From Uganda, with love

Dear Family and Friends,

We just want to check in to give you a further update from Uganda during these days of lock-down and social isolation.

First of all: we send our love to you from Uganda, wherever you are!

Please know we pray for you at this time. 

Please do send us your news too- it is good to hear how you are doing so far away and how things have been for you with all the recent lock-downs.

Parkers at home

Here in Uganda, our family is fine. School at home is going smoothly, thanks to the amazing organisation of the childrens' teachers who set their work and grade it online. We are thankful for electricity and for internet.

To help keep me sane with guiding schoolwork and managing housework, I have delegated jobs to the kids and the rotas are working quite well (so far!!).

Washing-up:

Weekly chores:

To manage supplies, I drew up a basic menu to help me stay organised through this lock-down.

To keep fit, we join in with the children’s P.E. sessions online with fitness teacher Joe Wicks, or bounce on the trampoline. The boys have come up with some exciting new bouncing manoeuvers! 

There is even opportunity for water-fights:

I have taken to jogging around the garden, motivated by energetic music on my headphones and by keeping one step ahead of our dog, who can’t believe his luck at having us home all day!

Sweaty Betty (not flattering, but proves that I exercised!):

I am loving the birdsong instead of the buzz of traffic, the gorgeous flowers in our garden and, on days when I wake up in time, the beautiful gift of Ugandan sunrises unhindered by the usual smog of pollution.

Yesterday's sunrise:

From the garden:

Bringing the outside inside: flowers from our garden for Mother's Day:

We are blessed with lovely friends in Kampala and today, Esther, Ben and Andrew enjoyed a walk over the hill with good friends (with suitable social distancing). I went for a shorter early walk with Joel. 

One thoughtful friend dropped off an exciting bag full of DVDs to keep us entertained on weekend evenings and some homemade cheesecake! Another just sent us a DELICIOUS batch of homemade cinnamon rolls!

A departing friend, heading back to the UK on the very last flight before the airport shut, came by to leave me with her collection of escapism material: namely, her old Hello magazines! What a great way to lose reality! 

Yesterday, 3 small parcels from England arrived, each one containing CHOCOLATE!! :-) Need I say more??

Lock-down Restrictions

The President gave a national address on Monday night that brought in tighter restrictions. We already had all school children at home and limited movement, but not as strict as in the UK.  Overnight, this changed.

The hardest of the new rules is that we are not allowed to use our cars, so nobody is allowed to drive anywhere. This is to stop the spread of Covid-19, but it does make things difficult.

At the moment, if we need to get to hospital, we have to phone a local councillor to ask permission to move around to get to the hospital; only vehicles that have special registration are allowed to be on the roads. I am not quite sure, as I type this, how this works.

I pray that we won’t have an emergency or covid situation that would mean a trip to a doctor or hospital. I have printed out the emergency contacts and displayed them on our lounge wall, all the while praying that we won’t need to use them. If I let anxiety creep back in, this is one point that makes me feel afraid. I have to keep going back to the truth of my previous blog...it is a constant battle in this season to focus on God's love and protection rather than the "what ifs?"

For shopping, we can arrange motorbike deliveries from shops, pharmacies and small businesses. The vegetable seller came yesterday to drop off lovely fresh produce and a big bag of dried beans, which I plan to cook today.

I even ordered a large bag of dog-food, which the boda (motorbike) driver secured onto the back of his bike! Since we live in a land where no object is too large to be transported on a motorbike, I'm pretty confident I can order bulky things. Here is a photo I took in the past to prove my point: a motorbike on a motorbike!

 The other new restriction is a strict curfew: no movement between 7pm and 6:30am. We pray that this has an  advantage of helping to curb crime, especially robberies as people start to get desperate for income.

The presidential speech also gave advice and guidelines to try to curb the spread of Covid-19 and reassurance that the government will organise food distributions to help those who have no income at this time. 

With businesses closed and in a city where it is not easy to grow food, no income literally means nothing to eat.  Since children are now all home from school, there are more mouths to feed.  Many Ugandan children go to boarding school and fees are already paid, with the understanding that children would be fed at school- so to have them at home again adds extra strain. We already have friends without income but with children at home. It is becoming increasingly difficult. 

