Family holidays!

To continue to tell you about our family holidays.. The boat trip was awesome, we did see crocodiles huge ones – the biggest was 4.5 meters. Not sure how many inches that is, but it’s big. We also saw white monkeys by the river side. At night we slept in tents on the riverbank, which was great. The first place we stayed at, they had killed a crocodile that day – and had the tail right there so we could see it, and some crock meat hanging in the sun to dry. Thought it was a prank, but it was fresh…

The river was so low, that sometimes the guys that worked on the boat had to jump into the river – where the crocodiles were – to push us of the banks that were visible. The water was knee deep, so they would have been able to see them if they would come. At one of the places we stopped it was so hot that the workers went for a bath, on the shallow part of the river – just in case the crocks would come. My brother-in-law and his oldest son went and joined them, when they saw that there was no danger.

From the boat trip we went onto the mainland again, where we saw some baobab trees, the ones that look like they have been pulled up and put back down, up side down. Just like the one you can see on the photo. We drove to meet up with the rest of the family in Morondava, where we stayed the rest of our time in Madagascar. Morondava is by the ocean where we used to go on holidays when we lived there. We played in the sand, built castles with the kids… and enjoyed being together.

It is quite amazing to me that we all could be there at the same time, 17 of us with all the children included. And we had a great time, no disputes or anything. Good to be with the family and hanging out together. I’m so blessed to have such a loving family.

Something that became even more real for me in Madagascar, is that it’s not the places but people and relationships that is the meaning of life. Having friends, relationships is what makes life valuable and worth living. People will come and go, but friends/relationships will make an impact on your life for ever!

Then we flew back to the capital and the family took off. I stayed a couple of days longer, and hung out with some new friends before going back to Uganda.

Family holiday in Madagascar

I didn’t fall of the face of the earth, it just feels like it.

After coming back from the north with the children things got back to normal very quickly. They went back to school and the days got busy. They wanted to start school, but then when it started….they wanted to have some time of. =) Now that the kids in grade 6 and 7 need to be more serious in their studies, they also have evening classes. So the kids from grade 4 – 7 have prep. classes from 7:30 till 9:00 in the evening. “Late nights”, and early mornings!!

Now I’m in Madagascar with the family, 17 if us. It’s quite the sight when we drive around in the bus we have hired. They people look and talk, no wonder!! Seeing 1-3 is quite normal, but a busload is not the norm.

We came here end of June, the whole lot. Went to Anakao, which is very close to what paradise must have looked like… beautiful. Right next to the beach, our own bungalows, hardly any other people cuz it’s wintertime. Can be a bit chilly in the mornings and in the evenings, but we have a lot of fun together and enjoy the fellowship we have.

The other day we went to the first place we lived while here, and there we met the gardener that we had way back in the days. The average age here is 56, and he’s 78 years old. A lot of emotions when we saw him again. Seeing the people that my parents worked with, meeting friends has been awesome. It has been 23 years since we have seen most of them, and it’s very strong. The word is now out that my parents are back, so many people come to visit…

We have also been at the Bible School where we lived the last 8 years. And on Sunday they invited all of us to come to church for a celebration - confirmation. 650 people in the church, and the service was “only” 4,5 hours. They had baptism, 7 different offerings and communion – so it takes time. Some of us sat the whole time, well my dad did… the rest of us went in and out several times.

The next step of the leg is a boat trip on a river that is known to have huge crocodiles, and quite a bit of mosquitoes. So my 2 brothers and their family will drive directly to the beach, cuz their kids are small – and then we’ll meet up with them there after a couple of days.

Here are some of the children that I was in contact with while up in Guruguru in Amoro district and in Gulu. Pictures tells more than words!

Trip to Pader and Gulu

Wow what an awesome 11 days in Gulu and Pader, with lots of fun, challenges, impressions, hardship…… A new view of life and appreciation on what we have.

The whole trip started on the 10^th of May when 3 buses left from the home in different directions. They were all overloaded with people, they could take 29 passengers, and they had 35, 37 and 44 people. A bit squeezed, but we had a good time.

The bus I went with was the one to Pader, the children were singing praise songs along the way – but the most amazing thing was when we crossed the bridge into Pader district we saw the rainbow. The kids started shouting and got even louder when they saw the telephone tower in Rackoko. Their relatives were there to welcome them, and it was quite emotional. 4 of the kids had to spend the night with me – and early in the morning they came to me saying that they wanted to go home. And within a short time, their relatives came….

