Games Day

 Above are the staff and students of Heritage School, gathered for the start of "Games Day", It is similar to the "Sports Days" that we had when I was at school- but this was a lot more fun and lighthearted than the serious and competitive sports we were forced to take part in long ago, whether we could manage to do the sports or not! The students are gathered in their colour-groups ready to compete against each other for points and prizes.

The day started with each year group doing a sprint. Here come the girls from Esther's class!

And here comes Ben in his blue cap, with some of the boys from his class:

Joel made a valiant effort running with his Kindergarten class, although there seemed to be a little confusion among some participants about when to start running and where exactly to stop!

The Parents Race was last of all... and I was very excited to come in fourth place... even though there were only about 9 participants! ;-)

Unlike most Sports Days where I have been a student or a teacher, events did not run one after the other, but were organised to take place simultaneously. The field was set up with entertaining team games and activities, each event supervised by staff. The teams rotated between events, gaining points as they participated. 
It was fun for me to wander around and cheer on our children as they took part in the various activities- this is something I did not imagine myself doing when I was busy home-schooling two of our children in the Juba schoolroom last year! After a break from "real school" for two and a half years, we are soaking up all these fresh opportunities- and loving every minute!

Spot Ben in a circular relay game:

And spot Joel in the circular relay:

And Esther too!

This is still Africa!

There are some things which are very different about our life in Dodoma (Tanzania) or Juba compared to this big city of Kampala. Here, there is so much development and some great facilities: places to take the children out for the day, lovely cafes, ice-cream shops, restaurants, a choice of many good schools and churches, supermarkets galore which gives us competitive prices and choices about where to shop for our family groceries...

There are other things which are reminiscent of some of the challenges I have previously experienced when living life in an African context... like the bold and horrible RODENTS!! These foul, pesky, germ-ridden creatures keep turning up as I move from African country to African country...

Last week, I discovered droppings and a half eaten banana on my kitchen counter. On further investigation, I uncovered a lot MORE droppings IN MY LARDER!! OH NO,
 OH NO, OH NO!!!!
And not only that... the nasty little 4-legged thief had OPENED a vent on one of my tupper-wares and tried to eat the chocolate cake inside!!! :-(

I moved the entire contents of the larder to the lounge. Our house looked ridiculous, with sealed tupper-wares of supplies and food and cleaning equipment, as well as the draining board contents now decorating all the lounge surfaces, well away from Ratty's domain:

Yesterday morning, much to my delight, Andrew announced that we had caught the rat on a locally- bought glue-trap! Since he clearly liked chocolate, we had plced a chocolate biscuit as bait-- and it got him! Horray! I was too fearful to go an look at the thing myself, but sent my braver children in to the larder (!!!) to take this photo for me:

Unfortunately.... the saga is not over. This morning, to my horror, we discovered more droppings in the  kitchen- argh!!!!!!
I have now booked some industrial-strength fumigators to come in and KILL anything on 4 or 6 legs in my house. The house will stink and we will have a lot of inconvenience,,, bit I am not sure what else to resort to.... I'll keep you posted on what turns up when the exterminators have finished their job!

SCHOOL again!!

My children are at school!! And I am no longer a home-schooling mother!!

This is "Heritage International School" where Esther, Ben and Joel have been pupils since January 9th this year:

The main entrance:

The Administration building:

We had a few nerves on the very first morning of school as I prepared to pack our mini-Parkers into our Prado:

However, Esther and Ben really enjoyed their first few days! At the end of the first week, after just 4 days at a new school in a new country, Esther celebrated her 11th birthday... She was nervous that she would have no friends and nobody to celebrate with. Unfounded fears! On that Friday afternoon, 6 young friends (mostly, but not all, from MAF families) returned from school with Esther to help her celebrate her birthday, joining another young MAF friend back at our house. There were some challenging games and birthday cake- and lots of fun as we celebrated Esther!

