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.

Greetings to every one in the name of the Almighty God. We are glad yet again to update you about the Village Of Hope .The whole situation in normal because every thing is moving on well and as expected. Children have started getting report card that mark the end of the second academic term of this year, while the secondary students will receive report cards on Monday 27th/August/ 2018 and after that they will fully embark on spending their holidays well and meaningfully because the staff is ready to help the children in their weak areas academics .
On Monday this week at around 5:15 pm we held a fare well party that saw us say bye to Mama LOIS who has been one of the pioneer mothers who joined the Village Of Hope  in 2009 with the very first lot of the children who joined the Village.Their was a lot of speeches from various speakers and every one that stood to speak thanked mama Lois for serving God from Village of Hope faithfully.Many people thanked her for being an exemplary mother by teaching children several things in life and above all teaching children to love Christ because some of the children she had from the beginning were Muslims but she took it upon her to teach them morals of Christianity .
The children that currently stay in house 7 and those that she cared for in the beginning became so emotional as we reached a time of praying for her that God should protect her as she leaves,this did not only happen to the children but also to the mothers  and it was a sign to show how much she would be missed from the Village.
Now Mama Lois is happily living in Butaleja district in her newly constructed house .A house constructed by Hope Builders International as a token of appreciation for serving in the Village for that good time. 
     See some few pics bellow,
     BY NYIRO SAMUEL

VILLAGE OF HOPE UPDATE

Hallow to every one,We send you greetings in the name of the most high GOD.Its with great pleasure that we get to update you about some activities taking place in Village Of Hope.The general situation around the village is good. The children have been working hard in their books at school through out this entire term because some are already through with the exams that closes the term, like our children from pre-school are back and already enjoying the holidays, the primary children are starting their exams on Thursday 16th/August/2018 , the children in secondary are finalizing with their exams on Thursday 16th/August/2018 whereas the S.4 candidates are already back at the village after finishing their exams too.The farm is also doing well and we are hopping the new calves so soon. 
In the effort to make sure that Village Of Hope becomes financially sustainable, the poultry project is on going and with the help of some staff and mama Kevin we are so optimistic that the outcomes will be so amazing, impressing and by so doing the funds collected there after will at least be able to make the Villlage self sustainable to a small extent.
The horticulture project also started some time back and now its with great happiness that i tell now that the Village is happily enjoying green vegetables from our gardens and this is also one of our objectives to stop bringing in green vegetables from out side the Village but instead get them from our own gardens and this is planned to for a long term basis.
Having joined Village of Hope in 2009 in house one with mama Lois , John has grown up under the care and support of HOPE builders International .He has been supported through out his entire education life right from primary,secondary till he reached the tertiary institute and John attained a certificate in motor vehicle mechanics .The board and staff of village of hope we are very happy to now see off John ready to join the world of the working people.We hope that he will be able to sustain him self in every aspect of life since he has been boasted with a tool box to allow him  compete for jobs in his area of qualification..

 collected by SAMUEL.

Uganda Team 25 - Day 16-19

Uganda team 25 Day 16-19

Goodbye was hard on our last night, as we drove away from the Village of Hope.   The kids blessed us with dances and so much love –  with certificates in hand we headed home to pack. 

The bus was there just before 8am the next morning and we loaded all our luggage on board, said our goodbyes to Juliet, Grace, Ivan and Robert and set our sights on Entebbe airport.

We had a fantastic run! So much that we had half an hour to stop at a Mall and have a much needed ‘comfort’ break and get coffee. Josh found KFC and made a bee line for that!

At the airport we only had a short wait and we were all checked in and waiting for our flight to Johannesburg, curious and excited about what the next few days would bring.

We were picked up in Johannesburg and ferried to a lovely hotel for a night, as we would catch a flight the next morning out to Kruger National Park. The first thing we noticed…. It was soooo cold!  The high points were lovely rooms for us all - Piper had a long soak in the hot bath and we all loved the buffet breakfast. Some of us ‘rolled’ out of there (another sausage Josh?).

It was a very short 35-minute flight to a place called Hoedspruit airport, which is an old military building, and we were met by a driver to take us to our lodge for the next 2 days of safari.

