Ramblings

Thought I would reflect or maybe it's closer to ramble about some of the things that have happened and I have been pondering...

Christmas. Although we have been missing our friends and family; it has been wonderful here in Uganda. We have felt so welcomed by our Ugandan friends including an invitation for a Christmas-day meal. It was amazing, there were 23 dishes of food, Henry counted, on the table. I was stuffed and so satisfied. Gift giving is not a big part of Christmas here, worship is though. I'm thinking this is another thing Ugandan's have figured out. By gift standards this was a "poor" Christmas, but it seemed so "rich" to our family. The kids made gifts for us and were so excited for their presents. A great memory.


How is it that over 3 billion of the world's population make less than $2/day? I have now met people like this, they were not at all like I expected. They are wonderfully caring, loving, gracious, giving, want to do better, hardworking believers. When I read of this "Fiscal Cliff" in the US news it seems so strange, foreign and hard to grasp from where I sit today. By US news definition these people fell off the cliff years ago but there is something incredible down here, below that cliff. But what are we supposed to do about this ever-growing income disparity? This is something I have been reading and pondering.

I'm still struck by the belief and faith here. You can see it, well almost. It is something that doesn't happen where I'm from except in the safety of a Sunday morning in a church that you often don't tell people you even go to. Why did I feel that way? Will I feel this way when we come back?

In a recent conversation with a Ugandan here, he asked "everyone wants to go to United States even Europeans and Australians but why would you ever want to come here?" We talked for a long time and it was one of those great conversations here that you just get surprised by. It was a wonderful reminder to me of why we are here.

Homeschooling. With the school schedule here being different than the US the kids need about 1/3 a year of homeschooling. I am the math teacher. This has been a lesson in patience for me. My kids are so smart but it is frustrating trying to teach something that seems so obvious to me and so foreign to them. My respect goes to all teachers. This is a hard job and I only have two students, one subject. Teachers amaze me! The first test was well personally devastating and I almost fired the math teacher -- me. But test scores and teaching are getting better. Still the whole thing has been so much harder than I ever imagined, but I praise God for the opportunity to learn from and teach these beautiful amazing children of ours.

I'm so proud of my kids and family. Things are good. Our work is going so well. It can sometimes be hard, frustrating and confusing. But most of the time we are doing the things Heather and I dreamed of when we came here.

So there are some of my ramblings with more questions than answers. I believe that one of the characteristics of leadership is not about having answers but rather about asking positive questions. For some reason I thought this only applied to work, turns out this applies to a lot more than I ever imagined...

God Bless. Troy

 

Happy Holidays from Uganda!

    Original snowflake creation by Avery and Henry

First, apologies that I've been behind on my turn to blog.  I have realized the busyness of this season is universal, whether you're in Uganda or the States or probably anywhere else in the world!  Two main things have happened over the last month.  Avery and Henry finished the term at WCIA on 11/30, complete with report cards.  Their school year here follows the calendar, so it was the end of the school year and they are now on holiday until 1/28.  Since we arrived here last August, they entered the school year in the third (last) term of the year, so we will have to decide in discussions with their teachers if they will move on to the next grade here, or stay in the grade they started here in September to go back and get the first 2 terms of instruction they missed.   Still processing many things about our experiences with the education system here, but so proud of Avery and Henry for allowing us to turn their world upside down and for taking away so many positive things from this experience.

The second happening was our family vacation to Zanzibar Island.  We were originally going to take this trip in mid December, but we had to move it up due to visa issues and left on 11/28 for a week.  This was the day our visa expired.  Unfortunately, this meant the kids had to miss the last two days of school with all the fun year end festivities.  Zanzibar was a great consolation though!  It was absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed some much needed R&R as a family.  All our pictures are posted on FB, which I'm sure many of you already saw.  We played in the water, took a spice tour, read lots, and ate way too much incredible food!  Upon re-entering the country, we got a new 3 month visa which should be more than a sufficient amount of time for Immigration to complete the processing of our work permit which has been quite a process that has been a test in patience.  

Since returning we have been settling into our new routine of home schooling in the morning and Troy and I continuing our work on the projects in the afternoons.  We are trying to get in the Christmas spirit.  It's a bit hard to realize it's almost Christmas when it's 80 degrees every day and we're not baking Christmas cookies and sweets and all our other normal traditions from home.  But, the kids have been doing some great decorating and we have lots of fun holiday events to look forward to in the coming month.  Here are just a few:

• We're having 25 Days of Christmas and watching one Christmas movie every day in December (as long as the home schooling gets done first!)  We found about 12 movies here and dear friends sent us a package with many more to complete our series!  
• Thus., 12/13 - Girls day out shopping for our Christmas outfits (one of the few times I will be able to force Avery to wear a dress - still working on trying to get her to leave her hair down, but am guessing that is not going to happen)
• Sat., 12/15 - a kid's Christmas picnic with Resty's (base camp manager) Sunday School 
• Sun., 12/16 - an outing to a children's cantata at a local church and Avery and Henry are both inviting a friend from school and then we'll all go out to lunch
• Mon., 12/17 - AVERY'S BIRTHDAY, Plans are undecided yet for the day's activity but she has requested a special dinner of chicken, chips, cooked cabbage and I am going to attempt an ice cream/oreo cake which is tradition for her birthday.  Sure it won't be quite as good as Dairy Queen, but will do our best.  
• Wed., 12/19 - CLD Christmas Party from 2-6 pm here at the base camp.  Sure to involve lots of laughing, eating, music and dancing.  Dress code is red, white or gold.  
• Sun., 12/23 - Take it to the Streets with Light the World church.  Everyone meets on a local street to worship, coming in jeans or shorts - no fancy dress and we hold church in the street.  Excited to experience this!
• Tues., 12/24 - Planning to just have a nice quiet Greenwood Family Christmas Eve here at the base camp with hot chocolate, snacks and a movie.
• Wed., 12/25 - CHRISTMAS!  Have been invited by Gladys, WCIA Medical Clinic nurse to spend the day with her family.  This is the same family of Lynus, Henry's close friend.  Looking forward to being part of their family celebration and so blessed to have been invited.  
• Thurs., 12/26 - Tickets to a dance performance starring one of our friends here, Mercy.  And wow, can she dance!  Can't wait!

