My Life as a Driver

Since I (Lorenda, of course) have stopped being at babies’ home everyday, my tasks and responsibilities have been very varied. One day last week, I was the driver for the maintenance team.
Getting around in Kampala is much different than at home. In Canada, in order to be a tradesperson with a service company, you would be required to have a driver’s licence. Here, many people do not have a licence and most people do not have cars. An organization like Watoto has drivers that take people to where they need to be. However, the number of vehicles/drivers available isn’t always adequate to meet the needs so sometimes you need to wait for hours for transport. Of course, that makes Greg crazy to have his guys sitting around waiting for transport to one of the other sites. For that reason, Greg found a way to get a vehicle for the maintenance department- that helps to get the team to where they need to be. Sometimes, they need to have people in different places in one day so we also use our vehicle as a maintenance transport vehicle at times. That’s what I was doing last week when I was driving some of the team members around the city.
Greg has a great team of guys and it has been a real joy getting to know them during our time here. Most of them are young enough to be our children and we refer to them as our “Ugandan sons”. Last week Ed and Grace (the “men in black” from the pictures a couple days back) needed to be transported to a site near the guesthouses and our apartment. Since I was going that way, I was to drop them at the site and go back for them a few hours later- no problem. You need to know something about my relationship with these two young men- they really are like my sons, they are quite comfortable with me and we laugh and joke with each other all the time.
As we were about to drive out of the parking lot, we were flagged down. Two welders from Suubi (Katamba and Moses) also needed to go to the same location and wanted to hop in with us. I have met Katamba only once before and had never met Moses. As these guys would find out, they were in for a very interesting ride!
At this point I need to give you a little information about Ugandan culture and demographics. Half the population in Uganda is 15 years of age or younger. The life expectancy is 50-53 years with only 2.1% of population being 65 years of age or older. Age is treated with great respect here- when you see a younger person being introduced to an older person, the young person will kneel to shake the older person’s hand. Keep all of that in mind as I tell you my adventures!
I knew the route to our destination, but at certain times of day or certain days of the week, some routes are better than others so I asked which way I should go- big mistake! I would get to a corner, Ed would tell me to turn, Grace would tell me to go straight, then they would start to “argue” about it and the other two just sat there looking on at the madness. I just took my normal route and ignored them and their banter.
If I were to compare Ed and Grace to my kids, Ed would be Courtney and Grace would be Charissa (and on this day, the other two would be Carlen- just sitting back and watching). When we are going to the vehicle, Grace always gets there first so he can ride in the front and give me instructions on how to drive- “You’re going too slow. Get in this lane. Cut this guy off. Go, go, go!” Fortunately, I have the skill of being able to ignore people very well, but the looks on the faces of Katamba and Moses was hilarious- no one talks to their elders that way! Grace knows what he can get away with and knows that I will give it right back to him- we have a great time, but in this culture, it is seen as him disrespecting me.
As we were driving along a little further, we started to have a conversation about age. I really don’t remember just what we were talking about, but it was something related to age. At that point Grace comes out with a comment that I think was supposed to be a compliment (they aren’t always easy to spot here). He looked at me and said, “You don’t look old, but you are!” When I responded, “You’re lucky I’m driving right now or I would beat you down”, Grace gave me one of his big, glowing smiles, Katamba and Moses looked like they were ready to get out and walk, Ed just laughed- he is used to our exchanges!
We arrived safely at the destination and I told them I would be back for them at 1:00. Since they would be working over lunchtime, I decided to make lunch for each of them. I made them each a sandwich and bought a Pepsi and a small pack of Gorillos (kinda like cheezies) for each of them.
Time for another short cultural lesson. They do not eat sandwiches here- they may have a piece of bread with jam on it, but they don’t do meat sandwiches.
When I got back to the site, Katamba and Moses finished their work first so I gave them their lunch and they enjoyed it. Grace was next to be done so he ate his lunch while we waited for Ed to finish up what he was doing. Since we were now running a little behind, Ed had to eat his lunch while we drove. I wasn’t really paying attention to what was going on in the vehicle until I heard Ed say, “Grace, stop looking at me!”
I informed them that they sounded like my kids when they were five years old, “Mom, Courtney is looking at me.” They all laughed, but Ed said he knew that Grace was going to try to steal his lunch. Predictably, my next line was, “If I have to stop this car…” Of course I had to explain to them what that meant, but then they all laughed.
Ed managed to finish his lunch without Grace nabbing it. He thanked me for the lunch. Then a few minutes later I heard Ed say, “Lorenda”- you need to know that Ed is quieter and not nearly so sassy as Grace. When Ed said my name, I responded, “Yes”. Rather tentatively he asked me, “What did I just eat?” Everyone in the vehicle was quiet- they were probably all wondering the same thing!
My response was, “Do you remember the cat that has been hanging around our compound that I don’t like?” They all laughed. They don’t always get our humour/sarcasm, but they all understood that.
I then proceeded to explain the sandwich to them and realized that there was nothing about it that they recognized. I had bought multigrain bread and had sliced it nice and thick. There was mayonnaise, ham and salami- all foreign to them, but things that we take for granted. Greg took Grace out for lunch a couple of weeks ago and for the first time in his life, he had a burger. There are so many cultural things that we don’t even think about until something like this happens.
In my first two visits here, I never thought I would get to the point where I could possibly consider driving around Kampala as fun. But it is- because of the people that I get to hang out with. Part of me really wants to “pull back” and stop getting to know people better because it is going to hurt so much to leave here. Of course I know that is wrong, but when you start to love people this much, it is going to make it so much harder to leave.

