Wednesday, June 20, 2012

OUR FIRST KEY-HOLE GARDEN!!!


TED WITH FOURTUNATE, WINNIE AND REBECCA

TED AND HIS FRIEND MARGARET...SHE DANCES A JIG WHEN SHE SEE HIM!!

HOLDING A MIRACLE....BABY LORU DAVID....2 YEARS OLD

MISC. PICTURES!!!

MEDICAL CLINIC






SATURDAY, JUNE 9TH UPDATE ON JUNE 20TH!!!!

I just realized that I didn't update the blog on Saturday, June 9!!  We had our second IChooseYou Family day!  Let's see if I can remember everything that went on that day.  We started it at 2:00, all of the children and their moms came to the church....the sounds of laughter and the big smiles on their faces just make your heart smile :)

I probably won't have the order of our day correct but I do remembe WHAT we did!!

The mamas sang and danced, the Karamojong mamas sang and danced, the children had several wonderful programs for us...singing and dancing.

We handed out their gift bags...in the bags were letters and pictures from their sponsors, hand lotion, soap and shampoo, their new 2012 IChooseYou t-shirt and the most wonderful little dresses from Janice Johnson in Wimberley....THANK YOU JANICE....and bright colored t-shirts for the boys!!! 

We took their pictures with their new IChooseYou t-shirts on then we changed their clothes and put their new dresses and shirts on....oh how smart they looked!!!!

The team had several activities going on outside with the kids....Scott, Kady and Molly had the parachute out, David was teaching guitar to some of the kiddos, Haley and Deanna had the kids in a classroom making fun masks....everyone was helping and having so much fun!!!  Our IChooseYou children are all so happy....just wait until you see the pictures!!!  How blessed we all are!!

Well, that's about all for Sat. the 9th....I just wanted to say a big "THANK YOU", to Janice and her daughter-in-law for the love they put into those dresses and shirts....the kids could feel it!!!

Love and Blessings from Mbale, Uganda,

Becky

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

UGANDA IS WONDERFUL

Hi Friends,

Sorry about taking so long to update.  The internet at the hotel is soooo bad this year.  We are at Chat and Chinos tonight for dinner and they have internet!!

We have had many trips over the last several days to the main hospital in Mbale checking on Mama Irene and her little ones.  The  baby is much better....hoping to teach the mama HOW to be a mama...she is 30 years old and has 10 children.  Oh my...it is so hard to break the cycle here.  Please pray with us that she will understand how important for her to learn how to take care of her babies and to stop having them.

We have finished 5 gardens and the Lord is certainly doing His part.  It is raining every day here.  It does slow us down but we are trying to get out earlier in the mornings because it rains in the afternoon.  We put a garden in at Mama Beatrice's (Madina) home today.  It was interesting....she said that it was ready with manure already there.  Well....she was right!!!  It was very, very fresh manure....we had to think it through first then we got to it!!!  What a team I have....we were covered but got er done!!

I had some good office time with Sarah this afternoon.  She updated me on how each child is doing.  It was an encouraging time with her.  WE are so blessed to have her working for us and for the sweet and wonderful children that are in IChooseYou.  God has blessedus so much!!

We will be getting up and out early in the morning (Wednesday) to do a Small Wounds Clinic in Namatala.  Will try to report back on that tomorrow.

All is well in Uganda....hope all is well with everyone at home.

We all send our love to y'all,

Becky

OH....we went to my favorite resturant yesterday!!!!  The Pork Joint in Namatala....almost everyone ate....it was so good!!!!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

2nd DAY OF THE MEDICAL CLINIC

Well, we made it through another day in the world of medicine!!!  Namatala was a hopping place today.  We arrived at around 8:30 and we had a team meeting.  Had to get a few things settled with the two teams working together.  Meeting went well and we all got to work.  I'm not sure yet how many people we saw in the two days but it was a lot!!!  I have the sheets and will count them soon.  Saw many people with aches and pains, HIV, colds and of course malnutrition.  I found a mom with a month old baby girl that was probably just days away from death.  I took her to Dr. Bumba and he immediately told her to get the baby to the hospital.  Her little hand was so tiny....it looked like a skeleton with skin on it.  She didn't know how to suck so she was not able to nurse.  I'm going in the morning to the hospital to check on her.

