Looking back on the last entry it seems extraordinary that I should have had such fears about my return. As it turned out people were very happy to talk about - and listen to - stories of Uganda and 'Cherish'. Money stretched to meet the needs, people were very generous to us; some gave us free hospitality, others financial gifts. A HUGE thank you to all who shared their lives and homes with us, especially my mother - Jo, my brother and sister in law - Alastair and Stella (what food!!), Julian and Elspeth Phillips, Jane Mann (amazing woman!), Rick and Bev Murrill (barbecue kings and our special leaders), sister and brother in law Rachel and Andrew, Richard and Fliss 'the Dons', Derek and Jackie Wood, and Sue Mitchell (prophetic landlady extraordinaire).
Mixed with the joys was the sadness of Luigia, Sandy's mother's death on 5th July after a long and gut-wrenching fight with Parkinson's Disease. The Italian side of our family has become one of the most precious dimensions of our life via Sandy's mother, who was born in San Gimignano, Tuscany (famous hilltop town of lavish towers) and grew up in Sorrento - surely two of the most romantic and lovely places on earth?! The thanksgiving service for her life was a celebration of all she represented to us.
Getting back to Uganda proved harder. We were refused travel at Heathrow due to rules that say airlines cannot allow single flights into countries where there is no visa in the passport, and we did not have the paperwork from our team in Uganda proving that visas had been granted. In the end we had to pay fines and fly two days later , with Business Class from Dubai due to there being no economy
seats until the end of August. It was my first taste of luxury in the air, but the cost .........
We had a great welcome back. Wow! Overwhelming! I couldn't work out why because when I got to the land everyone seems to have done very well without me! As I write this (6th August) two houses for the orphans are up to eaves beam level and the third's foundation is about to be cast.
6 acres of land are now under cultivation, with beans ready for harvest. Maize, cassava, and sweet potatoes are coming up along with areas of forage made up of
Napier Grass, Mucuna (a climbing legume of the bean family) and Calliandra - a legumous shrub great for forming hedges and stabilising soil. Leucaena, another leguminous fodder/stabilising shrub, is growing away.
Thanks Fin, Chris - and Harriet (Kulika Trust's project manager). Thanks, too, to Yusuf and Olivia, along with Mark, Paul, Rose M, Rose B, Margaret and Oboth for all the work on the land.
So I feel blest. Its great to know that a team can manage without you and still want you back. OK there are problems - it's not all good news: we have serious problems with termites, local villagers
chicken and pigs, monkeys and squirrels - all eating our crops, and the maize that we bought (from a very reputable supplier) had Maize Streak Virus. We are behind programme on the houses albeit the contractor, Buster, is catching up. We have yet to build and test our 'rocket' oven. But I am inspired by this place and the Ugandan people.
Within a month or so we are going to be housing and caring for children who would otherwise have no future. We will be travelling a path for the first time in Uganda - with many watching to see where it leads. It seems so precarious - we are so few and have such tiny resources. We are such novices in this arena. But we have an amazing Heavenly Father who somehow takes clay such as us and moulds something that contain precious gold. It's a privilege. There is so little that I have to offer and yet Uganda is being changed by this little, and others are being inspired to make
a difference to this mad mad world.
Above all I was very encouraged at the responses to my presentations in churchs and other groups. On every occasion people came up overwhelmingly positive about the content and message, as well as endorsing the aims and 'design' of Cherish Uganda. Many offered to help in all sorts of ways; from marketing, to researching, to coming out and working on the project.
It was so good to see our wonderful children, and our first grandchild- Ephraim (pronouned Efram) Ulrik, Burnham Waldron, born to Simon and Kamilla on the day I landed in the UK - 25th May! I had predicted months before that my grandchild would not wish to be born until my feet touched down in the UK, and 1.5 hours after I landed Kamilla went into labour, 10 days late .....
Hannah graduated from Brighton University in Illustration, with a 1st class honours and won the Illustration Prize, which was not a 'goody bag' like the others, but a cheque for £1,000!
Hannah graduated from Brighton University in Illustration, with a 1st class honours and won the Illustration Prize, which was not a 'goody bag' like the others, but a cheque for £1,000!
Mixed with the joys was the sadness of Luigia, Sandy's mother's death on 5th July after a long and gut-wrenching fight with Parkinson's Disease. The Italian side of our family has become one of the most precious dimensions of our life via Sandy's mother, who was born in San Gimignano, Tuscany (famous hilltop town of lavish towers) and grew up in Sorrento - surely two of the most romantic and lovely places on earth?! The thanksgiving service for her life was a celebration of all she represented to us.
Getting back to Uganda proved harder. We were refused travel at Heathrow due to rules that say airlines cannot allow single flights into countries where there is no visa in the passport, and we did not have the paperwork from our team in Uganda proving that visas had been granted. In the end we had to pay fines and fly two days later , with Business Class from Dubai due to there being no economy
seats until the end of August. It was my first taste of luxury in the air, but the cost .........We had a great welcome back. Wow! Overwhelming! I couldn't work out why because when I got to the land everyone seems to have done very well without me! As I write this (6th August) two houses for the orphans are up to eaves beam level and the third's foundation is about to be cast.
14,000 or so bricks have been made on our site with the huge resulting hole to become our main irrigation reservoir (served by the 'grey water' from the houses and the rainwater run-off from the site road and land.
6 acres of land are now under cultivation, with beans ready for harvest. Maize, cassava, and sweet potatoes are coming up along with areas of forage made up of
Napier Grass, Mucuna (a climbing legume of the bean family) and Calliandra - a legumous shrub great for forming hedges and stabilising soil. Leucaena, another leguminous fodder/stabilising shrub, is growing away.Thanks Fin, Chris - and Harriet (Kulika Trust's project manager). Thanks, too, to Yusuf and Olivia, along with Mark, Paul, Rose M, Rose B, Margaret and Oboth for all the work on the land.
Rachel Parsons, the childcare manager and her team had appoi
nted our first three 'house mothers', working closely with Watoto Homes (http://www.watoto.com/) who did an amazingly generous thing in training them and letting us take the pick of the team. They also helped ius in an extraordinaty way in helping us select our first Social Worker - Margaret - who started work today.
nted our first three 'house mothers', working closely with Watoto Homes (http://www.watoto.com/) who did an amazingly generous thing in training them and letting us take the pick of the team. They also helped ius in an extraordinaty way in helping us select our first Social Worker - Margaret - who started work today.So I feel blest. Its great to know that a team can manage without you and still want you back. OK there are problems - it's not all good news: we have serious problems with termites, local villagers
chicken and pigs, monkeys and squirrels - all eating our crops, and the maize that we bought (from a very reputable supplier) had Maize Streak Virus. We are behind programme on the houses albeit the contractor, Buster, is catching up. We have yet to build and test our 'rocket' oven. But I am inspired by this place and the Ugandan people. Within a month or so we are going to be housing and caring for children who would otherwise have no future. We will be travelling a path for the first time in Uganda - with many watching to see where it leads. It seems so precarious - we are so few and have such tiny resources. We are such novices in this arena. But we have an amazing Heavenly Father who somehow takes clay such as us and moulds something that contain precious gold. It's a privilege. There is so little that I have to offer and yet Uganda is being changed by this little, and others are being inspired to make
a difference to this mad mad world.Photos (from top): Ephraim; Hannah and I at graduation;San Gimignano; Sorrento; the first house a week ago; 12,000 bricks in the making; sweet potatoes on site; Harriet surveying the maize and beans; the first harvest - a bean pod is opened!; Fin in the hole where the bricks came from - soon to be an irrigation reservoir
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