White Ants

At least that is what they call them. They are not white and they look nothing like an ant.
Also, they eat them here.

I woke up early one morning while Shannon was in Jinja to the sound of many excited children outside hunting for ants. It's not much of a hunt because they are everywhere and you just pick them up! I also thought I heard English being spoken so I went out and realized that my boys had also been woken up early and decided to join the hunt. Each kid had a cup that they were filling full of these ants. Joel and Finny had no idea why they were doing this but thought it was fun anyway. They didn't think it was so fun when I told them they had to eat them!

David (one of the helpers at the children's homes) came to our house to help us prepare them. We washed them (still alive), pulled off their wings (still alive) and then put them onto a hot frying pan (not alive now). Then you fry them with salt until they harden.

They taste salty and are a bit chewy. Finny couldn't get enough of them but Joel had too hard a time getting over the fact that they're ants and ended up throwing them up (it's a great video!).



The ant hills like this one take only one year to be built by the ants. During the rainy season (right now) it cools down inside the hill which is why they all come out in the mornings

Reality

Recently I had a conversation with 2 guys from the church. They were about my age and had kids that were the same age as mine. They asked a lot about my life back in Canada . They asked about our food, our roads (are they dirt?) and my family. They asked me if my parents were still alive. I went on to tell them that when I was 6 years old my mother died. They thought that was sad...and it is sad. Then it was there turn to tell me about their lives. The first guy told me how when he was 10 years old his father was murdered right in front of him for his political beliefs. His mother died shortly after and he was left to raise his siblings and tend to all the crops. He never got an education. He now lives on the same farm raising his own kids. The other guy had attended his brother-in-laws funeral that week. They both went on to give me a long list of brothers, sisters, and other family members that have all died.

The average life expectancy here in Uganda is 42 years. There isn't a person you meet that does not have some close family member that's passed away. I then realized that our own kids have 4 grandparents, and 10 great grandparents.

Sometimes amidst the construction, playing with all the children, and everything else we are doing here, we can too easily forget the pain these people have been through. These children that we play with everyday are orphans. They didn't have all those grandparents to look after them after their parents died like our children would have.

King Fisher

King Fisher is a resort just outside of Jinja on Lake Victoria. We came for lunch and a swim on our last day before heading back to Mpigi. The last few days were incredibly hot and humid, so when we heard they had a great kids pool, we decided to go cool down!!!

The fishing boats on Lake Victoria

Everything on the menu looked good and pretty American, so being indecisive I asked the server to bring me what she thought was good. I enjoyed Jeff's cheeseburger while he ate my FISH!!

Most of the pool was shallow which the kids really loved. The tubes were fun for them to float around with and of course for going down the little slide! The slide was a favorite part of the day!!

There was also a lot of grass to run and play on, gardens to walk through and a playground!

Jinja

Jinja is north of Kampala, from Mpigi it is just over a 2 hour drive. Jinja has golf courses, restaurants, hotels, sidewalks, grass...it feels a lot different than Mpigi!! It is also right where the Nile River meets Lake Victoria, the Source of the Nile is a main attraction, as well river rafting. Avin and I have spent a week here volunteering at Amani, we were very fortunate to have been offered a house to stay in while we are visiting here; it belongs to long term missionaries who are in the US on furlough. Avin and I were very surprised by Jeff, Joel and Finn who showed up on our doorstep on our 10 year anniversary!! We are enjoying these few days together as a family, although we are still doing some research and volunteering, it has been a rejuvenating time.

Out for dinner in Jinja on our 10 year anniversary

A view of the Nile River from our street

The golf course is steps from our house and looks pretty tempting!!!

The Nile River

The kids in our Jinja home; pretty excited about dinner. There is even pizza delivery!!!

Amani Baby Cottage

The Amani Baby Cottage is an orphanage that is home to over 50 0-6 year olds. Most of these children were abandoned in the hospitals after they were born. Others have lost their parents to Aids and were cared for by a guardian or other family member until that was no longer possible. Thirteen of these children are currently in the process of being adopted, 3 of them within Africa, and the other 10 to the US. They are hoping that all 13 of these adoptions are finalized by the end of May! The judge overseeing the adoptions in Kampala was continually denying the US adoptions, but in January they had 2 adoptions go before a new judge and were granted, this is great news for these babies!!

