back in Mukono

Well it’s been a while since I have written a huge email, I bet some of you thought I would never write again. For those of you who don’t know I was surprised by friends of my family with a more than generous gift, plane ticket home for Christmas. The holidays were hard but I was grateful to see my family, it was a good boost for us all.

I am back in Uganda now and a few new things have come about. I have reconsidered my options here and due to financial recession around the globe I have had a very hard time finding a job, most organizations desperately need someone with my skills however cannot afford to hire anyone new. I have changed my flight and will be coming home early in March, but not shorthanded. Over the holidays I have with the help of my mom generated 1700 dollars for Beacon of Hope Uganda. With this amount, over the next two months I will be initiated several small income generating projects and workshops with orphans and disadvantaged families around Mukono. Most of these I have already be prepared and I am very excited to have the chance to finally initiate some of these activities that I have worked so hard to organize.
My brother Luke is coming to visit! In February Luke is going to be sponsored to come for about three weeks and volunteer with Beacon of Hope. I am really excited for him as this will be his first of many journeys outside of North America. Luke will be spending a lot of time with the children at the school and help to implement a few Beacon of Hope projects, get ready Luke!

Sadly the man who owns Victoria primary school the orphan school we work with in Mukono has decided that he needs the school for his own purposes. This is very unfortunate, however Mrs. Lukwago who was the director of the orphan school has decided to use some of her land to build her own school, that way no one can ever take back the land and she is dedicated to helping children in need for a long time. Beacon of Hope will be working very closely with her in raising funds to build this school. I have arranged a day for Luke and I to help with the building process, we will get the opportunity to experience the hard work most Ugandans face on a daily basis.

I arrived back in Mukono a few days ago and was greeted with open arms from my African family, the Lukwago’s who hosted me before in Mukono were more than happy to hear that I was coming back to stay with them. Mrs. Lukwago had told me that everyday little Jacob would ask her, “is Matthew coming today.” She said he heard a plane once and shouted to everyone that I was coming. All the children went ballistic when I arrived screaming my name and running for a big hug, it was very overwhelming to say the least. I was excited to go back, almost more excited than I was the first time I arrived. The excitement was fizzled that afternoon however when a large bowl of potatoes was put in front of me for lunch. I didn’t mind it that much though I was hungry and again grateful for the hard work they put into preparing such a meal for me. My meals since I have come back have been pretty good, I have had beans a few times and Maize at most meals, maize is practically corn but harder and much more bland than the corn on the cob we have back at home.
I have be playing a lot of soccer since I have been back, there is a new rule in town though, no shoes or sandals, my feet are then back to the old dirty standards they were before I came home for Christmas...I have already stepped in something’s poop, the kids got a good kick out of that, Jacob fell over laughing.
I brought the BBC planet Earth series back for my family to watch, Jacob and Debra love it. I think it’s great for them to watch they not only enjoy it but learn from them too. They constantly ask questions about what they see and were fascinated by the footage of the mountains and the snow. We had a really bad storm here the other day and it was hailing, Jacob came into my room screaming, “Ice, Ice, Ice!” Jacob and Debra were asking if this ice was like snow back in Canada, I explained to them but they did not seem to get it, they were confused that our snow which is frozen and falls from the sky is soft and harmless. I showed it to them on the planet earth series, I think it helped them to have a visual.

Despite one storm the weather has been pretty good here. It’s coming to the end of the dry season and often there is a nice cool breeze that comes around in the evening to cool everything off.