I feel particular concern for the vulnerable refugee students and children I have been teaching for the past 2 and a half years at the Centre of Refuge and Hope. 

Please PRAY for God’s mercy on Uganda and His provision in these hard times. 

Many in Uganda look to God and trust in His help, so my prayer is that we will hear testimony after testimony of God’s help as He answers people’s prayers.

Let me leave you with this beautiful verse from Psalm 46, verse 1:

"God is our refuge and strength,

    an ever-present help in trouble".

Thank you for your prayers, your love and support and this comes with much love from us all. Please look after yourselves and we pray you stay well and safe.

Liz, Andrew, Esther, Ben and Joel XXXX

His Presence

So much has changed since I last wrote a blogpost. We are all facing unprecedented times. It doesn't matter which country we are in, the world as we knew it currently looks completely different.

I grabbed a few moments to sit down to read my Bible this morning. The children were already busy and engaged in their first school-at-home lessons of the day, so I had a few minutes to myself. I chose to sit outside on the veranda of our Uganda home, with a cup of tea and my glasses (I'm too old to read without them these days!!).

In these unpredictable times, anxiety circles overhead, like the African vultures who frequent our garden, ready to snatch away any joy and any ability to concentrate properly on my children's school work. There is only one place that I know where I can take these fears and find peace- and that is to my God.

So I picked up my Bible and what I read brought me comfort. All I want to do tonight is share on my blog the words I read (brackets are my own additions) - and I pray they can comfort you too.

Deuteronomy 31 verse 6: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid.. because of them [corona virus, civil unrest where people are getting desperate], for the Lord your God goes with you...He will NEVER leave you nor forsake you."

Psalm 139: Where can I flee from God's presence? If I settle on the far side of the sea, if I am in a dark place- God is still there. His "right hand will hold me fast."

Isaiah 43 verse 3, "When you pass through the waters [problems like we face now, overwhelming danger and uncertainty] I will be with you."

I am not alone in this. Neither are you. And that gives me peace in these hard times.

My African morning

It is 6:30am. All three children have either eaten or are busy eating their breakfast. Another school day is dawning.

It is strangely quiet in the space outside our kitchen. I peer through the fly screen door and wonder where our normally excitable dog, Harry, has got to. It is unusual that he is not pushing to get into the kitchen and demanding his breakfast. I step outside in the half light and wander round the corner into the garden to search for Harry.

Bizarrely, he is standing at the base of one of our trees, nose tilted upwards, staring intently at Something on one of the higher branches. Following the direction of his pointing muzzle, I look up into the leaves- and spy a dark shape crouched, blending into the outline of a branch. It looks a bit like a cat, but its back is more arched, its profile much darker and its head smaller. I look more closely. It has a long tail. Wait! It is a long, dark, striped tail and the body of the creature is marked with patterns almost like a condensed version of those seen on a giraffe- or the jaguar I once saw at a South African zoo.

I suddenly feel much more wide awake. The cat-like creature is distracted, staring back at Harry in a kind of stand-off, pounced ready to spring but carefully measuring the risk posed by my dog. Every second that passes gives us a little more light, as the sun rises quickly in Uganda. The creature in the tree seems more tense with every passing minute, as the light starts to expose its shape and markings. I am excited now- I think I am looking at a civet, a wild cat normally only spotted in the expanse of a National Park or out in the African bush- not in the city suburbs of Kampala.

I back away quietly, calling gently to Harry, but he is transfixed and will not take his eyes off this new threat to his territory.

I walk quickly back into the kitchen and stage-whisper to the children to come as fast as they can. Ben and Joel tumble over each other in their enthusiasm to glimpse this wild animal. It is still there, locked in its silent battle with the dog, but the rustle of extra human activity breaks its concentration and it glances at the three of us.