The "goings on" around here!

On Monday morning last week, Lorenda headed out to Country Lake Resort on beautiful Lake Victoria. The event was a retreat for the staff from the three Watoto guesthouses. They have never had a retreat- they are always needed to host other people instead. This year management decided they would block out two days for the staff to get away, have some education sessions, get to know each other better and have a little fun.
We arrived at the resort (not far from Kampala) at about 10 AM and checked into our rooms. It was wonderful to spend the next two days getting to know the guesthouse staff and management better. We spent time in education sessions, eating great food, talking, swimming and we had one great volleyball game. Peter (guesthouse general manager who used to be the chef at the guesthouse our building teams have stayed at) and I started out on the same team, but since I am rather competitive and he is a ball hog, we had to get put on opposite teams so a fistfight did not break out! Just kidding, of course- it was all in good fun!
After our time of resting, fun and learning, we boarded the bus at 3:00 on Tuesday. We left our quiet solitude behind and headed back to noisy, crazy Kampala!
Meanwhile, there were exciting things going on in other parts of Watoto while we were off enjoying our time in the country.
As I mentioned earlier, Greg went off on Tuesday to buy a suit to wear to the wedding we were attending on Saturday. I mentioned the purple shirt, right? Ugandans seem to love purple- we even have a purple chair and stool in our apartment! My sister would love it here! Anyway, on Tuesday Greg went and bought his suit and purple shirt (photographic evidence below!)
Another very exciting event happened last Tuesday. Our Watoto family grew by 4300…chicks! Watoto has several sustainability projects that include a goat barn, a vegetable farm and now a chicken farm. Construction of the chicken barn has been underway since before we arrived and now it is up and running- what an exciting journey it has been. The barn is a fully automated operation with a conveyor belt that takes the eggs away as they are laid. The second batch of chicks (another 4300) arrived yesterday so in about 4 months there should be about 7000 eggs per day being produced in that barn. That is enough to feed the children in the Watoto villages and have some to sell. Four of my friends and I went out yesterday to see the chicks and see the barn in operation. It is so exciting to see such an amazing operation in the middle of sub-Saharan Africa (much thanks goes to an egg producer from UK who is a great friend of Watoto).
Sustainability- one of the big things that drew us to Watoto when we first started looking at the organization several years ago.

Greg with two of our Ugandan "sons" Ed on the left and Grace on the right and of course, the purple shirt!

The Men in Black- Grace, Ed and the pasty white guy!

They are all so proud of their new work van- it had to get in the photos too!

The Rest of the Story...