It's hard for us to believe it's almost the end of 2012!  What experiences we have had this year. Recently, CLD leadership in the states asked to reflect on our time here so far and summarize our thoughts and perspectives as they prepare for a retreat next week.  So, it was a challenge for us to look back over the last 3 months and think about the work we have been so blessed to be a part of.  Don't feel bad if this is just too long and tedious for you to read, we won't be offended.  I just decided to post all of this in part for our family as somewhat of a record to look back upon in years ahead and remind us of all our experiences and great work that we had the opportunity to be involved in.  Most importantly, we have had the privilege of getting to know some really amazing people in this work and they are what it is all about at the end of the day!  Yes, there have been frustrations and heartbreaking stories along the way, but continued learning has been a daily theme and we expect that to continue in our work ahead in 2013.    

WCIA (Wakiso Christian International Academy)

1. Computer lab: created proposal, hired teacher, setup computers and started classes
2. Conducted Friday Staff Professional Development for teachers.  Topics included, professionalism,  brainstorming for evaluation process, critical thinking, and personal financial management
3. Setup volleyball net and conducted weekly lessons
4. Sponsored two all school swim sessions with 1st grade and higher.  Supplied 100 new swim suits thanks to Forest Park Blue Fins and First Plymouth VBS kids
5. Implemented new positive Student Motivation Program called Rising STARS (spiritual, teachable, achievers, responsible students) for rewarding students for exemplary behavior
6. Implemented Staff Evaluation form and processes
7. Completed draft of WCIA Staff Code of Conduct
8. Setup laptops for both headmaster and administrator
9. Assisted  with the creation of electronic weekly tests
10. Recorded songs and created logo for God Squad, the school choir
11. Assisted with recruiting efforts including new brochure, flyer and video
12. Coordinated all students making Christmas cards for their parents and the community
13. Assisted with Community Outreach movie night
14. Started new community savings circle called Hope Savings Circle. Meets weekly on Fridays at WCIA and currently has around 30 members.

Medical Clinic

1. Started working with the nurse on financial reporting and record keeping.  Goal in December during the less busy season to establish a strong foundation for recording keeping and budgeting to begin use in the new year, both for WCIA students and community patients.  

Double Portion Farm

1. “Invested capital" - weeding, hoeing, slashing and other tasks as necessary
2. Organized monthly budget reporting/tracking
3. Implemented new monthly excel financial and goal reporting
4. Created harvest report and tracking excel spreadsheet
5. Assisted with creation of board report
6. Setup tour of farm for WCIA students in October
7. Assisted with development of feedback survey for first term students

Thread of Life

1. Completed 6 weeks of personal finance lessons with Advanced class students
2. Met with each student to develop individual financial plans and goals and continuing to mentor these women on Wednesday afternoons
3. Found and setup laptop for program administrator
4. Assisted with feedback survey for class
5. Assisted with plans for Advanced class celebration
6. Working with administrator on Excel training and began implementing processes for financial and program reporting for TOL
7. Assisted in process to recommend students from Katanga slums for sponsorship in 2013 at WCIA
8. Overall support of administrator in her transitional leadership role at TOL

And if that wasn't enough detail yet, here is our tentative plan for 2013 in our remaining time here.  Think these months are going to fly by way too quickly!  

Troy's Focus Areas for 2013

CLD Overall

Business processes, procedures, professionalism

Technology review /recommendation 

Financial management practices

Leadership training/mentorship

Computer training for CLD staff

WCIA

Budget and financial management

Computer Lab

Work with headmaster and administrator on processes, procedures and management

Establish & teach Create! class (tentative)

Assist with occasional Professional Development sessions

Double Portion Farm

Budget and financial management

Profit /Loss analysis for Farm/VTC

Harvest report and analysis

Sustainability analysis

Teach classes: computer/time mgmt

Heather's Focus Areas for 2013

WCIA

Pre/K – work with teachers to design, supply and implement centers for play based learning

Work with individual teachers to document curriculum objectives for each grade

Community Savings Circle

Transition Rising STARs program to teachers

Continue Volleyball

Medical Clinic

Help nurse implement budget, patient recording keeping and financial reporting procedures on monthly basis.  

Double Portion Farm

Teach personal finance classes to VTC students on Thursday afternoons

Help with manual labor

Thread of Life (TOL)

Participate in re-envisioning the ministry

Assisting with leadership transition

Continue to help implement financial and program reporting procedures

Teach personal finance if another student class offered

How will we dedicate our time to try and accomplish this work?  It's been so gratifying to have the flexibility to work with all projects and build relationships at each one.  They are wonderfully different, yet all doing such critical work in empowering and educating Ugandans.  Here's our tentative weekly schedule below. 

Tentative Weekly Schedule in 2013

Monday:  Troy & Heather at WCIA

Tuesday: Troy working at base camp on farm reporting & WCIA computer lab mentoring

                 Heather at TOL

Wednesday:  Troy working on leadership/management at base camp, Heather at TOL

Thursday:  Troy & Heather at farm teaching leadership, computer and financial classes

Friday:  Troy & Heather at WCIA, Heather at Saving Circle Friday evenings

If you've survived through all of this reading, we wish all of you a joyous Christmas and a truly inspired new year in 2013!  I know I have said this over and over, but we cannot thank each and every one of you enough that have supported us in countless ways this past year - both in all of our months of planning and since we have actually been here in Uganda.  I just don't think thank you are words that we can ever overuse.  

