Greetings from our family in Uganda!

We started 2020 with everything going as planned! 

 The construction crew in Kibaale had been working hard through term break to get the primary school renovation complete for the first day of school.

Although the majority of work was to the outside buildings; a new roof, and installing a new water collection system, the inside was also freshened up! All the classrooms were painted, given new chalkboards and the windows were replaced. 

First day of school!

Meeting all the new nursery students is always a highlight of our day. 

Finn was very excited to have all the kids back to play soccer with. 

Mazzy loves being in the classrooms with the younger kids. 

Just a couple weeks after school began our first visitors of the year arrived, Erin Clark and her 3 girls. This was their fourth trip to Kibaale and first time coming without a team, which was a unique experience for them. It was such a great trip! It was so nice to see their family continue to build relationships with staff and students that they have been getting to know these past four years. Our kids all had a really great time together; organizing crafts, going on home visits, and also being creative making videos, writing songs and having Survivor challenges. 

Although this was to be the first group of a busy team season, it was actually the only group that went as planned!

 As news of COVID-19 came out we decided to be proactive and have the families of all our new students come to the centre for education on hand washing. The families all left with soap and a new goat. 

 Uganda does not have a lot of cases of COVID-19 but they are taking drastic measures to maintain that. We are on lockdown from April 1-14 and schools are closed until the end of the month. However, an updated list of rules seems to be changing daily. 

We are working alongside the other Directors in Kibaale, our social workers and the local government leaders to best help the vulnerable community of Kibaale during this difficult time. Our hope is to be able to give food and supplies to families as needed. The price of food and soap has risen significantly in the last week and it's very hard for people who live day to day to meet the needs of their families right now. 

If you are looking for a way to practically help out in Kibaale you can donate Family Food Assistance, for $40 you can provide a family with food and soap for an entire month. 

DONATE FAMILY FOOD ASSITANCE

Thank you for your continued prayers for our family and for Kibaale! 

Wrapping up 2019

The last couple months have been a nice mix of settling into routine with work and school, hosting a few teams and visitors and spending a lot of time on the new construction projects. 

Esther, Buff and a stray puppy that really wants to be part of the family are the best distraction from homeschool! 

Finn's other distraction is soccer, if he's not doing school he is out on the field. Living on a school campus there is always someone out there kicking the ball around! 

156 visitors came to Kibaale this year, wow!! 

Thank you to everyone who came to work alongside us and the amazing Kibaale staff. 

Our last team of the year was a group from Village Church, Lucas and Kaely sponsor Gilbert and had the chance to meet his whole family and bring them some needed supplies. 

They were in return gifted a pumpkin! 

One of our favourite parts of mudding a new house is meeting the whole community! 

Thank you to the team and our vocational students for your hard work blessing this family with a new house! 

The team made a delicious dinner for some of the staff and their families that they had been working with. 

Natasha, one of our nursery students, came by the social workers office to let them know her grandma who she lives with fell and hurt her hip, since she wouldn't be able to dig in the garden for a few weeks we went to town to stock up on some food and supplies. They are the sweetest family and we love to check in on them so this was a treat for our family. 

A few of our new nursery students getting their sponsorship photos and modelling the brand new uniforms! The whole school is getting a new look next year and we can't wait to see them all back here in February! 

A special thank you to Village Church and North Langley Community Church for having us at their churches and inviting their congregations to be part of our sponsorship program in Kibaale!  

There has been lots going on the last couple months but one of the most exciting things for Jeff has been all of the construction projects.

Two new dormitories that will allow for 200 more girls at the Timothy Girls School in Masaka. 

In addition to our existing medical clinic will now be an overnight ward and also a maternity clinic. These are huge needs in our community so we are very excited for this health centre expansion. 

The maternity clinic at the roofing stage.

Roof is on! 

The primary school is getting a full renovation, inside and out. While the kids were still going to school we started working on the outside, a new shed roof and gutter system to catch more water and all new retaining walls. Flooding and erosion are huge problems on this part of the property but these changes should really help. 

Thank you for your continued prayers and support towards our family, we can't thank you enough! 

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Our Summer in Kibaale

We've loved spending this summer in Uganda, especially hosting families in Kibaale! Since June there has been 50 visitors here, 21 of those were kids, which has been a lot of fun.

Since the Kibaale Community Centre has 4 schools with over 1,000 students on campus, a busy medical clinic, and many community programs there is an area for everyone to help out. We are so thankful for the generosity of our visitors; choosing to spend their time here, teaching in many different areas, and also giving gifts to their sponsor children and the community.  

Home visits are always a favourite part of coming to Kibaale! It definitely changes the experience of sponsorship when you get to meet the student you sponsor and get to know them and their family. 

The best sports days include a dance party. 

The water station was another favourite on this very hot day! 

The kids worked really well together planning and organizing this event for the Nursery students. 

Mud hut! We are so thankful for the fundraising efforts so that one of our students could get a much needed new home this summer! 

Avin spent last summer in Arizona with her friend Sophia, it was great having her and the entire Currie family on our side this summer! 

They apparently feel very strongly about this statement. 

This is moments before a mud fight! 

Nurses in training. 

Sweet little babies. 

Every week our nursing staff go into a different village nearby to provide immunizations, weight checks and deworming pills to that community. 

We are very thankful that 2 of the families planned and brought over all of the Christmas crafts that our students will make for their sponsors. It's a lot of work so we have to start in the summer, but having all these extra hands here made it go a lot smoother this year! 

Tea time! 

Sunset views! 

That's a lot of kids! 

Us minus Joel, he had to leave Uganda for 2 weeks to write an English final. 

Straforelli Family

Roberts Family

The girls

The boys

All 6 of us reunited!! 

Currie Family

Boulton Family

Thanks again friends for serving alongside us in Kibaale, it was an amazing summer!