Sunday, August 12, 2012

New adventure unfolding


Now is the time, the big adventure is beginning. We are five weeks away from returning to Uganda for a month, the land has been purchased, the house is well on its way and the foundations for the school are being dug. It is real, there is an incredible sense of excitement, anticipation and of course nervousness.


As I watch the Olympics I see men and women prepared to give up their ‘lives’ for their sport. To put everything into something that they believe they can achieve. In some ways I suppose I can emphasize with them in a way I never imagined would be me. We do have a goal, we have set aside almost everything for it, our family is sacrificing for what we are doing and our energies need to be directed this way.

It is such a strange thing when you find yourself in a position that you never believed or thought would happen. The reality that in just a few more months we will be jobless (no more leave without pay) and truly our focus will be our work in Uganda. Yet, we know we are not alone. It is amazing the people that God has put in our path, the opportunities to talk about it and that money is coming from different places. We know this is much bigger than us and fortunately that God is in control not us.

Since returning to Australia we have been busy doing things that needed to be done, relating to selling houses, buying some land to build a smaller place, moving out into a ‘studio apartment room’ in our  fantastic, generous friends’ house. We have been teaching, recognising the extreme differences in education opportunities, methodology and resources between Uganda and Australia; not that we had to teach here to realise that.We really appreciate the support from MECS, keeping my job, providing a job for Ron. We don't take it for granted and hope that we have been able to make valuable contributions this year.

The best thing about being back in Australia has been that we have been able to be here for the birth of our first two grandchildren. Two of our children (and their spouses) have had children, one a girl and one a boy. Such a special thing being grandparents and we certainly are enjoying it very much. In fact it is of course the thing that we are going to miss most by going back to Uganda.

So, where are we now and what planning have we done for the new school? The land was bought before we left and the house is nearly complete. It will be ‘our house’ at this stage, will be used for accommodation for us, administrative purposes as needed and then when the school is fully functioning it will become the home of the ‘head teacher’ of the school.  The excavations are underway as shown in the picture. The school foundations for the first classrooms will be happening in the next few weeks.

We will be heading over to Uganda on the 15th September and will be aiming at dealing with the registration process, checking on building progress and the most significant thing is to start the employment process for the school. We want to have some teachers ready so that they can start preparing for teaching and be involved in the processes.

Another challenge at the moment is to do two main things. Firstly, we want to get people together that are interested in being part of the ‘team’ for the project and secondly have a get together for people interested in what we are doing and providing opportunities for people to support the project. We of course would love to hear from anyone wanting to be involved. 

Footnote: Gold for Uganda!!!!