Quick as a flash, it bounds down the tree and dashes up the trees by the wall at the side of our property. Harry gallops after it, despite us calling to him (he is not very obedient!!) and then our cat joins in, chasing the trespasser over the wall into the neighbour's garden. "There's no way that Harry could catch it, Mum!" Ben reassures me in my anxiety to protect this exotic animal.

The boys get a good look at the departing animal and we all rush inside to consult our "African Mammals" book.

What we saw this morning appears to be a large-spotted genet. What an exciting start to our Thursday! This is the image from our reference book:

(photo credit, Mammals of...East Africa, Struick)

Having seen it today helps to explain the great drama of noise which occurred two nights ago in our garden. In the dead dark of night, there were high-pitched squeals, a rustling in the undergrowth outside our bedroom window and a wild yapping from Harry. Intrigued, I ran to look out of the window and saw the profile of a large owl, soaring over the wall, silhouetted by the city lights beyond. Harry was barking wildly at something up the avocado tree, but the reflection of 2 bright eyes was all I could see high up in the tree branches.

It must have been our visiting genet causing all the excitement!

As today progressed and once the children were had been happily dispatched to school, I took off to a neighbour's house so that we could do a short fitness walk around our hilly neighbourhood. Wandering down our street, I had to smile to myself at the sights I see here. First a genet as day began and now I was walking past 2 uniformed, armed guards. I don't flinch at all as I greet the lady in uniform with an enormous gun slung over her shoulder. We smile and nod a "good morning" to one another and I continue on my way. Very civilised- but that huge gun is a sight I never saw in London on my way to a friend's house!

Within a few metres, a motorbike driver zooms towards me. His passenger seated behind him holds an enormous, yellow jerry-can on her lap and is shouting a conversation to her driver as they zip past me. A typical Kampala sight.

A truly African morning.

Amazing Opportunity

Two weeks ago I had the immense privilege of flying with Andrew-  and even joining him on his overnight stopover.

Andrew was booked, along with 2 other MAF pilots, to fly a large team of volunteer, short-term  workers. The volunteers had been working alongside vulnerable mothers and children in a community near Soroti. To read first-hand of the amazing projects of "Beauty For Ashes" and of how it all began, click on the link below:

https://www.beautyforashesuganda.org/about_us

The team had travelled from the USA. Before returning home, they had booked a short overnight break at Murchison National Park. Because time was short, they arranged to save many hours of road travel by flying with MAF from Soroti to Murchison on Friday morning.

Then, on Saturday, they would fly with MAF from Murchison direct to Entebbe Airport to join their international flights.

Very generously, the they offered to cover costs for the pilot's wives to come along to join the pilots on the flights and even their overnight stop at Murchison National Park. This act of kindness and generosity was such a huge blessing for us - and we are SO grateful!

It has been over two years since I last entered the cockpit of a MAF plane. More than two years since I last saw Andrew at work in his elevated "office"!

I was excited to join him! I felt unexpectedly emotional entering the MAF plane. It brought back  memories of our many flights from Juba to Nairobi and in particular, our evacuation flight from Juba to Lokichoggio in northwest Kenya.

It was a rainy morning as Andrew prepared for the flight from MAF's Kajansi airfield to Soroti. I sat quietly (or at least, tried to!!) as he preflighted the plane. Andrew was the last of the three pilots to take off on this 3-plane job.

And then we were off! The houses and trees became smaller and smaller as we gained height and ascended towards the clouds.

 There were ALOT of clouds that day! Andrew planned to fly lower level to avoid them, but entering into overcast weather was soon inevitable. As we entered the clouds, the ground faded from view. Hmmm... I was not so comfortable with what I could see out of the window now. Basically, there was nothing but fluffy whiteness underneath the wheel of our aeroplane! 

I glanced at Andrew, but he seemed unconcerned. I checked the instrument panel in front of my seat and although I know nothing about flying, I was comforted to see that everything was still lit up and seemed to be working, even if the view out of the windscreen was an opaque nothingness!