The next chapter…if you didn’t read yesterday’s blog yet, you need to go back and read it or none of this will make any sense.
So even though she is now working with Cyrus and the kids, Joanna still plans to honour the commitment she made to work at the home for pregnant teens. Her plan was to rent an apartment (as had been her plan from the beginning), work at the teen home for her shifts and help Cyrus with the kids as much as possible.
Then God revealed to her that He wanted her to live in the home with Cyrus and the kids and be a mom to the children. She was a little reluctant to discuss this with Cyrus as she didn’t want him to feel like she was “swooping in”- the rich mzungu coming in with all her money to pay rent and bills and “take over” after he has done all this hard work “in the trenches” (literally) with these kids. She stewed and fretted about it and asked the Lord to show her the right time to speak to him about it. The Lord showed her the right time and his response was not one of being territorial or defensive. He welcomed the idea and said, “Of course you are not going to rent an apartment. You are going to live here with us- these children need a mother!”
One girl wrote Joanna a letter and told her how much her love meant. She had never had anyone that loved her. She was so grateful that Joanna gave her 100% attention (the girl’s words). As Joanna said, I didn’t give her anymore attention than I gave any of the others. So the reality is that this girl was getting 1/46th of Joanna’s attention, but to her it was 100% because for the first time in her life she had a “mom” who loved her!
Joanna has money to pay the rent and utilities, buy food, pay school fees for whatever period of time, but she knows that she can’t do it indefinitely so she started to pray for sponsors. The week they moved into the house she asked the Lord to provide one sponsor for each child in the next 7 days (46 sponsors in 7 days in an organization that doesn’t even really exist yet- can’t be done, can it?). On the Friday of the first week, they were having a celebration supper to thank God for their new home. A few days before, Joanna said, “God, can I change that request- I want one sponsor for each child by Friday so that we can celebrate that too!” (Is this woman crazy?) Thursday night at 10:00PM they received their 50th sponsor! “God can do exceedingly, abundantly more than we can ever ask or imagine” I know that is not a direct quote of that verse and I don’t know where it is found in the Bible, but those were the only words that came to me when Joanna told me that.
Joanna’s plans have now changed! She is still going to honour her commitment to the Youth for Christ teen home, but two weeks ago she moved into the house with Cyrus and the kids.
She is in the process of getting registered as an NGO and she is staying here forever! She has no plans to go back to Sweden. She has huge hopes and dreams that God will build this so they can help even more kids.
She just beams when she talks about the kids. They used to be the really bad kids in the slum, stealing all the time (just to survive!) The police cannot believe the change in these kids- they used to be dealing with these kids all the time for stealing and now these kids are like little evangelists, telling others about the love of Jesus. The kids pray four times a day and basically pray without ceasing in between- they pray with each other and for each other. There is a 10 year old that is “the pastor”- God just gives this kid so much wisdom and he preaches to the others. It is unbelievable!
Joanna is absolutely beaming- like a new mother which she is! She had always dreamed of having children and lots of them, but at some point in her marriage, they found out they would not be able to have children. She was devastated! Now God has given her 46 children! I think that falls into the category of “be careful what you pray for, you just might get it!” She just keeps saying, “God this is too much- I don’t deserve this much blessing.” I wish you could see her beaming and see how radiant she is! If you look at the pictures on her blog, you will see her with the kids- beaming and radiant!
