To bring you up to date on what family life can look like in Kampala, here are a few pictures and some news from the MAF Uganda Parkers.
Easter Weekend
We spent Easter weekend at "African Village", situated an hour and half out of Kampala. We spent 3 nights there along with 3 other MAF Uganda families.
We also visited "African Village" last March. There is a blog post about it, posted last year, on 23rd March. For more information on this amazing centre of initiative and vision, see their website:
africanvillage.visionforafrica-intl.org/html/home
Being there in a group of 11 children and 7 adults meant that there was never a dull moment and never a lonely moment!
Between us all, we aimed to make the Easter weekend meaningful, so we organised a few events around the Easter theme.
On Good Friday, we lit a bonfire after dinner. We sat around, retelling the Good Friday events as the children read out relevant Bible passages. Afterwards, we toasted marshmallows on long sticks over the still-hot fire. Maybe "toasted" is the incorrect word- the marshmallows got crispy on the outside very quickly and the heat on our faces felt hotter than the Juba sun! And that means it was VERY hot!!
On Saturday, one of our friends asked staff at the "African Village" kitchen to hard-boil a tray of eggs. Painting and decorating all of these 40 eggs kept the children entertained for a good part of the afternoon! The results were beautiful and the children were rightly proud of their craft:
Easter Day dawned bright and early! The children all woke up far TOO early, leaving their respective family "bandas" (the round huts where we slept) at unearthly hours to congregate and play together before any of the adults emerged!
Disclaimer: the elephants n this photo are not real, so don't be concerned that I left a gaggle of unsupervised children at the mercy of huge, living mammals!
After breakfast, the mums set up an extensive Easter Egg hunt in one of the beautiful, green fields:
After happy children had filled their baskets with chocolate eggs, we gathered as a group to hear the Easter Story, as relayed through the dramatic smashing and opening of "Resurrection Eggs".
If you’ve never seen resurrection eggs, they look like a simple set of plastic Easter eggs, although we used eggs that one of the MAF mums made out of homemade plaster. Hidden inside each egg is a symbol of the Easter story — a donkey for Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, a cloth to represent the purple robe that the soldiers used to dress and then mock Jesus... etc. Each egg also includes a Bible verse to be read out. It’s an interactive way to talk about the events of Easter that thoroughly engaged the children.
We had a mini- Easter-service together, before packing up our bandas and preparing to leave.
After one last swim in the pool, it was time to depart. It had been a memorable and happy Easter weekend!
Farewell to Friends
It's a sad fact of our MAF life overseas that friends come and go. Saying "goodbye" has become a frequent part of our life!
A few weeks ago, we hosted a farewell for friends we know through our church in Kampala. It was sad to wave them off - but at the same time, we are grateful for the input and friendship they brought to our lives. I believe every friend enriches our life in unique ways. Although it is hard to wave people off, it is also a privilege to have had time with them.
The farewell meal with our friends, starting in daylight and continuing as the Kampala night suddenly fell:
Family Time
During the April Spring break, we enjoyed some special family activities...
Despite the rainy season, sunshine emerged for an impromptu barbecue in the garden:
- We found time to wash a rather smelly Harry:
-I found time for just me to ride with my favourite Kampala boda driver, Andrew Parker !! In theory all 5 of us could fit on Andrew's boda! Seeing a family of five on one boda is quite a normal sight in Kampala, but for now, I'm the only one allowed to ride across town as Andrew's passenger :-)
-We found time to spend a morning at the beautiful haven of "Speke", on the shores of Lake Victoria. The children had fun feeding the fish and riding the horses:
Fun at School
There's always plenty going on at "Heritage" School....
Esther won third prize at Secondary School recently for her fancy dress outfit for a "Wacky Wednesday" dress-up!
Meanwhile, Ben and his friends enjoyed a fun day for "World Book Day":
And Joel was thrilled with his tractor ride at the school's "International Dinner" celebration:
It was my job to serve food and cups of tea on the "British Table" at the International Dinner. I borrowed a couple of items to ensure that I was dressed in suitably British outfit!
Joel's class have hosted other events in the past few weeks, including a Fashion Show where they made the point that God can change our rags into beauty as we let Him work in our hearts. Joel did a great job hitting the "runway" with his partner in their smart outfits:
There were some really dapper outfits amongst the boys of Joel's class!
Two weeks ago, Joel's class did a fantastic job presenting an Assembly about the miracles of Jesus:
They even managed to turn some 5-litre bottles of water into "wine"!! Brilliant!!
Work for the MAF Pilot
It wouldn't be fair to update the past month without including some recent pictures from Andrew's work.
So here's a glimpse into some of Andrew's flying over beautiful Uganda:
Andrew is currently flying both the smaller C206 and also the larger Caravan 208 aircraft types.
Of course, the present rainy season brings its own challenges- like wet runways where Andrew needs to be extra vigilant:
Or soft runways after rain, where the mud snared the wheels of the plane. Thankfully, helpful locals were able to assist Andrew here to dig the mud away and allow him to escape!
Andrew was also delayed recently by a flat tyre- but one of our helpful MAF aircraft engineers was on hand to fix the problem and get the plane airborne for a day's flight!
And here he is- our very own Pilot Parker happy to be back in his flying "office", doing the work we feel God brought us to Uganda to do:
