The Paech Family Blog

What we do in Uganda - Overview

2011-12-30T15:09:00.000+03:00

Merry Christmas! At last, another blog post! Just in time before the year ends. This one is an overview of the work that we are part of here in Uganda: volunteering with International Missionaries for Christ (IMFC), and the Aggie's Arts and Kisoro Kids ministries. See www.ugandajourney.org for more info.

(Only) When you Gotta do it! Boda-Boda transport.

2011-08-31T19:34:00.000+03:00

Well I've heard it said that the most dangerous thing you'll do when you visit Uganda is travel on the roads. I heartily concur! Mainly when highway driving though - unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) you're usually not moving fast enough in Kampala to have a serious accident...UNLESS...unless you're on a boda-boda motorcycle taxi! This is one of the methods of around-town transport here if you don't have a vehicle of your own...or if your vehicle is unavailable...or if you wish to redestine your predestined appointment with your Maker.

P.S. Note that I purposely chose to travel when there wasn't much traffic!

Joy, Hope, Suffering, Death & Life in the Slums of Kampala

2011-07-22T17:45:00.000+03:00

This is a beautiful video made late last year. It captures the amazing co-existence of suffering, sickness and death with joy, hope and life Kampala's slums. Unfortunately IMFC's Manna Ministry was not able to save Harriet physically, she died about six months after this video was made. God did use the love and care given to her through Manna to save her spiritually though, as well as a number of others through her before she passed away. Harriet's life was like a seed; it didn't end with her death, and it even multiplied to create the same life in others.

Ivy Cheryle, Master of the Art

2011-06-30T12:35:00.000+03:00

Roadside Shopping & Lunchtime Cure

2011-06-13T18:28:00.000+03:00

Capturing some of our day-to-day life here in Uganda.

Serious Drummers!

2011-06-08T21:17:00.000+03:00

Aggie & Sharon drumming during a baptism at Lake Victoria this past Sunday. Sharon is really slamming that drum and Aggie looks very serious about it! Ivy Cheryle has a more subdued cameo appearance.

Kisoro Kids!

2011-05-22T08:31:00.000+03:00

Introducing "Kisoro Kids," a new ministry that Uganda Journey has started which is helping kids & schools down in far SW Uganda under the leadership & guidance of Pastor George Mbonyebyombi. In this video: meet George, learn how (and how not) to say his name, find out more about this work & how you can help the kids of Kisoro!

Ivy's first eight weeks

2011-05-16T01:05:00.001+03:00

Ivy Cheryle's life from arrival home to eight weeks.

Photo of the Month

2011-04-28T17:09:00.000+03:00

More Life Change!

2011-04-15T13:42:00.001+03:00

Meet Ivy Cheryle Paech, the newest addition to the Paech family! Born March 19, 2011 (7lb 10z), this video follows the first 3 days of her life, from delivery to the trip home. Ivy Cheryle is named in honour of her great grandmother (Ivy), and grandmother (Cheryle).

Life Change

2011-02-25T08:06:00.000+03:00

The organization we volunteer with, International Missionaries for Christ (IMFC), seeks to meet physical and spiritual needs of people in the slums of Kampala. In this video, see how God has used IMFC's Manna Ministry food distribution work to open the heart of one man and transform his life.

For more IMFC stories and info: www.imfc.me

Omusajja Omulungi

2011-01-01T12:08:00.001+03:00

"Omusajja omulungi" means "A good man." I don't know if all of you know, but Aggie is a bit of a recording artist! This is about the 10th song she's recorded, and my favorite so far. She wanted to have this ready to sing at our wedding but wasn't able to back in 2007. She had it recorded about 2wks ago. I love it, it's such a special gift to me.

Aggie also wrote this song to enourage other women. Many (most) Ugandan men consider their wives property and most relationships are abusive with husbands/partners who are irresponsible and callous - it's unbelievable. Aggie was in an extremely abusive relationship for 16yrs.

One line in Aggie's song "It made me lie like a fork," refers to lying cold & alone in bed. I think the Mzungu (white person) equivalent to NOT lying like a fork would be spooning - "Spooning: A form of affection between a couple where the man lays front to back with the girl. They fit together like spoons" (www.urbandictionary.com). So Aggie no longer lies like a fork but like a spoon &:-)}

Enjoy this beautiful, touching song. And Happy New Year! Simon & Aggie &:-)}

Mary Rebuilds

2010-10-29T19:27:00.000+03:00

Mary's house collapsed during a thunderstorm...with her inside! See how she was able to rebuild with the help of money earned through Aggie's Arts. Aggie's Arts purchases beautiful Ugandan paper bead jewelry from women in Kampala's urban slums to help them meet their physical needs. For more info go here.

Imagine living here...

2010-03-11T10:32:00.001+03:00

Take a look at Nateete ("Nah-tehh-tay"), one of Kampala's many urban slums. On top of flooding, poverty and disease, this community also has a lot of problems with alcoholism and witchcraft. Listen to what some of our IMFC co-workers have to say about life in an area like this.

IMFC began working in Nateete last month and will be investing in this community for the next 5 months.

Nateete, One Bad Slum! from Jimmy Barry on Vimeo.

Aggie's Arts Video

2010-01-31T11:13:00.005+03:00

Check out this excellent video of our Aggie's Arts ministry made by The Met Church (Houston, TX). This captures how God inspired Aggie's to start Aggie's Arts, what the ladies' lives were like before, and how God has helped them so much through it.

2009 was an amazing year for Aggie's Arts. On top of regular monthly purchases from our 17 ladies, we took several short-term mission teams coming from the U.S. to visit them and they bought even more. On top of THAT, just before Christmas, The Met Church placed a HUGE order of 1750 Christmas tree ornaments (which they'd never made before)! The ladies did a great job and enjoyed their Christmas bonuses. Awesome! Will be cool to see what God has in store for 2010!

Aggies Arts from The MET Church on Vimeo.

Aggie's Dad

2009-11-24T11:43:00.004+03:00

Aggie & Mum & Dad (they are separated - Aggie's Mum lives in Kampala)

We had a bit of a shock over the weekend. Aggie's Dad (who lives in the Karamoja region of far NE Uganda) was shot in the chest by a thief. For a while, we were not sure how critical his condition was, & were planning on having him airlifted to Kampala where there are better hospitals, but MIRACULOUSLY it seems that the bullet went through his shoulder & didn't hit his lungs or heart or anything "important". He has already been in & out of surgery in an "ok" hospital up there. He is stable & they are just waiting for things to clear in his shoulder before they can see if the bullet hit any bones.

The thief that shot him was trying to steal his livestock - very common up in the Karamoja region. There are armed cattle raiders/warriors who come in from other areas to raid villages/towns. The problem isn't nearly as bad as it was say 5-10 years ago, but it's still not good. Karamoja is also one of the poorest regions of Uganda. It's extremely dry, and in the past several years has been a focus of relief groups like the World Food Program, World Vision, etc. Aggie's father is very poor too, so Aggie has also gone up there to take him some money for his hospital bills.

UPDATE: the bullet didn't hit any bones either! Still can't fathom this. He has now fully recovered. Wow.

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 11)

2009-11-13T19:05:00.002+03:00

We recently had the joy of baptizing 60 people in Lake Victoria. These included Manna Ministry food recipients, students, security guards, and ex-prisoners that the IMFC team has been ministering to over the past few months. Enjoy!

Photo of the Month

2009-11-08T16:03:00.000+03:00

Where's Waldo?

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 10)

2009-10-16T16:41:00.001+03:00

Meet Mayi - one of our Manna Ministry food recipients living in the urban slum area of Katanga. A video with a lot of background noise, but that's half the point - for you to see how stressful it is to live like this.

2yrs in Uganda! - Photo of the Month

2009-10-14T15:51:00.004+03:00

On October the 14th, 2007, Simon returned to Uganda (above photo) - 7 months after his prior visit. So today marks 2 continuous yrs in Uganda! There's some unexplained aura around us in this photo. Could it be the photographer's finger partially over the lens, or it could be luuuuuurve? &:-)}

Safari!

2009-09-18T12:09:00.003+03:00

A couple of weeks ago Aggie and I traveled to Nairobi, Kenya for a weekend to organize some immigration stuff. We never knew we'd get to go on a safari while we were there!! Lake Nakuru National Park was A-mazing!! Experience some of it with us in this video.

(P.S. This trip was also Aggie's first time in a plane - wish I'd got some footage of that! *grin*)

Photo of the Month

2009-09-13T12:06:00.001+03:00

Eggs from our chickens!

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 9)

2009-08-14T06:20:00.002+03:00

Visit our Ugandan church with us!
(The 9th in a series of videos made for our church back in the U.S.)
For more about why we are here in Uganda, what we are doing, and how you can help us & the people of Uganda, go to www.ugandajourney.org

By the way - we are now on FaceBook - search under "Simon Paech"

Photo of the Month

2009-08-07T17:27:00.002+03:00

This was really cool - the cow was bending down to let the chickens peck inside it's ear, & was closing it's eyes in enjoyment!

Meet the Paech Kids

2009-07-16T13:52:00.006+03:00

This is LONG overdue!

The Boys

The Girls

Photo of the Month

2009-07-11T16:41:00.004+03:00

There are heaps of signs saying this here & Simon never fails to get a kick out of each & every one. Maybe it's reverse psychology...(?)

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 8)

2009-06-19T19:27:00.001+03:00

Recently we had a nice surprise for our Aggie's Arts ladies! It's been amazing to see how God keeps expanding this ministry!

P.S. To learn more about Aggie's Arts and to hear some of our ladies' stories, go to www.ugandajourney.org & click on "Aggie's Arts".

