon as we started going out on Fridays, we began meeting different people every week. And normally, since white people are in Africa for some pretty cool reasons, we have had some incredible conversations with people from all over the world. It’s brought a sort of normality to life, and suddenly Africa has not only become a place we are enjoying because of our work and the children, but also because of the times and conversations we’re sharing with people who are like-minded from completely different countries. Its been really inspiring.
The thunder storms here are out of this world. We’ve never seen anything like it. A few nights ago it started raining at 4 AM and became this massive, ear piercing storm. The thunder was so loud outside our house it sounded like something was smashing against the wall. It was so loud and repetitive that both Kami and I got up thinking our metal door was not locked and was opening and slamming shut. But it was just the thunder. The wind was so fierce it knocked down several trees around the home. With all of this on a tin roof, and lightning continually coming through the window as bright as someone turning on a light, Kami and I lay in our beds for a long time without sleep just listening to the storm and yelling back and forth to see if the other could hear a yell over the storm.
We’re clearing land and starting a garden this week for the home. We’ve met some good friends who know how to garden better than Kami and I are at speaking English. Once we clear the land, they are going to teach the kids and us how to plant and keep the garden going. In a few months, our hope is that the kids will have vegetables apart of every meal from a garden they cultivate.