Dentist

So, I heard back from my dentist yesterday afternoon.  Turns out I need to find someone here who can put a temporary filling on my tooth or risk damaging / losing the tooth.  Fortunately, Roxanne has a friend who has been having some dental work done by a 'western type' dentist who is going to see me when we return from Masindi.  A little freaky going to a dentist in Africa!!

Update from Kampala

As I type this, we are again without power.   It’s quite funny how after only 3 1/2 weeks here this is really not a big deal.   The kids are no longer even phased by it and somehow life just continues with only a brief interruption to light candles.  

We have been in Kampala for a week and a half straight now, so actually settled into a bit of a routine.  Rob and Roxanne were able to meet with the World Vision director for the central region of Uganda (including Nakasongola, where Wasswa is from) earlier in the week and talk about the possibility for forming a partnership between WV, the water organization we connected with in NY and visited villages with our first week here and Tukutana.  We are very excited about being a part of making this partnership come to life and are beginning to get a clearer vision about how our family / community could possibly fit into a village sponsorship model more than being just a connection point.

Our family is heading back to the Masindi area on Tuesday to have meetings with World Vision and Busoga Trust on the ground in the area to explore the benefits of partnering across organizations to bring water, child sponsorship and vocational training (through Tukutana) to villages in dire need.  We are also going to have the opportunity to work as a family on hand digging a water well for a village!  Since raising money for water has been a family focus for us for the past year and a half, we are all VERY excited about having the opportunity to actually be a part of this process! 

Just a brief update on other things that have been going on here in Uganda.   We have continued regular visits to the babies’ home.  The kids actually asked to go there instead of playing football (aka soccer)! Isaac, Tyler’s favorite child, was gone last time we were there.  We found out that his mother had been in some type of accident and had been in the hospital, but the police originally thought she had died in the accident.  We are so thankful that she is better and able to care for him.  Two new children arrived the evening before our last visit, one of whom (Eric) was having a very difficult time when we were there.  Eric is probably about 1 1/2 years old.  He was taken to the police station by two young boys who were supposed to be watching Eric for “a few minutes” for his mother.  After most of the day the mother never returned, so the boys took him to the police, who in turn took him to the orphanage.  Eric was, for the most part, inconsolable.  He only wanted either Rob or I to hold him, so the thought is that his mother or father might be ‘mzungu’ (the l’ugandan word for ‘white person’ and the name we are most often called here).   The police are currently investigating, and we are praying that they find a situation similar to Isaac’s and Eric will soon be home with his family, too.  

We have been attending Watoto Church when we are in Kampala on Sundays.  Watoto is home to the famous Watoto Children’s Choir (google them if you have never heard them - they are fabulous, as is the ministry that brings in these children who are living on the streets).   Last week we arrived a few minutes before the 10 a.m. service and had to sit in the overflow section which was an outside area with video screens streaming the service.  This week we arrived 30 minutes early and waited in line to get a seat in the service.  It is simply amazing to us that people are so excited to worship God that they arrive before the doors even open!  The worship there is truly God-ordained and like no other that we have experienced.  Tyler asked tonight if their version of Amazing Grace could be downloaded onto his ipod.  It was such an inspiration to be with people who worship and praise God despite their circumstances and leaders who point all praise and applause to our Savior - and don’t even apologize when it’s time to pass the offering baskets, but rather fully integrate it into the worship! 

Last week Roxanne and I visited the cancer ward at one of the local hospitals.  I am still not able to write details about it - not sure when or if I will be able to - but do ask that you all pray for the people there suffering so much.   At some point, I will try to post a blog only on this subject, but for now it is simply too much for me to completely process on my own, much less write about.  We will hopefully be able to go back after we return from our trip north to see how the patients we visited and prayed with are doing. 

After church yesterday (Mother’s Day), Rob treated all of us to lunch at a restaurant that overlooks Lake Victoria and has a swimming pool! The kids all had so much fun and Mother’s Day in Africa was very special with the kids waking me up this morning with the gifts they had purchased themselves at the market here!   Children truly are a gift from God and it is such an honor and privilege to be a mom to such amazing children!  I hope all of the moms out there had a very special day!  We will (again) be out of email reach for several days for our Masindi trip, but will send an update when we are back. 

If anyone knows my Dr. Frank Madalone in Mamaroneck (my dentist), please tell him to check his email as I lost part of a tooth yesterday and am trying to figure out if I should actually try to find a dentist here or just wait another 3 weeks! Thanks!!