During the few days I was in Rackoko, my time was spent with the children who live there – some of the kids live quite far away so I wasn’t able to visit them in their homes. Some of the children and I walked the IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camp to find the huts for the other ones and see their previous living condition. I had to keep my tears back a few times, cuz it was quite something. One of the boys got emotional when he saw me coming to visit, so I asked what was wrong. Got him close to me, held my hand around him and showed him some love. And after a while he said, we only eat 2 times a day – and we don’t have soap for bathing or for washing. I went straight to the “store” and bought them a bar of soap.

Then I went to Gulu to visit some of the children that live in the IDP camp there. My transport over to Gulu was what they call a bus, but it’s a pickup. Like you can see it was overloaded, but seemed that there always was room for one more – that is typical for Africa. The trip went well, and we only got one flat tire. The road that we used was opened officially in November 2006, because the LRA (Lord’s Resistant Army) the rebels used to ambush people/vehicles there all the time.

After a quick shower, the trip went to visit the children in the IDP camp and that camp was quite different from the one in Pader. Many people from this camp in Gulu have moved back to their villages – so many of the huts were empty.

The next day I went with 2 of the mama’s that works here in Kasozi, to visit her mother. The journey took up far into the bush – with an amazing scenery. They had told me that there was a big mountain there that there had been some fighting on in 1911 and that people had lived there. So we wanted to climb it, and see what it looked like. It was quite the climb, where we at times had to get on both hands and knees to get up the cliff. But the view from there was amazing and it was worth all the emotions that we went through. Sweat, fear, happiness….

The plan was to stay for 1 night, but then there was no diesel in Gulu town so they had to wait in line… meaning that we had to stay another night there. Guruguru is a place quite far from the rest of civilization, and the marked was empty. There was nothing to be found, most of the people had peanuts and a sort of beans. So it was difficult for them to do trading with their goods. We brought food to Jaja (which means grandmother) and ate of that – and left what was left. They got up early in the morning 5 to start digging in their garden, and they would come back early afternoon b4 the sun got to hot. Hard working people, living in hard conditions – yet they shared the little food they had. I was yet amazed over their hospitality. We slept 2 adults, 4 teens, and 4 children in one hut with a diameter of 4 meters….LOL no need for a blanket. Quite the experience, yet I found myself thinking that it could have been worse… knowing that the conditions we were in were hard. Yet there are people other places in the world that has it worse than what we experienced there. Some of the children that came with us said “this is hard”, they have seen that life is different for other people.

Then it was time to take the trip back to Kasozi village, I had to go back to Pader to pick the children there – so we left Gulu at 6:30 and drove 2 hours to Rackoko to pick the children there. It was a long drive but it went very well. The kids were happy to be back home, and to see their friends again. It took us 12,5 hours to get here. Tired and exhausted – but with a gratitude to God that all had gone well that He had kept us all safe on the road.

We got power and holiday trip for the children

We have electricity. It has been a long wait, and it seems a bit surreal still. We were told that it would get here last year, but that obviously didn’t happen….. and now it’s a fact. The poles came first, after laying on the ground for a while… It takes longer here in Africa – and that has for sure been a fact coming to electricity.
First thing first, I had to charge my phone…which was a huge thing cuz now we don’t have to go anywhere to do that. And then secondly charging the music….=)

What is more beautiful than sitting in your room, watching the children play outside in the rain – and then see the promise of God showing up on the sky. The rainbow has been showing up here a lot lately. Something which I do believe, is God reminding us of His promises to us as his children. There has been some stuff going on here at the home, which has not been good for anybody. Witch craft and such, but those things have now been cleaned out and we see that the children have more freedom. Difficult to explain – but it’s very visible. Praise the Lord for all the things that he has done.

The 2 last weeks before the end of first term at school, the pre-school started. Are they not a beautiful bunch of children? They didn’t quite know what to do or where to strand the first day, but it didn’t take them very long to figure out things. The children can be heard from my room, when they are repeating after the teacher….A..B..C… and their 1…2…3… What an awesome things that we are able to see happening here at Kasozi Village.

On Saturday we left Kasozi village at 8 am to take the children back to see their relatives. Some have been counting days for the last week or so. The big news was told when Duncan (whom is the founder of Uganda Orphans Fund) told the children that they all were going back to visit their relatives. They jumped of joy, and screamed of happiness. And since that day they have been counting the days until the day of departure.

