An unexpected, but necessary intermission…

Soleil has had a fever for three days now. We went to The Surgery this morning . The Surgery is a great clinic/hospital that many expats, NGOs and “upcountry”* organizations use as they even have auto and air ambulance services. We are grateful for the wonderful healthcare available to us in the city for quite low costs.

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*upcountry refers to well, everything above Kampala, which is quite a bit of the country. It is the African bush and village scenario as opposed to our far more urbanized lifestyle here in our 2 million people plus city.
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So anyway, Soleil. Is sick. High fever of 103.8F last night and throughout the night. Miserable. Gave her Tylenol and put her in a bath at midnight and that helped bring it down. She still had a fever around 101 this morning. The Dr. ruled out an ear or throat infection. They are running other tests (blood, urine, etc.) to rule out other issues such as urinary tract infection, malaria, etc. (It’s totally NOT malaria, don’t worry.) The fever has really been her only symptom so he thought it likely to be a viral infection she is fighting but we may know more when we get the test results back.

And in somewhat related news, this blog has run out of storage space for pictures!!! So we will have to have an intermission from my 7 day series as I take care of sick baby and work on my new blog. I could just delete the previous photos but I’ve gotten rather attached to blogging with pictures and would anticipate the same thing happening again so we will have to do a move from this blog to a different one. Just to warn you. The new blog address will be forthcoming…

We appreciate your prayers for Soleil’s health and our continued adjustment to life and ministry here. I may have had a few moments today being overwhelmed with all we need to do and/or feel like we should be doing. {buy furniture, write newsletters, write thank yous, start language studies, deal with some car maintenance, keep up with ministry, home, neighbors, and etc but you get the idea…!} So as we deal with these normal (but sometimes stressful) things to do please continue praying for us for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control in all situations! 

We know the Maker of each new day, and we know He holds new mercies for us each new morning, and that is enough.

Happy Monday, all!

Hope you had a restful Sunday yesterday!  I took a day of rest from my 7 day series of “catching you up.”

Just some photos I have taken around the house/yard of things that are different than in N. America. 

Not owning a dryer here we hang everything outside, all the time. I now have a finely tuned thunder-radar! I have learned to take my clothes down from the line when it rains. So here is our line, as well as our wall.    

And a close up shot of the extra security on the wall. Those are broken glass bottle shards stuck into the cement. It’s normal for their to be barbed wire or glass on top of the compound walls. Most homes are behind walls, so it does make it a little harder to get to know your neighbors!

This guy was finishing up the wall right outside my kitchen window. I couldn’t believe the ladder. Before he was done he added the glass.

This guest house is being built right across from our road. I just thought the scaffolding deserved a photograph.  Wow!

This building is 4 stories tall. Impressive balance!

This is Nanfuka Lydia. She comes 3 mornings a week to help me with the house upkeep. It has been an experience for us both – as I learn how Ugandans keep house and she learns how Mzuungus keep house! We both go to UCF so that is how we got connected. Lydia attends a technical college in the afternoon – she is taking a 2 year course in Early Childhood Education and will become a nursery teacher. (our equivalent to preschool). She comes at 8 am which is why Soleil is still in jammies!

A bar of soap. You just cut it and off ya go! 2.2 pounds of soap!

Here are my two local brooms made of sticks. The tightly tied broom on the right is for indoor use and the wide, loose broom is for outside. I just swept my porch this morning and made it spic and span with the outdoor broom. The technique is to bend over at the waist, use the broom with one hand, and rest your free hand, palm up, on your lower back. Sort of like how a speed skater goes around the corners. Well, without the ice. And next to the brooms is my beautiful Italian stove. The oven and one element are electric and the other three elements are propane. I loved cooking on propane in Ontario so was happy to continue here. I haven’t even used the electric element yet. But the oven, well, that is used ALL the time!

This guy came and took the tin out of my porch (yaay, now we can use the porch again!) and welded it onto the gate. Soleil and I were stopping foot traffic when we would play outside so it is nice to be able to roam around the compound without attracting a crowd. Some people have never seen a white baby before so I totally understand, but I am thankful for the tin on the gate!  Cool work equipment, huh!? It got the job done!

