In a matter of days the grade seven class will be writing
their national primary leaving exams.
This happens on November 6th & 7th. These
exams count for 100 percent of their year’s work in the four major subjects and
directly affect the quality of secondary school they will be able to
attend. Please pray for these 31
students as they have the potential to be our best class ever and as my last I
hope they place as a group in the top ten schools in the country. It is have been fun to see these young people
grow and become wonderful people. They
have taught me much… Take one student
for example from northern Uganda whose father was murdered when he was very
young. He is constantly concerned about
his mother and other siblings who look after the land and make sure the crops
are planted. He has faced so much and
makes my frustrations look so trivial and pathetic. This young man encourages me and always
provides a smile or warm comment amidst a tough day. I can learn much from him, in particular his
constant contentment under the difficult circumstances that he faces. He is a representation of the majority of
grade seven students who have faced so much and yet appreciate me and
everything God has given them so naturally and sincerely. 
When we arrived back in September of 2005 a few more staff
members were added at the same time as us.
One of these young men was Nicholas a resident assistant who lived in
the dorm. I saw so much potential in him
as he worked very hard and had a heart for others. It was neat to see him grow and get
married. Once he was married we were
able to keep him on staff as our purchaser so he could stay at home with his
wife. He has encouraged me greatly when
it was difficult to make ends meet at the school and did his very best with
every bit of money that was given to him.
Uganda being a cash society he displayed huge amounts of integrity and made
sure receipts were accurate, accounted for and every last shilling that was not
spent returned. It has been neat to see
his family increase with the addition of two little children and see the love
he has for his family. As we move on he
shows sincere concern for our well-being instead of pointing out to me the
increased difficulties he will face trying to provide for his growing
family. He represents the selfless attitude
that many of the staff have displayed in their hearts towards us. 
When we first moved to Uganda Sarah decided she would not
have house help and would do her own laundry by hand and cleaning (endless!!!!)
and ironing every piece of clothing (necessary for health reasons) and cooking.
Ha!! In not too long she realized that was ridiculous and agreed to pay house
help. House help is very affordable here and a job working for a family is
considered a very good job. God blessed
us with Joyce…. a precious friend who is most definitely Sarah’s most steady
support in Uganda. And for Seth, Jodie, and Megan she is a solid caretaker when
necessary and a friend to them. She loves our children as if they were her own
family and cares for them in the way we ask her to. She works very hard and
takes pride in everything she does. We can trust her implicitly in our house
and never fear that anything will go missing… if she finds a few shillings in
our pockets when she’s washing laundry we find them on the table. When we first
hired her we did a few tests just to see if ‘misplaced’ money would find its
way back to us. It always did. She is a
woman who loves to laugh and very seldom complains about anything. Her presence
in our home has without a doubt made Uganda a pleasant experience for all of us
on the home front. It is impossible to measure what her impact has been on our
family. Saying good bye to her will be one of Sarah’s most painful moments. We
are arranging with some close friends of ours to take her as their house
help/nanny and she is very happy about that. There will be other ways we will
bless her that we will share later as they unfold. We want her to have a bright
future and will do everything we can to help that come to pass. Please pray for her as we get closer to
leaving time. She will very much miss our family. We will find a way to keep in
touch with her.
Another friend that would be impossible to replace is
Francis, our night guard, gardener, and advisor. Every night when I put the
kids to sleep I feel that we are all safe and secure as a family. Our eight foot wall with razor wire is a big
deterrent but the real obstacle to any intruder would be Francis! He keeps our
house very secure. He can shoot birds with his bow and arrow and keeps himself
well practiced in case of burglars. He shares stories of past guarding jobs at
banks and other higher security stakes than our house and his mindset and
skills are extremely effective. His poisoned tipped arrows, his panga (machete),
and ‘will ask questions later’ attitude are a good trio of deterrents if
someone is foolish enough to try and get over the wall… He laughs and says,
‘They may get over the wall but getting back out will be the problem!’ A few have tried but he made his presence
clear and they turned back before making it over. Not only does he guard our house well but is
a fantastic uncle to our three kids. He
loves them like his own and would lay down his life for them. He has killed snakes and made sure our gate
is not a place of loitering at night. His eyes twinkle as he tells us the next
morning how he dealt with drunks or even witch doctors loafing around at night. Francis has been great to us and we have been
blessed with a tremendously loyal guard and more importantly friend.
Lastly this month was our last Visitation Day at the school
for all the guardians. It was a good
time to say goodbye to the guardians as a whole and talk to many of them
individually. I felt very appreciated
and was touched by the standing ovation, gifts, speeches and love shown. I was hoping to make it through my speech
without a tear but a few snuck up on me at the end. It was hard to look out and see guardians or
single moms that I know are HIV positive with tears in their eyes, knowing that
I will not be able to visit their homes anymore and bring food hampers or be
there for emergency support when they need it.
I know God will meet their needs and He has done that through me many
times. Even so, I found it hard to let go of being in a position to help them.
Finally, we’re looking forward to our lives in Canada (or
wherever God leads us next). We appreciate all of you more than you will ever
know. We’ll be in touch regularly in the next several months.
God bless,
Mark, Sarah, Seth, Jodie, and Megan
