Christmas is coming

School here came to a close at the end of November but Special Needs Staff have been BUSY BUSY BUSY with Christmas preparations, our community party, trips to rehabilitation centres and hospitals as well as visiting some of our children in their homes.

Allen with her new keyboard. 

Matovu with his new leg calipers.

The Community party was a great success and the children and their carers/parents enjoyed a time of praise/worship and giving testimonies of how God had been at work in their lives. Uncle George (one of our staff here and an elder in our church) came to speak to and encourage the parents in caring for their children.

We then all enjoyed a great feast of matooke (savoury bananas), beef, ground nut sauce, rice etc. and sodas.

Enjoying the party food!

Allen downing the sodas.

Ready to serve the food!

Our precious Carol (and Auntie Kate) arrived just in time for this great meal having been discharged from Kiwoko hospital following Carol`s surgery to place a gastrostomy (feeding tube.) We are so thankful for all your prayers and for God`s faithfulness. Carol was fit for surgery and Dr Peter, Dr Steve from the UK and his fiancé (an anaesthetist) were able to place the tube using an endoscope so they didn`t even have to cut her (apart from making a tiny hole!) She obviously found it a bit sore at first but was ready to come home the next day and make an appearance at the party! 

Sharon welcoming Carol back from hospital.

The feast was followed by the presentation of gift bags for every child which were handed out by Kakande who took on the Father Christmas role. Unfortunately we didn`t have a Santa suit to dress on him but that wouldn`t really have been understood here anyhow. The gifts bags and their fillings were donated mainly by the small team that came from Harvest church last month to whom we are all very grateful!

In the days that followed the party Christine, Kakande and I went delivering gifts to the children who were not able to come......we were rewarded with some very happy smiles!

Hopefully I will get into town once more before Christmas to update this again but if not then I wish you all a very very happy Christmas and a wonderful 2013 :)
Will leave you with a pic of some of Hope Family and Special Needs enjoying time in the pool.....hope you like Jonnie`s green pants!

Visitors and amazing progress on the house

Hi everyone,
It has been a while since I last wrote but I am in Entebbe for the day after dropping friends at the airport so I am once again making the most of the amazingly fast internet and trying not to be too jealous of the peeps who live in places where they don`t have to struggle for hours with rubbish signals!
Last month (November) I had the Barrett`s (John and Liz) who I stay with in England to visit. Half way through the month 3 other guys from Harvest church joined them: Art, Ben and John number 2.

They all worked amazingly hard along with members of the New Hope Construction team. Dear Liz was slaving away at the sewing machine for hours making curtains for my new bedroom and sofa covers. The lads were constructing my kitchen which included concrete worktops. They also managed to tile the bathroom which, according to my compound worker James now looks like "heaven".

They also had time to spend with the children and staff, experiencing new foods and cultural experiences!
They enjoyed an evening with David family who fed them posho and beans (supplemented with a chocolate cake made by a very grateful Auntie Kate!)

Life also continued with my class and dear children at home including Mary, Jonnie and not so lickle Thomas Dendy (pictured below). They have been having a whale of a time in the paddling pool which Becca brought out when she returned to Kiwoko for a two week visit.....we can`t wait until she comes back next September for a year :)

School finished last Tuesday and we had a lovely party with the parents who gave testimonies of how their children had progressed since joining the class; this was a great encouragement to all of us staff!

We will be partying again this week on Wednesday with all our community children and families. Thanks to the team from Harvest church we have some lovely christmas gift bags to hand out to each of the children....there are going to be some smiley faces to photograph!

Please keep Carol (right) in your prayers this week as she is hopefully going to have surgery this week as there is a surgeon and an anaesthetist here from the UK. She needs a gastrostomy (feeding tube) fitted.

And please also pray for precious Mary (left) who I have been fostering part time......it looks like she may now not come to me full time as her Uncle may now be able to have her back sooner than expected. Please pray that she knows that she is loved and protected wherever she goes and that those involved in making decisions about her future will have wisdom and discernment.

I will leave you with a few pics of how the house is now looking and a classic shot of our dear Kakande.

Hopefully I`ll get a chance (and signal) to write again before Christmas but in the mean time I hope you all enjoy the fun and preparations.......

It`s quite a while since I last wrote.......mainly due to the little lady in this photo who has well and truly walked her way into my heart :)
Dear little Mary is one of the children being cared for in Hope Family which my friends the Dendys run. However, she is now 2 years old so it is time for her to move on. We are planning for her to come and live with me in December but we still need to discuss this with the probation officer and her Uncle. Please keep her in your prayers as she begins transitioning into her new home. It must be so confusing for her wondering why she is leaving the home she has been in since she was a few months old and leaving behind the staff whom she knows as her family. She has certainly been adding fun (and some mess!) into my home.

Yesterday, John (being fostered by the David family parents) and Brian (from my class) came to join her in tipping water, playdough, juice and all sorts all over the verandah! It was great fun!
Please pray for Brian as his Mum and step Dad have now seperated and the situation is very bad (involving police!) We have agreed to keep Brian until the end of term. He seems quite happy at the moment but I am sure he will begin wondering where Mummy is soon!

