Aug 27th - Uganda or Egypt?

Greetings, Friends and Family!

As I went "out back" (Ugandan euphemism for going to the latrine) the other evening, I couldn't help but think we were in Egypt instead of Uganda...and many years in the past. There were frogs everywhere in the yard! (Sometimes there are as many as 20 frogs on our front porch in the evenings.) When I got to the latrine, there were gnats galore on the walls, the floor and even on the toilet seat. Earlier in the day there had been flies in the hundreds (okay, maybe dozens) also in the latrine. So, we have 1/3 of the plagues that God brought on the people of Egypt. (And, of course, don't forget about our chickens dying last year. So, actually almost 1/2 of the plagues!) Checking jerry cans for any water that has turned to blood...

Okay, on to more serious issues.

Today was the first day of 3rd term at Cornerstone Primary Day and Boarding School. Our kids have had a great vacation time, but they are always anxious for their other friends to return for school. However, when they had to get up at 5:30am to get ready, they were not so excited ;)

Our Leadership Kids (10 of our older children who are being trained as leaders) came 3x a week during the holiday to do traditional crafts down at the visitors' side of our duplex. After their craft time on Saturday, they were playing on the sand hill outside our front door. I have included 4 pics of them playing King of the Hill. Well, the first one I asked them stand nicely so you could see them...and the 4th one was after they were tuckered out from playing and throwing each other off. Just thought you'd enjoy seeing our kids being kids!

Also on Saturday, we bring a group of 4 or 5 kids to our house for some extra-curricular fun school work. This week we had 4 of the youngest ones: Lisa, Isaac, Magdalene and Doreen. I have included 2 pictures - one where they are playing with legos and the other where Teacher Abby is reading to them. Many of you gave the Legos last year for us to bring. Thank you again for this help with learning colors, spacial relationships, sharing and talking about things you have made. Many of you also gave books for the kids to read. We let them each choose a book and then we read each of their books to all of them, pointing out words, colors, shapes and animals they may know. They LOVE to be read to...even the older kids really enjoy when either Teacher Abby or I read to them.

Thanks to all of you who pray for us. Some of you know that I have been quite sick this week...first they thought malaria, then TB. But, turns out it's "just" an acute upper respiratory infection. Glad to be able to come to Mbale today after 4 days of bed rest and 2 days of minimal activities. Thanks again for praying!

We have 2 new staff members, Noah and Jackson. They replace Guster (the "dad") and David (the cook) who has become now the night watchman. We are looking for an additional person now who can be a sales person for the bakery, who will be paid a minimal salary with commission for sales over a certain amount. I'd like to have someone in place within the next 2 weeks so we can begin training him/her. The bakery is at a juncture and with the right person can expand exponentially now.

It's time to go home and rest again, so I will say goodbye for now. Thanks to all of you who write and tell me about your lives. I love hearing what's happening in the States with all of you. Thank you, too, to all of you who support Cornerstone in so many ways. I appreciate you!

Laurie

Aug 20th - Monday greetings!

The Bakery
Happy days this week! We bought a sealer...a machine that uses a hot bar to seal plastic...and now can wrap our bakery products in less than 1/2 the time as before. You would have thought we were in Disneyland, we were having so much fun with it.

This past week, we made almost shs300,000 [$111.524 USD] from bakery sales. At that rate, in a month, we would make shs1,200,000 [$446.0967 USD], or about 12% of our needed monthly income. It's amazing how it's grown! We now sell in 2 places in Budaka, 4 in Mbale and one in Kadama. We have people interested in selling for us in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. We are now regularly making coconut and pumpkin cupcakes and banana bread for our customers, as well as Irish Soda Bread for our kids and staff each week (thus lowering our food costs at Cornerstone).

New Discoveries
This past week, through direction from some of the Peace Corps workers, I found a shop in Mbale that sells cheese. They only make certain kinds and only enough to sell for the day (they don't have refrigeration), but the day I went they had one block of Gouda and it was delicious!! Today I'm supposed to go by and pick up cream cheese I ordered last week - wondering if it will be like cream cheese in the States, will we be able to cook with it in the bakery, can I find some recipes that use local products with it, etc.

Also, this week I found a lead on getting vanilla. The vanilla extract is quite expensive here and so we have had to leave it out of the recipes since we ran out of the large container the New Life team brought in February (thanks, Bill, Susan and team!). Apparently, vanilla beans grow out west in Uganda and we can use the seeds in our recipes. If anyone knows more about this, send me an email. So excited to find a source.