Like I’ve written before, I do have the privilege to go with some of the children back to visit their relatives. In the beginning I was supposed to go with the children to Gulu, which is up north in Uganda. But then the plans got changed, I left for Pader (which also is in the north), Rackoko for the first leg of the trip. Then I’m going to take public over to Gulu, which might be an interesting thing to do. Cuz up there the busses are not the most common vehicle, it might be a truck or something… I’ll let you know.

The trip went well, and the joy in the bus when they saw the phone tower in Rackoko was amazing. They were singing worship songs and it was very powerful. Most of the kids were met by their relatives on Saturday evening, only 4 of them stayed with me until the next day. But then their relatives also came. It was a time with lots of emotions, amazing. I’m visiting the children and their relatives in the IDP camp here in Rackoko, it’s awesome to be able to do that.

Please do remember us in your prayers during this time. The children are used to pray 2 times a day at the home, and some of their relatives are non believers. We pray that God will protect them and help the them to be witnesses to their relatives.

Daily life at Kasoi Village, and a wet Easter

Easter is over, a while ago – but I would like to tell you about it. It was a nice weekend, but it rained a lot. The children were asking what was on the menu several times a day for days before Easter. Many of the children were at the home last year, and remember what we had then. And I guess like most children, they told the others about it. We wanted the children to have some good food and started to plan it about 1 week before the weekend. They got milk tea for breakfast with a bun. For lunch they had matoke (banana mash), meat, potatoes, rice and a soda. And there was enough food for them to get the same for supper. In the afternoon they also got some candy, which made their day. Easter service was good, but very different from what I’m used to in Norway. But most things here are very different from Norway……lol

A while back, one of the children came to me after a day of prayer and fasting, and told me that he felt the Lord saying that I should teach Bible in the School. I laughed at it, and felt it quite ironic. Cuz a friend of mine has been telling me for years not to run away from teaching the Bible. I love the Word and I guess it has taken a while to realize that it’s part of what the Lord wants me to do. So I’m teaching the Bible in the school, from grade 1-7. It’s quite challenging at times, but they do learn and wants more of the Lord. Part of the vision for the home is, is that we want the children to grow spiritually.

The other day when teaching grade 6, the lesson went on for 2 hours instead of 40 minutes, because of their interest in the Holy Spirit, and how to get baptized in the Holy Spirit. Encouraging, yes it surely is…. Keep praying for them and that their hunger for the Lord will increase.

The school has been going on for almost 8 weeks, and there is only 3 weeks to go before the first term of school is over. The children like being in school, but looking forward to the holidays when they are going back to their villages to visit relatives. I have the privilege to go to Gulu which is in the Northern part of Uganda, with some of the children.

School start! New kids!

School has started and the kids look so smart in their uniforms and their new shoes. They were so excited and literally jumped out of bed the first day of school. But when reality hits, it’s not so easy to get them out of bed in the morning. I do remember those days, when my mother came to wake me to get ready for school. How do you get 100 some kids ready for school ?!?
Well, you have to get them out of bed early enough for them to get ready. School starts at 8 am, so we wake them at 05.45. It’s early and they still have difficulties to get ready. They have chores to do before school, like sweeping and mopping the room, cleaning the toilet facilities, sweep the compound etc… which takes time. But slowly we get into a routine, and things looks good.

We are still waiting for the electricity to come, but they have now brought the poles. Until then we still need to go into town to get our phones, laptop and MP3 charged….

This morning going into town, the taxi decided to pull off the road, and pull up alongside a building and load some corn. Just like that. And nobody says anything, cuz it’s so normal to do something of that sort.

The other day I sat along up front, which is quite the treat… but when I leaned back the seat didn’t hold me…. which made my fellow passengers have a good laugh.

The home has gotten more children over the last few weeks, so now the total nr is 141. The last 4 are siblings - so it's a bit easier for them to adjust. Their parents died, and they were left with realives that didn't take good care of them. So one of the kids ran to the street and started living there, cuz he felt that kind of life was better.... Uganda Orphans Fund got a call, and the children are now with us. They are having a good life now.

A brief update!

During the holidays we go for walks, go to one of the playgrounds - taking them over to the football field all the fun things that will be less when school starts.

Daniel (Dan-dan) is a fun kid to be around, he is one of the workers son. He loves being around the white people, and is a bit spoiled - He has quite the character, but doesn't all 3 year olds??

The children are now getting ready for the school to start, which will be around the 1 week of February. We are still in need of teachers, but we all believe that they will be there when needed.

The pillows have been sent from Norway, and the paper work is being worked on - and then we'll be abel to picked them up.