I will end with this thought, even though it's more a end of year reflection which is a few weeks away.....Never did I think that I would be sitting here in Uganda writing a blog about our family's time here.  I am sure that a lot of you have had similar experiences of all of a sudden realizing you are in a totally different place in your life than you ever would have guessed.  Life is a grand adventure and I hope that all of you seek out whatever and wherever life is meant to take you next in 2013. 

All our love~
Heather

A Good Hard

This is hard - that is what I woke up thinking Sunday am. And as I had time to reflect and pray on this thought I was left with many questions, few answers. The one thing I don't doubt is that we are supposed to be in Uganda but why then can it be so hard. I have spent my life up to recently measuring my status/success mostly by looking at my job, my life, my title, the things I had, the money I made, the number of people I managed, ...

Now, I have no title, I make no money, I have no reports but ... I have my friends and family and continue to meet amazing people. I am in a place that lacks material wealth but is rich in so many other things. The right things. I also have my faith, something that continues to grow and challenge me here.

This week was the start of the computer lab at Wakiso Christian International Academy (WCIA). A project I have been working on since I got here.

The kids 3rd grade and higher started, for the first time, to use and learn about computers. Also there was a new Ugandan computer instructor doing a great job teaching them. I am so amazed and humbled by this seemingly small thing that took so many great people as well as donations to get up and running. The kids are so excited as is the staff as am I.

With that accomplishment, I have been a little down this week, as my brain was trying really hard to belittle it. My reading continues to help but it also continues to challenge me. This is good. This is hard. I have spent sometime thinking on how I could redefine success but yesterday I woke up frustrated that I have not solved this problem yet. As I write this I realize that this is not a problem that can be googled but rather a journey. For me knowing that we not only get to write our life story but define what success looks like is extremely helpful.

I am constantly reminded how different our setting is from what I have known. I'm I the right place to battle this question; to think about how I want to define success going forward. I'm humbled constantly by the relationships, family and faith my new Ugandan friends have and how much more important it is than what I in the past have valued. So my journey continues -- it is hard but it is supposed to be which is good. :)

 

How to Help?

So, it's been awhile since I've blogged.  Been a busy, but fun couple of weeks as we had more people in the house. One was a family that comes for a few months every year, usually mid January - mid April, but the dad and son came for a short visit now to introduce a couple and their kids that they are friends with to Uganda and what CLD is all about.  Also, they had another couple they are friends with that were here in Uganda for 6 weeks adopting their new son Adam.  So, the house has been lively and fun. Tonight that will all change as all of those families along with Leigh who has become such a good friend, depart for the airport late tonight for their flights back to the states.  Waking up tomorrow in the house with just us will be a big change.   We will be the only ones living in the house until a big crew arrives in mid January.  This holiday season will definitely be different for us.  

Whenever I sit down to blog, I have a hard time focusing on just one thing to write about....I actually started this blog on Monday earlier this week, but never had time to finish, so it will probably seem very disjointed as that was one topic, but much more has happened since then.  So, please just excuse the randomness of it all.  Feel like I say that in every blog post of mine. Oh well.  

Think I'll start with my work on financial literacy as that is what I've been spending a majority of my time on lately, which has been so rewarding and challenging all at the same time.  I posted a status earlier this week on Facebook after my afternoon working with the women at Thread of Life.  For those of you that I'm not friend with on FB, it said, "I hope that starting by just listening and trying to understand helps when you find yourself in a situation of trying to help people that have challenges to overcome that you cannot imagine yourself ever having to face, let alone surviving them."  

This was the best way I could describe how I was feeling after my sessions that day.  The last two weeks I have been scheduling individual 30 minutes planning conferences with each of the 7 women in the current Thread of Life Advanced sewing class.  The four weeks prior to that I worked with them on Wednesdays from 2 - 4 as a group on general financial literacy, but I felt we were at the point that I needed to work with them one on one to do some goal setting for each of their unique life situations.  Well, first thing that I learned is that 30 minutes is not nearly enough time to even scratch the surface.  I really used these sessions as an interview of sorts to try and understand their life history and situation as much as I could to know how to best help them to try to move forward.  I feel like there is no word that exists that could adequately describe the stories and information they shared with me.  So, I'm going to just list a few that make an attempt:  amazing, heartbreaking, courageous, unbelievable, challenging, inspiring, and overwhelming, just to name a few.  

These past two weeks I have really been questioning my ability to be able to help these women as I have no experience living through the things they have lived through and will continue to live through.  My confidence in my knowledge in the area of financial literacy has been shaken as this is a whole new playing field and their lives present such challenges that I don't even know where to start.  How do you work on a budget with them when they have no income?  Last week I found myself asking an unthinkable question to a woman that lives in the slums and is trying to support two children.  She found a job packing fish about a month ago and works seven days a week from 8 pm to 8 am and gets paid roughly equivalent to $1.25 per day, (almost $3 on Sundays).  Then, she goes home and gets one child ready for school and brings her other young daughter to Thread of Life for class every day from 9 to 5.  She basically doesn't sleep.  And even though she does have income, when we were putting together a budget,  the numbers don't add up.  She will not be able to save anything for her child's school fees that are coming due in January, plus she owes rent from as far back as August, so every time the corrupt landlord comes to her house in the slums, he demands she give him any money she has.  She also has no phone and does not use transport.  She walks everywhere.  I have asked them to write down their spending for the last 3 weeks and we saw that she was spending around 7,000 shillings per day (~$2.50) on food for her family and she can't even afford that.  The unthinkable question I found myself asking her was, what is the absolute minimum she could spend daily on food for her family and still survive.  As a mother of two children myself, it made me sick to even speak these words....she is so eager to learn English, finances and sewing skills to try and have a better life, but how do I help get her to the reality of a better life?  I can't ask her to give up her job as it's at least providing her income, yet it's not enough income to survive, let alone save up for a sewing machine so she could try using these new skills, working better hours and doing something she enjoys?  Yes, I could just simply buy her a machine.  But, I can't do that for all of these ladies, and what if that still doesn't make a difference?  