The lodge was beautiful, but we had thirty minutes to drop our bags and jump into a safari vehicle with our fearless guide Ishmael, and head out for 3.5 hours of safari…

Well, we hit it big on our first drive! We saw elephant, zebras, wildebeest, monkeys, a pride of lions and a leopard!  The leopard was sleeping only a couple of metres away from the vehicle, and Ishmael drove us right into a pride of lions – one walked by so close to the car we could have touched it.   We were pretty pumped, and excited. Our guide said we’d been extremely lucky, we think… #blessed!  We had pre-dinner drinks, with biltong and other snacks in the middle of the bush, where we could have easily been eaten by a lion, but thankfully we just enjoyed each other’s company and the stunning African sunset. 

Back at the lodge a lovely dinner was set up outside with warming fire pits and beautiful lighting.. We dined on pork chops, beef stew, and many other great foods… and relaxed with a drink.

It was so cold we all couldn’t wait to get into our warm beds. that and the fact that the day had been full of impressions and travel…  AND… we were being woken at 4.45am the next day for a 5.30 start to an all-day game drive.  

The ominous knock at our doors came at 4.45 am.  We all looked tired but pretty good for that hour! We loaded ourselves into our safari vehicle, first of all donning the brown blanket/coat/poncho’s designed to keep us warm as we zoomed along at 50kph in the sub-zero temperature.  We looked like a bunch of tele-tubbies, and had a good laugh at ourselves – we were thankful for them though, as the wind was so cold!  

The safari today was through Kruger National Park, which is 22 000 square km’s or 2.2million hectares.  We travelled about 300kms over 9 hours and it was awesome seeing the world wake up.  We all got a pack with our breakfast in it, and we stopped for a delicious picnic lunch, but the rest of the time we spent in the vehicle.  We had to drive a lot further between sightings – I think that last night’s safari, with 4 of the big five seen in a 2 hour period, and up so close, spoiled us a bit for today – but over the day we saw some amazing animals – 2 cheetahs stalking along the side of the road, and crossing in front of our vehicle, a bull elephant having a stand-off with a lion, a herd of elephants running to the waterhole to drink, a leopard relaxing in a tree, hippos wallowing in the water with crocs sunning themselves on the bank, giraffes chewing the tops out of trees, and dozens of zebras, wildebeest, gazelles, antelopes, impalas, eagles, squirrels, hares, stacks of birds, ever changing landscapes all accompanied with interesting information from Ishmael.   It was an amazing day! 

Afterwards we relaxed for an hour and then met for a bit of a ‘hb team 25 debrief’… it was great to hear each other’s reflections on our favourite things, most difficult things, what we enjoyed about the team, and how we think this experience could change us… it was a challenging and encouraging time. We then headed into the ‘Boma’ (an outdoor dining area) for our last dinner under the African stars.  

This morning we leave Timbavati to drive 7 hours through the guts of South Africa back to Johannesburg, for our flight home.  A quick-ish stopover in Perth, and we’ll be home at 7.30pm on Friday evening.  Sigh.

Thanks for reading the blog the past few weeks...  Please keep us in your prayers as we travel home..

See some - only 'some' - pics below..

Uganda Team 25 - Day 15

Day 15....

Waking up for the last full day in Uganda when it only seemed like yesterday that we arrived. Being Sunday, it meant that we could have a little sleep in before we set off. We all got our nice church outfits on and walked up. Today was men’s worship day, meaning that only men were singing songs at the start. Andrew then stood up and talked about Joshua 3:1 and how we need to always keep our eyes on God. 

After the service, we walked back to the house and some people started packing bags in the spare time. An hour later, we walked up to the Village of Hope for the last time. The kids were excited as always to see us and so they had put on a little farewell celebration for us which consisted of dancing, singing, speeches and snacks. Each team member received a certificate for our work with the village and we were all so grateful. Some people also receiving little heartfelt goodbye notes from the kids, Piper getting five! All the kids were also given a soft drink each and let’s just say that they got wild on the sugar! It was then time to say our goodbyes and there were some tears going around. We let with heavy hearts and with the kids waving us away. We arrived back at Suubi house for our last dinner in Uganda, we can all testify that Uganda has been a fantastic experience and are all sad to leave! 

Tomorrow, early…we begin our ‘slow’ journey towards home, stopping in Sth Africa to enjoy a couple of days R&R and seeing some of the wildlife.

A few pics below..