Esther's Party Games:

• threading a necklace one-handed with pasta tubes and string.... and opening wrapped sweets while wearing oven gloves:

• using a small spoon to scoop cotton balls into a tub while blind-folded... 

• picking up as many pieces of lego as possible in one minute, using only chop-sticks:

• picking up a cut-down cereal box using only your teeth, with your hands behind your back:

Time to pose... and then eat cake!

Adapting to School

The transition to a much bigger school than Joel has ever been used to has been harder for him. Although he is posing happily for me in this photo, we have to remember that this photo was taken at the end of the school day, when he was happy to be going home! Going into school early in the mornings has not been so jolly :-(

Naturally, seeing him unhappy and worried while dropping him off at his classroom (pictured below) has been hard for me too. 

I heard a good quote the other day: that a mother is only ever as happy as her child- so when her children are sad, that affects the mother too. I know this to be true! It hurts to leave my child when he is genuinely sad and horribly anxious about the new environment and new people around him.

 

On the very first day of school, I had to congratulate myself for actually getting home at all. I had left a screaming Joel with his new teacher and felt wobbly myself as I headed back to the car, wishing I could just bring him home with me, but knowing he needed to stay at school. As I climbed back into the vehicle, the tears welled up-  and a flood was unleashed! 

I cried all the way home, tears streaming down my face for the 20 minute drive. I look back and am amazed that I made it back home in one piece... I was barely able to see the pot-holed road, the speed bumps, the wandering cows, multitudes of speeding motorbikes, not to mention the many bicycles loaded with unlikely goods like long, tall roofing beams, making them an absolute hazard as they lurched all over the road. It is perhaps a miracle that I did not hit anything! My mother's heart still aches when Joel is unhappy, but gradually we are seeing him relax and grow accustomed to the new routine and new people in his life.

To ease the transition, a MAF colleague suggested that perhaps Joel could do some half days. What a great idea! I approached his teacher, who was happy to oblige. Now Joel and I have some wonderful one-on-one time a couple of afternoons each week, which is great both for him and for me, as it helps to reassure me that he is coping and gives me someone special to spend afternoons with. This week, we had fun going for hot chocolate on a rainy afternoon at a nearby cafe. 

Joel snapped this "selfie" of us on my phone camera:

On the other hand, Ben is delighted with his new school! After a couple of days, he declared, "This school is so much easier than home-school!" !!! 

When we had a public holiday last week and the school was closed for one day, I found this note in Ben's homework diary. He had been asked to write down that there would be no school- and Ben had illustrated the note with a most revealing stick-figure, demonstrating exactly how he felt about missing school for a day!

Esther is adapting to school again after her two and a half years of home-school. This is the fifth school she has attended in her 11 years: she says she likes it here better than the other schools she remembers from the days before Juba. A little reserved at times, she is generally happy- but not at all pleased with the concept of home-work! To be fair, she does receive a LOT of homework. We are all having to learn how to manage our time better after the school day ends so that homework can be done at a reasonable hour before bed. 

We have entered a new phase and a new beginning! I have to be honest and admit that I find it hard to leave my children in other people's care and drive away from them each morning. It feels so strange to not be the one in charge of them during the day! I miss having them around. I still have mornings when I am tearful driving away from them, feeling like I have no longer the right to manage their days and feeling sad that I can't be there for them if they are finding it hard or overwhelming in their new school. 

I also have to watch that I am not too critical of the different way my children are now taught. I must have self control not to correct their work when I notice the fact that they are learning to spell using American instead of British English and calculate money in dollars and not pounds sterling. The school uses a mainly American curriculum as opposed to a British curriculum and while that is not something I dislike, it is something new that we need to accept.

On the other hand, I do NOT miss the pressure of having sole responsibility for the children's education.

 I do not miss the evenings and the Saturday mornings spent locked up by myself planning lessons and preparing resources. 

I do not miss the pressure of having to push all the time for the children to be working and for us to be focused on home-schooling.