 Cool, calm and collected, my pilot husband expertly navigated the MAF plane through some pretty frightening weather. Rain battered the front of the plane, running in tiny rivulets over and down the windows. The clouds caused a few bumps and I wondered how on earth Andrew knew where to direct the plane when there was no point of reference from the invisible ground! Now I was definitely silent, stunned into quietness by my own fears! Andrew, however, was in constant radio contact with the other 2 pilots and it was cheering to listen in on my headset.

It was definitely reassuring to see how unphased Andrew was and how concentrated. It gave me a renewed appreciation of how tiring his job can be in this unpredictable environment.

Finally, there were glimpses of the earth below! Phew!

It was a longer-than-expected landing procedure at Soroti airfield. The rainy weather meant that the 3 MAF pilots came in to land relying on their instruments rather than what could be seen from the plane. Andrew was the third pilot to land and needed to hold for a while before he could position the plane for landing. Flying in a holding position uses up the fuel that is calculated for the actual journey and is another variable which creates extra consideration for the pilot.

 Finally, we came in to Soroti and jumped out of the plane, happy to meet the team from "Beauty for Ashes"- and happy to be out of that nasty weather!

A short while later, we were cleared for take-off, with the large team split between the 3 MAF planes. It was FABULOUS to look out and see the views, as the weather cleared in the direction we were headed!

It was even more FANTASTIC to fly over Murchison Falls and see this natural wonder from above!

How amazing also to land at an airstrip in a national park and be in the midst of Murchison!
The team kindly included us in their safari drive later that afternoon. My day went from rain in Kampala to giraffe-spotting in Murchison, in just a few hours!

 The safari vehicle which bumped us through the park:

We had a mini-adventure, as our vehicle ended up with a flat tyre just as we were driving back at dusk for our evening meal! Vehicles are not generally supposed to be driving after dark, but here we were, stranded in lion country,  waiting on the gravel track while our wheel was replaced! Darkness falls quickly in Africa, so we felt a little vulnerable to predators or maybe a marauding elephant out for an evening stroll- but happily I am still here to tell the story!

The next day, it was back to the MAF planes as the team began their first leg of their long journey home. We climbed aboard a bus to drive through the park from the lodge to Murchison's airstrip. 

The 3 MAF planes looked handsome in their line-up as their passengers prepared to embark: 

Here comes the pilot of my plane, flanked by the flags of Uganda, the East African Union and the Civil Aviation Authority! (from left to right)

It was a smooth flight back to Entebbe airport. One of the American ladies from the team kindly took this photo for us on landing at Entebbe:

 She was the lady I sat next to on the flight from Murchison. She shared with me some of her life-story; she was truly inspiring in her commitment to helping the vulnerable and in her dedication to teaching and serving children and young adults with special needs. As we discussed some of life's challenges, an overriding theme emerged: that of the kindness of God, even in difficulties and of His faithfulness. Her comment that God's presence is a gift to us each day comforted my soul- and I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to speak with and learn from this amazing lady. I think our meeting was one of those "Divine appointments" that has given me a new focus in my recent struggle with health issues around my asthma.

After the passengers headed off toward International Departures, Andrew still needed to fly the MAF plane back to Kajansi airfield. I had this pilot all to myself for the ensuing 8-minute flight!

 Over the edge of Lake Victoria...

Over the streets of Kajansi... 

And safely downwards to the airstip at Kajansi for the end of this Amazing Opportunity!

 

Riding out of 2019 and into 2020

Happy New Year to you all, from Kampala!

I rode into 2020 on a camel...

So did Joel and also Ben!

We spent the final few days of the last decade and the first day of 2020 at Kenya's Brackenhurst, at the wonderful "Renew" conference. The camel came along to celebrate the new year with us!

The "Renew" conference has featured many times on this blog in previous years, so I will not add much. Suffice to say, we had a very special week away, catching up with old friends, making new ones, eating copious amounts of good food and drinking vats of Kenyan tea.

It was extra special that the volunteers leading the children's activities this year were from our church in London! It was so good to have time with friends from London on African soil! The children enjoyed their fun sessions. Whilst the younger generation were happily occupied, the parents were able to focus on the excellent teaching times during the conference, along the theme of, "Serving God despite.... fears/ character flaws/ problems in our work/ personal suffering." Inspiring and encouraging teaching.