Some Sadnesses
I've been to 2 funerals this week - one was our builder's (Pastor Stephen's) mother. I have sent you a picture of Abby and I with the family. Pastor Stephen is the one with his arms around Abby and I (the white-skinned people ;). His mother was 68 years old, had 13 children and was raising 4 of her grandchildren. I did not know her personally, but heard she was a wonderful mother to her children. We were in the west for other business, and so were able to go and support Pastor Stephen at this time of loss.

The other funeral was for a young child (under 2 years). She is the daughter of a pastor of another church in Budaka. She died suddenly on Saturday morning. Abby and I had been in a matatu (mini-van taxi) with the family on Thursday morning. Pastor Rogers and I went to the funeral yesterday immediately after our Sunday morning services. There were about 400 people there, sitting under makeshift tents. I was seated in the pastors' section, directly in front of the casket. Within minutes of sitting down, I was asked to get up and say a word to the people. I have finally begun to get used to this culture and am ready at any time to give a word at such an occasion. And, it was such a sad occasion! Please pray for this family. (Their older daughter attends our Cornerstone school.) After I spoke, a pastor from town preached a sermon and then we all followed as the burial took place behind the family home.

Adventures in Uganda
Moving on to a happier topic: Abby and I went for 3 days to western Uganda to help with Agapé Ministries, an orphanage, school and church in Bukoto. Dove Adoption Agency in Oregon is working with Agapé to begin adopting children from Uganda. I was there to be a liaison between the director of Dove and Pastor Ronald, the director of Agapé. (Pastor Ronald is Pastor Rogers' younger brother.) It was quite fun to meet the orphans, speak at a church meeting and get to work on things for the advancement of the adoption processes.

One of the things at Agapé I was so impressed with was that Pastor Ronald has talked to the women of the church about working with their hands to support themselves. He hired someone to come and teach them basket weaving and other crafts. I have included a picture of many of the baskets they have made. They are really doing so well in their crafts. As many of you know, I buy baskets and other things and take them to the States and sell them to help support Cornerstone. I bought many of the things you see and will go back to buy more as we are ready to send and/or bring things to the States. These ladies were so blessed as they didn't know what market they would have for their things. (If you see anything in this picture you would like, or if you have a place at your church or work to sell these things, let me know and we can connect about how that can happen!) So glad to support other artists I now know and at the same time support Cornerstone! What a blessing all around.

Okay, I think that is enough for this week. Be blessed today! Thank you for thinking about us, praying for us and supporting us in so many ways! You are prayed for by the staff here and by our children. I show them pictures of many of you from when I was home. They enjoy seeing you and knowing who they are praying for.

Talk with you again next week! Thanks to all of you who have written this week.

Laurie

Aug 13th - the other pics

Apparently can't attach so many pics. Here are the others I mentioned...

Aug 13th - a FULL week!

I keep notes all week long about things that are happening here so I can share with you who pray and support us financially and emotionally in the work in Budaka. This week, I have narrowed it down to 23 pictures from which I can only send a few. So, let me try to summarize the past 7 days:

• On Monday, we sent the children home to their clan/families for 5 days. Pastor Rogers and I met with them that morning to tell them and he began by saying, "we have decided not to send you home till December..." Most of the kids were very quiet and somber, having thought they were getting sent home to see some extended relatives for a few days. Others were excited they didn't have to go. Then he told them he was just kidding and they were all going that morning. The first 2 pictures you have show the excitement of most as they heard. You can see some who are not quite as excited. I love the smile on Sarah's face on the far right of the first picture! The 2nd picture shows Bartholomew as he got up and began dancing around at the news. It was a fun time! All the children came back on Friday or Saturday and were SO excited to be back. Several gave big bear hugs upon their return. I'm so glad they both enjoy going and coming back! 
• On Monday morning also, a witchdoctor had been to the front of Pastor Rogers' house and left chicken feathers in a pile. This is a kind of curse to make his life miserable. We know that God is much more powerful than these curses (you can see them in the picture), and we chuckled, burned the pile of feathers and went on with our day. Thanks to all of you who continue to pray for our safety physically and spiritually here. 
• On Tuesday, Pastor Rogers, Abby and I went up to Pian Upe, the largest game reserve in Uganda. We were scouting to see if our next team (the E! team) could go there with our kids and see the zebras, giraffes, lions, etc. that are there. To make a VERY long story short, we won't be able to go there with the team. We encountered the worst roads I've seen in Uganda (and that's saying a lot!). There were 3 stuck semi's and 4 stuck buses in our way at one point (praise God for the 4-wheel drive we had rented!). Our own car broke down in Katakwi, a small village a short way from Pian Upe, where we spent 3 hours waiting for someone to fix the fan and radiator. We did not see any wild animals and had only about 30 minutes in the reserve before we had to head home. We did, however, get to meet some of the Karamajong, a people group that has been largely untouched by the modern world. Quite an experience! We also got to see a new kind of fishing - the nets you see in the picture. It was a wonderful adventurous day...but we know now it won't be a place we will bring anyone anytime soon! 
• While the other children were away for 5 days, we got to have the 4 (who have no clan/family to go to) over for dinner and to spend the night. What a fun-filled evening and morning with Natasha, Vanessa, Isaac and Moses. We played games, ate "American" food and laughed a lot together. 
• On Friday, when the kids started coming back, Abby and I went down to welcome them back. 