Then, in my session this week I met with another of the women who has to be one of the most amazing women I have had the privilege to meet.  She has a life that no one would want to live, but she has the brightest smile, biggest heart and most incredible work ethic that would put most people to shame.  She lost her husband a few months ago to aids and she told me in our session that she is also HIV+.  This is the first time I have seen this incredibly courageous woman cry.  So, she is left with no income other than what she can generate doing odd jobs and she has three children to support. She has incredible faith in God and is just trusting that he will strengthen her in her journey to keep going.  She is never at rest.  During lunch time on class days she is either tending to the garden she planted at the Thread of Life property, working on something for her plan to grow mushrooms to sell, working in the sewing room, making envelopes out of scratch paper to sell to medical clinics since she can't work on these at home at night because they don't have electricity, or gathering some kind of leaves that grow around the property because they are edible and they are only able to eat one meal a day (luckily the children get lunch at school).  She has a never give up attitude in the face of challenges most of us can't even comprehend, let alone figure out how to live through.  

These women are amazing stewards of the little that they have. So many of us could learn so much from them.  

So, how do I help these women realize their dreams?  I have no clue.....I am just amazed they are able to have dreams despite what they have been through in their lives.  This week is the last week of class for these women and I only hope that I can find a way to continue working with them.  In what way and how I will help I do not know, but I hope to have the chance to figure that out.  Three of them actually live on the Thread of Life property, so I know that I will be able to continue a working relationship with them, but I have no idea if this week will be the last time I see the rest of these women.  I think I just need to make it a priority to find a way for that to happen.  They have become a part of my life in such a short amount of time and while I know that I cannot pretend that I can fix their lives, I have  a hope that I can continue to walk beside them to try and help, even if it may be a very small way.......

Meanwhile, I did my first session on financial literacy with the teachers at the school, WCIA, in our normal Friday afternoon professional development session and it was another great two hours to end the week.  These individuals still struggle financially, but at least they have a good income and have bank accounts, compared to a lot of the population here that are unbanked.  They are so eager to discuss these topics and I think the main excitement they took away is that they didn't realize how it is possible to have different accounts at the bank to separate your spending and saving money.  As far as I can tell (have to research this much more), they have checking accounts here, they just call them current accounts instead.  They thought only businesses could open accounts like these for daily spending.  Overall as a country Ugandans struggle with the concept of savings, but I told them that this was definitely not a problem unique to them.  I shared the dismal US savings rate of -.5% right before the big recession that began in 2009.  Everyone is in these financial struggles together.  

And lastly, I'm looking forward to beginning work with Sherinah, the administrator at WCIA, to begin savings circles as part of the new community outreach program she is developing in the Wakiso community.  She has attended training on Village Savings and Loans Associations (VS&LA's) and I'm trying to sift through the manual and learn about them so we can implement them.  We are having the first interest meeting this coming Friday, so we'll see where that takes us.  In concept it's a great model as it gathers 15-30 people together to pool their savings and create a fund for individuals to be able to take out loans from the circle and then repay them with interest.  Therefore they are paying themselves back instead of banks.  It also creates an "insurance" of sorts as members also contribute to a wellfare fund which members can use for emergencies like burials (very common here), etc.  

So, that's been a lot of my work lately.  Then in between we're working on many projects at the school and then investing some "human capital" as Troy calls it on the farm.  We try to go out at least one day a week and help weed, slash, harvest or whatever might be the need that day, and it's such a blessing to be able to just do a task that is physical and solveable and just enjoy the time talking with each other and being amazed at the beauty God has created.  Every time you visit you are in awe of how the crops have grown since the last week.  I wish I had appreciated this more growing up on my dad's farm............

Much more I could describe, but that's a least a glimpse.  Like I said at the beginning - amazing, yet amazingly challenging work.

Now, total disconnected seque to the entry that I had started on earlier in the week.  I had originally titled the blog post, "A New Book in my Life."  As you can probably guess pretty quickly from reading below, I was referring to the bible.  I am still working through other books and enjoying them (and Troy rubbed in the other day he has read 13 books since we've been here, PLUS the New Testament).  I tease him he's not working hard enough since he has all that time to read, but we all know that's not true.  I'm just too tired at night when I read before bed to make much progress.  

But anyway, I am realizing that the bible is one of the most important books in my life that I have neglected really reading.  While I am still not up to reading it straight through like Troy is attempting, I have felt a new connection to the wisdom it offers and how it can speak directly into your life through its stories and how encouraging it can be while at the same time demanding more from you.  One verse can cause you to look at your life in a very different way or remind you of something that you have been looking for and didn't even realize it.  I have a long ways to go to be disciplined enough to spend some time with this book every day, but it's a great goal for me to work on.  I included just a few passages below that people have shared with me lately in one context or another that spoke to me for various reasons.  I'd encourage you after reading this (if you have any free moments left after this novelette!) to consider opening your bible for a minute, opening any page and just read a bit and see if you find a verse that might be meaningful to you in some way.  

Colossians 3: 3-4  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you too will appear with him and share his glory!