I went to downtown Kampala a few weeks ago with a friend to find some material for curtains. It was so fun. We walked down a narrow, steep road lined with fabric shops and light fixture shops. We didn’t find what we needed at the first shop so the shop owner led us to his brother’s shop, then his cousins, then his other brother’s shop and you get the picture! Everything was either too too too expensive or they didn’t have enough fabric of one kind (everything came in 6 yard cuts). I decided to compromise and bought a bolt (30 yards) of  cheap plain navy blue fabric that is generally used for school uniforms. Then we kept walking and found another shop on the other side of the taxi park that sells 12 yard cuts of really great fabric for really affordable prices! (I paid $40 for TWENTY FOUR YARDS of fabric for my living room curtains!)  AND the shop owner had more than one cut of the same kind of fabric! So the red fabric is for my kitchen and spare room curtains and the yellow is for Soleil’s bedroom. The kitchen curtains are done…I’ll have to take pictures of the finished product! I also found a lovely turquoise and brown fabric for my living room curtains (one set of 3 is done!). 

So, the goings on of life in Africa really are the same as anywhere. Cleaning, sewing, cooking, washing. My work at home gives Blair the freedom to go and do what God has called and gifted him to do. And God is bringing people to me, which is great! This week we hosted 3 seperate groups of people 3 days in a row and enjoyed lots of eating and visiting! Pray for me, also, as I spend many hours with Lydia each week and desire to be a godly example and good teacher and friend.  

I am excited about speaking at the end of this month at the Women of Grace fellowship. I will let you know how that goes!    

Blessings!
Aletha

Hello! I spent the day sewing curtains for my living room while Blair prepped for a Bible Study he is giving next week on Acts 10. All that to say I’m tired and the following blog seemed easiest to do tonight, so more introductions! I am determined to complete 7 days in a row. So far so good. 

I thought I would introduce you to Soleil’s friends here in Kampala. It’s not really a proper ”missionary” blog, I guess, but our lives and missionary work here in Kampala are built, and will be built, on relationships, not true? And ”they” say that kids are one of the greatest tools in getting Mom and Dad networked into the community. So, without further apologies,

Here are some of her buddies…

This is Hamlet! He is often at church hanging around with his mom, who is either staff or a volunteer, not sure. Here he is playing peekaboo with Soleil in the reception office. (one day last month when Soleil and I brought Blair lunch). Soleil and Hamlet get along great and have fun together. I think Hamlet is making three, or maybe he just made three. Can’t remember. Soleil just made one last week! The first time I heard that phrase I was like, “what is Hamlet making three of?”  North Americans would say  ”he is almost 3 years old” or “turning 3 soon.” Oh, the learning curve for me! And I have made 27!

This is Claire! She lives here in our compound and is a sweet, hard working, funloving 5 year old. She loves Soleil and plays with her when she gets a chance. Soleil always starts waving and baby-talking when she sees Claire.

Claire is in the black dress below and Shivon is in the purple dress. Shivon lives here in the compound too. She is 7 years old and attends school, so Soleil doesn’t get to play with her as often. The girls LOVED pushing Soleil around on the car (Soleil’s early birthday gift) and would have done it all day if I would have allowed it!

 Our friends Elisha, Jotham and Rebekah visited us this past week! The kids (Jotham, Rebekah and Soleil) are finally able to interact and play together a bit more now that they are all a little older. They had so much fun, although Soleil did receive her first goose egg, bruised cheek and gum when she and Rebekah took a tumble (it was an accident!). It’s too bad the twins live out of town…we only end up visiting about every 6 weeks. Here they are…

I love the picture below! SO CUTE! and HAPPY! and BIG! They are 16 months old now. (And speaking of twins, did you know that in Uganda there are set names for twins, depending on birth order and gender? Like, I mean there is a set name for the firstborn twin if it’s a girl, firstborn twin if it’s a boy, secondborn twin if it’s a girl and second born twin if it’s a boy. You get the picture. Anyone hearing their name would know they are a twin and in what birth order they came! So Rebekah (firstborn and female) is Babirye and Jotham (secondborn and male) is Kato. My Uncle Keith (first twin and male) would be Odongo and my mom (2nd and female) would be Nakato. And the names are used interchangeably with their given names. Fascinating, huh!?   I just got asked the other day if there are twins where I come from and what the names are for them…I told them we do have twins, but unfortunately not the cool naming traditions).

This is a beautiful picture with their Tata. It is hard to think that their Mama does not get to watch them grow up, get to see those beautiful smiles, or hear the joyful laughter pealing out when their daddy throws them in the air…I look forward to meeting Robinah someday in heaven! 

Soleil’s first meeting with these new pals didn’t go over real well as you can see below, but she is so very attached to them now! Just today she started crying when they went home.  Let me introduce, the BUNNIES!