The other day we were able to hand out all the suitcases to the children, they were all happy and went to their rooms so that they could put their few things inside it.

Life goes on, the children are amazing. They are hungry for the Lord and many of them are fasting on regular basic. Those that fast, come for prayer and it's so encouraging. The reasons why they are fasting are different, but many of them want more of God and are praying for their future. God is so at work at this place and it’s awesome to see the changes in the children that are seeking God.

The gates are up, the fence is almost ready – still one thing missing – electricity….LOL it’s Africa and things take time…

The wildest Christmas!!

Christmas trees look different!

It’s time again to update you on what is going on in Kasozi village. It probably has been the most interesting Christmas I’ve ever experienced. Let me tell you a bit of what happened on the 24^th of December. The children wanted to stay up until midnight, so that they could see Jesus being born!!!!! Mainly seeing the start that showed up like 2000 years ago….. Then early in the morning of the 25^th they were up early so that they could see the angel was the moon…. Well, there were a couple of things that I needed to tell them about all that – but we got a good laugh out of it.

Then New Years evening, which was another different event. We had a time of worship ending 2007, and started 2008 worshiping the Lord. That was awesome. They stayed up until midnight of course – and then they took the Christmas tree and set it on fire alongside with the Christmas decorations that they had put up in their rooms…. I guess we all have our different traditions….

Life goes on pretty much as normal at the home. We are still waiting for the pillows to come, but I’ve now got the confirmation that they will arrive in Entebbe on the 21^st of January. The pillow cases have been ordered, so they will be picked up Monday. Things take time in Africa, so the suitcases that they children were supposed to have for Christmas some of them arrived yesterday. The children were ecstatic, they were shouting and screaming. Not so happy when I told them that they had to wait until we get all of them….. but they know that they will get one.

Electricity. All the paper work has been done, the money has been paid, but ….we don’t have it yet…. Hopefully it will be there soon. Africa is Africa, patience is something one needs to learn here, if you don’t have any b4 coming – then I can promise you that you will be streeeeeeeeeetched….lol

I’m having a good time with the children, they are making my day. There is a group of us that is fasting and praying on regular basis, and it’s so encouraging to see the children coming asking for prayer when they fast. There are usually several that are fasting every week. God is a work at the home, and the children are getting more hungry for the Lord.

A friend of mine is visiting these days, and she has seen several angels on the property. She has seen them during time of worship, while sitting talking in the rooms….. it’s awesome and very encouraging. But this is not what things are about; it’s getting closer to the Lord and having a deeper fellowship with Him that matters. Without a relationship with Him, there is nothing. My prayer for this year – is that we all get a new hunger for the Lord and that we want a deeper relationship with Him.

Christmas preparations.

Christmas was right around the corner. Will post this cuz it was supposed to be. How it went, will be in a few days......

It’s kind of hard to imagine cuz it’s fairly hot outside. But hopefully we’ll be able to make things different when the Christmas is here, they play “Jingel Bell in Luganda on the radio – kind of strange. Specially when one usually think of that song when it’s snowing outside…..

The children are doing ok, the boys are playing soccer and the girls are doing some other games. They are all enjoying the holidays, but are looking forward to Christmas. Mainly because they know that they will get different food, from what they get every day…. They will have milk tea, with egg and chapaty in the morning. For lunch they will have meat with rice, and potatoes with green and a soda. And for supper they will eat meat again. They usually get meat once a week, so they are very happy about the meal.

There has been people that has sent money for gifts to the children, so I’ve done some shopping for that. 133 gifts, which they all have to be the same which has made my job quite easy…. It has been fun, but has taken a lot of time. We hope to give them one suitcase, a towel, body cream, candy and some other small stuff. I would like it to be a Christmas they will always remember.

Some people in Norway have been given 250 pillows, 400 duvet covers and some blankets for the children. It will be sent by plane to Entebbe, someone people has sponsored the shipping. It’s a true miracle that all of this has happened so fast. They will be sent around the 27^th of December – the children are all praying that it will all reach here….

We are also praying for the electricity to be connected, but things take time here in Africa… something that is not new. The fence around the center has been put up, so what remains to be put up are the gates. The place looks very different from the first time I got here. It’s bigger for one, but also neater and cleaner. The children are helping in cleaning the compound, weeding, planting the fruit trees, that also was given to them…. God so has His hand on this place.

The children are happy, the place has a peace that one can feel… I praise God for all that He has done here, what He is doing and what He will do,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.