Lino's Adoption Day!!!

When Lino, a Sudanese Dinka boy, was abandoned at about 4 years old, who except God knew that he would one day have another family? As of November 10th, it is official. The Acker family, who has been caring for Lino for about 8 years now, has been able to get all the legal paperwork together and he is theirs! As a school we've been praying for this particular adoption, because Lino comes from Sudan, has not technically had all the legal paperwork for a long time, and he is older- meaning any history about him is harder to confirm in Sudan.
At first, he met the Ackers in Sudan at a refugee camp where the Ackers served as missionaries. God put him on their hearts while in Sudan, but they moved to Kenya to continue ministries there. And God kept Lino on their hearts. Eventually they were able to work out for Lino to join them in Kenya, along with another boy (Taban). Now, in 2009, the Ackers actually care for about 5 boys, but Lino is the first successful adoption of any of these otherwise homeless teens.

They all moved to Uganda for ministries about a year ago, and of course all this time they'd been working on the legality of the situation. It is one thing to move about in this region with an African boy also from this region. It is entirely another thing, however, to plan on his further life and schooling (he is in grade 10) and to maybe someday take him to the USA or elsewhere.
The judge said 2 weeks ago that he would make his decision this week. But honestly I thought there could be yet another legal snag. But we'd also asked many, many people to pray about the judge looking favorably on all the paperwork, and God moved. Praise Him! Now, the hope of further schooling is not a big deal since Lino can go where his FAMILY goes. More importantly, though, is that he does indeed have a family, legally now, and we are so thrilled and thankful.
In this photo (above), the school had made a card, "It's a [teenage] BOY!" and signed it. We sang "Happy adoption day to you" to Lino as we celebrated with him. Thank you for your prayers; I say that, Lino says that, the Acker family says that. And again- Praise the Lord!

Recycling project, Continued...

10th grader Logan and his teammate Jonah pose with their poster from the recycling project. (I think they may be winning- they've brought in around 300 bottles and other items, but the competition isn't over yet!).


Star and her teammate Rara have a quiet moment together.


Each week we're trying to do a special thing together with my 10-12 grade class and the 1st grade class. Today we had lunch together (see above photo), giving opportunity for more relationship building. In a few weeks we will go to the local recycling center, taking our plastics with us... More to come!

Below- on the way to lunch with the first graders, some of my girls had a little fun...

Special WGM weekend

Around October and April each year, our dear friends Pastor Rick and Janie Burkhalter come see us. They are our field pastors. They are not a part of WGM but they work alongside us and the mission and are such a wonderful encouragement. They share at retreats, church services, or in our homes and we love our time with them.

WGM had a special mini-retreat on Sunday with Rick & Janie leading. We simply had a church and special prayer time together, then lunch out as a WGM-Uganda family. Times where we are ALL together are rare (2-3 times/year!), so this really was a special treat.



Above: We went to a pizza place in Kampala. Below: Lisa Mayo holds baby Lucy Mae Coppedge.

Life on the HIS Campus

I confess. I love taking pictures- and I'm not exactly the best photographer. But it is fun to snap away and to have memories of silly, typical or fun events. Here are a few...



These grade 6 girls (above) were quietly (MIRACLE!) sitting and reading in the library, so I HAD to take a picture of it! From left are Amy, Ella, Joann, and Nara. I will have to add that the 6th grade is actually pretty fabulous. There are 16 of them and they come from 7 countries (The Philippines, USA, Uganda, Ethiopia, S. Korea, Holland and Canada!).

Eden's birthday was over last weekend, and as a class we always sing to the birthday person- while they wear the "lovely" birthday hat. Okay, its so bright, it could light up the night sky, but everyone still likes to feel special so they do wear it (sometimes some kids choose to wear it all day!) and let us sing. Oh, and the birthday song we do is not the normal song (normal? What is that!)... it is (everybody now... "Happy Birthday - boom- Happy Birthday - boom- misery and despair. People dying everywhere. Happy Birthday- boom- Happy Birthday - boom.") and then we all smile and walk away with silly but fond memories... So the picture below is of Eden (now 14, from Ethiopia) and Rachel (from the USA).