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 7)

2009-06-05T18:00:00.002+03:00

(a series of videos made for our home church back in the U.S.)

Visiting the Manna Ministry food recipients in their homes is such an amazing thing - It's so personal! We're continually blown away by how much people appreciate us just coming to talk to them. We've had the joy of seeing many people receive Jesus as Lord during these visits too.

Meet Livingstone, who has been bedridden for 1 year. When we shared the gospel (gospel means "good news" by the way) with him, he warmly said "yes" to Jesus. And that puts a warm smile on our faces &:-)}

For more about why we're here, what we are doing, and how you can support us & help the people of Uganda, go to www.ugandajourney.org

Photo of the Month

2009-06-01T17:42:00.000+03:00

Gaaba "beach", Lake Victoria, Kampala (not the type of beach us Aussies are used to, but still...). Standing on the light-post is a Marabou Stork. Sharing the largest wingspan of any land-bird (with the Andean Condor) - up to 3.2m (10.5 ft), and weighing up to 9kg (20 lbs)! These are very common in Kampala. They look like dirty old men when they're on the ground, like terradactyls when flying low overhead, and beautiful & peaceful when soaring in the thermals. Pretty amazing stuff! (the snails here are HUGE too - see Jan 20, 2007 post).

And now for something completely different...

2009-05-22T17:20:00.001+03:00

Last week we took some time off & went to a small town called Jinja ["Ginger"] - about 2hrs drive east of Kampala. Jinja is on the banks of the White Nile River - which joins with the other Nile branches to eventually form THE Nile. The segment of river in this area is world famous for it's white-water rafting and kayaking - a big tourist attraction in Uganda.

Upon visiting beautiful Bujagali ["Boo-jar-gar-lee"] Falls, we saw something incredible - locals going through the rapids holding onto nothing but a 20 litre (5 gallon) jerry can! It turns out that these guys are not only crazy, this is their career - tourists pay them to do it! They grew up on the river and have worked their way up to negotiating Class 5* rapids like this one (called "Overtime").

Not to be out-done, see Simon perform his own matching daredevil feat - something he's always wanted to do (and unlike the jerry can guys, will most likely never do again!)

*Appendix: Whitewater rapids are classified according to their degree of danger or difficulty - Class 1 to 6. Class 6 rapids are considered to be so dangerous as to be effectively unnavigable on a reliably safe basis. Read here for more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafting

Why we do what we do

2009-05-08T13:01:00.007+03:00

We showed you an aerial view of Katanga (March 11). This video is an unedited walk along the main street - from one side of the community to the other, ending at the IMFC tent and truck set up on a Manna Ministry food distribution day. Yes, those are open sewers.

This type of footage (and photos) are really difficult to get here - if you want to be sensitive to people. This is actually the first time I (Simon) have tried it, and I was nervous - even with Aggie by my side. Ugandans are extremely friendly people, but when it comes to this, they can get extremely annoyed and indignant. Many Ugandans don't understand why the Mzungus (whites) want to take video and photos like this. They feel that we are ashaming them, and only show the bad/ugly side of Africa, and even that we do it with bad intentions. Aggie - my Ugandan wife - thought the same, until after we'd talked about it many times.

What we really intend is to raise the awareness of people in western countries - to wake them up to the reality that there are millions in the world who live in poverty like this. We intend to be ADVOCATES for these people - to cry out for help for them, on their behalf. That's why we do what we do.

For more about why we are here in Uganda, what we are doing, and how you can help us & the people of Uganda, go to www.ugandajourney.org

Photo of the Month

2009-04-27T12:35:00.003+03:00

I read this in the news recently: "Doctor Close to Cloning Human: A US doctor claims he has cloned 14 human embryos and transferred 11 of them into the wombs of four women." That's pretty amazing, but it seems that although they have a lot of work to do on things here - like the roads - Uganda's biotech industry is streets ahead of the rest of the world. A couple of weeks ago Aggie bought this stuff in the taxi park for 50 cents. Since testing it on our chickens, the kids now enjoy chicken for almost every meal. We haven't tried it on them yet (the kids), though Aggie would like to. I still feel 5 kids is enough for the moment. Hang on, what's this cream on my arm...?

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 6)

2009-04-17T17:06:00.001+03:00

IMFC has been working in the urban slum areas of Katanga (Kaa-tung-gaa) and Butabika (Boo-ta-bee-kaa) since February. In this video, the 6th in a series of made for our church back in the U.S., join us as we look back at our first Manna Ministry Food distribution in Butabika.

For more about why we are here in Uganda, what we are doing, and how you can help us & the people of Uganda, go to www.ugandajourney.org

Photo of the Month!

2009-04-09T13:55:00.003+03:00

The sign on a mens' toilet. I like it! &:-)}

From the heart of Sarah

2009-03-27T12:05:00.010+03:00

Aggie and her kids have experienced a lot of suffering. They grew up in an urban slum area of Kampala, living in a tiny one room house with a violent man (the kids' biological father). Click here to read more.

This week we'd like to share with you a letter that our 14yr old daughter Sarah recently wrote to Aggie. It really touched our hearts. Through her eyes you can also see what life can be like here in Uganda.

Dear my beloved Mom,

I am so happy that you gave birth to me. Other people throw their children in the toilets, others kill them but you didn't you are a wonderful mother and I LOVE YOU very much. Each day I think about you I remember you suffering for me I hope everything is good for you. I thank you for buying everything. You working so hard suffering in sunshine and in rainfall and cold and in hot you didn't abandon me. You really worked hard for me to go to school. I will not let you down try my best not to do so. I will work very hard so that your money is not wasted for nothing. I appreciate everything you do for me.

"Have sweet dreams"

Said Sarah Paech S.P.M

(Posted with Sarah's permission)

Photo of the Month

2009-03-19T15:39:00.001+03:00

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 5)

2009-03-11T16:09:00.004+03:00

Get an aerial view of both the community and the vision that we have for Katanga, an urban slum area of Kampala that IMFC has just begun working in, and will continue to work in for the next 6 months. The 5th in a series of videos made for our home church back in the U.S.

For more about why we are here in Uganda, what we are doing, and how you can help us & the people of Uganda, go to www.ugandajourney.org

Photo of the Month

2009-02-20T14:05:00.002+03:00

Imagine living at the top of the world - wOw. We took this photo in the beautiful Kigezi region of far southwest Uganda. For a slide-show of our trip to this area, see the post "A Quick Trip to the Southern Hemisphere" (Dec 11, 2008).

Life for Some...

2009-02-06T15:28:00.002+03:00

Some people are forced to live in a virtual storm-water drain where their homes flood every time it rains. On top of this, they worry about the safety of their family as children are sometimes abducted and killed for ritual sacrifices. The urban slum area of Sebina/Mayinja that we've been working in for the past 6 months is such a community. Watch in the video below.

(P.S. Aggie and I really need your support so that we can keep working here! For more about us, what we are doing in Uganda and how you can support us in our ministry, please visit www.ugandajourney.org)

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 4)

2009-01-24T15:17:00.005+03:00

"Aggie's Arts", one of our ministries here in Kampala, purchases beautiful hand-made bead necklaces from impoverished women, helping them to meet some of their basic needs. Join us as we visit 14 of our beaders in the community of Banda.

To learn more about Aggie's Arts, and to hear more of our ladies' life-stories, go to www.ugandajourney.org & click on "Aggie's Arts".

(P.S. This is the 4th in a series of videos made for our church back in the U.S.)

Photo of the Month

2009-01-16T17:09:00.000+03:00

Here it is actually a complement for someone to tell a woman "Wow, you've put on some weight!" Most women don't want to be skinny, or even slim. Very different to the culture I'm familiar with!

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 3)

2009-01-02T15:19:00.004+03:00

Welcome to a new year!

Watch the video below to join us as we visit IMFC Manna Ministry recipients in the (waterlogged!) community of Sebina. See and hear about some of the conditions many Ugandans endure, and how God draws people to Himself through them.

This is the 3rd in a series of videos made for our church back in the U.S.

(P.S. We are in need of your support! For more about us, what we are doing in Uganda and how you can support us in our ministry, please visit www.ugandajourney.org)

Photo of the Month

2008-12-20T15:34:00.000+03:00

Our street on a lovely Kampala evening.

A Quick Trip to the Southern Hemisphere

2008-12-11T18:40:00.003+03:00

Uganda straddles the equator. Alhough small, it's amazingly diverse. In the south is Lake Victoria - the 2nd biggest freshwater lake in the world, and plenty of trees, green, and rainfall. As you move northward the land becomes increasingly dry, changing to deserts of stunted scrub - eventually turning into the Sahara desert in Sudan.

In the far southwest are the terraced hills of the Kigezi region, with the phenomenal Virunga volcanoes on the border of Uganda, Rwanda and the Congo. Recently Aggie and I were fortunate enough to visit this area, escaping the noise and dust of Kampala on a quick trip to the southern hemisphere. Enjoy some of the beauty of Uganda with us in this video.

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 2)

2008-11-15T07:43:00.005+03:00

Hi guys! The second in a series made for our home church back in Alabama, this video focuses on International Missionaries for Christ (IMFC) who we are working with here in Kampala. This really captures our heart, and the heart of the IMFC team, for the people we minister to.

Love in Him,

Simon & Aggie

(For more about us, what we are doing in Uganda and how you can support us in our ministry, please visit www.ugandajourney.org)

Photo of the Month

2008-11-10T11:52:00.001+03:00

Caught in a thunderstorm, we (includes a chicken) shelter in the house of a family we were visiting during our Follow-Up ministry.

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 1)

2008-10-31T12:22:00.002+03:00

Hi everyone!