With our London friends/ Kid's Team Volunteers!:-)

Driving to Kenya was just under 15 hours of driving each way, including the time for paperwork at the Uganda/Kenya border. Andrew did an amazing job of driving all those hours! Part of the way home, our odometer hit 1,000km. I think we did about 1,600 km in total! The odometer returned to zero at the point where we reached 1,000km:

**********************************************************************

Before the conference, we had a quiet but happy Christmas at home in Kampala. I was unwell for a long period before Christmas, mostly due to an attempted switch in asthma medication which did not work out, followed by the nasty virus referred to in my December blog. This meant that we had a quieter Christmas season. On Christmas Day, we enjoyed a lovely meal at home shared with a Ugandan friend and a family from America who are good friends.

 After the New Year conference, we returned back to the routine of school.

Esther was not impressed that the first day of the new school term was also her birthday! However, we celebrated after school with afternoon tea and some delicious cream cakes, a gift from a kind Swedish friend who was staying with us.

The birthday girl officially celebrated her 14th birthday with six friends that Friday afternoon.

With a mock Spa set up in our home, Esther and her guests (and even her Mum!!) enjoyed creating their own smoothies, making their own face masks from face-mask recipes, decorating themselves with henna designs, having pedicures courtesy of a Ugandan beautician who came to join us and taking crazy pictures in the homemade photo-booth. LOTS of fun!!

Here are a few photos for you to join in the fun too!

A catalogue of Domestic Disasters

Rain, rain, rain and more rain.... that has been Kampala's daily weather for almost the past 2 months!

All this rain brings certain hazards...

1. Soggy ground....

 The ground has become so wet that trees have become dislodged. Beautiful trees have been toppling all over Kampala during recent months. This is such a terrible shame in a city so polluted that it needs every single tree to help us breathe better.

Imagine our shock last Tuesday lunchtime when the majestic jacaranda tree in our neighbour's garden came crashing down into our garden!

Apparently, the roots simply couldn't hold the weight of the tree any longer, as the sodden ground began to give way. There was one almighty crash- and lo and behold, the tree which gave us welcome shade and housed a mulitude of birds, was suddenly lying across our garden! I could barely believe my eyes...

We all felt extremely thankful that the tree fell sideways. If it had fallen straight ahead, its massive weight would have crushed our house and could have killed someone. It fell so unexpectedly and so quickly that it would have been impossible to get out of its way.

As it is, the fallen tree smashed the brick pillar and metal fence of our neighbour's wall and crushed the roof of our children's outdoor fort- but not even our dog was hurt.

It took several days, several workmen and supervision from Andrew to eventually cut the tree into manageable chunks and move the debris out of the garden.

There were some sad casualities- a nestful of pretty baby birds who came to rest in our garden, but sadly didn't survive very long.

Now there is a sorry gap where the kites used to nest and a strangely open skyline above our garden. What a shame- but what a mercy that nobody was hurt and that our house is still intact!


2. Health hazards

Rainy days lend themselves to coughs and colds and the spread of viruses. Our family ended up victims of a particularly nasty virus. First Esther, then Joel, then Ben, then Liz fell under the attack of a virus of high fevers, a wicked cough and general weakness. Many MAF families have also been hit.

Liz is still battling with the horrible cough, which awakens its victims at night with coughing fits and steals our sleep. The rainy weather also makes asthma worse, so Liz's health has been pretty bad for the past 2 months...

Poor Ben came under attack the day before his birthday and suffered through his 12th birthday with a high fever and generally being unwell. Since his mum also got the fever that day, it was not the happiest of birthdays - yet Ben managed to open his gifts with a smile and even smile for his cake! None of us felt like eating birthday cake, but we enjoyed the sparkling candle display!

A few days later, Ben was to celebrate his birthday with 5 friends- but the fever crept up on him and Liz again. The birthday party which should have been so much fun ended up rather a battle to try and be cheerful in company when actually feeling pretty rotten!