Next we have youth group. Shanna is helping out regularly now (PTL!) and she helped lead a game plus the Devotional. The game?... number off into pairs on opposite teams. Wait for your number to be called. Run out and grab a pillow and hit your opponent 5 times before they hit you. The funniest one was Lino and Kahan as Kahan ran away like a little girl so he wouldn't get hit by a pillow. Yes, Kahan, I did just say that on my blog. But it is true and the world doesn't know your last name. Ha! The pillow-game photo here is of Jordan (on left- from USA) and Fred, from Uganda.


Depending on the week and various activities, we have overnights, 3-5 hour youth activities, or 1 hour youth groups right after school. Last Friday's was a 1 hour youth group after school and pictured below is Shanna in action as she led the devotional time. She spoke about our view of God as our Father. Thanks Shanna for leading and doing such a great job!



Bertha (grade 12, from Uganda), Lubega (10th, from Uganda/Ethiopia) and Lydia (12th, from USA and Uganda) hanging out at school.

Recycling Project

It just so happened that when my 10-12 Social Studies class came to chapters about ecology, pollution, and recycling, that the 1st graders were beginning to look at some of those ideas in their class, too (but of course at a younger level). So when 1st grade teacher Jean Komline (WGM VIA- Volunteer In Action- and good friend!) asked if we'd like to combine the kids to do a project, I jumped at the chance.

Pictured above left to right are Jean, Bhavik and Ethan.

So far my students have been amazing with the younger ones. It has been cute to watch them team up (each have 1-2 partners). They're all competing to bring in the most plastics they can. And we're running out of classroom space to store the stuff! But we've still got 4 weeks to go (or so), which will include making recycled paper, visiting a recycling center here, and some other fun events together.

10th grader Anna helps 1st grader Rachel make a poster about recycling.

Warning- gross photo following---

You may have heard of termite mounds here in Africa (they also have them in South America and elsewhere). These things are harder than cement and usually the termites build them pretty high (sometimes 4 ft. or higher). Inside you find a queen- or in the case of the newly forming termite mound in my yard, 4 queens. The termites are about 1/4 inch large, but the queens are about 1 to 1.5 inches long...
When my guard Peter dug up the mound so they couldn't make one of the towers in my yard, even he was surprised to find 4 queens. (And in this photo, the other smaller thing at the head of the third queen is the male who helps make all those millions of babies...) Yikes.
The only thing to keep them from rebuilding was to pour gasoline on the area and light it... poof- no more termites in my yard.
FYI- some people eat termites (the regular ones) and Peter told me that sometimes brave people even fry up and eat the queens as a delicacy. Oh, my. Yum??? (Gag!)

Rain Festival 2009; "At the Movies" theme.

Each year at the end of October, Heritage celebrates Rain Festival (when the rains come, naturally!). With this being the longer rainy season (lasting about 4 months), funny thing is we've not had a lot of rain during the celebrations in recent years- till this year. It poured in the afternoon so all the booths for the carnival-like celebrations had to be moved indoors. The rain had cleared during the actual event, so some folks did move outside again...
Anyway, here are some of my favorite costumes for this year...


Lubega (left) and Logan dressed as Twiddle Dee and Twiddle dumb. Not sure which guy was which character, but they sure had GREAT costumes!




So many of the secondary kids dressed up this year- making things more fun!


Above: These friends dressed as Timon (Lion King- Teresa), movie theater snacks (popcorn is Betsy, Green M&M is Shanna), Napoleon Dynamite (Brent) and Debbie Reynolds in Singing in the Rain (Lisa). I dressed as the Runaway Bride with a veil (cut from mosquito netting!), running outfit, and a bridal bouquet...

Nearly done the road!!!

