This is my now. Kelly in Uganda xXx

its so hot....crazily but i am so white still!

 

SO much to catch up on but no time at all toady!!.... its going to take forever to tell you everything and some things i pray i will never forget!

 

 I wish my camera was working proparly, its so annoying...i can occassionally take a ferw pictures but i hate the fact i cant take pictures when i  need to and i occasionally miss amazing things!

 I get really upset and annoyed about it!

 

Just as much as i get upset because i am not in reach of minstrels ...he he! anyways, just under a month now till i come home! Scary ... strange and weird.

 

So much i am doing here befor i come home! I will be exhausted! Including bungee jumping, white water rafting, visiting the slums again, hosptials and other prphanages, trekking and visiting some villiages outside of our knowledge. We are even trying to get the song recorded at a studio that me and Eric have composed! So much ...more than that. Christmas production is coming up on the 24th, sso many rehearsals and that, and we have the wedding tomo that we are bridesmaids for. It is going to be crazy and tiring.

 

we are sleeping at the hair salon tonight because it is going to take around 10 hours to do my hair. Not looking forward to thsat new experience, altho it sounds quite funny. The dresses are dyre as well! Trust me!

 

I am worried actually abuot tomorrow because i have a feeling i am going to look like a walking cristmas cracker! I will get some ppics and you can see for yourself! YUK!!!!

 

This week....as a team we went to a feild and played some football with some of the lads from church. They made me in charge! Haha .... i felt so good controlling about 20ish guys becuase here women do not have much say in anything other than the cooking! ALtho we as white people have more of a say!  Bad ... i nkow, i is just the African way.

 

We have started to do football a few times a week now and i maje them do lots of work, anyways .... the first day we did it. Oh my days! It was hilarious....it rained like i have never seen rain before...the rain felt like stones! It is the dry season and has not rained in a while, so it RAINED! It was so bad, we were all so scared. We ran and dived for shelter adn the Ugandans said that even they were shocked at the fall! We began getting bored as we all gathered under a small roof edging of a building squashed, we were all smelly, hot and wet anyways.

 

Me and Ali decided that altho we knew it was stupid we would run out and in the running streams of water (we were on a hill) we would run out and dance in the rain while Hannah filmed! Bad idea ...it hurt but was hilarious!

 

Then we waited another half hour, it was getting heavier and heavier. I whilspered to the group nad the Ugandans had just told us off for being silly and dancing in the  rain becauase we would get ill and it hurts or we would slip.

 

WE ran for our lives....all the way home! The funniest thing ever. We got to our village and people were laughing and laughing! Then began the lighting ... i was sooo sure i was about to get struck, it was landing all around us, me and Hannah nearly cried, we falling over, absolutely drenched, we were running faster than evr before, the boys kept picking us up and pulling us. We were so scared.....then we got to our porch and once inside we stripped so quickly, shaking away. Freezing! We then all began laughing to much, it was hilarious!

 

Never again, a once in a life time experience!

 

The day got better....me and HAnnah we covered in mud, we were so wet and there was no electricity and no water in the house. We decided we should take the chance of showering in the rain.

 

It was amazing....we snuck round the side of our house in our shorts and underwear. And the rain although was hard was just like a power shower! When you have not had a proper shower in 3 months, it is serious business. OPut came the shampooand conditinoner and then the soap! It was so beautiful! Natural! I felt so cleean after. We went back inside feeling so good!

 

Then more fun began. The rain stopped and the grasshoppers came out! We went out in the compound, all of us and began shaking the trees and bushes. The  grasshoppers all fly out, hundreds, huge and green!

 

WE took a few empty bottle and began filling them. It is so fun but they bite so hard and its hurts! Trust me! It feels like some one has stabbed you with a needles for about 4 hours! I happened to get bit three times! Trust me!

 

Anyways, we got about 100 in about an hour and then in the evening just beofre dinner, we took off the arms and legs and other little bits .... and then i fired them in a pan with salt and pepper, oil and a drop of lemon juice and onion! They were beautiful! Yummy!

 

We actually felt so good becasue we cooked and preparesd our own food from scratch, it was great!

