Days are moving on quickly

Each day moves us one day closer to the opening of the school. We are both working hard, Ron much more on the practical side and me with teachers and admin. Of course they do overlap. Unfortunately due to the need for about half our workers to go to another place to build some of a school we are not sure whether it will all be ready for starting day. A bit frustrating but just means we will have to put in more effort and trust God even more.
There have been very significant changes in the buildings and in the grounds this week. The new kitchen is taking shape as I write with the ring beam being set up today. The septic tank is now covered, we are very thankful to our workers who were prepared to do overtime to get it done. About half the toilets have been plastered on the inside, the trench has been dug from the tank to the toilets.

Impressive machinery and at our school

A big excavator, unlike anything you normally see here in Uganda was in the area and we were able to get him to level a lot of the block. We had had some boys remove tree stumps and so we are now ready to get the 'compound' organised for the sports field, netball court and playground area.
So, what has not been done yet. One classroom still needs the window frames, all classrooms need the doors and hence the finishing off around the doors. The whole building needs glass in the windows. The tables and chairs need to be stained, though the person we bought them from is meant to do this. Three classrooms need painting. The stairs and verandah need finishing off. The rest of the kitchen needs to be completed and the toilets need to be plumbed, finish plastering the toilet walls and of course the roof that Ron is building.

At work on changing the compound

It would be great to also have external painting done but I don't think that is likely. Also, there will be more guttering that will be put on as well in the near future. For our house we are still needing a bit more work in order to have hot water and there is finishing off painting that also needs to be done. Nothing too urgent as we have adjusted back to cold showers. What we would really like to happen soon is the electricity. We have an inverter and solar power which we make good use of, it can charge phones, computers, have the printer work, run the TV. One of the big problems is not having any power in the offices, so if the battery isn't any good on the laptop, like mine, work has to be done in the house. In the house there are only two sets of power points, in great places for the times when the electricity goes out and to regularly use but not convenient for computer and printer. But, I am not really whinging just looking forward to using my Christmas present to make fruit smoothies, the oven, the iron and working from the office! The most frustrating part has been the process, the company wouldn't do anything until we came, then said two weeks, came ten days ago and dug the hole for the pole saying they would be back Monday or Tuesday to connect with pole, then yesterday (we must have thought the wrong week of course!) they out in the pole and may come today(?)  to connect. Anyway, it is all ready when it gets connected we hope, bit hard for the electrician to check. 
We now have over 30 enrolments for the school, two teachers who we have been working with and a bursar who is doing lots of typing and sorting when there are no visitors. We have a plan about the third teacher just waiting for a phone call today to show us the direction to go. We have not been inundated with people seeking assisted places which is good because then we can give them to the right ones of which we know many. People keep coming wanting work, yesterday it was an electrical engineer! Desperate times mean people will do anything despite their qualifications.Things are gradually being sorted for other places. It seems that due to the fantastic work of John Fooks in gaining support for them that the secondary children from House of Peace will come to Hope Community High School. We are excited by this as it will be good education for them, without the walking and then we are hoping to be able to give them some extra assistance if needed, which we think it might. We travelled up to Nakaseeta on Saturday to provide them with food and it was great to see more of the children and to have them share with us, I always feel God's presence so closely when they pray all at once for us. 

Toys can be made from anything, steel man, iron man and butterfly care of the neighbour's kids

We are doing well, quick changes of roles at times as I go from painting windows to being the headmistress! We are so thankful for our lives here though. We feel so much a part of the place despite still being very much ourselves. We have a great church that we love going to, friends all around the community and workers who we also call our friends. Let alone all the other wonderful things we enjoy, like great pineapple on a daily basis, a fun dessert out the other night, a lovely house that catches a beautiful breeze, fresh fish on a regular basis and great fruit and vegetables, some of which are gifts suddenly appearing. 
Will try to add more photos tomorrow but this gives you a bit of an idea.