Walukuba Branch Party

We are now back in Business.  A few weeks ago we had an unfortunate experience.  Some one broke into our apartment while we were sleeping and took our computers and cameras and money.  We borrowed a computer and we are connected again.  

Every Sunday we travel to Jinja to assist with the Walukuba Branch.  It is about a 2 hr drive (80 km each way and meetings are 4 - 5 hours so it is a long day.  

 In keeping with our motto "It'll be fun" we sponsored a Branch Party as there was a real need to socialize and have some fun.   We weren't able to feed 1000 with a loaf of bread but fed about 200 with 50 kg of rice, a mountain of matoke with ground nut sauce and beef cubes.  The children and some adults ate with their hands out of plastic bags.  Saves on washing cutlery and having bags of paper plates.   

We played games with the kids and the adults watched.  

The Primary Children entertained us by dancing African dances.  Lots of shaking going on.  

 Cute Kids and beautiful people. 

The Clean up Crew had a good time

 We met two little girls on the way to church.  They had just got new dresses and 

were pleased with them.  

 A return mission, George, is attending secondary school that takes about two hours to walk to every day.  He asked us if we could help him obtain a bike.   We hired him to clean the chairs at the Church and he earned enough to buy this shiny bike.  He is enjoying life now.  

Ken has been fascinated by the diversity and beauty of the flowers in this area.  There are many many different kinds of flowers that he has been taking pictures of.  We can't go anywhere without stopping to take a picture of a flower.  

 Here is a small sample of some of them and will include pictures of the gorgeous flowers as we go.  

There is so much beauty on this continent and so much to be grateful for especially when it is 20 below at home with snow and ice.  If it gets down to 23 degrees C everyone wears heavy down filled coats and complain that it is freezing.  We just laugh.  They have no idea what cold is.  
We are sad to be missing Christmas with our family but felt like we needed to extend to help out here.  There is still work to do. It is not easy but we believe that what we are doing is important and hope that our contribution will make a difference.   

Loafing in Lira

Elder Wallace had some auditing to do up in Lira last week so we rode up there with the Chatfields.  

Their friends, Dr and Sister Lind were there doing a neonatal resuscitation course for the local people there.  It is a much needed course because right now the mortality rate is about 40 %.  Many babies die out in the villages in the north because the midwives do not know how to help the babies breathe.  

It was very interesting to watch the training and meet some of the midwives and talk with them about their work.  They are very skilled and were grateful for the training they received.   

It is a 6 hour drive to Lira in the North and on the way we took some pictures of interesting things on the side of the road.  President Chatfield was driving and Sister Chatfield would say, "Dear, Stop.  There is a good picture"  but he just smiled and didn't even blink so we got some quick ones from the cars.  The villages with huts were so cool. 

Everyone is selling things along the side of the road. 

The Tree Boutique 

The Uganda Drive In - Notice the long sticks so they can get the sodas up to the high windows on the big buses.  The bar-B-Q meat on a stick looks good but is very scary.  

There are people everywhere

Babies grow up on the back and mom is selling bananas from a basket on her head.

Agnes - resuscitating  a practice doll.  

Sister Squire working with a student.  

 A cute little girl that came with her mom to the course.  She was very good the whole time.  

She sat on the table in front of Mom.

Dr. Lind, from Utah, worked with two local doctors and Sister Squire to teach.  They certified each one to be teachers and to go out into their communities and teach other midwives. 

Ken said, "A slogan for the graduation should be, YOU HAVE BEEN TAUGHT - NOW GO AND DELIVER."

The Elders 

Elder Hannan, Squire, Pres. Chatfield, Elder Wallace 

The medical and humanitarian team that worked on this project.  

Excellent Work All. 

A local woman on the street 

Kids were curious about the white people 

Sister Squire had a skirt and top made by a seamstress down town.  The whole thing, including the fabric was 35,000 shillings or about 13 US dollars 

We drove from Lira to Chobe Lodge, one of our favorite places in the world, with the other couples. 