And for a relaxing end to a crazy day, Christine and I had all of David family over for a movie last night. Unfortunately the power was off but I was very proud of my pooter as it lasted NEARLY the whole film! I am so looking forward to moving into the new house as it is quite difficult to cram more than 25 or more people into our little living room!
Speaking of the house..........the plumber has been there this week and there are now pipes in the bathroom and from the cistern up to our water tower (which is awaiting a big tank!) I am hoping that no leaches, worms or snakes will move into the cistern before we move in the house. This last week, our compound man killed a baby black mamba which was swimming in the cistern where we live now!
I`ll leave you with a couple of photos.....One of a happy Hassan (who doesn`t need surgery on his head; YIPPEE!) and one of Mary and I making friends over a cup of tea and biscuits.......I`ll teach her to be a proper English lady sipping tea and drinking scones :)

Hopefully you will all have received the latest Special Needs Newsletter but if not (and you would like to,) please drop me a line on specialneeds@newhopeuganda.org

Many thanks for all your love and support.

Kate

Parties and Paint.

Hi y`all! I am currently enjoying sometime ‘time out’ with my neighbours to be (the Britton family who are actually not British but Americans who are corrupting my English!!!!) We`ve come to Jinja for the weekend and have just got back from a very delicious meal at a lovely restaurant called ‘The Keep’ which was also showing a Premiership game. I was disappointed that my team (Spurs) weren`t playing but it was nice to see some footie and the chocolate mint milk shake I had for desert was definitely worth the bellyache I will probably have in the morning!

Last weekend was hectic as we celebrated Hassan`s 10<sup>th</sup> birthday along with his friend Honour`s 5^th birthday. It is hard to believe that Hassan has reached double figures. It is amazing that God has sustained him for so long and although physically he is perhaps deteriorating, he continues to smile and ‘shout’ to let us know he is still enjoying life. On the day of the party Hassan was having a bad cough and so had to lie down on the sofa cushions which we carried outside for him. We had a great time playing pass the parcel and musical bumps until the rain came......and we had to cram rather a large number of people into our little house for cake and sodas. The floor still doesn`t feel clean despite being swept and mopped multiple times!

Speaking of houses.....my new house is getting closer to being finished and is now painted inside except for the bathroom which is waiting to be plumbed in before it can then be plastered and painted. Unfortunately some of the painters who were working there decided to help themselves to some of the paint but Uncle Geoff caught them read handed after he felt prompted to ask them what they were carrying out the main gate in a plastic bag!

My new home and the pregnant neighbourhood goat.

The living/dining/kitchen area.

My bedroom.

I am so thankful for this amazing house which will soon be my home and I ask you to pray with me about who God wants to come and live with me. I have been praying seriously about fostering (and possibly adopting in the future,) a little girl who is currently in our baby house (Hope Family.) Please pray with me that I would know God`s will in this big decision.

And finally, I shall post some other photos from the last couple of weeks just because here I have a good internet connection so I CAN......



A Kampala day with Sarah and her two sons (Sam and Tom.)



Our poppet Carol practising sitting like a Baganda lady.
 

 

Hi ho, hi ho, it`s back to school we go!

 

Tomorrow we are going back to school. Are we ready? Probably not! I`m hoping things might slow down once we get back into the swing of things as the 4 week break has been non-stop.

Trips to Kampala to see paediatricians and neurologists, trips to the rehab centre, shopping, cleaning classrooms, home visits, staff envisioning, catching up on paper work, a visit to the police station to visit an abandoned child with special needs, Luganda lessons........and the very occasional afternoon nap!



I will upload some photos for you to see and ask that you pray for us all as we start the new term.

Visiting Allen`s family at home.

The family cat asleep in Dennis` shoe!

The siblings, Father and Grandmother of our dear baby Dissan.

It was really special to be able to go and check on baby Dissan`s family and see how they were coping since he passed away. Uncle Rogers was able to take Annet and I on his Boda one afternoon and we were pleased to find them all at home on the farm where they keep cattle and goats for a 'Mugaga' (rich man) who stays in Kampala. Dissan`s auntie prepared us HUGE mugs of milk tea and we were given lots of bread to eat. After a photo session with all the family they presented us with omuzigo (something like cheese,) some eggs and a chicken to say thank you for what we had done for Dissan. We were able to take a few gifts for his brothers and sisters including some colouring books and pencils. For me I wanted to thank them for allowing me to have known their precious baby brother who I still miss very much!

 

 

 



Carol with her cousin Sandra at her Grandmother`s home.

 



A local homestead where one of community children lives


 



Ivan at home with his siblings.

And last of all, a picture of dear Thomas Dendy (and his friend Genesis) who makes up for the nieces and nephews I have left behind in England. He has learnt to walk in the last couple of months and now there is NO STOPPING HIM!!!