Below is a video that we recently made for Simon's home church back in Huntsville, Alabama Life's Journey Church). This is a really good overview of what we're doing here in Uganda - the various ministries we believe God has called us to be part of.

If you believe in what we are doing, we invite you to join us! We are still very much in need of financial support - specifically we need 35 more families to give US$1/day ($30/month) for our support level to reach 100%. If you would like to do this, please go to www.ugandajourney.org

Love in Him!

Aggie & Simon &:-)}

God of This City

2008-10-17T19:05:00.001+03:00

Hi all! This week we'd like to share with you a video that a friend of ours back in the U.S. put together from footage he took when he was here in 2006. Actually I was on this same trip which was my first time in Uganda, and the beginning of this whole thing!

I could watch this video 100 times and not get sick of it! It captures so well the contrasts here - suffering and yet joy, poverty and yet astounding beauty, apparent hopelessness and yet so much hope! It will also give you a broader picture of life here in the city of Kampala than we've been able to give so far in our videos.

As well as all this, it captures the heart of the team here (many of whom you'll see in the video) - the hope, life, excitement and anticipation we have as we see God at work!

"Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city!"

Enjoy!

Simon & Aggie.

Africa - God of This City from Katlin Miller on Vimeo.

Growing Smaller Part II

2008-10-03T20:52:00.002+03:00

This week Douglas, Agnes and Simon visited the community of Kifumbira to share our "Growing Smaller" vision. Watch this video to learn how God has developed this ministry, and gaze into the hearts of the trainers and trainees!

(For more info about what we are doing here in Uganda and how to be involved, please visit www.ugandajourney.org)

Growing Smaller!

2008-09-18T20:07:00.003+03:00

Today we began training 4 women in the community of Kawempe to be small group fellowship leaders. We believe that as the Church grows, it also needs to grow SMALL. Small groups are where we can truly share life together! Watch this video to find out more (and to meet these ladies)!

(For more info about what we are doing here in Uganda and how to be involved, visit www.ugandajourney.org)

The Front Fell Off

2008-09-08T18:54:00.004+03:00

Here is some good Aussie humour!! Love it!!!

"THE FRONT FELL OFF..............

On August 19th 2007, an oil tanker off the coast of Australia split in two, dumping 20,000 tons of crude oil. Senator Collins, a member of the Australian Parliament, appeared on a TV news program to reassure the Australian public*."

(*Disclaimer: this is not for real, of course!)

The Paech Family Singers!

2008-09-05T19:59:00.004+03:00

The Ugandan portion of the Paech family (to varying degrees) are avid composers, singers and dancers! In this video, the family sings a worship song called "Mukama Yaminyi" which means "It's only God who knows". Apart from English, Luganda is the most widely spoken language in Uganda, and this native tounge is what the family sing this song in.

P.S. Aggie wrote this song!

Aggie Interviews Winfrey in Bbiina

2008-08-22T19:34:00.006+03:00

Aggie interviews Winfrey, a recipient of Manna Ministry food, at IMFC's 1st food distribution in Bbiina (pronounced "Been-a", and yes, that's spelt right!) this afternoon - a community we will be ministering to during the next 6 months.

For more information about what we are doing here in Uganda, go to www.ugandajourney.com

1st Manna Distribution in Sebina

2008-08-08T19:25:00.000+03:00

Hi everyone! Today we (the IMFC team) began a new work in an urban slum area of Kampala called "Sebina" where we will be ministering for the next 6 months.

Check out 2 videos we shot just a couple of hours ago!

For more information, go to http://www.ugandajourey.org/

Love in Him,
Aggie and Simon &:-)}

House Tour

2008-05-27T18:49:00.001+03:00

Don't be scared off by what (below) appears to be a video of a ghost. This is actually a short video tour of the house we are renting here in Kampala. My personal favorite part is (are?) the chickens, *grin*

The Introduction

2008-04-14T15:30:00.006+03:00

Photo: Misti (Aggie's Matron of honour to be) & Aggie,

Simon & Deo (Simon's best man to be).

Click here for more photos!

Ok, finally a blog post! We are doing well and 3 days ago we celebrated 5 months of marriage! We have been so continually busy here that it's hard to find time for such things as blog posts, but it is long overdue to catch-you-up on some of the big events of the past few (now long-gone) months (including our wedding!). But since I'm a bit of a perfectionist, I'll do things in order & start with the Introduction ("Okwanjula"), which was on November 9th, 2007.

It looks like a wedding (except for that pink dress and those robe things), but it's not. Or is it?? Even though Uganda is becoming increasingly westernized in a lot of ways, many traditions are still practiced. The "Introduction" is when the (potential) groom and his extended family are introduced to the (potential) bride and her extended family. Relatives travel from all over the place to come to Introductions: Aggie's father and Aunts came from far NE Uganda and her mother's relatives travelled from Tanzania - both about 10hr, uncomfortable bus trips. Close family friends are also invited, so it ends up being a big event!

I say "potential" groom & bride because this event also determines whether the woman's family approves of and receives the man and his family. This is firstly decided from a knowledge of the man's character, and secondly by the negotiation of a dowry ("bride price") and the giving of lavish gifts of food and supplies to the woman's side of the family, all furnished by the potential groom (!). If the woman's family is satisfied with the man, dowry and gifts, they will give him a letter of acceptance - approving of his marriage to the woman. If negotiations don't go well, the relationship of the man and woman cannot go forward (with family approval). I'm told his happens occasionally, but fortunately for me, Aggie paved the way by negotiating a dowry with her parents before the Introduction, and I guess they thought I was an OK guy! So I was "pre-approved", *grin*. No worries!

From that description the Introduction sounds like a serious & scary event (which it was in some ways for me), but it's actually mostly a big celebration. Both families have a representative master of ceremonies (MC) - paid professionals who speak on their behalves. The MCs banter back and forth with clever and HILARIOUS questions, comments and come-backs, involving and engaging the two families. An example, when they were discussing my history: "Paech is a wise man, as he has managed to read every book in the world. His family accomplishments are great - Paech's grandfather invented the first motor-car, which can now be seen in the Ugandan museum..." My favorite was: "Paech, it seems that your eyes are ever sliding 45 degrees!" (referring to me looking over at Aggie who was off to the side at that time, *laugh*). They also cleverly worked Australia into things. 90% of this was in Luganda, being translated to me by Deo.

The whole event typically goes for a long time (aside: after being to my own and a few others, I have to admit that I now try to avoid them, but Aggie makes me go). Ours went from 2-8pm, with all sorts of really special parts: Aggie choosing me out of the crowd of people (identifying me as her husband-to-be), me choosing Aggie out of 3 groups of girls who paraded by (identifying her as my wife-to-be); an exchange of rings, the cutting of a cake and feeding it (and drink) to eachother, all culminating in what everyone was REALLY there for - a huge meal! Beef, chicken, matooke (the Ugandan staple: cooked green bananas - it's good stuff!), rice, "irish" potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanut sauce, greens... As the guest of honour, my plate was the biggest of all (couldn't finish it)!

The Introduction is actually the traditional Ugandan wedding! By Ugandan law, the man and woman are married after the bride's family gives their approval, and the man is then free to take his wife. But Christian Ugandans also have the traditional wedding that we westerners are familiar with, which is what Aggie and I had 2 days later. So we waited the extra 48 hours, *grin*.

Some of you have already seen a few photos from our wedding, but stay tuned - I'm going to post an entry with a lot more, complete with written details. Hopefully it won't take me 4 months. Ok...

If you would like a copy of our Easter newsletter, with details of what we've been doing with International Ministries for Christ and a recent family/life update, please email me: simon_paech@hotmail.com
For more information about what Aggie and I are doing here in Uganda click here.
And finally, click here for more photos from our Introduction!

Until next time!

Simon & Aggie &:-)}

Merry Christmas From the Paechs!

2007-12-24T16:11:00.000+03:00

(Photo above - left to right: Abbey, Joshua, Brian, Sarah, Simon, Aggie, Sharon)

Merry Christmas from the new Paech family clan in Uganda! Finally a blog update! There's so much to tell you about! God has done it!: I (Simon) arrived in Kampala on October the 14th and Aggie and I were re-united. It was SO good to be back together again after more than seven months apart. During the following weeks, we were extremely busy planning for two major, back-to-back events: a “Kwanjula” on November the 9th (my formal introduction to Aggie's relatives), and our wedding on the 11th. It was as tiring and stressful as you hear from everyone who is organizing a wedding, but we continually saw God at work, and both events went beautifully! Aggie and I then headed off for our honeymoon to Kabale, a beautiful location in far SW Uganda, arriving back in Kampala at the end of November.

Before our wedding, and with amazingly minimal effort (God again), we found a place to rent within our budget that exceeded what we had imagined! A four bedroom house in a good area, complete with furniture and appliances, AND a backup power system and solar hot water heater! It has some issues that need to be worked on, but we are very happy with it and it is now starting to feel like home.

All the (now Paech!) kids are home for Christmas holidays (Dec-Feb), so we are getting to spend a lot of time with each other and are starting to settle in together as a family. Mealtimes have been excellent with everyone sitting around the table talking and laughing. Everyone has been working really hard around the house - Aggie has raised an amazing family – they all work together as a team (a big change for me after being single for so many years), one that is great to join. Brian built a multi-level house for our (seven I think) chickens and I can hear the roosters crowing as we speak. Sharon has taken over Aggie's cleaning job at IMFC for the holidays, and Abbey, Joshua have been heading out early almost every day to play soccer. Sarah (and everyone else) has been enjoying watching movies I brought from the U.S.