3. Cancelled outdoor events

Coming from England, I ought to be used to inclement weather creating havoc with outdoor events. However, I have become a little spoilt over the last 14 years of living on the African continent. These days, I expect sun more than rain! This makes the disappointment heavier when RAIN ruins plans for an outdoor party event.

Last Saturday, the day of Ben's party, dawned with the worst rainstorm that our Kampala friends say they have ever seen!

We had planned an outing for Ben and his friends to a paint-balling event. However, the paint-ball centre had to close due to flooding! With Ben feeling unwell anyway, the party ended up a little subdued. Thankfully, the other boys were still full of energy and good spirit and ready to adapt to a change of plans.

In desperation, Andrew called the cinema to see what was on... There wasn't a lot of choice, so what was supposed to be an energetic party with paint-balling fun actually ended up being a carload of boys being driven to the cinema to watch, "Frozen 2 " ....!!!! Horray for having a cinema in Kampala!

The best-laid plans...

4. Leaking pipes and moudly interiors

When we woke up to the pounding rain and a flooded garden on Saturday, we also discovered puddles in our hallway! The laundry cupboard has some kind of leak and water was merrily making its way from a swollen, wet bubble on the wall at the back of the cupboard, across the floor of the cupboard in a stream and plopping down into our hallway... Argh!!

There seems to be little we can do to rectify the problem, but having a damp laundry cupboard adds to the generally mouldy smell and feel of a very humid house. This may be Africa, but it is a very wet and humid Africa...

Thus life has not been as predictable and jolly as other birthday and Christmas seasons. Yet we are thankful that we were spared the danger of a fallen tree on our house and that the children at last are recovered from their virus! :-) And for those of you who pray, please would you keep Liz in your prayers, as she struggles to get well again after a long-haul of not being well and not being herself... Thank you! :-)

Girl Power!!

One of my many flaws is a weakness for the series "Charlie's Angels", especially the 2000 film where three young women stage unlikely but outrageous stunts to save the world from certain doom.

There is something appealing about the often unexpected victory of these young women: fighting crime in spectacular fashion against all odds.

I may no longer be young, but I do still enjoy a challenge reminiscent of the Girl Power flaunted by "Charlie's Angels"!

Recently, while all the men were working and while my friend's husband was away, four of us ladies, plus a granny and a toddler, took on the challenge of "Removal Ladies"! My friend was moving from one side of our local town to the other and needed some extra hands.

We had one morning, two vehicles and some extremely bumpy, bad roads to navigate.

Three out of four of the Removals Ladies, plus Granny and Toddler! Getting ready to move another load in one of the cars....

Most of the packing had already been done by the time I arrived and one load of goods had already been moved from the first property to the new house, but there was still plenty to do!

Dismantling beds, emptying the fridge, trying to squeeze as much as possible into the 2 cars available... then bumping along the muddy tracks from the old place to the new...

Carrying all the furniture up the stairs to the new place, then reversing back out of a very small parking space and extremely narrow gateway onto a slippery, muddy road. Returning to the old home and repeating the process...

It was quite the morning!

One of my favourite memories will be the dreadful noise that the gas cooker made as it protested noisily all the way from the old home to the new! A jangling of metal, a crashing of doors opening and shutting, the shaking sound of knobs and buttons shifting about and even falling off the oven-top! My friend tried to steady it with one hand, whilst clinging to her toddler with the other, but the stove wobbled furiously about the vehicle every time we crashed over a pot-hole. And there were many of those! I tried to drive as carefully as I could - but a Prado can't defy gravity!

Thankfully, the gas-cooker arrived mostly intact, minus one of the stove-top buttons. A fault which is hopefully fixable.

At the end of the morning, the lady of the house, a friend, another MAF lady (Sarah) and myself were able to stand back and see the happy results. Granny and the toddler approved too! Most of the goods, the bedding for that night, the kitchen equipment and even the family car had all been safely moved. The new home was ready to be organised and settled!

 Later, an actual professional removals company would be moving the fridge, bookcases and adult beds from one building to the other. But for now, us girls had done the best we could. A fun and satisfying morning of Kampala Girl Power!