There are 30 Ugandan staff running the baby house; helping the babies in their daily activities, cooking, doing laundry, cleaning, and yard work. There are 6 long term Muzungo (white person) volunteers, with their own responsibilities including an RN and the adoption coordinator, as well short term volunteers are always welcome. The impact the volunteers have on this baby house is amazing to see, the children receive a lot of one on one time being held, read to, or taken into town. We have spent some of our time this week looking at their programs, children's files, and spoken to the long term volunteers as research on our children's homes in Mpigi, we have learned a lot to take back with us. We have really enjoyed our time this week as volunteers, cuddling with these babies, and our children have loved playing with the many toddlers!

The toddler children are ready for dinner

This is a full time job!

Avin is hanging out waiting for the kids to wake up

Playtime at Amani

The children spend their afternoons playing outside, there is a tree house, swings, toys for the babies, toy boda boda's for the toddlers, and many volunteers!!

Avin quickly made new friends at Amani, as well as playing with the director's daughters. She has spent a lot of time playing with these toddlers!!

10 Acres

Here are some pictures of buildings on the property where we are staying

Church

Medical Centre

Guest House

Kukiriza

Kwagala

Construction

As you can see construction is well under way for the third children's home. This building is bigger than the other homes, it will have a bathroom inside, and a very large storage room. This home is called Suubi (Hope) and it will have 20 kids, it will be home to all the younger children on the property.

Digging the foundation by hand

Completed foundation

Walls going up

Chapati

Chapati is our favorite Ugandan food so far!! The kids especially love it! It's a flat bread that you can add veggies to, or eggs, then its fried up and tastes best when still hot. It's a treat to buy them, there is a little stand that makes them right in the centre of town (for the equivalent of 14 cents each) which also sells the best Samosas!! Today I learned how to make them at home!!! Pastor Michael's daughter, Alice, came over this morning to give me a cooking lesson, it is a bit time consuming mincing the veggies up and doing everything from scratch, but they were sooooo good!

We've been asked a lot actually what foods we are eating here. We eat pretty good; breakfast is cereal, coffee and juice (freshly squeezed passion fruit juice is a family favorite), lunch is often soup or bacon and eggs (the bacon here is fantastic!), and for dinner we have rice, potatoes or a pasta, a veggie or salad, and sometimes a meat. Meat is the tough one, since the deep freezer is only on for a few hours each day, we found out quickly that our fresh meat only lasted the day! Meats that do last are pretty processed, like bacon, sausages, hot dogs, so we certainly don't eat meat every meal!! Since we cook our own food we don't eat traditional Ugandan food that often, but we have on occasion!

Some of the more common meals would be Pasha and kidney beans (pasha is corn flour boiled with water), this meal is ok, pretty tasteless actually but filling, Matooke is mashed and boiled bananas, eaten like a rice or potato, not as sweet as you'd think .its ok, Jeff has tried the goat which is a common meat here, its often in a stew, and he liked it! We had chicken cooked the traditional way on Easter Monday, which is steamed in banana leaves, it was delicious!!!

Joel, Avin and Finn

Our children are continuing to do really well, they're very happy and healthy here!! They seem to be learning a lot of life lessons that we couldn't have taught them at home!!
One of the things that was at first difficult for Joel was when one of the kids from the villages would come by our house. He would quickly go outside with a soccer ball or skipping rope, hoping to play, but they would end up standing there while he played in front of them. It was awkward for him to communicate that he wanted to play with them, not in front of them! We've been really proud of how quickly he's figured out how to communicate with children that don't speak English!
Our kids have also learned how to entertain themselves well with just their imaginations. They don't require tv, xbox, or toys; they spend their days with the children here just playing in the dirt, or with sticks and rocks!!

On Easter Monday we drove to the Equator, only 35 minutes away!! Here's some pictures of our kids enjoying a cold drink!!

Boda Boda

A boda boda is a small motorcycle, slightly bigger than a scooter. This is the main form of transportation in Uganda . You just walk along the road until one passes by and hop on the back. Its a very cheap way to travel, it costs us 1500 shillings each way, which is $1.00 (the locals and Shannon can get them down to 1000 shillings). Our kids love to take turns going with us into town, I prefer actually to bring a child with me so I don't have to cuddle with the driver! The child goes in between us. One of our favorite parts of the boda ride is when a car is coming and stirs up a big cloud of dust and then the driver covers their eyes with their arm. Bodas are used to transport not only people but also cargo, whether its wood, animals, mattresses, and even beds. Our record is 9 mattresses carried on one boda, even the locals were impressed!!

happy easter!!