Aggie took a break from IMFC ministry work for the kwanjula and wedding, and for us to get settled in together. However we are really looking forward to getting to work with the IMFC team and doing what God has put in our hearts!

God is faithful – 100% of our first three months of financial support (Oct-Dec) was raised before we left! Our longer-term support (January 2008 onwards) is currently a lot slimmer at only 25%. But we are confident that God will provide for us and we look forward to telling you how He does this (more amazing stories)!

When we have better internet access we hope to update this blog with details & photos of all the events of the past few months but for the moment you can go to http://www.ugandajourney.org/ and click on "Wedding Photos".

Again, merry Christmas from all of us!

The Paechs.

Uganda Journey

2007-09-02T18:30:00.000+03:00

Ok, I'm not even going to talk about how long it's been since my last post! But things have really been moving along! I am returning to Uganda on the 13th of October, so 6 weeks from today I'll be there!! Aggie and my wedding will be on November the 11th! Wow! We're both really excited! I can't wait until she runs into my arms again at the airport - it was amazing enough last time - this time we're about to be married!

So things have been incredibly busy here, as you can imagine. A team of people here in Huntsville is forming who will be supporting Aggie & I in many different ways from back here in the U.S. This involves various sub support teams: a finance team, logistics team, accountability team, prayer team, and communications team. The leaders of these sub-teams will be from the church I'm part of, and the members can be anyone else who would like to be part of this adventure.

At this point, the team is not very large and there is a LOT to do, but we are trusting God! This is such a big thing and we are so small (as a team, and as humans) that only He can do it! Right now we're very focussed on finances (the money for Aggie & I and our family to live in Uganda and do the work God is putting in our hearts) and logistics (all the details like shipping stuff, insurances, etc). God has lead us to send me and trust Him to provide. I know He will - this is His thing!! We get to see how He does it and brings it all together, and He'll get the credit for it!

We are going to be raising funds through the support of individuals and also other creative ways, including selling beautiful necklaces, hand-made by Ugandan ladies from recycled magazine pages (advertisement there, *grin*).

We're calling all of this "Uganda Journey". Not just my journey in Uganda, but the journey of anyone and everyone who God leads to join us - whether on a support team, supporting us financially, or in any other way. You will be part of the journey. If you'd like to know more about this, click on this web page link: http://www.ugandajourney.org/ From this website you can also find out more about International Missionaries for Christ (the organization Agge & I will be working with in Uganda), as well as "Life's Journey" - the church I'm part of. At the top it also has a count-down of days, hours, and minutes until I fly out of the United States.

I have at least 2 more amazing stories to post - they've been sitting in the archives (of my mind, that is)! THE Amazing Story is continuing - having seen, and continuing to see God bring all of this together. All the other amazing stories are chapters in THE story.

Love in Him,

Simon &:-)}

Amazing Story #3

2007-06-18T17:29:00.000+03:00

Well once again it's been too long since I last updated this blog! It hasn't been from a lack of things happening, that's for sure. The picture here is of a typical "boda-boda" (short for "border to border") - a small motorbike used a lot in Kampala for transport, especially as a taxi service. Imagine me & Aggie on this! That's what Amazing Story #3 is about.

In the living expenses budget for our family (to be) in Uganda, I estimated that Aggie & I would spend around US$1000/yr using local transport to get around. Every day we'll be going from place to place in Kampala - between our house & the IMFC ministry centre, house churches, discipling groups, as well as to go shopping etc. Most of these trips involve multiple routes, and although the individual routes are pretty cheap to travel, it all adds up over time. If you are going to have a car in Kampala, you really need a meadium-heavy duty 4WD vehicle because the roads are pretty bad. And when you have one of those, you're hit with US$4-5/gallon (AUS$1.50/litre - probably what you Australians pay now anyway) for fuel. A boda like this one (Indian made "Bajaj" brand, 100cc engine) costs about US$1400, and would get excellent fuel mileage. If we bought one ourselves, the money we'd spend on transport in just the first year would almost equal the motorbike cost.

When I came home from my 3 month trip to Uganda, I brought back lots of Ugandan hand-made bead necklaces - purchased from ladies in one of the house churches there - with the idea that we could sell them here in the U.S. and raise money to set aside for a boda. But God had other plans! Every year in Huntsville, a well-known suburb has a neighbourhood-wide garage sale, and people come to it from all over the place (even from other states!). Some wonderful ladies from my church decided to have a garage sale to raise money for a boda for me & Aggie! Two families from the church who live in that neighbourhood let us use their houses, and people from the church donated all sorts of (quality!) things to sell. Through the work of one wonderful lady, the Huntsville Coca-Cola factory donated 300 bottles of drink, and a local "Publix" supermarket gave us HEAPS of high-quality bakery goods (cakes, muffins...*mouth starts watering at the thought*)!

At the time of all this, it was early spring here, so the weather was oscillating between cold & warm, rainy and dry, so we weren't sure what the weather would hold for the Saturday of the garage sale. As the day drew neigh, things weren't looking good - a cold front was forecast to move through that very morning, with rain & thunderstorms, and the heaviest rain in the middle of the sale! God was sitting by wringing His hands saying "Oh no....this is a disaster" - not! Everything works out according to His plan, even if things don't LOOK good. The morning of the garage sale came and it was overcast and looked a lot like rain. A few light showers went through, but the people came - and bought! Bought garage sale stuff, drinks, and ALL the bakery stuff. At about 11am, close to when most garage sales have usually seen their greatest flow of people, the heavens opened and it poured & thundered & lightninged (learnt that term during my Master's degree work) and we packed things up. The money was counted at both houses, and put together it came to ONE THOUSAND AND EIGHTEEN DOLLARS!!!! wOw! I knew that was a lot of money, but I (an inexperienced garage sale person) was also told that this is amazing and pretty atypical for a garage sale. And put together with money my church has given towards support for Aggie & I, the total came to right around $1400! So this amount is set aside for Aggie & I to buy a boda when I get to Uganda! Amazing story #3!!

Again God has done exceedingly abundantly more than we could ask or imagine. And I've felt so loved by the people who have come around me (and Aggie) supporting us and being excited for us and enthusiastic about all of this. Honestly, I don't think Aggie & I can do this (or could have come to this point even) on our own, so thankyou to all of you who have been and are there for us. We love you and cherish you!

Our projected (and hopeful (and prayerful!)) date for me to return to Uganda is October. This has started to look more likely in the last few weeks. We're currently focussing on logistics (lots to sort through!), and the financial means. It looks highly possible that I may be able to work 1-2 days a week in my current field of work from Uganda (via the internet)! If this works out, it will go a long way to providing what we'll need financially there. If I do arrive back there in October, Aggie & I will likely be married in December, so anyone who has even vaguely considered coming to our wedding, start thinking more seriously about it! December is one of the cheapest times to fly to Uganda (at least from the U.S. anyway), which may just be great timing for anyone who might come.

By the way, Aggie now has electricity in her house, complete with a small colour TV! This is awesome for her! She also has the glass in the windows, so the place is almost complete. God is good - He provided this for her (and not through me!).

Well until Amazing Story #4 (which took place in the last couple of weeks), siiba bulungi (good-day!).

Simon &:-)}

Amazing Story #2

2007-05-02T18:02:00.000+03:00

I'm going to have to update this blog more often if I'm going to keep up with all the Amazing Stories! I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. This amazing story is about a couple from another church in Alabama who went on a short-term mission trip with IMFC earlier last year, just like the one I went on with my church in July. Actually, only the husband went on the trip, but this story is about both him and his wife. He met Aggie in Uganda as the team from his church worked with the team there, and his heart went out to her and her kids. He decided to sponsor all 5 of them so that they could go to school! I think that they had been in and out of school over the years as Aggie could afford to send them.

When I was there over Christmas, Aggie was telling me that she was a bit worried that when she told this couple that we were engaged, they might stop supporting her. I said that I doubted that (having a glimpse of their heart through what they was doing for Aggie and her family), although I thought they would probably stop when we got married. Aggie emailed them and told them the news, trusting it all with God. They emailed back and said that they wanted to keep supporting Aggie in this way even WHEN we get married, and that they would only stop when we asked them to! Wow, how's that for trust and generosity! That blew me away, and we both saw this as part of God's provision for us as a family when I returned to Uganda.

You'll probably remember in my post of Feb 16 that Aggie and her kids and I travelled up to Kotido in the Karamojong region of NE Uganda. The reason we went was to take the kids to a boarding school up there, which is what Aggie (and most Ugandan parents) has really wanted for her kids. She did this in faith, believing that God was giving her the go-ahead, and that He was going to provide for her to keep them there.

Back in the US, I called the couple who were supporting Aggie's kids - to meet them, and also to update them on Aggie's situation. They had sponsored the kids for schooling in Kampala, which was about half the cost of their school fees at boarding school. I talked to the husband and he was awesome - he was so excited about me and Aggie being engaged and when I told him about the schooling changes, he thought about it, and then said that they wanted DOUBLE the support they were sending Aggie and pay for all their boarding school fees! Holy Shnikeys!! And he said again that they would do this even when we get married and would only stop if we asked them to. Amazing story #2! God's provision for me and Aggie! Katonda mulungi nnyo (God is very good)!

Aggie's youngest son, Joshua, topped his class at school in Kampala in the term before they went to boarding school. He wants to study to be a medical doctor. Brian wants to be an engineer. Sarah's favorite subject is English. Later, Aggie told me that when we were up in Kotido, she heard Brian, the oldest, saying to his brothers and sisters something like "We've been given this opportunity, let's not mess this up!". These are amazing kids and it's so good to see them have this opportunity to get an education and pursue their passions, and to think that this will enable them to be lifted out of a future of poverty. Katonda mulungi!