All of the above is clips from an e-mail I sent out to our family after my conversation with Joanna. At that point we had not met the kids yet. Two Sundays ago we went over to meet the kids and drop off some things we had for them. Watoto had recently replaced the mosquito nets at the three guesthouses. The old nets were discolored and had some small holes in them, but could still certainly be of good use to someone and Watoto was looking to donate them. We had the privilege of providing all the mosquito nets these kids need to protect them from malaria carrying mosquitoes as they sleep. Greg had a roll of duct tape in our vehicle and asked if she could use that. She was so excited for that roll of tape and had lots of plans to fix things with it. As Greg’s t-shirt says, “I can fix anything. Where’s the duct tape?”
Mattresses have been donated by some volunteers Joanna met here. Another couple has donated beds- triple decker bunk beds that are currently being made at Watoto’s metal fabrication shop. Right now the kids are sleeping on mattresses on the floor but that is way better than they have ever slept on before!
It was such a privilege to meet these amazing kids (number 47 had arrived the day prior to our visit). Greg was smart enough to wear sunglasses so the kids couldn’t see him crying. I was not that smart and just stood there with tears running down my face! Some of the older kids (the ones dancing in the YouTube video below) were not around as they were performing at a church that day. The other kids danced and sang for us (video attached) and it was such a tremendous blessing.
Joanna showed us around their house. Minimal furniture right now- just the mattresses on the floor that the kids sleep on. They have plates to eat off of, but they eat with their hands (not uncommon in Uganda). Another woman who has a heart for street children bought a washing machine, fridge and stove (or cooker, as they are called here). They still have lots of needs, but the children have way more now than they have ever had in their lives.
As Joanna gave us a tour of the house, she told us how the children responded to everything there. I already told you how they all stood in the bath tub and were singing into the shower (there are pictures on Joanna’s blog- address below). She has had to lock the room where the washing machine is because the kids would all huddle around it and watch it. The machine has a glass lid so the children can see it washing, but they can’t understand how the clothes get clean without a person scrubbing them.
It was such a joy to see these amazing children so thrilled with the everyday things that we all take for granted. It was an incredible blessing to be in their midst. We have been gathering a few more little things for them and we can’t wait to go back and see them all again.
We have attached the video of the kids singing for us.
Joanna also has a blog   www.theselittleangels.blogspot.com
She is a little disappointed in the blog because she is writing it in English (Swedish is her first language) and can’t express herself the way she would like to. I think it is a great blog and it has lots of pictures.
The link to the YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLGXI54hLkE
When the kids danced in this competition, the judges scored them the highest. However, the competition is kind of like American Idol in that it is the number of votes that determines who wins the competition. People send SMS (text message) to vote and that is what determines the winner. There is a really “awkward” moment at the end of this video where the MC tells the kids to get their parents and everyone to vote for them! Of course they had no family there to vote for them- they have no family! They came in third at that competition because of the votes by SMS. However, they are in another competition on October 9 and we are gathering “an army” of people to go, watch and vote for them. The winning team gets a prize of 500,000 shillings- that would be a big help to Joanna, Cyrus and the kids.
I hope you take the time to check out the videos and the blog- it will be a huge blessing to you. I guarantee it!