Of course, the team was great!!!  They all worked so hard, I am very proud of them.  We are pretty tired after two days in the field with the medical team but very happy that we were able to serve the families of Namatala and our Lord in this way.

We are taking a break and are at Chat and Chinos for dinner.  Tomorrow the kids are going to climb Mount Wanale....that should be interesting.  It is the mountain behind our hotel...pray for them!!!  Just kidding, they will be fine!!

It's been a great trip so far....Hailey Littmann left today.  It was so wonderful having her here with us....it's been too long since we were here together.  Mark, Darby and Mollie leave on Friday....we will miss them so much!!!  The rest of the team will be back in Namatala digging and planting and probably have many small wounds clinics....we are becoming doctors and nurses!!!!....and pharmacists!!!!  Field work is great!!!

We all send our love....keep the prayers coming and I'll try to update again in a couple of days!!

God is Good...Becky

Monday, June 11, 2012

From the ichooseyou sewing club!

Greetings from Uganda and the ichooseyou sewing club!!
We’ve been working hard on some new things. They have some new fabrics as well as those brought from the U.S.

Some great news…Mt. Elgon is going to have the moms make some new chair cushion covers (60!) and headboard covers. This is big for them as they are getting their ‘foot in the door’ in an established business. Please pray that they will have more opportunities like this in the future and that they finish this project well, also that God will open doors for them for their business here.

It’s been good being here for a month! So nice to get to know the moms better and take more time showing them things and not feel rushed. We’ve been going over understanding how to use a pattern (some are still learning to read!), reinforcing how important a budget is for them and their business, and other things. I can see a difference from year one to now!

What a blessing to work with these families who teach US so much!
Today (and tomorrow) we had a medical clinic for the moms and their families who don’t have much of an opportunity to go to the Dr.

We’ll wrap up the week with filling some sewing orders for the teams that have already been here.
I can not say thanks enough for all the prayers for these families.

God is good ALL de time! Darby

FIRST DAY OF THE MEDICAL CLINIC

Just wanted to update what has been going on for the last few days.  Team One left last weekend and Team Two arrived on Tuesday of last week.  Boy did the dynamics change!!!  We have had two great teams!!!  We went to Namatala on the Wednesday so we could introduce them to the wonderful people there then ended up at Covenant School to see our IChooseYou kids when they got out of school.

On Thursday, we went back into Namatala and put a garden in at the home of Sarah and scouted out the location for our next garden.  Sarah is the young lady that works for IChooseYou and lives in Namatala. Then on Friday we went to Mama Irene's home and put in garden number 4.  Man there was a lot of digging going on!!  I have learned so much from these Ugandan mamas...we planted carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, kale, bell peppers and eggplant in all of our gardens.  I am hopeful that we can put at least 2 more in before we leave in 2 1/2 weeks.

Saturday we had our second "IChooseYou Family Day".  It was so much fun.  The children and the parents had several programs that they had prepared for us.  We gave the children their IChooseYou t-shirts, their new little dresses and shirts, took their school pictures and then group pictures.  They had so much fun with their art project with Hailey and Deanna.  Booth and Paul and Scott had a group singing, Scott, Mollie,  Kady and Hailey had a group playing with the parachute, Kristyn and Callie held babies...it was a fun day!!!

Sunday after church we had lunch at Morris and Aidah's house then went out to Lulwanda Children's Home to visit with the children.  It was such a treat, as always.  Darby had a wonderful treat...her little Davis had several "big" parts in the program!!  We met the new director, Patrick....what a nice man.  Natalie was such the wonderful hostess, giving us a tour and telling the team the history of Lulwanda.  It was a great day.

Now, for today....Monday.  Our first day of the medical clinc in Namatala.  On Sat. Mark and Ted and I met with the doctors and bought 4 million shillings worth of medical supplies....that's a lot!!!!  We met up at Aidah's this morning to sort them supplies then went to the Mustard Seed Church in Namatala and got set up.  We learned a lot about what all goes into a medical clinic.  The team was AMAZING!!!!  Always willing to help and finding ways to help without being asked....it was a hard and long day but we feel like we learned so much and we are ready for tomorrow.  We saw several hundred people today....we had a PA system set up with Hassen preaching and music playing.  There were a lot of dancing going on outside the clinic by the children and of course our amazing team set up a small wounds clinic and did some pretty amazing things that were NOT so small.

