Happy New Year!

Happy New Year. We have had an unusual Christmas but a good Christmas one. We spent Christmas working but having much fun with the boys at Tudabujja. To quote a well respected youth worker, it was a memory making experience for us and the boys. We played games, opened gifts that were sent from the friends in the UK and the boys are very appreciative to all of you who sent gifts and cards to them, they were overjoyed as they opened them. For almost all the boys it was the first Christmas card they had ever received. In the afternoon we had a massive Slip ‘n’ Slide, an advertising banner covered in soap and water, it was great fun!

After Boxing Day myself and Jen where enabled by some generous friends to go to Mombasa. It was fantastic; we relaxed, walked along the white sandy beaches, swam in the warm Indian Ocean and enjoyed not being woken up every morning by the noise of 27 teenage boys. We spent New Year on the beach at Mombasa as the crowds drew bigger and bigger as midnight approached and on the stroke of 12 (well about 5 past, it is Africa after all) fireworks were released, not a professional display but who ever happened to have a firework released it from their hands and launched them over the ocean as the crowds and the odd camel dodged the stray rockets.

Since the start of the year we have had the most challenging week since we arrived in Uganda, in fact ever! On our return from Mombasa we had to stop in Nairobi to change plan for Uganda but the airline had cancelled our flight but didn’t think to leave a representative to tell us or help us out. We were told to get a flight with another airline and they would refund us but all flights that night were full and the airline would not pay for accommodation and we had no money to sort ourselves out. Thankfully we were saved from spending the night on the streets by our Intentional boss who had just returned to Nairobi hours before from his own holiday and he sorted us out, praise God. We are still trying to get the refund they promised us.

Three nights later one of our boys fell very sick, he had been suffering with malaria and his situation became critical. His couldn’t walk and his breathing became very weak, so we had to get him to hospital which is 40 minutes away. Halfway there, he stopped breathing so we had to pull over on the road side in an area of town where it would be very unwise to do so unless it’s an emergency. Again praise God because as we lay him on the road side and opened his airway to deliver mouth to mouth he took a big breath for himself so we bundled him back in the car and continued towards hospital. There were a few times we managed to miraculously squeeze the car through ridiculous gaps at high speeds. It has now been discovered that he has epilepsy, which was triggered by the malaria. For those of you who pray, please pray for God’s healing and for the correct medical treatment to be given.

Nathan has relieved George, the teacher, of responsibility for the farm until we appoint a new farm manager, all the animals seem to have some kind of infection or sickness so it hasn’t been a great start. Jen continues to cover the administrator who is on maternity leave and we both continue a normal job as centre manager, so we hope that the next 51 weeks of 2007 will be calmer than the first.

Thank you to all of you who sent us Christmas cards and gifts, we really appreciate knowing that we are still remembered and supported by you all.