Pray for Kenya

As I write the troubles in Kenya are escalating. While I was downtown this morning the "jungle drums" were beating, so to speak, as news was coming in that the border between Kenya and Uganda had been closed. I beat a hasty retreat to the petrol station to fill up on diesel. One policitian in Kenya was quoted as saying that the country is not to far away from complete anarchy. You can read more about the situation on the BBC website www.bbc.co.uk Please pray for the innocent that are caught in the middle of all the fighting. Many have lost loved ones and their homes.

Mud glorious Mud!!

We had a contest with the children regarding who had the muddiest shoes/sandals.

I wish you could have seen the back left wheel on the edge of the slope. One of our friends said that I was choosing the very quick way down to Kampala...not by choice I have to confess! Do you like the barefeet? Some people pay lots of money for mud on their skin. This was all free with a plentiful supply of it too.

We had the small landrover attached to the tree while we were pulling it out so that it didn't slide along our car or push it further towards the edge.

Our friends Prado pulling our car out the mud! Hallelujah

Yesterday I had my first rainy season challenge. There had been a new layer of murram (soil) laid over one of the roads that I use. It hadn't been compacted yet and was very soft because of the rain the previous night. As I drove along the car decided to go its own way. Fortunately it stopped in time with the back wheel on the edge of the slope. I got all the kids out of the car and phoned one of the MAF families to come and pull me out. Unfortunately his car didn't make it past mine but slid into it instead. To cut a long story short another two MAF cars came to pull us out with the help of tow ropes that were attached to some trees to stop us slipping over the edge. As you can see from one of the pictures I gave up on my sandals as they were getting stuck in the mud. The Operations Manager drove me and the children to school. Thankfully not too many people saw me arrive at school all muddy and barefooted to drop off some muddy footed children. The pictures tell a better story although the mud doesn't look quite as bad in the photos. I will let you use your imagination.... We give thanks that God protected us during this event as well as another MAF car that got stuck at the same place 1 hour earlier.

Miracles still happen...

The last three days we have been without power and so I felt compelled to phone up UMEME (Uganda Electricity Board). Now you might think what's so big about that. Well if you were an American here in the programme you would have called after 20 minutes to see what was going on especially if it wasn't your day to be off. It is amazing to work with so many people from different cultures and see how their culture dictates to them about how life should run. I wonder what people are saying about the Scots and the Swiss :) Anyway the miracle part was that when I called the UMEME office the man at the other end didn't give me some generic excuse as to why it was off but just gave me a fault report number. Within 5 minutes of the phone call our power came back on. Now it might have been a huge coincidence but a satisfying one at that. Our fridge was especially happy to be on again doing what its called to do....making things cold. After three days it seemed more like any other cupboard in our house - warm!! Chewy, our dog, benefited with all the meat that had gone off mean time. It seemed everyone gained in some way.

On a serious note though please pray for our neighbouring country Kenya. Yesterday the opposition leader walked out of negotiation talks and people are now bracing themselves for more trouble. We were told that fuel in Uganda would be a problem again. Simon called me from upcountry to tell me the talks had failed and I should go and get fuel. I had to go to three fuel stations before I could get any diesel. Now we are being a bit cautious as to when we use the car just in case this problem continues for some time. Pray for peace to come to Kenya and those in leadership will be able to come to agreement.

Picnic and Kite flying on New Years Day

Zara shots

Some photos of Zara on our day trip to Jinja where the source of the Nile is located.

Happy New Year brings some challenges

First of all Happy New Year to everyone. May God richly bless you in this new year.

As you will see in the title we are facing some challenges in this new year already. Our neighbours to the East, Kenya, have just gone through their Presidential elections. Unfortunately they have not gone smoothly and violence is prevalent. Please pray for peace for this country and for Kibaki (elected president again) that he would have much wisdom during this time. There are reports of vote rigging and ethnic cleansing going on on both sides. Pray it won't escalate any further.
The trouble Kenya is facing is also affecting its neighbours and that includes us. Petrol stations have run out of fuel or if they have fuel they are selling it at inflated prices. One of our Pastors at church mentioned that he was being charged $14 for a litre of fuel at one petrol station. He has decided to walk :) Our car was in the garage today due to some problems with its gears. Thankfully it was only two seals that were broken so should get it back tonight. We will be conservative in our driving until the problems in the East sort themselves out. We pray for the Kenyan people that peace will come soon.