Houses

Here is a picture of our first house in Uganda! This is a lovely 2 bed house, nicely tiled and clean! It is in smallish compound with 2 other houses, one of which homes some guys from Revelation Life. We have been told that there is some grass too! The compound has a wall around it and is conveniently half way between the rev life offices & girls houses and Simon and Nicola's home. We are really grateful for this house and think it will be a great start to our time in Uganda. We may look for somewhere bigger when we are there (more space for visitors, homeschooling etc) or we may stay here for a while.

I am really looking forward to buying a lovely chair for the veranda and sitting there with a book (or kindle) to relax. Can also imagine it being a good spot for breakfast.

Feeling sad to be leaving our home of 7 years but am beginning to imagine our family here and can't wait to put up the butterfly bunting I have bought!

Here's a map of where it is (roughly). Our house is where the yellow balloon is.


View Rev Life in a larger map

Teach a man to...

People power is an amazing thing.

Where there's muck...

Here's an example of what we'd love to get into the Kampala slums.
Not the most appetising of subjects, but the toilet is something we take for granted - I spend a good deal of my life on one. But in slums a loo is not always an option and either a patch of grass or a small plastic bag has to suffice. This obviously causes a lot of problems - no-one wants to dodge turds every day and the health implications are obvious.
So, these guys (Sanergy) have a smart solution. Recruit an entrepreneur from the local community, set up a loo (that blue box above), charge a little to spend a penny, then remove all the poo, process it and turn it into compost... to sell. Smelly, but clever eh?
Apparently people like using it partly because it has a mirror, nice soap and makes them seem 'modern'. I'd go along with that.

Peace

Here is my first ever blog post - I shall nervously begin! Just over a month ago, John and I made the decision to totally uproot our life here and move halfway across the world to Uganda with our 2 small children. These last few months have been a real roller coaster; excitement, nervousness, anxiety, joy, apprehension, happiness etc but the feeling that has been consistent over the last month - is peace. My Mum will tell you that throughout my life I have been a real worrier, so this deep peace is somewhat unnerving and very definitely from God as it is not something I could muster up in my own strength. 

I feel like God has taken me on a very special journey over the past year to bring me to this place. Over many months while considering the move to Uganda I would wake up at night, paralysed with fear about one aspect of the possible move; our safety, the girl's education, money, our house here, finding a job on return, friendships and the list went on and on. This same fear would wake me up for about 3 nights and then I would find peace and move on. A little while later, the same would happen with a new fear. It is like God took me through every possible fear that I could have and brought me to peace, one fear at a time. I am now left with a deep sense of peace and knowing that God is in control. I am learning to trust him. 

"We are going to Ganda"

Here's a little 'educational video' ;~) that the girls made for a church meeting...

Ambling to Africa - pre-amble

So, this is the very start of our online amble towards Uganda. I say amble because we have until May, so not exactly an accelerated journey. But I'm sure time will fly, and then I'm sure 'time' will have new meaning again in Uganda.

For now, this is a test to see what we can do and if Blogger is going to be a long-term friend or a flash-in-the-pan.

Please Blogger, be our friend.