time for a sugar high!

we had a terrible storm last evening....torrential rain and high winds and rolling thunder. the power has been off since then. i can see lights not very far away, so it must just be around our immediate area. i'm really used to living without power, gayaza road was a challenge for sure. now it seems to simply be a minor inconvenience...definitely a step in the right direction! hmmm, well, let me think about that a bit..is getting used to living electric free a step forward or is it a step backward? will need to discuss this with my facebook friend, daniel, which by the way is not his real name. i can't pronounce his real name, so a year ago he said it means daniel....perfect, but last evening he asked "why do you keep calling me daniel"? haha...one of us is daft, and i'm not sure which one that is. at any rate we have interesting discussions concerning food, God, horses, lots of things!

peter, carol, patrick, zhanna, yubu and i went to visit the ruhu kids last sunday at patrahill boarding school....we had a GREAT day! we brought them their usual thursday meal of fish or meat, matooke and rice and juice. patrick also brought sodas and cookies and bottled water...many snacks for them to enjoy. they all showed us their workbooks and we were SO excited about how well they are doing, especially since some of them have not had the opportunity to attend school in years. these kids are so bright and so eager to learn. some, i think, are homesick for the shelter and miss patrick so much. however, they are so very grateful for this opportunity to further their education. we all spoke to them about how proud we are, and how they have to be the best they can be and to look toward the future because God has given them so many challenges and now they are on the path to fulfilling His plan for them. we won't get to visit them until 17 march, which is a very long time!! they were wearing school uniforms and were SO cute...blue shorts and a short sleeved button up shirts, all looked so very handsome....they were proud of themselves too. they said the teachers call them "project" children, which really got my goat. i told them to turn it around...that they needed to make the choice to make that phrase a positive one so that when people say it, it means well behaved, and excellent students...exemplary children. just can't understand why adults would toss negativity at children who had been through so much pain in their lives....several said they had received beatings. Zhanna and i both cringed...beatings in the 21st century!! guess no one has told the school boards that beating a child teaches him that hitting is an acceptable way to solve a problem. we told peter that if a teacher in the USA or Russia strikes a child he can be arrested for assault. we told the children that they needed to behave and never do anything that would break a rule and result in a beating....easier said than done, i think.

patrick, zhanna and i went into kisenyi on tuesday to cleanse and treat wounds. patrick recruited brian, who had once been at the shelter, to return with us. if you look at the pics i posted from that day (19 feb), he is the boy in the olive drab tank top with the sad, sad face. it was so hot that zhanna started to feel sick and after some time had to return to the a/c in the van. we actually have a table now to put our meager boxes of supplies...mostly betadine, neosporin and bandages and tape. people kept stealing our water and most wanted pain killers whether they had an injury or not. we saw several really bad injuries such as the man with the broken leg from a police beating because he was sleeping on the street and a man whose leg was swollen to twice the size of the other. there is so much we can't do. all in all i believe the people appreciate the little help we can give. what a blessing it would be to have the funds to take all the serious injuries to the clinic, but right now that is out of the question. we are going back next week and will bring malaria meds and flu meds. i'm praying that the Lord has blessed us with a new volunteer...a nurse. i will meet him on sunday, so keep your fingers crossed. :)

well, today i was back in post office hell. they had been so good to me lately, hassle free. guess they decided it was time to test my fortitude! it started out well...'yes, your parcel is here. it's upstairs in the parcell room'......oh no i thought, that's where the MAN is, the one who's sole purpose is to give me a hard time! ok, he wasn't there 'this won't be so bad'. a new guy says..'i need a copy of your passport'. 'why', i ask, 'you didn't need one last week'? 'it's the rule'. i say that it wasn't a rule last week, and of course he says it was. 'was not!' 'was'! dang, i'm not getting anywhere here. "where do i get one?' "upstairs' he says, '3rd floor.' sure, ok, up i go but it is a hall of offices and i haven't a clue which one. along comes a man with a jerry can. 'may i help you?' he asks. "sure, thanks, i need a copy of my passport'. 'here in my office, what's your name?' hmm, i think, why do you need to know! we go in his office, i don't see a copy machine and all of a sudden he is trying to rent me a home in kabalagala. 'no, i say, i have a home, i need a copy'. 'where do you live", he asks. 'mutundwe, why?' 'that's too far' he says......ok, mr weird man, i need to go, i'm thinking. he finally led me to the copy machine down the hall after i promised to come back when my lease is up! yay, i get my copy....200ugx...good deal, back downstairs and the new guy at the desk says your package will cost 5900ugx. 'why' i ask, 'didn't have to pay last week'. 'yes you did'...'no, i didn't' and here we go again...ok, i pay the 5900 and the inspector slits my parcel open. i ask her to be careful because there are clothes in it. 'no' she says, 'it's candy'......i tell her there are clothes in there, but she doesn't want to bother looking through the rest of the parcel.....alrighty, she gives it back to me and i start out the door....the guard stops me and says 'i need your receipt'. i say that i don't have one...no one gave me one...that he has been there watching me all along, that he must know i paid and that i didn't get a receipt. i get the LOOK, the one that i recall from the day Erin Williams reeked havoc in that very same room! haha.....finally he allows me to leave without the receipt i never received and i knew right then and there that this was going to be one of THOSE DAYS. oh well, i have 3 new skirts, gummy savers and little debbies...time for a sugar high!!!