My friend Joanna

As promised, here is the story of Joanna.
I (Lorenda) met Joanna while working at Watoto’s Babies’ home. She arrived in early May and planned to work with Watoto for five months and then she was going to work with Youth for Christ at their home for pregnant teens. Because of the timing of her arrival, my sister-in-law, Tanya and all three of our kids got to know Joanna as well. So here’s the story- I am trying to edit it down, but I don’t want to miss any exciting details so this may be a VERY long post with links and an amazing video at the end!
One morning I was sitting at my desk and Greg calls and asks if I want to go to Suubi children’s village with him. My first thought was “Why on earth would I want to drive out to Suubi and turn around and drive back?” But for some reason I decided to go along. Greg was already out on Buganda Road (street behind the church)- he was already on his way and for some reason he decided to call and ask me to go along. Little did we know that there was going to be a huge “God moment”- or more like “God hour” when we got there.  As we arrived at the metal fabrication shop at Suubi, there was Joanna. I hadn’t sat down and talked to Joanna for quite some time so I was eager to find out what was new in her life- boy, was I in for a big, long, exciting adventure.
A couple of months ago, Joanna decided to go to a dance competition at The Miracle Center. Most of the dance groups were youth groups from various churches, but there was one group that stood out- so much better than all the other groups. Joanna came to find out that they were street kids and God planted in her a desire to know more and to meet these kids. Through a friend she got connected to Cyrus- the young man that works with these kids. He agreed to take her to the slum so she could see where these kids live.
But how did Cyrus get connected with these kids, you ask. Three or four years ago Cyrus had a dream one night. In the dream he saw a slum area of Kampala, then he saw a specific building and behind that building, a bathroom (outhouse). In that building was huddled six children and God told him the name of each of the children- Sharon, Beatrice- sorry I don’t remember all the names, but Cyrus did. The next morning he got up and said to a friend, I need to find these kids and off he went. God led him to that slum, to the building and to the bathroom behind the building. He opened the door and there was six children huddled inside. He said to them, “You are Sharon, you are Beatrice…” and named each one of them by name. The children asked, “How do you know who we are? No one knows who we are. We are no one to anybody. No one knows our name.” Cyrus told them, “God knows your name.” The kids asked, “Who is God?” Cyrus told them, “I am going to show you.”
Cyrus took these six children home to live with him in his very humble dwelling. Cyrus too lived in a slum as a child and got money by dancing on the street- that was the only skill he knew so he taught it to the kids. Then the kids started to tell him about other kids who live in the slum so he would go back to the slum and teach all the kids to dance so they could earn money. There are now 46 children, but Cyrus did not have room to house anymore than the original six. The others slept in the “homes” of people from Cyrus’ church, but the families did not have food to feed an extra mouth. The children learned to dance to earn money to pay their school fees (sometimes they had enough to pay school fees) and some very basic food-posho (corn flour and water cooked together).
Now back to Joanna- she meets Cyrus and the kids (who immediately fall in love with her) and she knows that she has to be involved in some way so she starts to pray and seek the Lord for what her involvement is to be. God reveals to her that she needs to rent a house for Cyrus and the kids to live in so they begin the search for a suitable home. They finally narrowed it down to two homes- one that Joanna preferred (but was a long walk from the school) and one that was nearer to the school. Joanna spoke with Cyrus and he said that they should take the one nearer the school- even though she wasn’t completely settled, she agreed and went to bed.
The next morning Cyrus called and said, “No, we need the other house.” Why, you ask? These children have been praying for a house ever since Cyrus started working with them- these kids have such incredible faith. Cyrus and Joanna had not discussed any of the house stuff with the kids- I don’t think the kids even knew that Joanna was planning to rent them a house at this point. On that morning, one of the boys said to Cyrus, “God is so good. He has shown me our house.” Cyrus asked what he was talking about and the boy described the house in detail- the exterior colour, the interior layout and colour, the other buildings in the compound, the trees and plants that were growing in the compound. He described EXACTLY the house that Joanna thought they were to have!
So Joanna heads off that day to go and meet with the home owner- up until that point she had only been meeting with a real estate type person. As soon as Joanna met her, the woman started to cry and told her that she too had a dream the night before (lots of dreams going on!). The homeowner had dreamed that a Mzungu lady who was going to do great things was coming to rent her home!
When they told the kids about the house, they were so excited and were praising God. THEN- they took the kids to see the house. They were running from room to room screaming in excitement. NONE of them had ever seen a shower before- they were standing in the bathtub screaming and singing into the shower head because they didn’t know what it was for.
One twelve year old boy came up to Joanna and said, “I am so glad that I have never had a home before. If I had then I wouldn’t appreciate this one so much.” If that statement doesn’t humble each one of us, I don’t know what will!
I had planned to shorten up the story to fit into a one day blog, but that is impossible! God is in the details and that is certainly the case in this story- I don’t want you to miss out on any of the details. So we will continue with this story tomorrow…

