Week 8 | Uganda

Nkulamusizer (greetings) from Bukeka! My luganda words and small phrases are coming ever so slowly! And I have gotten past the point of embarrassing myself, and so most the time we're always laughing at myself trying to respond in the local language. The worst is when you respond to someone correctly but really had no idea what they just said. Luckily I can get off the hook pretty easily yet. It has become quite amusing if I must say. But I enjoy learning more!

We have planted most of the beans and only have just a small bit left. We decided to wait until some rains come so we can be sure the seeds germinate. And the Lord has graciously blessed us, and now it has been raining some the past couple days. 

 A little front porch sitting after church

Shine got to go check on the beans with us...

...and she also had her first driving lesson. She sure thought she was hot stuff when we pulled into school to park the car. We do need to work on her smiling though. 

Shamira, Kevin, Tracy and I just hanging out over lunch break.  

This was the week for grinding the maize! Here we have 1/2 of the corn we harvest and shelled on the way to the mill. 

Each one of the sacks of corn weighs about an average of 117 kilos (258 lb) and takes 2 or 3 men to move them. I think there was like 43 sacks. 

 We ground just shy 5 ton of corn for the school!  

 Weighing. Everyone has to make sure we get the exact weight. 

First step, it get cleaned and chopped a little

Then into this machine where it comes out as flour

All this corn flour will last 3 months and will be used to make posho and porridge for about 300 people daily. 

 Saturday afternoons are my time with the girls. So we all gathered ourselves into the middle room of the safe house and this time I shared with them my own personal salvation story of how I became a christian. And how when becoming a christian at a young age we can save ourselves from so much evil, bad decisions and mess-ups. My favorite was when they asked questions afterwards. Their simplicity and desire to learn how Jesus loves them made my heart soar. Because ever since these girls can remember they have been exposed to so much sadness, abuse, being neglected, and wrong desires. And so when they get the chance to stay at the safe house dorms during school, we strive to pour into them and show them what it means to be a daughter of the King, one that will love them no matter their past or family circumstances. And that there is so much more to life than getting pregnant at 15 years old, and letting lust get in the way. We want to break this cycle of generational poverty in this way! 

Also.... We have a new guest here in the house. He goes by the name of Rodney. He used to be nameless, or he never told us his name anyway, but he seems to enjoy this place, so a friend decided to give him a name for us. Rodney enjoys to eat, and spends most of his time hanging out in the kitchen. The only problem is that he never cleans up after himself and leaves tracings of himself all over the place. He makes so much noise...even when were trying to sleep every once in a while you'll here him messing up something and clanging dishes around. 

If you haven't figured out yet... Rodney is a rat. Rodney the rat. And no we really don't like him. Especially when the electricity goes out and we hafta cook dinner in the dark. But tonight Rodney might breathe his last. Hammy took a tomato (that's his favorite dish) and wondered if I had any last words for him and she shut the door with an evil laugh. He seems to be a smart rat and has escaped traps a few times. So this time it's poison. It will be nice not to have to reclean the dishes in the morning, clean up messes behind the oven, or sweep rat droppings from the stove and cupboards. 

Anyway, wish us luck and I'll update the rat status next week.