I hope you're sitting down. They're nearly done fixing the road by my house. It has only been since March, so I hope it doesn't shock you too much. As you can see, the standard method they use to direct rain water are very deep- uncovered- ditches. That is what they're working on now. I think they're about 3 feet or more deep, lined with cement/stones so no further erosion happens. And yes, the ditches do/will FILL up with water when it rains (rains come in gallons here- no piddly sprinkling for Africa!) Of course now the problem will be that people and vehicles may fall into the deep ditches. Add to that the WHY they'll fall in- they have taken some of the width of the road away in order to make the ditches. Most of the road is now only 1.5 car width's wide. Nice. So when big trucks come down the road and you're on the side nearest the ditch- be CAREFUL!
Let's time them- how long from today do you think someone will throw up another speed bump? The construction crew cleared off the 10+ that neighbors put down. I am betting someone out there will think they're being clever, after the road is finished, to put speed bumps up to slow people down. Like the pedestrian traffic combined with narrow lanes and deep ditches isn't enough of a hazard? Ugh. Some days I do indeed wish they'd left the dirt and potholes just where they were. At least we knew what to expect...

WGM visitors

A few weeks back I got to host 2 of 4 couples visiting Uganda. President Hubert Harriman (our WGM president), his wife Sarah, and 3 couples came to Uganda for only 3days, then zipped to Burundi and on to Kenya, all crammed into a 2 week time span to view the ministries we have in Africa.
One night the WGM Kampala team hosted them for dinner in the Mayo's home. That's the photo you see above. From left to right are the Hemmicks, Harriman's, Curtis's and the Hazzards. These are dear people who love Jesus and who I'm thankful for.
Question for you blog readers- when are YOU coming to see us?

Days off in Jinja! (oh happy daaayyy!!!)

I took advantage of the mid-term 1 day break last weekend (making for a 3 day weekend)... and took off to Jinja. Yep- the same place we take the youth on retreats. It ended up that some sweet friends came along. We had some fun together, we took time apart, we took a lot of photos, and relaxed and made some good memories.

This is the only photo of us all together, and sorry for the lighting. But you've got from left to right- Jenna, Betsy, Shanna, Teresa and me. I'm so thankful for their friendships!


I've hopefully learned my lesson about using sun screen; "Apply and RE-apply". Unfortunately Betsy got a bit fried. The lighting in the picture is not changed- she really is lobster red in this picture!


Sunset at the Falls. Bujagali Falls is a part of the upper Nile River flowing from Lake Victoria. You can raft parts of the Nile (yep, I've been there, done that!), but sadly the falls will be soon covered in much deeper water. They're building a large hydroelectric dam a little up river, and the water will be backed up significantly over this area.


Henna is a plant used to dye hair, used in shampoos in fact, and also to dye skin as a decoration in many Eastern countries. I'm not into anything permanent (pierced ears is enough for me) but to have a henna "tattoo" that dyes your skin for 3 weeks or so sounded fun. We met a girl in Jinja who does great skin decorative designs, and we enjoyed ourselves. I got a butterfly on my shoulder (that really looks like a large hair bow), and one on my ankle. The others got some on their hands/wrists, plus their ankles. All of them are fading and they're only 8 days old. Bummer!


A 4-wheeler place near the falls we went to has a sign with faces cut out, so Teresa and Betsy put their faces in... and the kid posed next to them. Funny! FYI- I suppose at one point in my life I did like the idea of 4 wheeling, but hey, since I live in Uganda where most of the roads are stinky, and it is like I'm 4-wheeling all the time, I've no interest. Why would I intentionally put myself on something that once again throws me around- actually less than the roads do? Anyway, to me, any more, 4 wheeling just isn't as fun as it used to be.


Growing up in NJ I remember a lady who played the xylophone for special music in our church. "Whodathunkit?!" They make and use them here! Cool.


At dinner one night at a place called the Black Lantern (at Bujagali Falls), the restaurant had a statue of a lady (making a comical face- thus the face on Betsy next to it!)... dressed in a gomezi. This is the traditional dress of the Baganda here in Uganda, and I imagine I either have other photos of them in other blog posts or else I will... Anyway, the statue was a bit of a kick so we played with some photos of it.


On the way to Jinja, you pass a few places which offer "chicken on a stick", kebabs which MAY be selling chicken, or perhaps a mystery meat. How long has it been out raw and how long has it been out cooked? I can't confirm. Therefore, I have never even touched or been tempted to touch chicken on a stick... The people in blue coats run up to your car and nearly knock each other over trying to sell their mystery meat. Ugh. I just can't imagine the amount of parasites, amoebas, and other creepy crawlies embedded in those things.