~Shared by Leigh in devotions a week ago.  To her it was a comforting thought that we are safe in God's protection as our life is "hidden" with him.  It spoke a really different message to me - I can sometimes get frustrated that God's plan for me seems "hidden" as I try to figure out what he is really calling me to do.  For example, why did I end up here in Uganda?  Still trying to figure that one out.  

1 Corinthians 7:17  Each one should go on living according to the Lord's gift to him, and as he was when God called him.  This is the rule I teach in all the churches.  

~A verse that just caught my eye one morning flipping through the bible.  Hoping that I am using the gifts he gave me this year while we are here and he called me here because of certain gifts I have.  

Deuteronomy 6:  6-9  Never forget these commands that I am giving you today.  Teach them to your children.  Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working.  Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder.  Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.  

~A verse shared this past week by Josh Brink here at CLD as some of us were discussing how you integrate Jesus into your everyday lives and how they are so amazing at it here. 

Jeremiah 29:13  You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart.  

~Think I shared this one last week on FB when I was spending some time with Henry and he shared that he found the verse at school that day and he really liked it.  I think that is a large part of what I'm trying to do this year during our time here - really seek him out and see where that takes us.  Thanks Henry!

Last thing to share in this post if you've managed to continued through this marathon.  At the request of our church back home to write something for the Advent daily devotional book they are putting together, I asked the kids in Avery and Henry's class at WCIA to write about what faith means to them.  These are just a couple of my favorites.  Hope they are mostly readable if you click on the pictures to enlarge them.  

Thanks for reading the randomness.  Until next post.

~Heather

Top 10 Biggest Differences between Uganda and Denver

So after being here thought I would give a try at a requested top 10 list of differences between Uganda and Denver.

10. Smells and Sounds. Even in the city, the smells are something, from the smell of trash to the constant and differing smell of fires burning. Sounds from hearing Muslims singing at pre-dawn, to children, to roosters crowing, to different birds -- there are a lot more and different sounds you hear.

9. Shopping/Conveniences. There are many stores, so often to get things requires going to many stores. Fresh vegetables and fruit are everywhere, fantastically good and inexpensive.

8. Sunrise and sunset. Being so close to the equator the length of the day is always, 365 days a year, 12 hours. So the sun always rises and sets at approximately the same time each day.

7. Driving, taxis, bodas. After a month of driving fair to say that roads are bumpier, less rules and you use your horn a lot more. Taxi buses are everywhere and have fixed routes. Bodas or motorcycles will take you wherever you want to go but seem quite dangerous.

6. Water and electricity. Most don't have these in their homes. We are fortunate and have both running water and electricity. The city water fills up large tanks so when the city water is off, a couple days a week, we still have water. There is no hot water, but the fact that we have running water is good and we have learned far more important than electricity. Even though we have electricity we don't have a TV or appliances except a refrigerator.

5. Green and orange. Everything is so green green here and the dirt is the color of rust orange. It is just breathtaking and beautiful.

4. Mzungu. This means "white person" and you hear it everywhere we go. "Hi Mzungu", "Bye Mzungu".

3. Food. When you think about what we eat here and compare, you definitely realize how much of the worlds resources we consume as Americans. Protein is found mostly in beans and eggs. Some meat but they don't eat it very much as it is expensive.

2. Death, Injury, Disease. Everyone here is constantly effected by this, seems so much closer here. It is a part of life, as it seems there is always some new sickness, injury or death each week. Their faith helps them handle these uncertainties.

1. People. Their stories, their faith; they are so friendly, so open. The personal stories they tell are amazing in the struggle, hardship and differences but also in the faith and joy they have. What they deal with and the needs they have make our challenges seems so small. Your heart aches and you want to help but helping is more than money.

 

Family

Today Leigh and I treated ourselves to some time to just "be" and enjoy reflection time, with of course some chocolate cake added in at a nice coffee house.  Here are some thoughts that are on my heart today. 

We had a beautiful start to the day with morning devotions at the base camp.  During the summer season of volunteers, these devotions happen on a daily basis, as in addition to all the important work that CLD does on the ground, they also have a passion for working in people's hearts by introducing them to a new relationship with Christ.  But, fall is a quiet time in the house, so the devotions were left to individuals to pursue on their own as they wished.  But yesterday Miriam, the office manager, felt it was time to bring them back and sent out a message for us to gather at 9:00 this morning as, "the family that prays together stays together." What an awesome thought even before the devotion took place.

So, all who were able gathered this morning and lifted each other up in praise, worship, testimonies and prayer requests.  No matter what your faith or beliefs, I wish that everyone could have such an experience to feel so loved and acknowledge the grace and struggles that exist in life and know that there are people walking your journey in life with you.  It is such a gift.

I still consider myself an observer and internal processor, so it is an adjustment for me to let go and share everything so freely as so many here do.  My emotions also get in the way of me expressing my thoughts as I usually end up in tears, but mostly tears of happiness and awe.  The thought that was in my heart and mind this morning as people were sharing was how blessed I am that in only two short months to feel that I have added a whole new circle of amazing people to my family.  Family is thee most important thing in my life and I have always been one who is content with my immediate family and small circle of trusted friends.  But, I sincerely feel that these people are now also family even though we live worlds apart.  Maybe when you go through such a big transition in life, the bonds you form with those helping and guiding you through this transition are much more intense and developed in a much shorter time frame.  In other words, they are your lifeline for survival and that is part of the role family has always played for me.  

I also was realizing what great opportunities I have had in these last 10+ years of life to work in settings alongside a "family" and not just colleagues.  I had this as a teacher at Arapahoe and here in Uganda I am working beside my new "family" every day.  While it can cause challenges to work like this, I think the positives far outnumber the negatives.   And yes...... I was also worried if Troy and I would survive working alongside each other this year as we have often joked that we could never do this, but happy to report we're still both alive.  We are learning that while we think very differently, at those times when we get annoyed by each other, if we take some space and take a step back, we can usually find the grace inside to revisit the topic and see the value in pieces of each our individual perspectives.  