 

Yesterday we went to Kasoobi tombs! Amazing strory.....ask me about it when i return but its all about the war and the kings and the history of uganda .... amazing! I was fascinated. The king had something like 123 wives in 1864 or something and in the tombs he is burried and aound then tombs (it used to be his privet palace before) are houses were they all would live. The houses are still there and decendents of the wives still live there today. They HAVE to. We met a few. Anyways, it is all very confusing but amazing! They are nutters here and all come from different clans that are named after animals.

 

If you are from the cow clan, you are not allowed to eat beef etc. It is crazy!

 

ANywyas .... we took the orphans out this week and managed to loose half of them and found them eventually about a mile away climbibng trees! My heart nearly stopped! They are so lovely though. they call me Mumma Kelly. Amongst 4 other African names! I love them all!

 

I am now singing a song solo at the Christmas production in Lugan .... plase pray for me. I am also solo - ing Silent night, a song i don't know very well and i am leading other songs and playing my flute. It is all so much! And it is all scary! We are dancing to which involves shaking every part of your body, which i hate! They do not understand that me and Hannah feel slighlty unconfortable shaking every bit of fat on our bodies about!

 

ME and JAmes were chased by acow badly the other day, i mean it ran, we ran, i cried inside but the cow laughed outside!

 

\The kids from the streets are with us most of the time and following us everywhere, i have got used to thier beggin now and i now beg them back in Luganda, which they find hilarious!

 

I hope to chat very soon about other things.

 

I had a dreem about Fiona, Sarah, Kate, Lucy, Mum and Gill gardiner a few nights ago. We were on the news and all the African were with me watching it. Baring in mind we have no TV's here and especially no BBC, it felt very realistic! Whatever it was about Aveling woke me upbecuase i was laughing so loud! Love you all!

 

Please pray for those things iemailed about this week, i really appreciate it and also pray for the wedding tomo adn that we will have hair still after the Africans have done their things eith it. Please pray that it will not hurt so much and that i will still have feeling in my head!!!

It is shocking! I have been here for nearly 10 weeks! Craziness! But i believe the time has been powerful and i believe the time will be powerful! Chuganda Kuba Chika! (Its going to be powerful)

Stephen is now in England! How funny and he comes back here on the 30th of Jan and i will back in England then and one of his young daughters and son is with him. I love them, he said we could arrange a day with them and spend some time with them! The cutest of his tho, is about 2! She is adorable! I want one! I will get a picture and you will understand! I have considered stealing her a few times, inace we are getting quite attatched to eachother. She comes and finds me in services and in rehearsals and even at school. She snuggles all down until she is comfy and then falls

OK ..... i do not have very long at all but i will brief you on just a few important things. The party in the slums last Saturday was immense. The children were very naughty and unappreciative of the things we gave them but they really enjoyed our company. I think because of their lifestyle and the way they have been brought up or not brought up, some of them being homeless and fatherless has caused their bad manners. Although at first we were overwhelmed, it because clear that it was not their fault at all. We had an awesome day with the children, we gave then sweets and drinks, balloons we sang to them, they sang to us, we danced with them and played games! It was so powerful nd i just pray that God's name was shouted out in the slums that day as GIVE ME!

The first picture is of a family in the slums. The mother is dying of Aids and she has three children. an older girl about 14, a boy of 7 and another boy of perhaps just under 2? The children probably have the disease too. The mother is really suffering and they live in this small small room, in the same bed, in the middle of the slums. It is really badly smelling. We went in and prayed with the lady and we asked God to decrease her pain and suffering. She was a prostitute for many years as she had no income to support her first child . Through prostitution she conceived the other two children, meaning each child is from a different Father. This sadly, is very common here!

 

     
The second picture is of me with a grandmother of many. One being the baby she is holding. This lady has very bad health issues, i am unsure of them but her daughter abandoned her children with them. This lady is really struggling. She finds it hard to bring in bread every few weeks and she does not know what the future holds for the children.

We were then able to take a picture of just a few of the children we saw that day and played with.

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Holiday!!!

Okay i will give you the outline of our scheldule and please pray that we will fill each day with work etc, please also pray that everything will be successful and we will stay safe!

Okay! Where do i start???

Tomorrow? Okiedokies......

Sunday 14th Dec - We are going to church and then during the service we are going to leave to go to a huge tribal gathering in Kampala. I am wearing an African dress and we are going to see all the tribes gather to meet and for once get on! It is a Christian even but there will be thousands of people there and funnily enough maybe the president! How cool....we will be trying all the different foods and singing and dancing to all the different types of music. There is over a hundred tribes in Uganda. I wonder what its going to be like! Fascinated .... i cant wait! Then depending on when we return, we may go to the youth service!