There are only 3 pictured above, but our compound-neighbor and friend and bunny-owner Ken had all 6 roaming around last week on the grass. It was their first time outside and they didn’t know what to think. They kept running away but would run straight into the cement step, or Soleil’s leg, or whatever happened to be in the way. That is why her leg is lifted in the picture up above. She did NOT know what to think either!   Here is Ken!

Ken gave a bunny to Soleil on her birthday, did I mention that?!!!! It’s one of the black and white ones. I didn’t get any pictures because our camera battery had died. Yes. A rabbit! Soleil will love it to peices, for sure. Mama may not, but that’s okay.
 
So, I hope you’ve enjoyed ‘meeting’ some of Soleil’s friends…although it just occured to me I don’t have any pictures of the Baby Class. Soleil has about 5 girlfriends at church (Shalom, Priscilla, Akilah, Kom and Kemmy),  that she plays with in Baby Class occasionally. (when she’s just too tired to sit nicely any longer in church!) She loves playing with the toys and is learning to play with her friends too.  

 Goodnight!
Aletha for Blair and Soleil too

Since we arrived in July we have gotten to know some wonderful mzuungus (literally it means “white man” but is liberally applied to most pale-faced foreigners) and I thought maybe you would like to get to know them too.

So back in late August six of us newer missionaries took a LAMP course (Language Acquisition Made Practical). I was thrilled to have a chance to catch up with nurses B and Kelly. We got to know them during our first few days at Matooke Inn when we were all getting over jet lag together, having been on the same flight in from London. They work about 4 hours away as nurses at a ministry that cares for, feeds and teaches about 300 kids each day and houses about 50 overnight.

Our LAMP course was held at the Fowler’s house in Entebbe and we were also excited to get to know Leo, Menda and kids better as we had just spent 3 weeks together at ABO in Kenya. Leo is an boat mechanic who keeps the boats floating for the island ministries of Lake Victoria.  

Our LAMP teacher was Linda, from Sudan. Her husband Phil was filling in at the office for someone on home assignment so it all worked out nicely. 

Pictured below is our Lamp Group: 
Aletha, Blair, B, Kelly, Menda and Leo, Linda and Phil.

Here are Soleil’s favorite mzuungu buddies, the Fowler kids. From L to R … in the back row on the back and arms of the couch we have Lizzie, Isaac and Ned, then in the middle we have B and Kelly (um, not Fowlers), then in the front we have Samuel, Malachi, Rylea, Nezzie and Kaiden. (in order of age it goes Ned, Rylea, Lizzie, Kaiden, Nezzie, Isaac, Samuel and Malachi)

New to you in the photo below is Judy, who is a teacher from Alberta. She is helping Menda home school the kids and has been in Uganda one year. The first family she home schooled went on home assignment. She’s fun!

Bill and Laurie our are Kampala unit leaders and oversee all us K’la missionaries. Bill was a great help in setting up our appliances. (our house needed some plumbing and electrical tweaking). And they plan monthly prayer meetings, fellowships, once a year retreat (where this photo was taken) and just generally check in and see how things are going. They are fun. They have twins! Meghan and Liam attend an AIM boarding school in Kenya.

This next couple, Gregg and Karen, both work in the AIM office. Karen is in charge of the AIM Short-Term Department for all of Africa, I think…and Gregg is our Regional Administrative Officer. They are BUSY people, but make time for us every two weeks. They are walking with us as we go through “Inbound” – AIM’s program for newbies like us…we deal with stuff like language acquisition, culture and communication, church, stewardship, um, and like 7 other categories. They are  wise, humble, and a joy to meet with.    

These sweet girls are Lyn, Rhonda and Phyl. Lyn, our fantastic Brit, is the office manager and also deals with all the immigration and travel stuff for us. She’s about to go on Home Assignment, so if the Lord is calling you to administration in Africa, well, email me. Soleil always has a smile for Lyn. Rhonda is an itinerant art teacher, actually also from Sault Sainte Marie! She has recently been primarily teaching art in prisons (to the children) and to home schooling families. Phyl is the Matooke Guest House manager, and has quite the ministry with MANY people coming and going. Not pictured, but should be, is Laura, who is in charge of Finances  (also a busy busy job!).

Here we have Ashley, Carolyn, Kelly, Grace and Maren. They are all short-termers but I wish they were long-termers!  From nursing to office work to orphans and street kid ministry these great girls are a blessing wherever they go, I am sure of it!

I think the Kampala unit has 5 different countries represented (US, Canada, UK, Korea, Germany) and it is neat to see God’s people from all different “tribes” working together for His glory.

Hope you enjoyed meeting some of our mzuungu friends.
Love,
Aletha