Ok, this is a pretty long post, but one more thing! It looks like God has opened up the immigration door for me to go back to Uganda! IMFC has talked to their lawyers over there and have said that getting a work permit for me through them in Uganda is not going to be an issue. Excellent! That's one big hurdle down! Now I'm focussing my efforts on the financial side of things, trusting God to guide and provide and bring everything together in His time.

Tujaka laba gana! (we shall meet again! - not sure if I spelt it right though, *grin*)

P.S. The picture with this blog entry is outside the gates to the new school that Aggie's kids are now at in Kotido.

Amazing Story #1

2007-04-05T18:30:00.000+03:00

Not that there hasn't already been a string of these and that the whole thing isn't one in itself, but THIS is an amazing story! When I landed back in the U.S. on March the 3rd, I caught a shuttle van service from Atlanta to Birmingham (about a 2hr trip) before being picked up by a friend in Birmingham and driven to Huntsville. A guy called Jess was driving the shuttle van, and his wife, Denise, was keeping him company. They asked me where I'd been etc, and I told them. They were REALLY excited about it all, and we talked for the whole trip. At one point Denise asked me "What kind of dresses do they wear for weddings in Uganda?" and I told them that for a lot of weddings there, they wear the same sort of wedding dresses as we're used to. She said that she had a beautiful wedding dress that they had bought a year or so ago for their son's fiancee, but the engagement was called off and they'd been wondering what to do with it since. They said to find out what Aggie's size would be, and if it was a match, they may be able to help us out in some way. In addition to that, they asked how they can go about supporting us financially! WoW!!! My feet had barely touched the ground in the U.S. and God was already showing me that He was at work! If nothing else came of it, I thought, I'd made 2 new friends.

Back in Huntsville, over the course of a few weeks, I gathered some information, called a bridal dress alterations place, and emailed back & forth with Denise. It "turned out" that the size that was estimated Aggie would wear was the same size as the dress!! Wow! I emailed Aggie some photos and she loved it! It also just so happened that it was very much like a dress we saw in Uganda that she really liked, only way nicer! So what was left to find out was how much Denise & Jess were prepared to part with it for. I wasn't sure what they'd meant by "we may be able to help you out in some way" - it ocurred to me that they might even give it to us, but I didn't want to assume or expect. They came up to Huntsville this past Saturday so we could catch up and spend some time together, and they asked if they could bring the dress to show me (even though I'd seen it in the photos - being a guy, that was enough for me). The 1st thing they did when they got here was to get it out. It was phenomenal! Not overdone, yet ornate & amazingly beautiful. I could picture Aggie in it - she would look incredible. "So..." I said, after exclaiming how beautiful it was, "I have to ask...how much are you guys willing to part with it for?". They said "Well we've prayed about it and we'd like to GIVE it to you and Aggie". Maaaaaaaaaaaaaan! How amazing!! I called Aggie and she was over the moon and got to thank Denise & Jess in person over the phone. Jess & Denise left the dress with me - it's now hanging up in a massive bag in my room (it looks like I'm marrying a giant!).

Aggie and I both agree that this is 100% a God-thing. One thing we had planned was for me to try and find a dress for her here, since they're even more expensive in Uganda. My feet had literally barely touched the ground back in the USA, and there it was! Wow! Thankyou Denise & Jess, and thankyou Lord! The photo for this blog post is of Jess, Denise, and the dress. I have more photos but we'll save the full glory for the wedding day!

Stay tuned for Amazing Story #2!

Back in the U.S. of A!

2007-03-17T17:21:00.000+03:00

Well I've been back in the U.S. for almost 2 weeks now, back at work, back into normal life things. My biggest culture shock can be summed up in one word: COMFORT! Sitting outside the house on a beautiful spring day I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven. Compared to Kampala, the air is so clean, everything is so orderly and flows and works, and I can drink water from the tap!! Driving around in my own car is a luxury. The power doesn't go out for hours every couple of days, and I don't have to soak fruit & veggies in water with bleach before eating them. I can eat salads at restaurants (not recommended in Uganda). Fast internet connections! Uganda toughened me up - even my feet. I'm going to go soft again! "The Projects" - the government housing here in Huntsville are luxurious compared to the places so many people in Uganda live: running water, plumbing, electricity, heating, air-conditioning - roofs that don't leak, insect screens on the windows... And it's nice to not see poverty like in Uganda - but I know it's still there.

On the downside though, #1: I miss Aggie heaps! She is an amazing woman. We are back to 3 x 1/2hr phone calls a week, but it's so much better now that we know eachother well. She is doing well & sends her greetings. I'm missing the joyous Ugandan atmosphere (I'm listening to some Ugandan music online as I write this - http://www.ugandaonline.net/mp3 - from the list, choose "Nkuweeki - Iryn" - my favorite!). I miss the friends I've made there, the boda-boda motorbike taxi rides - even being packed in a taxi van with heaps of Ugandans I think! I'm back to Muzungu food too, which is good in some ways (breakfast cereals are way cheaper here), but I miss the Ugandan food - and Aggie's cooking!

Ok, down to business! It looks like it will be longer until I return to Uganda than planned. Aggie and I won't be getting married in early June. Before I left, I went to the Ugandan Immigration Service and it appears that staying in the country for an extended period of time is more difficult than I'd though. Marrying a Ugandan doesn't grant you that, strangely enough. The bottom line is that it looks like I'll need to go back to Uganda under a missionary organization, and get a work permit/visa through them. The organization that I went to Uganda with on my church mission trip back in July, and the one I worked with this time, is looking into this - which would be ideal, since it's the one Aggie works with, and the one her & I want to continue to work with. My best guess at the moment is that it will be about 6 months or so until I go back. That has actually relieved a lot of pressure on us - it will give Aggie & I time to raise financial support back here in the USA, and we will only begin to plan our wedding after I return, instead of trying to plan it now, along with everything else that we would have needed to get organized. So I'm thankful for this!

I've already seen God begin to provide for Aggie & I - I have some amazing stories - some of you know them! Maybe I'll share them in future blog entries - that would give me something to talk about actually, *grin*.

Alrighty then, until next time! I'll leave you with today's feature blog photo: me in Uganda after the typical "woman-braids-man-with-long-hairs'-hair" photo.

The Karamojong

2007-02-16T11:00:00.000+03:00

Hi everyone - the trip to the Karamojong region in north-east Uganda went really well and was an amazing experience for me. The bus trip was AMAZINGLY grueling - I consider myself pretty tough when it comes to travel, but man....it was amazingly long, amazingly rough, and amazingly crowded. I didn't realize the Karamojong area was so remote - for the last 2 legs of the trip we travelled on dirt roads for a couple of hundred kilometres - it was awesome. It reminded me a lot of central Australia - very dry with stunted trees & bushes. I didn't know there were going to be mountains (well, HILLS for you Americans, mountains for us Australians), but there were, and some really cool rock formations and stuff. I saw my first chicken transition from life to death & to the plate (prepared by Aggie's sons), saw the arc of the Milky Way galaxy all the way down to both horizons for only the 2nd time in my life, bathed in an outhouse with a small plastic tub of water & candle (with a cool breeze & to the sound of insects - very relaxing), was served a plate solely of meat, liver & kidney for breakfast (to my horror - but had to eat it all so I wouldn't offend - that cliched thing you hear about happening to other people! I thanked God for the bowl of peanuts on the table!), met the Karamojong people (beautiful) & Aggie's oldest son, Brian, and her father, was given 2 chickens as gifts and smiled and thanked Aggie's relatives but thought "how the heck am I going to get these back alive on a 12hr bus trip!?" (we did! Barry & Freda are now happily pecking around Aggie's Mum's place in Kampala). Aggie's relatives were great & I really enjoyed it. Aggie's kids are now in good schools up there as well, which is excellent. The photo here is of a group of Karamojong girls we came across who were excited to have their photo taken. Amazing photo!

Click here for more Karamojong trip photos!

So 2 weeks today I leave to go back to the US, planning to be back here in late May for our wedding in the 1st week of June! Aggie & I have a lot to organize! So blog posts may be few & far between in the next few weeks, but this is not the end of the blog (although I'll have to think of a new title when I'm back in the US - "Simon Paech's a Series of Fortunate Events" maybe?). I'll use it to keep you all posted of future developments.

Thankyou all for your thoughts & prayers!

Simon.

P.S. I'm feeling better than I was 2 blog entries ago - thankyou Lord!

A Wife of Noble Character

2007-02-02T17:36:00.000+03:00

"A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies." (Proverbs 31:10)

Ok, in this blog I haven't revealed *all* of the goings on here in Uganda! As a lot of you know, I came here for 2 reasons - to see where God would guide Agnes & I in our relationship, and to see where he would guide me as far as the possibility of working with the Kampala Christian Church Network (KCCN) and International Missionaries For Christ (IMFC) - 2 things that He put in my heart to pursue when I was here for 2 weeks last year working alongside these teams with a group from my church. After about the 1st week of being back here I already knew I wanted to marry Aggie. She is an amazing woman - beautiful inside and out, and truly a woman of noble character! After spending a lot of time together over the last 2 months, the desire to marry her didn't change, but I felt I needed to wait for God to make some other things clear (or clearer). One of these was the place he might have here for me with the KCCN and IMFC. He did speak to me about this - to start out small and be faithful to use the gifts he has given me - the strongest ones being serving and mercy - "Those who can be trusted with little will be trusted with much". So that was the direction that I needed.