On that note, think I will end there.  But, once again, just as I had been feeling a bit of sadness this past week missing family and friends as it's my favorite time of year as the holiday season draws nearer, God lifted me up today.  By day's end I felt as if it was one of my best days here and that this experience is one that is beyond my capability to explain how truly amazing, real, challenging, rewarding and a hundred other adjectives I can't even think of, is.  

~Heather

Videos!

Here are two videos of our time in Uganda.

• Driving to where we live, tour of our home and drive to the WCIA school
• Some clips from Chapel at the WCIA school

Jubilee! 50th Anniversary of Uganda's Independence

Today is a big day here in Uganda - it's the Jubilee and they are celebrating 50 years of independence as a nation!  People have been so excited and prayerful about this day and it has finally arrived.  Yesterday the kids had a fun surprise at school and the headmaster decided to take all the kids on the new Costa bus on a drive to downtown Kampala to see all the preparations.  They really enjoyed it, even though it was a packed ride with about 80 kids with only 30 seats.  Today is a public holiday and they have no school, so we decided to be brave and venture down to the Kololo airstrip where all the festivities were to take place.  Looking back I'm not quite sure what we were thinking......We left about 8:30 am and Troy was driving, but we took two locals with us, Bosco, one of our night guards and Miss Ruth, a teacher at WCIA who is always a calm and joyful presence.  After surviving a lot of traffic, around 10 am we finally found a place to park.  The guard in the area was very friendly, but insisted that we needed to "make him happy," which meant that upon our return we would need to pay him an unspecified amount (we would call that a bribe).  So, we were on our way and walked up to the airstrip. 

We were one of masses of people and first walked by an incredibly long line that curved around a block and later realized that was the VIP line.  So, we kept wandering and following the masses of people.  All of a sudden everyone just started walking up a hill where there were guards stationed.  Who knows where the actual other gate entrance was, we just kept following along.  The hill was very steep and people were just pushing against each other and I was worried the kids would get crushed.  We had to hold onto each other to not fall backwards down the hill, and were all packed in as tight as sardines.  All of a sudden we looked up and saw a guard start hitting people with his stick at the top and everyone began to panic and run back down the hill.  I was terrified as we were truly in a mob just being pushed backwards down this hill.  Avery was crying and I was trying to just hold on to her.  Luckily our friend Leigh had a hold of Henry.  After what felt like a tortuous few minutes, but was probably more like seconds, everyone calmed down and just started going back up the hill again.  

Needless to say I was almost ready to throw in the towel at that point!  But, we made it to the top of the hill and the guards just waved us through I'm guessing because we had children and were Mzungus.  So, after collecting our nerves, we regrouped and then Troy realized his money and drivers license were gone from his pocket from the chaos.  He had meant to move it to a safer place, but got caught in the chaos.  But, it was only about $35 and you don't really need a drivers license here, so when we got home, we agreed how blessed we were to just be in one piece.  And also that the car keys were not taken that were in the same pocket!  We continued to walk past the main stage area amongst huge crowds of people.  It was really sunny and hot and the pavillion with seats was packed full and probably had been for hours.  There were several white tents set up, but they were also all full.  The mob of people then all started climbing a grass hill to find a seat and some shade and we quickly decided we didn't want to be involved in that again, so just kept walking to a less crowded area.  At this point we got split up from Bosco.  So, the rest of us found a spot under an emptier white tent, but then were just standing there because there were no screens that were visible to see anything of the celebration that was taking place.  We decided fairly quickly that we had experienced enough Jubilee adventure and decided we'd just leave the chaos.  But, we couldn't leave without talking to Bosco and phones weren't working that well.  So, we spent the next 45 minutes or so trying to communicate with him on how to find us and wondering why we had decided to go on this adventure.  But, we at least had a good excuse to tell vendors when they stopped by to ask us to buy things - we had no money (which I still did have 10,000 shillings = $6, but that's it) because it was stolen!  

As we were trying to figure out how to find Bosco, Leigh found a guy selling little cups of yummy ice cream, so she treated the kids - a much needed lift!  As they were enjoying their ice cream we started to see the President's convoy arriving.  We ended up being in the perfect spot and stood right along the road where he was passing and saw him and his wife waving from their car, only about 6 feet away.  The day was looking up. Soon after we found  Bosco and all agreed it was time to head home.  Two hours of this adventure was enough!  We walked back to our car and Leigh showed her "I don't take any crap!" side and negotiated with the friendly guard who wanted a parking bribe.  We all let out a huge sigh of relief as we climbed in the Super Custom to begin our journey home.  The drive was luckily very calm with little traffic and we made it home without issue.  It was only noon, but it felt like we had already had a full day.  

The rest of our day we plan to just relax and rest from our adventure that was Jubilee!.....And say a prayer of thanks that we all arrived home safely and can at least say we have a story to share and laugh about it now.  

Below are brief writings from the kids about this special day in Uganda and what they've been learning.  Be sure to scroll to the very end where there is a special feature - a video of Avery singing the Uganda National Anthem.  Enjoy!  

50th Anniversary of Uganda

By: Henry Greenwood

         If you don't know, it is the 50th Anniversary of Uganda. They call it Jubilee. Today at school we went to downtown Kampala.  When we went downtown, we saw so many decorations of the Uganda flag. The  colors of the Uganda flag are black, yellow and red.  It also has a crested crane bird in the middle of the flag because that is their national bird.  It was chosen to symbolize that Uganda is moving forward.  There is picture of the flag above.  We also saw the clock tower.  Lastly we saw the air strip at Kololo. The air strip used to be a airport, but now it's a place where they have large celebrations.  Also, that's where two important people were buried and it's the place where the national anthem was first sung.