Playing with my sepia feature, I took a few pictures of some cool Ugandan made instruments. These are the djembe drum, the Ugandan harp, and I guess a sort of guitar thing (no idea what they are called).


Near where the chicken on the stick people are located, you can turn off to see "The Rainforest Hotel" in the middle (shocker) of a rain forest. It is the Mabira Forest and there are lotsa monkeys and really cool birds in there. So we stopped in, took a tour, had some tea, and spotted some red tailed monkeys.


The girls decided to buy the grass skirts (they use these here in certain dances), and dressed like they were headed to a luau. To me they just looked like they were having some fun... from left is Shanna, middle is Betsy, on the right is Teresa.



There was a lot of rain on Friday when we left town... but still the jacarandas on the way looked so beautiful. These are on a tea estate between Kampala and Jinja.


These girls just love having funny poses in pictures. So to have a nice picture where nobody is making silly faces was great!

During the storm, it was fun trying to figure out the sepia feature. I liked this doorway view.

When we'd gotten to the hotel (Kingfisher in Jinja) it was pouring... and then it stopped, and then it started for a lot longer time. Meanwhile, I got this photo of the lake and the clouds coming toward us.

Cultural Photo Opportunties

Between Kampala and around Uganda, I sometimes don't have to be the driver- so I get to take pictures of stuff I pass all the time! Usually you can't take your attention away from traffic if you're driving, so I have missed a lot of photos over the years. My friend LeeAnn (Hey there!) used to just hold her camera out the window and shoot away (as a passenger) and man- she had some really cool shots. I've also been known to try that, but I must say safety is a priority so I don't do it much when driving, unless stopped in traffic of course.

Roadside vendors sell nearly anything you can imagine, from pots and pans to beds, other furniture, food, clothes, etc. This photo holds gems of meat hanging (ahem- for how long?), bananas (this type is called Matooke here and you have to cook it and not eat it raw), as well as African tortilla-type YUMMY things called Chapatis.


Most people here cook outside, using charcoal cookers like the ones displayed here. Those who have gas stoves (rare to find electric stoves here) will cook inside- but too many homes burn down if the charcoal fires are inside.


Just like in the USA and elsewhere, there are broken down and rusted vehicles here. This one had some character somehow, so I wanted to keep it as a picture.

A house on the way to the airport here is made of bags. Those white-gray things are bags that they sell charcoal in. Someone has sewn them together for their walls. Interesting!


These are homes in Arua- some village huts (called bandas) are round. These were square and painted a bit. I believe it depends on what tribe you come from for how you construct and decorate your banda.

Trip to Arua (NW Uganda!)

Billy & Joanna Coppedge are our WGM teammates in NW Uganda. Arua probably has about 10,000 people (I'm totally guessing!). It is a nice town to visit- esp. after the 3 million in Kampala. Anyway, Lisa Mayo and I got to go visit there about 10 days ago to discuss ministry plans and opportunities with Joanna and just to hang out with the family a bit. Elsie Jayne is nearly 2 and her little sister Lucy Mae is 5 months old.


One of the jobs Billy had to do while we were there was move some furniture. God timed it so well- the heavy rain came only after the guys were finished! Here- Billy hangs out on top of "Yoda" his green Land Rover.


We often see women carrying bananas on their heads, but this lady really had a LOAD! Seen alongside the road there in Arua, she was trying to sell them to the people headed to the Uganda Independence Day celebrations in town.


Elsie has a lot of words down pat, and is great at worship. She sat in her toy bin one day singing "hallelujah". It was very cute.


In Arua, Thursday is prayer meeting day. So we met up with coworkers Aaron, Corey, Billy and Joanna and did a special prayer time as we walked through the conference center in Arua. Last Monday through Friday, they held an orality conference, teaching more than 70 people how to teach the Bible through "storying". Because many people in Africa (and around the world) learn better with stories, and many are illiterate, this method is very useful across many cultures.

More of Arua and our visit

Above; Lisa Mayo and Elsie (nearly 2 yrs.)


Well, Lisa and I actually went to Arua about 10 days ago now, and the conference at that time was still in the future. This is one of the huts on the conference property where they planned to have small-group practices for the Orality lessons. I asked the guys to stand next to it for me so you could get an idea of the height and size of the hut. It is for sitting in- notice there wouldn't be much head room for standing.