The other thing I felt I needed to see was his provision for us - for me & Aggie and her (to be *our*) children. I didn't feel that I could ask her to marry me and plan to come back to Kampala until I knew that this provision was in place. We would both really like to work full time in teaching & training and evangelism with the KCCN and IMFC here in Kampala, but we need to have some way of supporting ourselves. So at that point I felt that the ball was in God's court. Over a period of a couple of weeks, God hit the ball back into my court - I felt that he was leading me to do the reverse - to move ahead with plans to marry Aggie, and trust him to provide. Yikes! But the truth of it is that all of this has been his thing - so he is going to provide!

So this past Friday evening I took Aggie to a nice outdoor Thai restaurant - and I asked her to be my wife. She said yes! I already knew she would - she has been patiently waiting for me to ask this question, *grin*. We are planning to be married in the first week of June. I go back to the U.S. on the 2nd of March, will get everything ready to return to Uganda to live in late May, and we will trust God to bring together the provision.

Wow - what an adventure! I have to be honest - I've stuggled with fear and anxiety along the way, but God keeps reassuring me and guiding me and encouraging me step by step. So I know we'll continue to see him do that!

I know a lot of you will be really excited to hear this news! Aggie and I will be away until the end of this weekend - we're leaving Wednesday to take her kids to school up in north east Uganda - which will be an adventure in itself! So I'll catch up with you all (with lots of photos I reckon!) when we get back.

Simon &:-)}

(P.S. The photo at the top of this blog entry is after I asked Aggie to marry me, *grin*)

The Kotolis have moved in!

2007-01-25T13:42:00.000+03:00

Hi everyone. It's been a few days since I've written because I'm still not feeling well. I think the whole cold/sinus thing is starting to go away, but I think the thing I had for about 5 weeks before coming to Uganda (feeling out of it in my head when I start to do things physically or mentally) may be back. I'm hoping it's just a side-effect of the cold thing. Trusting (and re-trusting, and re-trusting) God - He knows exactly what it is & what's going on. It's a shame because I haven't been able to do much with the volunteer team that's here at the moment. God is in control.

I've been meaning to tell you that Agnes and her family have moved out of their rented place & into the house that was being worked on - they've actually been in it for a couple of weeks now. In this photo you can see that the front wall has been plastered, and the porch area cemented. The inside also has been plastered, and floor cemented, so this is excellent. It feel so much bigger in there - and it's a much cooler place. What's left now is some iron sheeting to form a gutter of sorts on the right side (where at the moment rain from the place next door pours onto the outside wall and soaks through to the plaster inside), glass (& hopefully insect screens) for the windows, plastering the side walls, having the wiring etc for electricity installed, putting a door and window in the store-room, and painting the inside and out. That's quite a lot still, but this place has been built on faith & God's provision from the beginning when Aggie expressed to God that she needed a new place, and believed He said to go ahead. So in faith she had her old mud place knocked down & took on the extra cost of renting another place. And now, about 3 months later, she is in it, and looks around at what God has done, and in faith knows it will one day be finished. I believe it too!

Holy Giant Snails!

2007-01-20T16:41:00.000+03:00

The snails here are another thing I wanted to tell you about! The first time I saw one, I exclaimed to myself quietly "Holy CRAP!!" and started grinning and wanted to run off and tell someone! I'd been waiting to come across one again (hopefully not in a dark alley, *chuckle*) so I could get a photo, but the dry season has pretty much set in here, so I think they went into hiding somewhere in the bowels of the earth. But the past few days we've had some impressive rains, and so they've emerged again. This fella accosted me & begged me to scratch him behind the ears as I trooped up the steps here in the compound. How could I say no!? I hoped his slime (or he) wouldn't eat through my hand, or that I wouldn't hear later "WHAT - you picked one UP! You can catch [insert name of exotic African disease here] from those!! What were you thinking!!?".

There are some other critters here that I'll tell you about in future blog entries, including, but not limited to "The Pirates of Kampala City" - the Marabou Stork - a bird with the 2nd biggest wingspan in the world! Stay tuned!

For the 2nd half of this week I've been resting, I've caught an African cold or something (huhhhhhhh - the snail?) & haven't been feeling too crash hot. John Barnett said to keep an eye on it, as us Muzungu's aren't used to some of the "tropical colds" here. If it hasn't gone in a couple more days I might go and get some antibiotics - you can get them without a prescription here.

In other news, last night a volunteer team just like the one I came with in July arrived from Alabama. They'll be here for 2 weeks & I'm hoping to get better soon so I can go out and be involved in what they're doing. It's been interesting seeing things from a different perspective as the guys here planned for them to come. I wanted to go the airport last night to see the looks on their faces when they got off the plane, *grin*, but thought I'd better stay "home" and rest.
Kaale - tu jakulaba gana! ("Ok, we will meet again" (literally, "we will see eachother continuously)).

P.S. I've been watching the first season of "LOST" with Aggie and others since I've been here - cool! Didn't expect that! John & Rebekah have it on DVD.

Monkeys!

2007-01-17T12:09:00.000+03:00

When I was here in July, I saw some baboons, but no monkeys. I was told that they were around though, and that there were even some up on Tank Hill. A couple of weeks ago I saw some for the first time! They're really cool! Just like you'd expect monkeys to be, curious and pretty intelligent. In this photo, I accidently used the flash, and the monkey was a bit shocked right after I took it, but didn't run away. Yesterday I saw one holding a tiny baby but didn't have my camera - d'oh! I'm not sure what kind they are - spider monkeys maybe? This guy was about 1 ft tall.

The Source

2007-01-13T12:04:00.000+03:00

Today Aggie and I and our friends Benon and (his wife) Betteth travelled to Jinja, the next largest town in Uganda next to Kampala, and about 80 km (50 miles) the east. We were going to a wedding, to see Jinja, and to see the source of the Nile River. On the way, we almost went to see THE Source! We hired a special taxi with a driver for the day, and we had entered a forest area about 3/4 of the way to Jinja when we hit a big pot-hole in the road, and I thought "Maaaaaan, that's SO bad for the car!!". I heard a noise like a wheel out of balance, and was wondering if I'd heard it before, when a couple of minutes later one of the rear tyres blew out. We went straight into the oncoming traffic lane and then fish-tailed back towards our lane and I thought "MAN I hope we don't go into those trees!", and then in the other direction again and I thought "MAN I hope we don't go into that ditch!", and then we went sideways and started to go into a spin and I thought "We're GOING into those trees!!". Aggie yelled out "Yesu!" in Luganda, Betteth yelled out the word for Jesus is in her tribal language, and I yelled out "Jesus!", and we stopped, in the middle of the road, facing the opposite direction. This all began at full highway speed! It was a miracle that we stayed on the road, a miracle that it didn't happen about 2 seconds earlier when a truck went past in the opposite direction, and a miracle that there wasn't any oncoming traffic, or traffic behind us. On top of it all, Betteth is pregnant! We were pretty shaken up afterwards, as we changed the tyre and proceeded on to Jinja, thanking God for protecting us, and reflecting on life and how it is in His hands! (I reflected more on that as we
returned back to Kampala at the end of the day on the tiny "doughnut" spare tyre, still at
full speed!).

I guess that's the dramatic highlight of the day, but the source of the Nile was beautiful! The source is Lake Victoria, the 2nd biggest freshwater lake in the world, and where we went was where the river begins. Men were out fishing in long wooden boats, the water was a deep, clean green, and there was a beautiful cool breeze blowing. It's estimated to take water 3 months to complete the trip from that point to where the Nile empties into the Mediterranean sea! Wow!

Click here for more photos, accident and Nile River source!

Tank Hill

2007-01-11T11:43:00.000+03:00

I've mentioned it, but I've been wanting to write more about Tank Hill for a while. I'm living on the side of it. It's one of the 10 hills of Kampala. It's called Tank Hill because there are 3 pretty big concrete water tanks up there that are part of the citys' water supply. There's a road that goes to the top that I like to slowly walk up early in the morning, and up there, there's usually a beautiful breeze to complement the view - complete with Australian eucalyptus trees! The photos here are panoramas from the top - the one with the wetland valley is my favorite view from up there.

It's interesting that in some ways I feel very out of my element here, but at the same time there are things that resonate deeply with my roots - like the eucalyptus, bottle brush, and other Australian trees, banana, sugar cane & pineapple plantations, obsessive tea drinking (I just had a cup myself), biscuits (the type I grew up with), Cadbury chocolates, Milo, British spelling including "Zed" instead of "Zee" for "Z"). Like Australia, Uganda was colonised by the British, and I find these familiar things nice, as well as comforting. I don't know how the Australian plants got here though...I think they're native to Australia, so maybe were introduced from there, unless they're native to Africa as well??

Click here for more Tank Hill photos.

The new year begins...

2007-01-08T13:04:00.000+03:00

Hello & happy new year! December was a quiet month here, as far as the work with the Kampala Christian Church Network (KCCN) team goes. This turned out to be really good because Agnes & I were able to spend a lot of time together getting to know eachother. Over Christmas things shut down completely for 2 weeks (including easily accessable internet service) but now things are picking up again. Today I went with Agnes to a district of Kampala called "Salama", a city/village area to the south of Kampala. It took us about 30-45 minutes to get there, changing connecting taxi van services twice, and travelling over some back-jarringly rough roads. Here a group of about 10 men & women from the KCCN Salama house church meet every Monday for "T4T" - Training for Trainers. This is a 3-level training course designed to empower Christians to live a supernatural life (a life that walks daily with God) by equipping them to evangelize (share with other people the good news about the forgiveness and new life available to us through Jesus), and to make disciples (to train and teach others in turn). It is based on the scripture of 2 Timothy 2:2. In the photo here, Aggie is teaching. 95% of these groups are taught by the Ugandans, which is awesome. This is the plan of John Barnett (the team stragegy leader) and the team here - for the Muzungus (white people) to work themselves out of their jobs by equipping & empowering the Ugandans to build God's Church and look to God themselves, rather than depending on and looking to the Muzungus. An excellent plan I reckon! Tomorrow I start level 1 T4T myself.