I love having the freedom to organise my day- and it is amazing being able to be available for coffee dates when they present themselves! I used to feel so frustrated in Juba, when others would be socialising and I had to keep saying "no" so that the children's education could continue without them getting behind on assignments. I knew my priorities were correct and in order, but I did not like feeling that I could not invest in other areas and that I had little time for getting to know my team mates better. 

This is a new season. We are only beginning to adjust. It will take time for us all to settle, but it is an exciting new season. New possibilities are opening up ahead of us all! My prayer is that we can make the most of the opportunities ahead: that all three children will settle well, make kind friends and thrive in this new school that we have been blessed to become a part of...

UGANDA

So here we are in Uganda- and finally I have found time to update our blog!

Our new home:

Over one month ago we arrived in our new home:

Our new home is different from any other MAF house we have lived in. It's so different that it doesn't really feel like "our" house yet.
Instead, it feels like I just walked into someone else's life....

For a start, it is not on a compound! In our 7 years of living in Africa with MAF, we have always lived on a compound (or more recently, in an appartment block, with MAF neighbours in the same block!).
Now we live in a house set back by itself along a Ugandan street, with its own garden. A garden that we no longer share with others! The house is hidden from pedestrians and drivers behind these huge gates:

Behind these gates, an incredibly steep driveway leads up to the house:

There is a wide patio area in the garden. With the low risk of malaria in Kampala and the more pleasant temperatures than Juba, we can actually sit out in the afternoons and evenings to enjoy the outdoors and an amazing view across the city:

Living behind big walls and being separate from the MAF team makes a huge difference. 

On the one hand, we are enjoying a privacy that compound life does not allow. The children can be as noisy as they like without disturbing anyone other than their harassed parents! We can stay in our pyjamas on a Saturday morning longer than you can in a compound house- someone is always bound to pop in and see you in your nightwear when you live on a compound!!

On the other hand, we are finding that it can be isolating to live behind such huge gates. It is strange not having neighbours who we know. It requires much more effort to get to know fellow MAF families. Everyone seems very busy. There is not the same sense of being on a team that we found in Tanzania, South Sudan and even in the big city of  Nairobi.
It is harder to find the "F" in MAF here in Uganda.

We are also grappling with security issues as we try to work out how to have someone on the property to guard it as much as possible. We have been warned that crime is rife: apparently empty houses serve as an invitation to opportunistic thieves. Previously, the matter of guards was taken care of by those in charge of the MAF compounds. Now we find ourselves having to make tricky decisions over how best to avoid break-ins and how many hours and who we should employ to help keep us safe. These are puzzles we are still trying to solve!

Garden Hazards:

We love our new garden! However, Joel discovered 4 days into our arrival in Kampala that our garden is not without its hazards... He managed to have a nasty fall off this rope swing:

He landed awkwardly on his arm. We found out at this point that Kampala has great medical facilities! Andrew took Joel to the doctor and an X-ray revealed Joel's wrist was fractured and needed to be put in a cast:

Christmas in Kampala:

We arrived in our new home 13 days before Christmas. Ten days later, all of our goods arrived from South Sudan!! We were able to start the process of unpacking and making the house more like our own home.
Andrew went to the airport to help unload the MAF plane which brought our goods from Juba. He then ferried the first lot of our belongings back to the house in our car. The children ran excitedly to help unpack our house goods which have been up in South Sudan since our hasty evacuation back on July 9th last year.

A short while later, a truck followed, packed to the brim with boxes and suitcases which all needed to be unloaded:

Soon, the boxes were piling up on the patio...

... and in the lounge:

We spent the Friday and Saturday before Christmas frantically unpacking... but took a rest on Christmas and Boxing day! Christmas happened amidst the chaos of a half-unpacked home!