We enjoyed the sunset on the Nile 

We watched the hippos perform for us  and they watched us and probably were entertained by the funny looking white things on the shore.  

Many Giraffe in Chobe Park 

We met this big guy close to the Lodge.  Yes we were in the truck.  We were very close and the guide was with the Chatfields off in the distance.  They were waving their arms and yelling at us.  We just waved back and determined that we should moved forward so we wouldn't block their view for pictures.  Later we found out that they were not waving at us so they could take pictures but the guide was having a panic attack about us being so close to the Elephant.  I guess he kept saying,  "He is going to flip them.  He is going to flip them."  

We tried some fishing with the Squires and the Hannans but just caught a little one.  At the end of the day we headed back to Kampala.  The Hannans hit a cow with their truck and wound up riding back to Kampala with us in Squires' truck.  It was a tight squeeze with 6 seniors in a small truck but we made it safe and sound.  

We enjoyed our time with the other couples.  

The 40th

As they say in Uganda

"It is our 40th - WHAT? - Anniversary" 

This means we have been married for 40 - WHAT? - years.  

We took a 1 day get away from the office and traveled up to Chobe Safari Lodge, a very nice place.  

The Road in the Giraffe welcomed us. 

Got some nice close up pictures.  

Inside our room at the resort.  Beautiful room with a view of the Nile river. 

You can hear the Hippos snorting in the river when they come up for air and clear their noses.  

Three tier swimming pool with a waterfall and the Nile river in the background. 

We were treated to three gourmet meals all inclusive.  

The next morning we drove about an hour to a fishing spot on the shore of the Nile.  The Nile is the world's longest river, over 6800 kilometers.  It takes water over three months to travel from one end to the other.  

We saw more animals on the way.  This is a Kob

We arrived at the place where the tributary called, Aago, meets the Nile.  

It was fun to be out in the wilderness with only ourselves and two guides.  

It was nice to just get away and enjoy the solitude and beauty of Africa.  

We started fishing at 8:00 to get in on the morning feeding.  

We used live bait of Tilapia that we caught right there. Ken remembers fishing for perch in Iosegun Lake 

and on a good day you could catch one or two pounders with almost every cast.  Fishing here in Africa 

is not quite the same.  

Patrick, our fishing guide helped get us set up and educated us about fishing for Nile Perch.  

Joseph,the Park ranger, watching on and was there to protect us from wild animals with his gun.  

By midmorning - no action but enjoying the trying.

A couple of nibbles by mid day but still nothing.  

Patrick said that when Jesus Christ chose his apostles he selected fishermen because they had proven their patience.

Five hours and no results.  Did I say fishing for Perch in Africa is not the same?  

Not everyone was putting full attention to the cause.  

Finally after lunch we got a hit.  We had to play him out so we could get him in.  No nets here.  

As you can see, there are perch and then there are PERCH. 

Fishing for perch is definitely not the same in Africa?  

If there were any doubters (my two brothers perhaps)  This one weighed in at 35 pounds.  

Confirmed with our digital scale 

Patrick is a skilled fisherman

Wide mouthed fish 

On our way back to the lodge we saw these beautiful animals and got many good photo ops.  They seemed to be posing for the camera.  

We didn't get to see any elephants but we had to clear the road where they had knocked a tree down to get at the leaves.  The guides had a machete and an old dull axe and had it cleared in a few minutes.  "Who needs those fancy chain saws?"  We also drove over much Elephant dung and the car smelled like poo. 

Back at the Lodge for lunch.  Note the misting in the open air restaurant to keep people cool.  

And what is for lunch?  You guessed it - Nile Perch in a coconut, ginger sauce.  

Not the same fish - It is catch and release in the park.  

Little too much sun.  No embarrassment about the size of the fish 

AND THE MORAL OF THE STORY 

After 40 special years Ken is still fortunate enough to catch the really good ones.  

Happy Anniversary