Love letters

Since 2006 I have sponsored a little girl's school fees in the village I visit.

Meet Tendo. 

She goes to school because of a small donation from me. 

 

Sponsoring a child's school fees is a small act that goes a long way to keeping families together.  By covering the cost of school fees, there is a strain taken off the family, and this frees up money to go on other essentials, such as food and hygiene products.

 

While in Uganda, Tendo handed me the sweetest little envelope ever.  Handmade by her.

 

 

Inside was the loveliest little note.

 

 Just in case you can't read the note, it says,
'Hello Natasha.  I love you like a fish in water and I still love you my friend.  Happy Easter, Tendo xxx'

There are lots of charities that offer you the opportunity to sponsor a child's school fees. 
Some larger charities are World Vision,  and Compassion  Check out my friend's blog, where they have started a new organisation helping keep children in families and out of institutions, their organisation is called Reunite.  Then there is the wonderful work of Malaika Babies Home.  They work tirelessly to resettle children with birth families if at all possible and turn to domestic adoption as the next option. 

Children are children, the world over

Kids will be kids.  No matter where you are in the world, children can fill a day with laughter.

Let a few loose with a camera and you end up with an array of photographs and a whole heap of 'dressing up' shots.

Right little posers

Mini models

This little guy has the look of a Pastor already, following in his Dad's footsteps I'm sure

If only they did proms in Uganda!  Joanna is all ready to go!  Look at this outfit!

And just in case you didn't get the picture that these girls are dreaming of top model jobs - here's your proof!  So funny!

Ugandan hospitality

We always have a warm welcome in Buweri village.  I had spoken so highly of Robinah's Ugandan cooking and Lutaaya said it lived up to her expectations.  (In fact she said I needed a few tips as Robinah's cooking was far in front of my trials of Ugandan cuisine!)

 

I did pick up a few Ugandan ingedients this time though, so next time we have a Ugandan night, be prepared for some new flavours.

It rained and it rained and it rained

Before our trip, my Mam started preparing for packing her luggage.  She kept asking if she needed to pack her wellies (gum boots).  I explained that it can be muddy in the village but we'd be catching the end of the dry season so we should be fine.  I also reasoned that the weight of the wellies would not be helpful in trying to get everything in our cases.

We were fine, enjoying blazing hot days and sticky nights, right up until the afternoon of Easter Sunday.  As we sat in the church the heavens opened and the rain became torrential!

The rain was so heavy hitting the tin roof of the church building that it was difficult to hear anything else.  The story of Noah came to mind.....

and it rained and it rained........

and it rained and it rained.......

and it rained and it rained.

Everyone made their voices louder and the service continued.

Then we realised we had to walk back from the church to the house!  Hmmmm maybe those wellies would have come in  handy after all.

Trudging through the mud

I quickly realised that I obviously didn't have good walking technique, as I had mud all the way up my legs and skirt, and my feet were in an awful mess!

All part of the fun of keeping it real in Uganda I guess!

Easter Fun in Uganda

Our Easter Sunday was spent in the village.  I had agreed to take the Sunday school.  We had the Easter story planned out using ‘Resurrection Eggs’ and some other fun games.

 

The kids were a blast in playing pin the tail on the donkey.  Some got so disorientated, ending up facing the wrong way round.  It was such a laugh. 

 

The children are normally seated at the back of the church after Sunday School but, like the women’s conference, we like to stir things up a little.  We invited the children up to the front to share what they had learned.

 

We played a neat game that tricked the volunteer into believing they had won a lot of money, when if they had made the right choice, they would have won a whole lot more!  We used this to show how sometimes our choices are misguided by the things we can see and we forget that very often our future plans are hidden away and out of sight.  If we were able to see the bigger picture and ALL that we can achieve in life, we probably wouldn’t settle for second best. 

 

The kids loved being centre of attention. 

 

Robinah cooked up an Easter feast for us.  Lutaaya loved tasting her wonderful Ugandan cooking.  (Apparently much better than mine!) 

 

We had little visitors all day, popping in to see us before we left for the city. 

 

Thank you Buweri village for sharing Easter with us and welcoming us once again to our African home.

 

 

Happy Easter!

We are normally always home for Easter Sunday so this year was a big difference in spending Easter Sunday in Uganda. 

 

To keep a little normality and routine, you couldn’t start Easter morning without an Easter egg hunt!

 

A sleepy Lutaaya wasn’t very keen on finding eggs to begin with.

 

Our hotel room was the perfect setting for a fun egg hunt. 

 

Treasure at the end is always a treat!

Happy Easter from Uganda!