Despite being so new in Uganda and not knowing many people here, we had a happy, if quiet, Christmas time. It felt festive, even though we had not had much time to think about Christmas preparations.
I had bought a (fake) Christmas tree from a family who were leaving. Thankfully, someone from the MAF team helped me to locate a chicken in time to get it cooked for a traditional roast for our Christmas lunch. Gifts from kind family and friends were taken out from bags where I had kept them safe for months (from England, to Kenya, to Uganda!!) and placed under the tree. The stockings were unearthed from a suitcase... and Christmas day dawned bright and hot!

Christmas started with pancakes and fresh fruit: our first Christmas meal in Kampala:

And after a visit to a new church, we came home for our Christmas lunch: a hot roast on a hot day!

Visitors in Kampala:

One of the nice things about living in a capital city is that it can be a central meeting point. The longer we live in Africa and the more countries we live in, the more people we know- so the likelihood of passing visitors is high!

In fact, on the very day that we arrived, in the same hour that we moved in to our new house, we had visitors from Juba! It was so much fun to welcome our neighbours from MAF Juba and introduce them to the home we were just discovering!
We had managed to find essentials: the kettle, cups and tea, coffee, milk, juice and even cake, so we enjoyed a merry afternoon tea-party to launch our settling in period.
Our three children were absolutely thrilled to have their good friend here from Juba and to show him their new bedrooms, garden and house!

A few days after Christmas, we were delighted to welcome more good friends from Juba. My French friend Nathalie and her family came to stay for 3 days. It was such a wonderful time of catching up and having fun! We had not seen each other since the day we evacuated from Juba, so it was far nicer to see each other again in this more peaceful setting!

The last time we had all shared a meal together was the night gun-fire broke out in Juba. Instead of eating eagerly anticipated pizza at the hotel, we had to take shelter in the hotel courtyard, before escaping to the safety of the MAF compound for a late dinner in our locked and barred house. This time, however, we ate dinner outside on our patio without the slightest hint of political tension or gun-fire! It is good to feel safe!!

Again, our three children were so happy to have friends from Juba to catch up with. It was a precious few days.
Nathalie knows Kampala far better than I do, so she was great at showing me some of the shops and useful venues, which is such a massive help when you are new to a city.

The mums:


The dads:


The boys and girls:


After this lovely visit, we had a few quieter days,,, and then enjoyed some special visitors from America. Special, because I had not seen them for 30 years!!!! (I can hardly believe I'm old enough to say that!!).
Sharon and Lynn are missionary doctors who have been working in Kenya and South Sudan for over two decades. I first knew them when they rented the top flat of the vicarage where I grew up, For three months, they and their newborn baby son stayed in our house. Lynn was studying a course in tropical medicine at Liverpool University before their departure for Kenya.

I have a photo in one of my older albums of me as a young girl cradling their tiny baby boy. I can still remember that time. When Sharon and Lynn came to visit us here in our Kampala home, they showed me a photo of their same son, all grown up and married and in his thirties! I FEEL OLD!!!

Like us, they had to evacuate their home suddenly in South Sudan last year. Unfortunately, the place where they were living and working in Yei is far more damaged by the events of the fighting than Juba was. Yei has become so dangerous that they cannot yet go back to retrieve what might be left of their goods, although they had the foresight to gather their essential documents and medical equipment before they left. They are now working among South Sudanese refugees in the north of Uganda.

It was amazing to be able to see them again, catch up on 3 decades and introduce them to my family!

In addition to these visits, we have also been able to have another British friend who we know from Juba here at our Kampala home for a meal. Again, we had not seen each other since the evacuation, so it was good to have this chance to catch up on news, chat about the events of July and share our evacuation stories.

I am so grateful for these visitors. Life in our new Kampala home will take some getting used to, so I have really appreciated the links with our Life before Kampala as we start to adjust to a very contrasting life among new faces, in a new country.

One of the biggest changes has been the children starting school here... real school as opposed to home school! But that is a new topic and will have to be a new blog-post!!