Monday 15th Dec - Spending day with the orphans and then we have dance rehearsals and music rehearsals for Christmas production!

Tuesday 16th Dec - We are taking the hostel kids (Orphans) to Kampala, some of them will never have been there strangely! Pray for safety for the children and pray that we will not loose any! There are many! We then have an evening service.

Wednesday 17th Dec - Spending day with the orphans and then we have dance rehearsals and music rehearsals for Christmas production!

Thursday 18th Dec - We, i think are going on a trek for the whole day! Woooo.....maybe i will see some more monkeys and mega lizards hanging from the tree! Then we have rehearsals and an evening service.

Friday 19th Dec -  We have an over night at the hiar salon because it takes forever and a day...quite literally do do crazy things to our hair and we are maids the following day so we are sleeping in a salon! How weird!

Saturday 20th Dec - We have the wedding.....help! Bridesmaids to people you don't know,in a forieign country in ugly dresses....brilliant!

Sunday 21st Dec - Recovering.........Church, worship, youth service

In between these days we are going to drive around the villages publicisin the Chrismas production with a PA system, lots of sweets, singing, acting and dancing!

Wednesday 24th Dec - Christmas eve - Christams production! Its going to be immense!

Thursday 25th Dec - Church in the a.m.......We are spendning Christmas day with the orphans. I can't wait but i will miss you and my family! )we are doing a secret santa between the team, should be fun!

Friday 26th Dec - We leave for our little holiday in one of the sessy islands, i cant wait! Kanoeing and swimming, fishing, treking and allsorts!

Tuesday 30th Dec - Come home from sessy!

Wednesday 31st Dec - Spending new year at Hellens Church because they have fireworks....not looking forward to that! I don't know why, im scared about that if i am honest, more than Christmas!

1st Jan - We are leaving to go to Helens home villiage in Kumi. It takes 10 ish hours via taxi....pray for that, i get really constriphobic altho is a hilarious expereince, we get them all the time now but they are bonkers! Hellens villaige is mud hutsa nd a huge plain. Hellen is worried we will hate the way we sleep, once again .... an experience!

5th Jan - Leave the villiage and head for Jinger......should be my home town! This day will concist of us bungee jumping and white water rafting! How scary!

6th Jan - I am recording the song i have written with Eric.

17th Jan - saying goodbyes....etc!

18th Jan - My flight is at 6.50 English time and i get into Heathrow at 3.55 ish. Oh my.....its coming to an end!!

( In all of the gaps we are going to be visiting homes, hospitals, other organisations, orphanages and schools etc, we will be going back to the slums,
som emore health care and HIV and AIDS awareness campaigns, playing with the hostel kids, painting walls in the school ....cool, playing and talking with the homeless etc. Pray that we will find more doors and that everything we do will be for the glory of God!

Anything else to write home about??

Please pray for the team still, that we carry on getting closer, and pray that people will stop talking about me going home because i still have over 5 weeks!

Erm.....Please pray for my money situation as i am rapidly running out on money. Sounds silly but being white is automatically a downside sometime here becuase you are overpriced for everything!

Okay.....i will tell you a funny story that happened this week. Basically babies are everywhere and most of them are nakey! Starkers! They run everywhere naked and they sit everywhere naked and everywhere we have looked this week, there has just been babies i s weir places, like a baby randomly sitting in a bush or on a goat. Anyways....most of the babies altho naked....where a ring of beads around thier waist. Their mothers do this to thier kids as like a tradition. It is supposed to get angels protect them from getting theor bellies funny shapes of something becasue of their lack of food. Thier bellies bloat anyways and it is just a myth of course but on Tuesday we were walking along the dusty road near our house. Out of the dust walks this cute baby....starkers and James shouts....for goodness sake....put on your beads.

You may not find this funny at all, but we were wetting ourselves! Our team has so many hilarious quotes and saying that i have put them all in a quotebook and i will cherish them forever!

ANyways.....i will not ramble on. Although...once again, i already have!

Sorry about spelling and punctuation but you know what i am like anyways!

Keep praying for me, i hope you have not forgot what i look like!