History Of Uganda

by Avery Greenwood

Uganda is a country which the British controlled until 1962. The British first came and started speaking English, which is now the official language of Uganda. On Monday, October 9, 1962 the British flag lowered and the Uganda flag was raised. Now no longer could the British control Uganda. It was Uganda's first day of independence! The air strip was where they raised the flag and for the first time sang the National Anthem. Milton Obote became the first executive prime minister. Sir Edward Mutesa II was the first president of Uganda.  In 1971, Idi Amin overthrew Obote and he was a very bad man.  In 1979, Yusuf Kironde Lule overthrew Amin and became the next president.  The current president is Yoweri Museveni and he has been in power for 26 years.   That's just the beginning!  

We have learned the Ugandan national anthem and I sing it for you in this video below:

Driving in Uganda

The picture above was not Troy's first drive - that went great!  This was day three of driving on a visit to the farm after a rain in the morning.  Clay roads and rain don't mix well until the sun comes out.  I think on this same morning the students at the farm helped around four others out of the same ditch.

September 30th was my first time to drive in Kampala and here are my few differences about driving:

1. Opposite side. It's all on the other side including the steering wheel, where you sit in the car and the stick shift is done with your left hand. Fortunately the clutch, gas and break are where I am used to them. My biggest struggle is the windshield wipers are where I'm used to the turn signal being.
2. Signs. Well there really aren't any. No street, no stop, no yield, no speed limits, etc... I think there are maybe 3 stop lights in all of Kampala.
3. Rules. Well there don't seem to be many of those either. For example, you appear to be able to pass in the city on either side (left or right).
4. Vehicles. If you were to take a cross-section of 10 vehicles in Kampala, you would see: 5 bodas (motorcycles that look dangerous but are cheap taxis), 3 taxi buses (these hold 14 or more people, you pay and they have a route), 1 work truck, and 1 personal car. 99% of cars are Toyota.
5. Right of way. It in sense is a game of chicken, where the biggest or bravest wins. So in sense it is this order: truck, taxi, car, boda, bikes, pedestrians.
6. Gas. It's expensive and you only get what you need for the day. Don't need to turn your car off, just get $5 to $10 of diesel and you are on your way.
7. Roads. Majority of major ones are paved, but there are either large potholes, speed bumps or both to slow you down. The side roads are a different story and most we would call 4 wheel drive only roads.
8. Horns. These are multi-use and are used a lot.
9. Congestion. There are lots and lots of vehicles, that observe little rules on bumpy roads with no signs on the opposite side of the road.

It has been fine, actually with all that, all though it is a bit nerve racking. And I was able to take my wife out on a date for our anniversary. Priceless.

Little Bits.........of work, fun and the tough

 Haven't been the best at keeping up on posting, so trying to post a few thoughts tonight.  Going to just do "little bits" tonight that really aren't connected in any particular way, so don't attempt to figure out the logic.  There really is none. 

Little Bit of Work

Instead of recreating the wheel, just decided to paste our weekly status report from the last week.  Not very exciting, but efficient for me not to have to repeat.  We meet every Friday morning with Pastor Ben who is the executive director of CLD from the Ugandan side.  He is a man with an amazing story of what he has overcome and accomplished at a very young age.  We go over our week with him and get some feedback to help us focus for the next week.   We have lots of "irons in the fire" and the work is so fulfilling and challenging all at the same time.  Some projects may work, some may not, but we will learn as we go and hopefully add value in at least some small way. 

The Greenwoods Status Report - Week of Sept. 17th

Accomplishments

Overall

·  Completed first Professional Development Training session with teachers at WCIA and assisting them with developing new weekly assessments for all grade levels

·  Began work with Jerry and Gladys on budget spreadsheets and record keeping processes

·  Continued work VISA process

·  Continue to learn culture and develop relationships

WCIA

·  After Ben's approval, submitted computer lab proposal to Julie and board.  Waiting for feedback from board meeting on Sept. 27th.  Will still need to discuss permanent lab location with Davis and Sherinah based on solar panel funding. 

·  Researched free software to use for teaching purposes in the lab and also worked with new batteries received for the laptops.

·  Heather conducted first day of volleyball at WCIA on Monday afternoon.  This will be taught weekly on Mondays.  Kenneth is helping progress with plans to install the poles and net. 

·  Heather began working with Gladys in the medical clinic to improve her Excel skills and help her format her budget reports.  This work will need to continue, along with the development of general record keeping procedures. 

·  Heather attended chapel on Wednesday and so enjoyed seeing the kids lead this time of praise and worship.

·  Heather worked with Sherinah to assist in creating electronic versions in Word of the new weekly assessments for each grade level.  This is a very time consuming process, but should save time in the future.  Week 2 is completed and Heather will continue to assist in each of the future weeks and hopefully begin to train teachers slowly to be able to create their own assessments on the computer.

·  Troy, Heather & Leigh brainstormed on new Student Motivation Program to implement at WCIA.  Basic concept will be presented to teachers for feedback during professional development time this Friday.

Double Portion Farm

·  Troy met with Jerry around financial reports on Monday, 9/17.  Main topic was understanding of the spreadsheet as it currently exists and Troy was going to take these notes and brainstorm some improved formatting of information to make its understanding more clear.  Tentative plan to meet again on Tuesday, 9/25.

Thread of Life

·  Troy met with Ronnie (Solomon's friend) at TOL on Thursday, 9/20 to help him with his business ideas

·  Heather is brainstorming lesson plans to begin financial management lessons with this class of women during the 3rd and 4th class weeks on Wednesday afternoons.