Billy is our WGM head guy in Arua, also leading people into Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He oversees the training of pastors in Nebbi (1.5 hrs. south of Arua) and also some Sudanese pastors in Yei, Sudan. Although he mostly was running around and hands-on while we visited, he did sit down to do some office-related work (all related to the Orality conference). Since this is a typical pose of many of our missionaries- sitting working at the computer- I thought it was appropriate.




Joanna took us to the market on Independence Day (when less people were there as they all went to the town's parade!). I bought a ton of fabric there- mostly it comes from the DRC, and it is great for cloth napkins, tablecloths, other decorative items. I never get to go fabric shopping and I even bought enough to make 2 bed quilts! Happy day for my hobbies!



Joanna and Elsie hung out with Lisa and me as we all made plans for upcoming field events. Joanna and I also are working on the devotional book I have mentioned before. And FYI, (below)- Jo is a GREAT cook! :)

Betsy, Jenna and our weekend

Betsy and Jenna wanted to hang out together the other Saturday, so we went to town (Kampala- we live in one of the city's neighborhoods, but I'm talking about going to the business areas where there is shopping, lots of restaurants, and tons of traffic). Kampala is now "boasting" 3 million people, so there are always entertaining sights to see both culturally and just for neat things.
On the way up the hill where I live, there was a truck with folks in the back, running around doing some sorts of (religious, political, entertainment, etc.) announcements over a microphone. I guess I always assumed they plugged the loudspeaker (and I mean- LOUDSPEAKER) system somehow into the truck/car/bike that the people shout from. Well, this truck was carrying around a generator. This particular generator is as big as the one that can boot up my whole house! Maybe these people had a really "powerful" message they had to be sure had enough voltage for the announcements!Inside the truck sits the generator and massive speakers- and the people sit on top of those as they ride about 3 miles/hour around the city making their announcements. Nobody stops them and yet they would be fined and maybe arrested in the USA for how loud they are, plus for how slow they make traffic, and of course is it even legal in the USA to have people ride city roads in the back of a truck nowadays?!.


We had also come up the hill passing over the newest update to my road construction. Here is a photo of how it looks for now... they still have gutters to put in on the side, or else all the work will be literally washed away- that is how heavy the rain falls here. The "white" strips are speed bumps they put in temporarily. But they weren't fooling. The things aren't high- but there are 10 of them in a 2 block strip! Ugh.




We ate snacks (above) at I "heart" New York Kitchen in the mall. Let me clarify- we TRIED to eat. The chocolate cake is HUGE (see photo) and I got a piece of cheesecake with strawberries on top. None of us could finish the goodies and had to take them home for leftovers.



On the next day, we went to one of our local Africa Gospel Churches, where they speak Swahili during the service. I'd been told the regular pastor, Thomas, would be away speaking at another church, but Paul, the assistant pastor, would speak. Paul also ended up going with Thomas and that left Joshua (pictured above- barely as tall as the podium!), Pastor Thomas's oldest, to lead. He did a fabulous job! We later discovered the car Paul was in had a flat and they were really delayed- thus he didn't come in time for church. But I was pretty impressed with the maturity of Joshua and the faithfulness of the other church members as they dealt with an unexpected twist and still worshipped, gave testimony, and even led a brief Bible study. Kudos to Joshua- he is a modern day "Timothy" as the Apostle Paul had his in Bible times!

The Beauty Pageant

Last Saturday, I joined some friends and we went to the Miss Uganda Beauty Pageant here in Kampala. The winner gets to be in the Miss World Pageant in South Africa.
Why did I go? I was told there would be Ugandan cultural dances as entertainment, and silly me, I assumed that meant throughout the whole show. Nope. Only the first 5 minutes. However, as you can see in the photos, the dance was pretty cool, with 2 girls putting more and more clay pots on top of their heads. It ended with the one girl having 8 on her head as she danced and sang. Very cool.



We even got to see the very brief Mr. Uganda competition! As an added bonus, during part of the show, Miss India-Uganda (an Indian living in Uganda) performed a "bollywood" type of dance for us.