Meet Thomas Abach

2006-12-29T23:24:00.000+03:00

On the left in this photo is Thomas Abach, 40 year father of 6 children, security guard by night, volunteer pastor for a one of the Kampala Christian Church Networks' house churches by (part of) the day. Over the past few weeks I've enjoyed getting to know Thomas and have become friends with him. I've really admired his character, joy, dedication, and obvious love of God. And he's hilarious, AND he plays an adungu &:-)}. Last night when I came back to the compound I was blown away as he shared some of the depths of his life, and life struggles, with me. Thomas is from the Acholi region in northwestern Uganda. This is the area where the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) rebel group and his men (and child soldiers who they recruit by kidnapping) reside and continue to murder & commit atrocities against their fellow Ugandans, especially the Acholi tribe. When Thomas was 15, he and a group of Christians were ambushed by the LRA. Thomas watched as they brutally tortured and killed many of his friends, and then as an LRA mercenary beheaded (and worse) his older brother. Thomas himself was just about to be killed the same way, when (miraculously) a general of the LRA decided to spare him and some of his companions. They returned to their village, stripped naked.

Twenty five years later, displaced by, and having lost everything material to this rebel war in the north, Thomas and his family have been forced to live in one of the poorest areas of Kampala, "Soweto". I've visited this area and others like it a number of times now, and my mind still doesn't seem to let me take in what my eyes are seeing. It's overwhelming. Thomas shared with me that even though he works 6 x 12+ hour nights a week for the security guard company, after rent (for the 12x15 ft, single room house) the money he earns is barely enough to provide 1 small meal a day for his family, only allows 2 of his 5 school-age children to go to school, and doesn't stretch to cover things like unexpected medical expenses. If their kids aren't able to get educations, they will be end up in the same position as their parents.

At the same time as Thomas struggles with worry, he experiences Christ as his life, which is obvious - he exudes the joy and life of God. He is committed to sharing God's life and love and truth and freedom with others as he is able to in the time he has, as a volunteer pastor. His dream is to be able to do this full time, but his immediate concern is obviously to provide for his family. God promises to provide for all the needs of everyone who is his child, and Thomas trusts and is trusting God to do this.

Unfortunately Thomas' story is very common here in Kampala. The crazy thing to me are the costs we're talking about - for example, US$20 per month for rent, US$50 per term per kid for school fees, with only a 3 term school year... but with the average annual income per capita in Uganda being US$350, you can understand the problem. 80% of people in Kampala are living in poverty. The long-term solution is not simple. Uganda is heavlily dependant on international support, and (from what I have gathered) from the top down, people have a mindset of dependancy on, & expectancy of, handouts. To make things worse, the government is regarded by many people as being corrupt and (so) social services and infrastructure we take for granted in the western world are poor or non-existent.

Today, as I enjoyed my 2nd meal for the day, I thought about Thomas, who works about 10 steps from my door in his guardhouse by the gate, and his family who live about 15 minutes walk from here. I wondered how I, personally, can help him - and other people and families like his. It's overwhelming to me, and my fear is that if I start to give to people like him, a black hole will open up and all my money will instantly cross the event horizon & disappear into it. As I thought & talked to God about this last night, I remembered that He has not given his children a Spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound mind. So fear is not a good place to begin. Trust is. If I give too much, God will let me know. I want to err on the side of generosity and trust God to correct me from that side and not the other - but I still struggle with the fear. He does want us to use wisdom in giving (2 Corinthians 8:12-15), to not give out of guilt or compulsion (9:7), but also wants us to give generously, and promises that we cannot out-give Him (9:6-11) - wow! What if!!??

As I finish writing this it's starting to get dark, Thomas has arrived and I'm grinning as I hear him laughing and playing his adungu outside the guardhouse, *grin*.

Christmas Day with The Kotolis

2006-12-25T16:10:00.000+03:00

A repeat of yesterday! After meeting with the Church at Kibuli on Christmas morning, we ate another huge meal prepared by Aggie (and her kids, I forgot to mention that!) and then we hung out at their place again until the evening. The only missing person has been Brian, Aggie's oldest son, who I haven't met yet. As I think I said in an earlier blog entry, Brian is staying at a boarding school up in northeastern Uganda. Over the Chrismas school break, he's staying with relatives up there.

I've really enjoyed hanging out with Aggie's kids! They seem to like me too, which is a very good thing!!

Click here for more photos!

Christmas Eve with The Kotolis

2006-12-24T16:04:00.000+03:00

A different Christmas this year! Most people celebrate it here in Uganda, but there's nowhere near as much Christmas hype, which in a way is nice, but I think I sort of missed the atmosphere - hearing Christmas songs playing everywhere, lots of decorations etc. If I was in the U.S. or Australia I'd probably be complaining about the opposite though, *chuckle*. After meeting with people at the Kibuli celebration point in the morning (where surrounding house churches meet together on Sundays), Aggie & I & her daughter Sarah walked to their place, where Aggie had once again made an awesome meal, including 3 types of meat (fish, beef, and chicken) with all the African fixin's. For most people here, meat is the least likely thing they'll have with their meal, since it's the most expensive, so THREE kinds of meat would probably be the equivalent of us having like a whole leg of ham, a whole turkey, AND oven roasted beef all at the same meal. So this was a really special meal, and I know Aggie also made it special for me.

After we ate, we opened our presents. Aggie gave me a traditional African shirt (green, my favorite colour - very nice!) and I gave her kids some games that I brought from the U.S. (Uno and Monopoly), and a few other small things, which they really liked. To Aggie, I gave a portable CD/MP3 player with 3 MP3 CD's full of my favorite music - "Music from my heart for Aggie". She loved it has been listening to it heaps since! The photo here is of Joshua, Aggie, Abbey, and Sarah, *smile*.

In the evening, Aggie & I went and saw a group performing traditional African dance, as well as comedy (the MC guy was hilarious). It was excellent. The highlight of it was when the female dancers put clay pots on their head, starting with 1, and then kept adding a pot until they had like 9! We drank African tea & hot chocolate as well (*mouth starting to water again*). An excellent Christmas eve.

Click here for more photos!

Progress on Aggie's House

2006-12-23T16:01:00.000+03:00

Aggie's house is coming along well now. The roof is on and the door and window are in. She's now waiting for the walls to be plastered and painted, and the floor to be cemented. It'll be really good when her & her kids get to move into this place - the one they're in now is very small (about 12x12ft (4x4m)). They new place also has only 1 room, but it's a bit bigger, I think about 15x15ft (5x5m) and has a cooking/store-room as well (the doorway to the right of the front door in the photo). They'll also have electricity when all is said & done, which they haven't had before (her Mum has electricity though & is close by).

Meeting Aggies' Family

2006-12-18T15:19:00.000+03:00

Today I met Aggies' Mother & extended family - a culturally significant event here in Uganda. She had been planning this ever since (actually before) I arrived. I was accompanied by John & Rebekah and their girls, and Deo (another of the pastors here), which was also significant, as they carry weight as "character witnesses" for me. Many things are done in community here in Uganda, and as well as this being a "Meet the parents" event, this was also a chance for Aggies' extended family to approve (or disapprove?) of me as a potential husband for her. There were about 30 people there - most of Aggies' brothers and sisters (7 out of 8), their kids, and other relatives (e.g. uncles), in-laws, and friends. It was a big event! Most of the ladies were dressed up - some in traditional African dresses. Everyone had gone to a lot of effort cooking food & preparing. So as you can guess, I was a bit nervous! I pre-decided to just be myself & rest in who I am as God's child - even if they didn't approve of me. But it went really well! All of her relatives came before us (me, John, Rebekah & Deo - the photo here), we introduced ourselves, and Agnes gave a short speech to formally say that her & I are in a relationship, and that we are going to walk in God's light in this relationship as trust Him to guide us. Then each of them came by me & introdued themselves. After this, all the food was brought in (*mouth watering*) and we all ate, music was played on a stereo, we talked, and danced (to my horror, but it went ok!). At the end, Aggies' Mum sat on a mat and I came to her with a gift, and she took my hand in hers, which was really special as well: many people here believe in a superstition that if you shake the hand of your in-law (or potential in-law), when you get old, your hands will start shaking. Aggie didn't know if her Mum would shake my hand or not - but she did - so that was really significant to me!

All her relatives were really friendly, as you can see in the photo here, and afterwards Aggie said her family were very happy, and that it went very well. Webale Mukama (Thankyou Lord)! I'm still processing all of this - I'm still experiencing culture shock here to a fair degree - but I'm thankful that her family are so accepting and friendly.

Click here for more photos.

Aggie's House

2006-12-17T13:50:00.000+03:00

After meeting with the church at Kibuli ("Chi-booli") this morning, I went and saw Aggie's house that she has been fixing up. It's on a small area of land that her Mum has given her in an area alled "Katwe" ("Kat-way"), right next to her Mum's place. It used to be made of mud and reeds, but she said that it was falling apart, so she's having it rebuilt with bricks. She was hoping to have it finished before I arrived, but the guy who was building it wanted more money from her, so she couldn't do anything else on it. God provided for her, and it's now moving forward, although slowly, because she's had a hard time getting the guy to actually come and work on it (sounds familiar). She hopes to have it finished this week - they need to put the roof on, cement the floor, and plaster the walls. I think it's going to be at least a couple of weeks though, knowing contractors (no offence, any reliable, hard-working contractors reading this).