A Busy Week

Hi All
Long time since we last communicated!
This past week has been one full of many new experiences and adventures and we can’t wait to tell you all about them. If we put them all into one post, it would be a VERY long post so today will be an overview and then the next few days will give you more details about each event.
Last Sunday we had an absolutely amazing day. We started off with attending church at 9AM- always a highlight of our week and such an amazing time of worshiping our Lord. After church we had lunch with friends- just one other couple and thoroughly enjoyed our time together. We have met so many amazing people in our time here! As we were leaving from lunch “the storm of the century” hit (OK maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but I have never seen rain come down like that, ever!). We came home to a slightly flooded apartment- there is space under all our doors and we left one window open.
On Sunday afternoon we had a most amazing experience. While working at the babies’ home, Lorenda met a woman named Joanna who is from Sweden. She came to work with Watoto for a few months and then to work with Youth for Christ at their home for pregnant teens for a few months and then return to Sweden after being in Uganda for one year. God has changed her course in a BIG way and I can’t wait to tell you about it! She has now rented a home where she and one other adult have taken in 47 street children! Tune in tomorrow for the details!
Lorenda spent Monday and Tuesday at Country Lake Resort near Garuga – not far from Kampala, on the road to the airport and then off on another road until you get to the shore of Lake Victoria- beautiful! That story will be told on Tuesday!
While Lorenda was away getting refreshed at the retreat, Greg and Albert (one of his colleagues) went shopping to buy Greg a new suit to wear to a wedding on Saturday. Albert took Greg to the shop where he needed to go and picked out what Greg needed to wear to fit in at the Ugandan celebration. Have you ever seen Greg wear a purple shirt? I don’t mean mauve or lilac, I mean PURPLE! There will be pictures later in the week.
Lorenda spent one day acting as the driver for the Watoto maintenance team. Driving four young Ugandan men around the city can be a real adventure- especially when we arrive at a corner and one says, “Turn left” and another tells you to “Turn right”. Kampala is the only city I have ever been in where you can turn left, turn right or go straight ahead and still arrive at the same place! I have quit trying to figure it out and have just accepted it as fact- another of the mysteries of the world! There will be stories about the driving adventures so stay tuned.
Yesterday we attended our first Ugandan wedding. It was not a huge production like most are. This couple chose to keep it smaller and simpler, but still it was beautiful! Ed, one of the guys on Greg's team, had our camera and took many pictures so we will share some of those with you later in the week.
As you can see, it has been a busy week full of lots of excitement and we can’t wait to share all of it with you….stay tuned.

The Power of Music

Remember a little while ago I told you that we rarely hear anything on the radio that we recognize. While today I was a driver for the maintenance department (part time) as well as doing my usual duties with the guesthouses.
As I was driving through Kampala traffic (aka craziness), I recognized the song that was coming on the radio, but I just couldn’t place it at first.  When I realized what the song was, it was not a good thing. Driving in Kampala is a big enough challenge, but when you are trying to do it through tear filled eyes as “Butterfly Kisses” plays on your radio…enough said!

Sunday Afternoon Stroll

Yesterday we went for a nice Sunday afternoon walk. This has a much different definition in Kampala than at home.
Number one it is always hot here.
Number two everything is uphill.
Number three (and this is no different than home) we are in constant competition with each other so the walks are always “power walks”, never leisurely strolls.
All of the above makes for very sweaty walks.
Some friends are doing a half marathon at the end of November. One is running and the other two are walking…I am still thinking about it! I did a half marathon walk in Regina once (9 years ago). If you are unfamiliar with the terrain in Regina, look at the desk that your computer is sitting on- that is Regina. Kampala, however has hills everywhere! We will see how it goes. Fortunately one does not need to register months in advance here so I still have lots of time to make a decision!
Another thing that is different here than home, we don't see any monkeys when we go for walks at home- only gophers and rabbits!

This is actually a pretty steep hill- even though it doesn't really look that way in this photo

We are standing on top of one of the hills looking across at some of the other hills.

What a blessing!

Last night we went to see the Watoto Children’s Choir perform at Watoto South. When we are in Uganda serving the Lord with Watoto, you would think that the opportunities to see the choir would be many. However, that isn’t true. We get the opportunity to hear or see them practice, but there are not many opportunities to see the concert- the finished product. After the concert we were speaking with one of the pastors and he said that Watoto needs to think about doing a Ugandan tour. The rest of the world gets to see the choir frequently, but Ugandans rarely have the opportunity.

We have seen the choir several times in our home church and it has always been a blessing. However, last night was a whole new experience! For starters, when a choir is traveling they are limited to one or two “simple” costumes that they wear throughout the concert. Last night, the costumes- the colours, the traditional styles- were absolutely amazing!

The second big difference was that we were sitting among about 1500 African people while we watched the show. The energy and excitement that is on stage when they are in Canada, is all around you when you are at a concert in Uganda. There is as much energy, dancing and singing in the chairs as there is on the stage! It was an amazing experience!

Even though it was a “cold night” and Watoto South is a tent, the evening was warm because of the company and the huge blessings we received by being there.