[More pictures in the next post]

Aug 6th - More cleaning...and new shirts

The first picture is of John and Amos wringing jeans. Takes 2 fairly strong boys...

Then they take the wet clothes in basins to the hanging area...where I raised up under a low wooden bar...and hang up the clothes.

The last picture is one of all the kids in their new t-shirts from the Vancouver Friends Church. They were so happy! Thanks to all of you at VFFC who sent these t-shirts with us.

Okay, enough for this week. Thank you for your prayers, your financial support, your moral support and your communication. I'll talk with you next week.

Laurie

Aug 6th

Friends and Family:

This last Wednesday was the final day of school for the 2nd term (of 3) for Cornerstone School. The parents come and pick up the children's report forms, telling how their children did academically. Pastor Rogers was out of town, so I went to our 29 kids' classes (Moses isn't in school yet) and looked at each child's performance and talked with the teachers about their progress. As you might imagine, it takes a couple of hours. I also brought all their final exams home so I can look over them and see how we can help the kids during the holidays. Lisa, who is about 6 years old, has tuberculosis and has been quite sick, so came in 37th out of 37 children in her class. We will be working to get her up to par again for next term. She is feeling better, but is still weak. Our top performer this term was Natasha, who was #1 in her P5 class. We are proud of all our kids - they work hard in school.

This morning the children went home to their clans/families for a 5-day holiday (mandated by the district government here in Budaka). They were excited to go...and also these days are excited to return. Only Charity had not been picked up by the time Rogers and I left for our weekly meeting in Budaka.

The first picture today shows John and Brenda in the bakery. During these 4 weeks of holiday (except, of course, when they are at their family homes) we will be taking 2 children per baking day to learn and help in the bakery. John and Brenda made banana bread and Irish Soda bread with Abby and I. They loved being down there and getting to help make all the goodies.

The next 2 pictures are of, 1) Ronald washing jeans and 2) Ronald and Amos scrubbing those jeans. I will send another email with 3 more pics of the clothes washing routine. This particular day was the boys washing day. They wash 4-5 days per week. It takes them about 2 hours in the morning to wash all the clothes and sheets. The older boys help with the little ones who can't wash their own...or at least can't wash their things well.

Some of you have asked about ebola. There has been an outbreak in the far west of Uganda and it looks like it has been contained. At last count, I heard 18 people had died. One traveled to Kampala for help and so possibly infected more people on the way or there, but there have been no cases from there yet. We are in far eastern Uganda and have had no cases and they don't anticipate any. Ugandans do not travel often from their home communities, the schools in the ebola area have been closed (200 of them!) and no travel for school groups has been approved until the situation is over. Thank you all for your concern. Please pray for these families who have lost loved ones to this tragic disease.

On a much more mundane note - I had a mild concussion this week after raising up under a low hanging wooden bar. I cut my head, was disoriented for several hours, but by evening I was okay. The cut didn't require stitches and all is well now. Gotta watch those low bars!!

I trust all of you are doing well. Thanks to you who have been writing each week. I so enjoy hearing from you, and try to respond to each one, although my internet is quite slow in Budaka and sometimes I wait 5 minutes and the reply still doesn't send. Sorry for those of you who haven't had a response.

One more email coming your way...

Laurie