Hello Dear friends and loved ones…although I also do love my friends…anyway, time is flying by for me and its really hard to believe that it is already September. I dont remember if I mentioned that since I am on the equator, the days are 12 hours and then 12 hours of night, but the weird thing is it happens almost instantly….you can wake up at 5:50 am look outside its pitch black…you get something on and head to the latrine, and on your way back you notice it is broad daylight….I had this enlightening discovery one morning and realized I needed to be fully dressed before leaving my house at that hour. At night it is the same thing..it’s like God turns off the light switch and throws the stars into the sky.

Since my last post, I have been to Ugandan funeral. One of our family fathers lost his own mother and several of New Hope members went to support him. They lined the tipper (huge truck) with church benches and filled that full and then we took several other cars and trucks…but we numbered few compared to the 4-500 people that were already there. She died on a Saturday and the burial was done on Monday…I was amazed at how fast the word traveled. Ugandans meet for a time of sharing and a small service and then at precisly 4pm (unless you are a twin….they get buried at 2pm) its time for the burial. Everyone walked into the bush behind the house where the family burial grounds were and a hole had been prepared. The men lowered the casket and put pillows and blankets around and then a mesh grate, roofing tin and more rebar then started filling it with cement. The caskets in Uganda have windows either on the side or on the top so you can make sure the person being buried is the right one and that the person is indeed not alive…with a burial now being witnessed I think the window thing is a good idea because it all happened so fast.

Well, as I mentioned I have not had guests so I have had a bit of time on my hands….and have been exploring the outer villages from where I live with my boda boda driver, his name is Joseph. For those of you that have read the New Hope Book, Joseph is one of the original 10 children that formed New Hope and he now lives with his wife and 2 daughters in Kabubu. We have been to Wakayamba to visit the childcare center, Kiryanango to see the watering well, Wabitunda, we saw white turkeys in Lwabijogo and today we went to the memorial for the war. I forgot the name of the little village now but I was amazed at the memorial. The area I live in had a Peoples War from 1981-1986, the exact years that I gave birth to my children. The memorial that I seen today is a small building with a large tomb and granite tiles, one that explains the war. A man seen us looking at the memorial and came by to tell us that this tomb held 5000 skulls of people from the war. Skulls that were collected all over the nearby villages as people returned and started living on the land again. They even moved the encasing and showed us the mass grave. When I returned home, I was talking to Jennie about wanting to go remark the grave words that had been worn off and Joseph wanted to go “slash” (cut the grass) around the memorial. Then she told me that it would be very meaningful to him because he had lost his father in that war and that is how he became a son of New Hope. I have plans to go next thursday to help restore this landmark and honor my friend Joseph.

Back at Kasana I have been skipping rope with the girls and kicking a banana leaf ball like soccer with some of the little guys…we have a great time. I have also been working in the gardens with the kids as they have had the last two weeks of school off. Since they went back to school on Monday, I have no playmates and found myself eating mangos and sitting under banana trees…..it was when I caught myself singing “Bare Necessities of life…” that I thought it might be good to get out of the jungle for a bit…. so I am going on a journey to Jinja.

Jinja is about a 4 hour ride on public transport…which is much cheaper than having a hired driver, so public it is….and I am sure much more of an adventure! I really need to wrap up and get to bed, I have found out the “express” matato comes at around 6am. If I miss that one, then the next one will stop many more times along the way. Rukundo just found out at dinner tonight that I was planning on taking public, so he called the driver for me and asked him to look for the muzungo (white chick) along the way…..thanks Rukundo. A matato is the locals version of a taxi…a mini van that they stuff 14 people into (not exagerrating this time) and off you go like a bat out ….fast…very very fast….. Knowing that I would soon venture on the matato, I tried one on Monday to go to Luweero…just 18 km up the road….there was only 12 people in when they stopped to get me and we were flying when I heard a pop and then rubber started flying off the car….we came to a shrieking halt..slidding on dirt gravel roads and then everyone piled out…sure enough we had blown a tire. Then they all piled back in and we finished the journey all the way into the taxi park. There you go, you only have to check that its flat before you proceed. The entire country is somewhat of an amuzement park….without paying for the thrill rides…there are wild animals, wild rides, people always yelling muzungo as if I am in a freak show.
So I will be sending a prayer request for travel safety as I venture to Jinja. I plan on taking a time to pray, sleep in, and go to Bujagoli Falls. I also heard they have ATVs to rent and plan on doing that for 4 hours on the second day, it runs right alongside the falls. There is white water rafting as well, but I believe it is out of my prce range. I am traveling as cheaply as possible staying at dormitories for only $5 night and spend some money on adventures instead of fancy pillows. Then I am going to splurge one night, I was told there is a place that serves ribs…I cant wait to have ribs…!!!

Speaking of the bare necessities of life….if you have a bible, dark chocolate and real oranges….you could live anywhere. My friends Jamie and Jennie blessed me with 6 american oranges and I am salivating over the smell of the rinds hours after I have eaten one….. You really dont think of simple things like oranges until you live in the jungle where everything is green….oranges, lemons, limes, avacados, mangos, papayas, matoke…but they insist that they dont eat green things …..which they call lettuce. Well, my dear ones, I cant think of anything else this week, so I will let you know about my time in Jinja when I get home. I did finally get my first package from America today! Praise God..it was gum and calendar, calculator, bandages and some index cards (those are like gold around here and I have four colors…) from my mom…thanks mom….I called to thank her and she told me that she has given my blog out to several of her friends in Kansas…so hello to Kansas, hope all is well…..which actually brings up one other item now that I think about it….we were advised this week in our staff meeting about properly greeting others here at New Hope (its also very Ugandan to not just say hello) …..we need to take time and ask about the family, the chickens, pigs etc and really care about each other. Which I totally agree but a few muzungos this week have taken it way out of proportion and its gotten rather out of hand really…LOL Anyway, I do hope all your kin, and chickens,pigs and grandmothers are doing well and thank you for your prayers.

Bless you all,

Desiree