It's been a long day and we are off to bed so we can get started at 6:30 in the morning...I'll try to write more tomorrow.

We miss all of you but are so thankful for what all the Lord is doing in Namatala.  Thank you all for you prayers.

We all send our love,

The Second IChooseYou Team of 2012

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Saturday and Sunday, June 2nd and 3rd

Today we got to go see the land where the pig farm was. Good news, the pigs have been sold!!! It was so good for me especially to see the land since I have not seen it since 2009 when we first got it. It was so lush and green with so many veggies growing. We had aMAZEing maze, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes, and two mango trees.  We met the family that is tending the land and living there, it’s a couple and their two children.   It is amazing the difference in the land since I have seen it. God is so good in providing so many crops and keeping this land so healthy. On Sunday we woke up to go church which lasted almost 4 hours, but was AWESOME. We left to go to the children’s Sunday school room which was filled over 100 children and standing room only. I taught the Prodigal Son story to the kids which I think was a good message for those kids. I think it is good for these kids to hear that no matter where they go or how far they stray God will always be there with open arms wanting them back. It was good for Mark Muhlestein to hear Pastor Morris preach this Sunday for the first time. When Pastor Morris speaks he is quiet and calm and has little words, but when he preaches he is loud and animated and full of joy speaking from the lord. After church we went to momma Aidah’s house for lunch. It was so good to see her after her surgery. She is doing so good and regaining her strength and I’m sure will be back soon telling people what to do ha-ha. God is so good and is moving in so many ways here in Namatala and Mbale. Keep praying for us as we work with the kids and people here.   
God is Good…All de Time
Deanna Duke    

Friday June First

The weekend brought many adventures, both good and tough. Friday we were able to go see St. Kitzo’s baby home, this could be considered one of the tough parts as well as a good one.  We were able to take a tour and get basic information about the home and how it runs. There were around 35 kids at the home and 13 of them were infants. I (Deanna) was able to see my baby Peter that I met two years ago as an infant. It was so good to see that he was healthy and growing since he was one of triplets and the only one to survive at birth. He had a problem with his foot but they told us that that with much physical therapy he is walking like a champ at around two and half years old. Needless to say it was good for all to see the baby home but it can also be tough to see such sadness with babies being abandoned and parentless.  After the baby home we went to Namatala and split into two groups, half going to visit the sewing ladies houses and the other half working with some of the needs in Namatala. My group went to help a malnourished baby who is almost three but looks about eighteen months. We have been making some formula in empty water bottles and instructing the mother on how to help this baby eat and keep it down. We also gave some children’s cough syrup to his younger brother who was sick with a fever. This is the family of Mudua Irene who is in IChooseYou and her family has 10 children, and many of them are sick. We also checked on our garden and prayed for some rain for it. That night we arranged a party for our families to just hang out and enjoy each other’s company. This would also be a good goodbye for our first team. We arrived at seven and as soon as we did the down pour started. The kids and families were stuffed into our sewing room waiting on us and greeting us as true Africans do... LOUD and full of Joy.  We all moved into the house, and they then asked for the program. Becky then turned to me and Madison and said something along the lines of “Go ahead girls”, so we danced and sang songs. We praised with the kids, even trying to teach them the cha cha slide, until the rain stopped and we were instructed that the families needed to go home now because it would take a while for them to get there because of the weather. This was another one of the tough but good times because it was hard for the first team to say goodbye to the kids and families.

God is good …All the time or as they say in Uganda All de time…

Deanna Duke
SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2012

FAMILY DAY!!!....and ANOTHER SLEEP OVER!!!

We have had another wonderful day with our IChooseYou family.

Waswa, Mama Flower and Jennifer picked us up at 9:00.  We then went to the church and everyone was there practicing for our time together.  The Karamojong mamas were practicing their dance and song under a group of trees, the