Aggie is renting the place she's in at the moment - where she's staying with her kids. She took me there again (the 2nd time now) and had some fish, rice, and spinich-like stuff prepared for me. I'm really enjoying the food here, did I mention that?

In the evening Aggie & I went to a restaurant near the compound called "Cafe Roma" - a Mzungu place with outdoor seating - very romantic - this is the 3rd time we've been there now. We enjoyed talking & eating, and then more talking as we wandered back up the hill to the compound, where she caught a taxi van home & I returned to my hobbit-hole.

Tomorrow is a big day - I'm going to meet Aggies family - her Mum, most of her brothers and sisters, and more relatives I think! John, Rebekah and their girls, and Deo (one of the pastors of the house churches) are going to to too. It's going to be a pretty big deal! Aggie has asked me to bring 3 loaves of bread, 3 containers of milk, and 5kg (11lbs) of sugar - culturally, she said it would not be good to come empty handed! I'm a bit nervous, but am imagining if this were me
introducing her to my family - I would be really excited, so that helps me relax, and look orward to it!

Adungus!

2006-12-16T14:03:00.000+03:00

This morning I went for a walk to get some exercise. My plan was to go to the bottom of "Tank Hill", buy some drinks (fizzy rinks/sodas) and walk back up with a backpack full of them. Walking down, I saw another hill at the bottom that had a dirt road going up it, and trees on top. It looked interesting, and it looked like I might be able to get a good view of Lake Victoria to the south, from the top - so I checked it out. It ended up being a rock quarry, with the people breaking the rocks down by hand - from chipping huge pieces off the rock face, all the way down to breaking them up into gravel sized pieces. Wow. I got talking to one guy up there and told him how hard the people were working. He was telling me that a lot of people can't get work here and do what they can to earn a living to support themselves and their families - e.g. working in this quarry. I'm still finding it hard to take all this in - it's so foreign to me.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be putting on some weight here - in the afternoon we had another Christmas party! This one was on the compound and everyone from the Kampala Christian Church Network (the churches that the team here have planted) was invited. About 400 people came and it was excellent. We had African caterers bring food (matooke, rice, potatoes, a spinich type thing, g-nut sauce, meat, and fizzy drinks). The highlight for me was a group of guys who brought instruments called "Adungus" that were like harps. There was one big one and about 5 small ones, and when they played it was so beautiful that I almost started crying! *chuckle*. I took a video of it with my camera - I wish I could post it, but it's too big.

In the evening, Eva (Aggie's best friend) and her boyfriend Joseph came over to The Gatehouse & we watched "Monsters Inc" and ate some of the food that Aggie had brought me the day before. Another special day in Africa.

Click here to see more photos.

Wow...

2006-12-15T15:35:00.000+03:00

Next to eating a peanut butter & jam sandwich with nsenene (grasshoppers) on the side for lunch, the highlight of today was how beautiful Aggie looked! The Ugandan workers from the team here organized a party to thank everyone for the work they've done this year, and as a special guest of Aggies, I was invited as well. When she arrived, Aggie came walking down through the compound towards The Gatehouse and I thought "Is that Agnes? If it is, she has a totally different hair-do!" I thought it was quite possibly her, because the African women here change their hairstyles even more often than their Mzungu (white) counterparts! I heard her laugh & knew it was her! She looked STUNNING (*jaw dropped to ground*). In addition to the hair-do, she had a beautiful African dress on. Wow! She is a classy woman! I was glad I'd put some decent clothes on! So off we went to the dinner, and it was great. These Ugandans are hilarious, they have a really dry sense of humour and are always poking fun at eachother, *chuckle*. The food was excellent too - a mix of African & Mzungu, but mostly African.

Another highlight of today was the package of food that Aggie dropped off for me - more nsenene, and also cooked fish (Tilapia) and grilled bananas! Someone said tonight at the party "Have you heard that the way to a mans heart is through his stomach?" and I elbowed Aggie & told her that I think she must be the one who originally started that whole thing, & she laughed. I'm finding it hard to "receive" all these blessings and love from her - one of my "issues". I know she genuinely wants to do these things for me. I walked around the compound a bit later tonight thinking & talking to God about this (and thanking Him) and receiving in retrospect.

Click here for more photos!

Kabalagala

2006-12-14T15:51:00.000+03:00

Today it poured from early to late morning. It's the transition between a rainy & dry season here (they have 2 rainy & 2 dry seasons each year), so some days I wake up in the early morning and it's pouring, and some days I wake up and the sky is totally blue & it's dry. People tell me that soon it's going to be dry and hot. January is the hottest month here, but John said that it's not as bad as an Alabama (or Georgia, where they're from) summer - nowhere near as humid. The rainy season is when it's humid, but it's also cooler, so that sounds good to me! People here are sensitive to small changes in temperature, since it's almost the same temp all year round.

In the afternoon, people met at the ministry centre (about a 1/2 hr walk from the compound) for "T4T" - "Training for Trainers". Here, people (mostly the Ugandans working with, or on, the team) are being taught by the team leaders and pastors to be leaders (and pastors) themselves. Today John taught from Acts 12 & 13. Very challenging stuff for me personally. Aggie & I walked back to the compound via the market at Kabalagala (which means "pancake" -
I like it, *grin*) where I bought fresh eggs & bananas (the small, really sweet ones) and some milk. The photo here is of bags of grains and beans and stuff - my mouth waters! (my sister will laugh). I hope to cook some of these soon - I brought some cookbooks ("Meals without Meat", Paech's and Powells).

Aggie and I spent another eve together, eating Chipati (a flat bread, a bit like Indian "Naan", only better) & milk for tea (dinner) at The Gatehouse.

Nsenene!

2006-12-13T16:18:00.000+03:00

Ok, I have to be honest with you and tell you that grasshoppers are now a part of my diet. Do you still love me? "Nsenene" are green grasshoppers that a lot of people here in Uganda enjoy eating immensely, and i've joined the ranks. They're around during the rainy seasons. To prepare them, you pull off the wings & legs, and fry them in oil, with salt. Agnes told me before I came that Mzungus really enjoy them, but I had my doubts. I tried them, and quite like the little critters! They feature in the photo here - land shrimp?? They taste excactly like something else I've tasted, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is... I haven't prepared them myself yet (not sure if I'm game) but Agnes has dropped off 3 multiple-snack sized bags of them for me so far. They'd make good movie snacks too I reckon. John Barnett gets a kick out of looking them in the eye and then chomping them - he said it makes him feel powerful. He also likes to munch them while walking back up from Kabalagala (a nearby market/shop area) & listening to his IPOD. He said the locals get a kick out of seeing this. *grin*

Today John & I rode boda-bodas (the motorbike taxis) into the city centre where we went to Garden City shopping mall & I bought a cell phone, an exciting event for me, brought on by necessity (I don't have one back in the U.S. (by choice)). The main method of communication here is the cell phone (or "mobile phone" for you Aussies). The land-line system is unreliable, apparently, and I think it costs more to use it than a cell phone (it definitely does in The Gatehouse, anyway). A lot of people have cell phones but can't afford to keep credit on them, so they'll "flash" you - call you and let it ring once, which is a signal that they'd like you to call them back.

Dinner at The Kotoli's

2006-12-07T14:35:00.000+03:00

Aggie asked me to come over to her place this evening, and I met 4 of her 5 kids for the first time: Sarah (11), Joshua (12), Abbey (a boy, 14), and Sharon (16). Brian (18) is at a boarding school up in northeastern Uganda. I was pretty nervous at first, but relaxed after a while as I got to know them better. They seem like great kids! Unbeknownst to me, Aggie had planned a special dinner. Her and Sharon cooked dried smoked fish in "g-nut" (ground nut, I think they're the same as peanuts) sauce, an eggplant and onion dish, deep fried potatoes (just like back in Australia at the take-away places!), rice, and a freshly squeezed orange and passionfruit juice drink (that they made as well!). She knew that I loved dried fish in g-nut sauce (I had it last time I was here), and that I really liked eggplant, so it really touched my heart - I had tears in my eyes! She set this all out for me as the guest of honour before anyone else ate, and we then enjoyed eating and talking together. After we finished, her kids were cleaning up everything outside and quietly singing in Luganda (the unofficial language here, the official is English). I asked Aggie what they were singing, and it was something like "be patient and have faith when you go through troubles - God will bring you through...". How many kids would be singing this, as they clean up without even being asked! Wow. An evening I'll never forget!

The Gatehouse

2006-12-06T12:35:00.000+03:00

I'm staying on the Baptist Missions compound here in Kampala (the capital city of Uganda), in "The Gatehouse". I feel like I'm in Lord of the Rings or something because The Gatehouse is actually part of the wall around the compound - I like it! It's also in a nice quiet location and the compound is beautiful - huge trees and lawns and everything really kept in good shape. John Barnett (the mission's strategy leader), his wife Rebakah, and kids Rachel & Sarah live in the main campus house, and about 10 or so others live on the compound too.

Click here for more photos!

Arrival in Uganda!

2006-12-05T15:06:00.000+03:00

On my flight from the U.S. to Uganda I got a window seat for the Amsterdam-Uganda leg, like last time, & saw some cool stuff again over Europe & Africa (especially the Sahara Desert). I arrived at the Entebbe airport & John Barnett, Pastor Deo, and Aggie were waiting for me. I didn't see Aggie at first (she was hiding, *grin*) but then she came running up & hugged me! It was so good to see her and she was even more beautiful than I'd remembered. She gave me an amazing bunch of flowers and told me that people give flowers here to welcome someone important. I felt loved already!

Click here for more photos!