Wednesday

Today we donned tools and walked or drove down to the YSU (Youth Support Uganda) building site down by the beautiful Lake Victoria. Speaking of beautiful the job we set about doing all day was not at all beautiful- it comprised of sandpapering the walls and ceilings of the house which was very challenging hard work but was all and all very rewarding to see the progress made and some paint start going on ceilings and windows. Apart from this other activities for the day included a nice lunch break with cool sodas enjoyed at midday, a meeting with the older kids at hope village about activities for the coming days and a soccer game against the local kids down the road and of course a daily morning run with the hope kids up Monkey Mountain. Early to  bed tonight after a big day! 

Oh and did anyone mention Albert won the spoons comp last night? J

Tuesday

The morning started with a well-earned sleep in followed by a long walk to lake Victoria. On the back we passed two men making mud bricks in front of their house which are traditionally used to build houses in Uganda. We had a small rest after the walk followed by a visit to the Village of Hope where we had a feast prepared by the mothers and older children of the village, this was a treat for them and us. After lunch we hit chaos…. Fitting 40 people into one small mini bus (x3) ... we took the whole village on an outing. Once we got organised, we ventured out to the newly built bridge over the famous Nile River. The kids loved seeing this bridge for the first time where we got to walk over it and enjoy some lovely ice cream. After all this some of us headed back to Suubi house for a rest and the others joined in with a local soccer game nearby. 

The night was taken up with multiple games of seriously twisted games of spoons. All in all the day was very lovely and seeing the constant joy on the kids faces brings such joy into our hearts.

Monday

Got up to a beautiful morning and had a scrumptious breakfast of Rolexs on the roof top again.

After cleaning up the dishes we had the maintenance crew head up to the Village to do some slashing with machetes and a general tidy up of the grounds.  The rest of us gathered up our craft supplies and headed up as well to set up for a morning of fun activities with the children.

All the children had a great time of going between the different activities.  We had Lego building, colouring in, bracelet making, makeup and nail polish and making craft turtle eggs. After the completion of the activities we had a fashion parade of all the children that had their makeup done.

They sure know how to rock the catwalk!!

To end the great morning, we had a singalong.  We sang Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree and  

The wheels on the bus. The kids then sang us some of their own songs. The children have such beautiful voices.

We then headed back to Suubi for a well-deserved break.

Late arvo we headed back up to the Village to spend some time celebrating the New Year in with the children with some music (very loud), glow sticks, sodas and biscuits.

To end the day off we went to All Friends for a late dinner, with lots of laughter, food, arm wrestling, more very loud music and finished off with some spectacular fireworks. (No OH&S here) 

Team 26

 Saturday

The official travel time was 34hr 47min from Croydon to Subbi House. Generally smooth flights and change overs – all our luggage arrived!!! Bus trip was a 5 hour experience with numerous traffic jams caused by accidents and break downs. But we arrived safe just all a little weary.

Sunday – We began the day with a delicious breakfast of omelette ro lexs, fruit and jam pancakes on the roof. A beautiful, sunny morning – very bright and very hot at an early hour of the day. Following this a short walk to church. Ugandan church services are very different from church services I remember in Australia – beginning with 45 minutes of non-stop singing and dancing. As new members we each introduced ourselves to the congregation – Dale impressing us all with a greeting spoken in the Lugandan language which was well received by everyone. A skit, a talk from a visiting Canadian and some praising and two and a half hours later the service finished. Followed by more singing and dancing outside as we met some of the children from the Village of Hope.

After lunch Glenn drove us in for a quick trip into Jinja to get money out of the bank and get a milkshake at The Keep.

Later in the day we were welcomed into the village by Ivan, Sam, Jacqui and Sharon – had a tour of the village, learnt a little about the place and then enjoyed meeting the children. More singing, playing Leggo, soccer and getting to know everyone. Beautiful, friendly and welcoming children who were so appreciative of our company. It was very hard to leave but in the knowledge that tomorrow we will be able to spend most of the day with the children. Can’t wait!!   Liz

Back at the Village of Hope.... Blessed!

Its so great to be back at the Village of Hope and Uganda in general after almost a year. However, this time I am blessed to be hear with my dear wife Kathy who has shared the journey and supported me incredibly. Kathy and I (and our family) were here leading Team 1 back in December 2008 when we started building House 1, and then she came back again with our family in December 2010 and spent a wonderful Christmas with 16 children... and now she is back with almost 80 children and 14 houses - what a blessing to share this short time here together.

Kathy has been spending time with the mothers and children hearing their stories and helping in cooking and encouraging them...  Some of the kids even reminded us of the Christmas Gift boxes that we had brought in 2010 - they never forget!!!

We still have a week to go,,, there will be Management Team meetings, meeting the board, visiting Home of Hope, taking the Mothers out to dinner, having dinner with the whole village, and so much more....  Looking forward to going to Abundant Life tomorrow and today we are guests of one of our original girls - Winnie - as she has her assessment for her Hospitality course... she has to prepare a complete meal, including the menu, table setting and service to her guests while being assessed. I am sure she will do well, Kathy and I will be joined by Ivan as her guests. She has an internship lined up at one of the top three hotels in Uganda.

Until the next update - we appreciate your prayers and especially your support of the work of HopeBuilders International...

LONG HOLIDAYS START WITH THE P7 MEMBERS

Hi to every one , we send you greetings in the name of the most high God . At the village , we are all in good shape and good health because of God`s protection.We are very grateful to  God that  most of our children in the candidate classes are through with their final examinations starting from primary seven, senior four and now the senior six candidates are also busy sitting for their final National examinations .For that we are so grateful to God who has protected them through out this term and still we ask Him to protect the rest of our children who have started sitting for their final and promotional exams to see to it that they get to go the next classes next year.
During this long long holidays, we (administration), have come up with a program of not seeing our children just sleep but become so productive to the village . So we have decided to teach them several skills like kneating, sewing using the electronic machines(tailoring) , teaching them how to operate a maize mill ,art and craft and also teaching them some computer skills but starting with a few at a time because of the limited resources.
We have started with tailoring and how to operate  the maize mill and then others will follow as we shall start to improvise the resources .
We thank God that our poultry project is doing well and it is also prospering but with time we trust God that we shall see it grow.
Our gardens have been affected by the long scorching sunshine hence reducing on the productivity level of the greens but we still hope for the best out of it with time.
By NYIRO SAMUEL
See some few pics bellow.

HOLIDAY ENDS AS THIRD TERM BEGINS.

We send greetings to you all in the name of the Almighty God.W are so grateful to Him that He has kept us alive and with good health. We are so glad that we came to the end of the second term Holidays. All children reported back to school starting right from pre-school, primary, secondary and those at tertiary institutions .They were all in good health physically and mentally.
While in the holidays, children carried out various activities which included doing all the home chores in time, helping out the mothers with domestic work, answering the holiday package, helping friends to answer the holiday packages, weeding the vegetable gardens, working hand in hand with Emma to maintain the administration block.
Above all they did not put God away because they all know that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom bearing it in mind that they are into a promotional term. Meaning that they will have to be examined at the end of it all to see to it that they get promoted to the next classes in 2019.
Due to the much effort exhibited by children through out the holidays, we are so optimistic that they will exceedingly perform so well this term, as it is a culture of schools to examine children immediately after the holiday, all our children are now sitting for beginning of term exams and we hope for the best out of the them depending on the input effort both at home and at school.

see a few pictures below.

BY Samuel.