Day 1 Musana

We are BACK!

 

I am so excited to be back at Musana. This morning we took a tour or the campus. I was struck by all the amazing changes that have taken place in the last two years and the wonderful team that works tirelessly to make it all happen. The campus has grown so much. They added 3 nursery classrooms, the high school and expanded the women's vocational training program. The high school is three stories of beautiful classrooms which includes full science and computer labs, a large pavilion and sports fields. The women's program is set to graduate it's next class on Saturday so we were able to see some of their beautiful projects. For those of you looking for the perfect gift, we plan to put in a pretty big order of goods to sell at the Loft when we get home.

 

The second half of the day we had the opportunity to assist a husband and wife team of dentists in doing a dental screening. We saw about 200 kids and were amazed at their beautiful teeth. They did 1 extraction and referred about 30 kids to the Musana dentist. Hannah, Sam, and Emma were right at home playing with the kids. Julie and I enjoyed spending most of our time in the clinic while Sue and Laura (mom) hopped back and forth. Sue of course had her camera in hand and Laura made up a catchy dental care song. We will be doing two more days in the dental clinic this week. I am excited because this team will be involved in a ton of health care which I love!

 

Tomorrow those with some artistic skill (not me) will begin murals while the rest cheer kids on as they "face the dentist". Only 700 more to go.

 

More to come from Hannah tomorrow… If we get internet…

-Tamara

For the 7 Dwarfs (good news I am not so sneezy anymore)

 

Hello from Uganda

Greetings from Uganda.  What a day it has been!  

 

After a real night's worth of sleep, we were awakened to sounds of thunder that produced a lovely, hard, much needed shower. Rain here has been sparse creating lots of dust.  Banana Village was just as beautiful, welcoming and the cooks fed us a delicious breakfast before heading out to Musana.  

 

The drive was much different than I remembered last year.  There has been so much development!  

 

We have just finished eating a great meal at Sol View.  Now with full tummies the evening will be short. Prayerfully, we will get back some of those lost hours of sleep!

 

Love to you all from Uganda!!!

 

-       Julie

 

The Uganda team made it to Musana!

The Uganda team made it to Musana! They do not have internet quite yet, but called to let us know they made it! They will hopefully be back online tomorrow. Prayers for a sweet night's rest for them so that they are ready to hit the ground with passion & energy tomorrow. 

One flight, two flights and one more for good luck!

Hi everyone, 

Just want to let you know that we have made it from San Antonio to Houston to London! We are now waiting for our flight to Qatar which is followed by a 7-hour layover before heading to Entebbe. The team is in great spirits and we have gone from being the Magnificent 7 to the Saucy 7. Not as scandalous as it sounds. It's all because we ate at Chic Fil A for lunch and all the extra sauce is now traveling with us! A more appropriate name will be coming!!!

Ken Ramirez very graciously drove all our luggage to Houston (he and Naiya were going to Oregon and flew out of Houston as well). Julie was our chauffeur and let me tell you she can keep up with the best of them! It was a smooth ride and our timing was perfect. Entering the airport we were the first people in line for check in and didn't have any wait going through security! 

For a note of humor as we were in line to board out of Houston my phone rang. It was Porter Loring mortuary asking me if I wanted to pre-arrange my funeral. Awkward!!! A little ironic, but comical. 

Update: We have now made it to Qatar and the natives pronounce is Qatar… not Cutter! The airplane we travelled on was definitely a 5 star. It was a brand-new plane with all the modern conveniences. We all watched a movie or a two and tried to rest a little, but mostly to no avail. Tamara has spent the entire time sneezing. So, we might become the 7 dwarfs. So far Tamara has been deemed "sneezy" and Emma is "bashful". I'm not sure anyone will fight over "Dopey" or "Grumpy"!!! And "Happy" could be all of us! We have been told if we want to eat we have to do it during night time hours in honor of Ramadan.

 

Update: We had a great flight to Uganda; or we were SO tired none of us stayed awake to care. We landed in Entebbe right on time, paid for our visas without a problem and collected our bags. They were inspected by Customs but we got through with EVERYTHING intact! Kyemba was right there to meet us and we whisked our way to Banana Village, set out almost immediately again for the bank and to meet our old driver, Haji, for dinner. In typical Ugandan fashion he was over an hour late, and I was afraid we were going to fall asleep in our meal waiting for him. He did finally show up and it was great to see him again. He is still the smiling jokers I remember. He spent the evening shooting straw covers at different people!

 

So now we are back at Banana Village and collapsing. Tomorrow we head to Jinja for Internet and then finally to Musana where we can start serving…

 

Until then… thank you for being part of the team.

 

Suebee

Par II One flight, then another and one more for good luck!

One flight, and then another and one more for good luck!

Team Uganda ..... The Journey Begins

I am so excited to be going on this journey with these wonderful ladies. We left today at noon and headed to Houston for our 8pm flight. So yes we arrived 4 hours before our flight. (Sue's dad would be proud) We decided to have one last Chick-Fil-A before heading to the land of fresh food. From here we head to London, then Qatar, then Entebbe where we will stay the night before driving into Iganga. All that to say you may not hear from us until Sunday. Please pray for continued travel ease.

Tamara
(For the Magnificent Seven)