Next Items

·  Continue progress on installing volleyball net at WCIA

·  Obtain feedback from CLD board on computer lab proposal

·  Week 2 : WCIA professional development topic is Critical Thinking and Bloom's Taxonomy

·  Week 3:  WCIA professional development topic is Goal Setting for Critical Thinking Lesson Planning

·  Continue working on obtaining all necessary documents for work VISA

·  Continue work on development of financial literacy training materials

·  Begin implementation of Student Motivation Program at WCIA if positive feedback received from school team

·  Continue working to create electronic versions of WCIA weekly assessments by subject area and grade level

Little Bit of Fun

Yes, we are actually working, but having a lot of fun while doing so!  The people are so wonderful here, you really can't go through a day without having a little fun.  These are just some random fun things and funny observations from lately. 

1.  Differences in vocabulary:  things are often just phrased differently.  Here are a few examples:

-     You talk about what your "program" is for the day, or week, or weekend.  We would call it your plans for the day. 

-     When you are greeted, they say, "You're welcome." 

-     When you are nicely dressed, you are told you look "smart!"

-     They tell you "well done"  all the time, like we would say thank you.

-     When you are referring to a time, you subtract six hours from 7 am which is the start of the day.....or something like that.  I defer to Troy as he is the one learning this, I just follow along in confusion.

2.  Bags!  You can buy almost anything in a bag.  Oil, yogurt, passion fruit juice, etc.   We have become a bit addicted to the yogurt in a bag which you drink with a straw, and both Avery and I have had disasters trying to drink the passion fruit juice out of a plastic bag with more ending up on the ground or ourselves than in our mouth.  It is delicious though. 

3.  We have designated Fridays fun days as we walk up the hill to get a little ice cream treat with the kids in the late afternoon and then have movie night at the house watching DVD's that you can get in a neighborhood fairly close by for $1 - almost anything you can think of, that has been out for about 3 months at least.  People at the house have been watching the seasons of The Mentalist, so Troy and I just started watching them this weekend and are getting hooked already. 

4.  The kids are picking up some rhythm and love of singing from the kids at school.  They're developing their favorite English and Lugandan Christian songs and singing them from their hearts.  Will try to upload a few short video clips soon of chapel at school this past Wednesday.  There is a drum and guitar in the house and Avery loves pretending she can play both!

5.  The kids at school are determined to teach Avery and Henry Lugandan and they've figured out that they have to go very slow, syllable by syllable or we can't even understand what they're saying.  In the meantime, they've given them both Lugandan names and Avery is Namatay Eva (Namatay means milk referencing their white color) and Henry is Samatay Adam (masculine milk and Adam obviously an important boy from the bible).  Henry is protesting his though as it was given to him by older girls Avery's age. 

6.  I'm starting to get jealous of all these amazing trees that are just "normal" here everywhere you look - banana, jack fruit, mango, avocado - doesn't get much better than that.  And who knew that it takes a year to grow a pineapple when you see trucks and bikes overflowing with them all over as they're in season right now.  You can get one for 1000 shs  (less than 50 cents!) and you will never taste anything better!

7.  We're on a church tour - on our four weekends here we've been to four different churches.  All very different, but all great experiences.  Had to laugh when Henry commented after this weekend's 1 1/2 hour service - Wow, that was so short!  Life is relative when you've been to a 3 1/2 hour service!

Just a little bit of the fun we're having!

Little Bit of Tough

Lots I could write here, but will be fairly brief as these are the things that we will continue to process and are hard to explain.  Will start with the easier one.

1.  Have realized how I would much prefer to live without electricity than water.  Our water tanks ran empty this past weekend as the city water was off for about four days.  Beginning Friday, the main house water wasn't working, but we still had a toilet and shower we could use in the back quarters, so just a bit inconvenient, but workable.  Then, Sunday morning, the water in the back quarters ran dry.  So, had to use the latrines and carry some water in jerry cans in the house for hand washing, teeth brushing, etc.  I was getting a bit on edge as I am a bit of a clean freak as you all know.  I would rather live in the dark than smell.  So, God definitely answered a prayer this morning when it was back on! 

2.  Sickness and death.  It's such a part of normal, everyday life here and that is a hard thing to wrap our minds around.  And then when it hits your own family it sinks in even more.  We had our first bouts with sickness beginning about two weeks ago.  Henry went down first, but recovered in a couple of days.  Then I was feeling a bit under the weather for a day or so, nothing major.  But, Troy is still struggling with we're not sure what.  Tested negative for malaria, but has symptoms have come back. That is the hard part - you just don't know what you might be dealing with here - malaria, worms, etc.  And you are surrounded by sickness.  The same week we were getting sick, there were sick teachers at school, sick children, children dying that people knew, a death in the family that lives right outside the school gates......It is just always around.......And at our first parent meeting at the school yesterday, when the principal was reviewing successes from the past term, the first one he listed was that there was no loss of life.  Hits you.........and then when fielding questions about HIV positive students attending the school he references a statistic that 50% of the country is HIV positive.  Still have to research that statistic myself to wrap my mind around that.....

3.  Just trying to decide if you should adjust to what culture is here or try to encourage change.  People don't "keep time" here for the most part.  Life is at a different pace.  You can appreciate that when we often move so fast in America, but sometimes you still like to have people be on time so you can accomplish things and not spend half of your day waiting.  When people are not concerned with trash piles, should you learn more about the benefits of a rubbish pile, or work with them on educating what is "useful" rubbish and what is not and better ways of disposing of things.  These seem like kind of lame examples as I write this, but the overall question of adjusting versus changing is one we are challenged with almost every day. 

Think that's all I have the energy for right now.  My posts always seem to end up like a rambling novel.  Thanks for your patience (even you made it this even!) 

All our love.  Please keep sending us updates on your lives as well - we so enjoy them! 

Heather