Wednesday 28 June

At Nanana today.....
The WaterAid engineers have started to install the water harvesting system - drainpipes & a storage tank to the uninitiated! The engineer came and we all signed the contract for the work with me parting with the money to allow them to go and order cement and concrete to build the tank. By lunchtime the foundations were dug ready for the constuction. By the time i leave it will be nearly done.
Great excitement - Eggs for lunch.
Their chickens have now started laying and in a packed room with the head, the director of the school, the water engineer, teachers, Topi and goodness knows how I was required to make an edict about how they would be used!! They had stored up 750 eggs ready for my coming so that i coudl tell them what to do - for goodness sake! So i said - lets have them for lunch, hence the excitment everybody had hard boiled eggs with their posho and beans and the teachers are to take some home for their families. then they will start selling. With 300 birds laying they may get over 240 eggs per day which represents 20 trays at 3,000 shilings per tray. That is equivalent to an income of 20 pounds per day and when their teachers earn aroudn 50 pounds per month will go a long way to helpig them be self sufficient.
Primary 7 are writing to the queen - she is coming to the Heads of Commonwealth govenments meeting here in November so I have promised to bring their letters to send to her. They wanted to know if she would reply, come to their school, read their letters adn where she lived. I ended up taking a lesson on the royal family!
All great fun - it was a really good day.
Also went to the British embassy to collect letter about the Trust becoming an Non Governmental Organisation.. whihc is the main reason for my trip!

Tuesday 26th

Went to Sanyu Babies home today, it is just below the guesthouse on Namirimbe hill. They take in orphan and abandoned babies, they are often found left in latrines and on waste dumps. sometimes they are left at the gate. These unwanted scraps are loved and cared for at the home and are a joy to be with. I went just to check the arrangements for bex & her friend to help there in August when they are here and ended up staying 2 1/12 hours sucked in by the babies just longing to be hugged. I fell in love with Peter; they gave me a bottle and asked me to feed him, he was lying on his tummy over a big cushion, as I picked him up i realised that he was very floppy and had small deformed legs. Peter also had a full set of teeth so I enquired his age - 3years old and yet the size of a 10 month old. He is handicapped they told me - this abandoned unwanted child will always be marked out as different, will struggle to survive and may be unloved but as I fed him his eyes stared into mine and I prayed out loud "May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you". As i said this his face broke into a great big smile and he gurgled happily almost laughing.... I will continue to pray that the Lord will watch over him and protect him.
the dedicated staff are wonderfully caring, love & encourage the small children - an amazing place !!

In Uganda alone

It is just like being at home, Uganda is cold and wet! had a good journey via Amsterdam the hairiest part of journey was drive from entebbe into kampala as they are doing something to the roads because the queens is coming in november for the heads of commonwealth governments meeting and so everywhere is being done up. The road was narrowed to a single track, it was dark and very busy and their driving does not instill confidence at the best of times, still I hung on and prayed a lot!

Today have been to the british embassy to begin the process of regisitering The Kabanda Trust as an NGO and then met up with Topi to catch up on how things are going from her point of view. This afternoon Pastor Steve came and took me too lungujja - I had a lovely time with them drinking tea and chatting whilst danny (aged 3 but claiming 5) got very cross cos he couldnt have the whole bar of dairy milk which i brought!
Going to bed now cos tired and need an early night.... oh, and there are a lot of american missionary kids staying here at the guest house so there was pizza for supper :)