Thursday, November 12, 2015

"I see you, I see another life saved"

We arrived in Entebbe without difficulty! All flights were on time with no delays. All team members received their visa without issue as well. All tubs made it with only a few opened. With Tom and Bosco’s muscles all 24 tubs were pulled from the baggage claim carousel and loaded onto carts. We lined up and moved out! All members made it past the custom agents and guards without getting stopped. Richard, Jackson, and Roger met us outside to load the bus and drive us to Lake Victoria View for the night.

In the morning we did introductions with the team. The most striking thing stated that morning was “I see you, I see another life saved” by Jackson. Jackson was kidnapped by LRA soldiers and forced into the army. He was able to escape and find refuge at the farm. Once introductions and breakfast were completed we were left for the city to complete supply shopping. Uganda time had set in! It took far longer to complete the supply shopping than any of us expected. We hit the road for the farm late. The traffic was so thick it took and hour and half to get out of Kampala! We did finally reach the farm about 1:00 a.m. on the 6th.

We all were travel tired so stayed in bed late, about 830-9am. We got up had breakfast and planned the day. The first order of business was to tour the farm. It is amazing to see the improvements from visit to visit! After the tour the people all met to talk about the microloans. Many business ideas were brought forward. They will be writing business plans and submitting them for approval when we return to the farm next week. Once the large group meeting was over The crafts team met in a separate area to talk about new craft ideas. The women seemed to automatically want to start sewing! The men saw new woodworking ideas and wanted to start right away too! We then unpacked many tubs for the clinic. We loved seeing how happy Susan was to receive supplies to care for the people.

Today was a day for the nursery school! Ranae lead the students in the story of Noah’s arc. Rae, Eva, and Stephanie assisted the groups. The story was followed by a puppet display of the story and masks! We went outside and found the animal that was like our own and ran and played!

Tom is currently testing wells. Neal, our soils expert, is in high demand! He is out going plot to plot and testing soils. Many are anxious to hear what may help their crops grow. Nadine has been very busy continuing with planning. The rain water collection system is being started and she is overseeing that.

Travel up north has caused some concern as it is the wet season here. Nadine is working on planning for travel since we are certain the bus will not be able to make it.

That is al for now! We will right soon…

What a blessing this trip has been and so many more blessings to come. We need to remind ourselves every day how fortunate we are, what we have and and to appreciate every gift God has given us!

- Ranae Parker


PS:  we convoyed up to Kitgum and Palabek with 3 4 wheel drive vehicles and it worked out very well. More news of palabek, Kitgum, awal and gulu projects to follow....Thanks for the prayers.  The team is doing great!

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