I love and miss you all and really hope your enjoying this time of year, i keep thinking it is August! I can't even imagine what England must be like by now, with its Marks and Spencers Christmas adverts and all that jazz!

Pure!

So, it is Thursday i think. I am so tired and exhausted, i still am unwell but feeling billions better. Every single bit of food does not seem to want to stay in my system and if it does, i have such pain but altho saying that the last pack of minstrels i had actually made me feel sooooo much better! No pain and it stayed in my system so i think mum should send me a box! Well..... obviously my body is so used to minstrels so it does not have any problem! I have searched every shop over and under Uganda and the nearest i can get it Kenya dairy milk and it is horrible! Livid!

So this week anyway.....every day i have been at the school playing with the children who do not go home for Christmas, becasue they have nowhere to go. Most are orphans and the few that are not are just unwanted and abandoned. I love them all......they all think i am hilarious and keep calling me snake! I am not sure of what i have told you now but i have a few Ugandan names, including Nachimoli - meaning flower because i have big eyes! Great, hopefully a compliment! Babydiae - first born twin, Obwesigwa - Trustworthiness-Faithfulness and they also call me Britney because they think i resemble her altho some say i look like Lindsay Lohan now as at the hostel the other night, some of them were lucky to see a short bit of Herbie! But the electricity went!

Each day we are making things for them to do, like Christmas cards and decorations, taking balls and yoyo's and allsorts!

They seem to love it and i painted all the girls nails yesterday and then all the staff found out and i painted all theirs. Oh and a boys who i mistook for a girl!

In the evenings we have also done more marking which i hope is now finished, we have been writing year reports which all the children will come and get tomorrow! Yay.....i get to see my class!

Also we have been practicing for the Christmas production and i have been working with Eric still on the song we have been composing. I think we are going to do an instrumental too! How cool!

This morning i decided to go for a walk on my larry and go and look at all the atmosphere and trees etc. Some people thought i was weird and i said no....i just take after my mum! I even told them that my Mum weirdly takes pictures of doors......for those of you that didn't know that, it is true! Although.....some are quite nice it is a strange hobby! It was a great time to pray and spend time looking at God's beautiful creation! If you want to go for a walk on your own around 11 ish is the best time to do it because it is the safest!

Anyways i saw some amazing trees and plants, i saw a snake with legs and lots of beautiful birds. It is really funny because the temperature is rising now each day and the reptiles are coming out to sun bath! Its funny because they fall asleep and don't see you coming so they run across your feet.

We are starting to get huge cockroaches in our house every day. It used to be the odd one but now they are everywhere! Our shower has just come back into use but James tried it the other day and got electrocuted on his bottom so we are scared to try it! The electrician came finally the other day and things have got a bit better! YAY! I think i will try and have a shower tonight, i have not had one in about 5 weeks! It has been a cup and bowl jobby! Not so nice!

The water we are drinking is becoming more normal to me now. I was to scared about drinking it at first because it's not normal color and it has to be boiled a few times but after a few weeks of people drinking it and then me realizing they were still alive, i drink it now daily but it does taste weird!

Oh! On my walk today, i received a text from Kayex the music leader, he asked to see me at the hostel, i made my way there and was worried at what he was going to say. I sat down and waited for him, he came in and we had a big discussion about fear! He wants me to sing a few things at the Christmas production and wants me to sing some of the songs .... oh and rap in Luganda! Brilliant! Anyways, i said i would think about it and he went into how i fear about somethings and fear is not Godly and well i won't explain it all but he said about how every God given gift should be used for his glory and he doesnt understand why people can be shy at times or scared etc. All Africans do it! It is crazy! They will ask you to do something and you say no and they all shout back at you YOU CAN!!!!! grrrr.....i am learning to be more confident here but it is tough and especially dancing and singing in luganda! Mulalu! (crazy)

The wedding that i am a bridesmaid at has been persponed to the 20th because of money issues so that is one less thing to worry about! On Saturday, i am unsure whether i will be able to get to a computer because we have going to do a party in the slums and i can't wait! It is going to be quality! We are going to take hundreds of balloons and sweets and some balls and other bits. The guitars and music etc! It will be incredible! My memory cards have no more space and my last one the biggest one, 4GB does not work for some reason. I asked mum to send me out another, so i received a 2GB card and now that one doesn't work! I really want to take pictures and am so gutted!

I will try to fix my camera again!