Adventures With Mark...

Greetings from Uganda!  Yes, we are still alive and doing well in the land of summer year round.  We have had some busy times and it is hard to believe that we have been back for over three months.  Adjusting back to life in Africa took some time and especially with Megan and the time change.  It felt like a good month before the entire family was running at full speed. We have enjoyed ourselves more recently though and were excited to take our first camel ride at the zoo last week. 

The school continues to do well even under challenging times as inflation continues to climb.  Our year started with the announcement of our excellent grade seven results from their exams at the end of 2011.  Once again we are thankful for the hard work of the staff and dedication of the students that placed our results in the top one percent of the country.  Our class of 29 did an amazing job and especially when you consider the situations they are in.

Later in the year we had a team from my former school, MEI come and spend a few weeks with the school.  A great time was had by all as the Canadians and Ugandans were challenged by each other.  As a family we had a great time hosting this team in our home and testing out the “hot seat” in their team time.

Throughout the term we continue to work away on the different projects that need to be completed for the first phase to be finished.  The classrooms have been painted along with the chalkboards.  They look very sharp and the students are happy for their bright new classrooms.  Currently we are pleased to announce that enough money has been raised for the fence and we are now in the process of finding a professional team that can build the fence properly on the top four acres of our property.  Most likely we will wait until the NGO, EMI that built our school has a construction manager available that can supervise the project.  Once this is completed we will be growing more food crops and putting up a chicken coop. 

We continue to be grateful for all the support the school has received from our friends and family.  It was very exciting to have my sister and her two oldest girls along with my brother, his wife and two oldest children join us for some time in Uganda.  I am very fortunate that my entire immediate family of origin has completely and whole heartedly supported our move and ministry here in Uganda.   We have also been blessed as many other friends have come and currently we have a good friend, Judy staying with us for a few months.  We are excited as other good friends are still coming in July and June.  In our nearly seven years here we have never had so many visitors in all the years combined and we have thoroughly enjoyed it! The school has been blessed with an amazing amount of donations in cash for food, fence and chickens to just name a few things. And we are thankful that there has been a little extra money in our support which has allowed us to bless the school with a few much needed goodies, like bulletin boards.  People have donated hundreds of pens, T-shirts, pencils, erasers, books, clothes, and many other things that have helped out greatly. 

God has been good as many of you have blessed us and allowed us to be the hands and feet of Christ here in Uganda.  The need is great but our aim is not just to push children through school but to train the whole child so they can lead Uganda into a more prosperous nation.  This begins with high morals, integrity, honesty and a solid academic standard as we raise future teachers, engineers, pastors, doctors and pillars of society.

Blessings on you all back in Canada, the US and other parts of the world.  We miss you and pray for you guys often.  We would love to hear from you and trust that God is looking after your needs.