And now... on to the competition. I've compiled 2 sets of photos for your enjoyment. The contestants were asked to create a traditional outfit from things that represent Uganda- and tell why. You'll see some of those outfits below. Very creative. I think my favorite was the girl who dressed to resemble the Crested Crane- the national bird of Uganda. She is the one with her "wings" spread in yellow satin...


The evening dresses were made by Stella, a local artist/designer. Featured with Helping Hand's paper beads jewelry (a ministry where people here make paper beads products and they're sold in Europe and North America, with proceeds returning to Uganda), the dresses really were amazing and so beautiful, along with the featured beads and of course, the ladies wearing them. Enjoy that collage!


Towards the end of the evening, with new friends we made that night, we were invited to the VIP dinner at 1-ish in the morning. Yikes! But we got to meet the contestants and have a nice meal, hang out with the designers and others. It was quite a night!

Picture here: Jean (left) and Teresa got to meet the newly crowned Miss Uganda, Maria.

Above: The crew of girls who went, featuring Jill, Jean, Shanna, Teresa and me.

Along with us was also Brent, Teresa's brother- both pictured here. They are Volunteers In Action with WGM this year here in Uganda, and are also WGM Missionary Kids (their parent's serve in Kenya as our Regional Directors).

Overloaded

Some pictures speak for themselves. These are just a few of the overloaded modes of transportation we see daily here in Uganda. If there are weight limits in the country, they are not enforced much. And yes, the overloaded vehicles do contribute to the terrible roads.


Each bag on this truck is full of 220 lbs. of charcoal. Add up just the bags you see x 220... I think I see 20 bags- and that is only the rear view- imagine how many more bags there are on the other side! Imagine when they break down or have accidents! Ugh.




Usually the bikes and bodas with loads such as these are taking them to certain markets.


A bed in a bed.

Sometime I'll have my camera with me when I pass a boda (small motorcycle taxi) loaded with chickens. I see them regularly, but never have my camera, or else traffic is such I can't stop to take the picture. They put about 60+ (?) chickens on a boda and take them to market. Keep a lookout!

Hanging around Campus with my camera

With last week being school photos week, I just hung around with my camera and had a fun time shooting people (with the camera, peeps!)...

Friday, Sept. 27th Youth Group

Yep- the carts/trolleys were out again, with a twist on using the plungers... don't worry. They're clean and new right from the store- have never even seen a toilet!

Maarten, Jesse & Emmanauel, plus Joan

Above you have the guys... Well, Emmanuel is usually just called Emma (a kind of common name here). Maarten is from Holland, Jesse from Uganda and Emma from Ethiopia. These are some of my 6th grade kids, and they wanted to do some posing. Don't you LOVE Jesse's eyes! He cracks me up in this picture!

Next (below) you have Joan (she pronounces this Jo-ann) from S. Korea, although she has also lived in China and other parts of Asia. Think of the mix of cultures, man!

More ROUS's!!!!

Puuullleeeassseee... of COURSE you recognize that quote- Rodents of Unusual Sizes? Think.... Think... Princess Bride! :)

Is a bat a rodent? Vermine of course, but I don't think it is technically a rodent. Anyway, This is Francisco, one of the men who works on the HIS campus. Last week the kids came in talking about a wounded bat on the ground by the office, with birds fighting over it. After the 10th or so comment, I decided to go check it out for myself. There it was... hanging on the curb of the sidewalk, clearly stuck but angry. Francisco came along and got some gloves to carry it away (disease and all that rodent-y type of ickiness). So we went to the classroom and got to work. That is until for some reason Francisco came to my door with the bat in his hands (as portrayed so well in this photo). I couldn't ask him why he did that, since he only has English down in greetings mostly. But I am pretty sure since I took a picture of the snake last month, and he was the hero of getting rid of (read: killed) it... that he decided I needed a photo of the bat too. Well- there ya go. Exciting story.

By the way. This is a fruit bat, and unless you pick it up by the wings and haul it around, or unless you choose to do like Gene Simmons (remember KISS people?!) and bite it's head off... it is generally only creepy- not very harmful like Dracula or anything. And FYI, yes, it bit Francisco's gloves, but nothing more. He threw it over the fence away from kiddos and probably the hawks or crows got it pretty soon.