I whole month without my writing ANYTHING! At first it was because life was so busy…then the thought of trying to catch up on a whole month’s worth of happenings just seemed a bit overwhelming. BUT, tomorrow is a big day for The Sanctuary, so here it goes…I am going to do my best to fill you in on the happenings of the last month.
Where to start….lets start with the Hen House…
A volunteer named Frank from the States (actually, he is on the board of directors for The Sanctuary) came down and the fun began! The boys loved having him here, and he brought a lot of good times. He is kind of like the grandparent for the boys…spoiling them, taking them swimming, buying them soda’s, etc. BUT, it was good. The main reason for his coming down was that he had raised a bunch of money with his church and friends from home so that he could build a hen house for The Sanctuary! So, we now officially have a hen house in our backyard! We actually just ordered our layers today..and they are due to arrive in the middle of February (I believe 100 of them). Then we are going to be getting broilers sometime in the next week or so.(I have only JUST learned about the types of chickens you can get in the last month or so…broilers for eating, layers obviously for their eggs.) The cool thing about the chicken project is that the boys got to be part of every step of it. From seeing Henry design the house, to buying the lumber, to digging the holes to constructing the floors, walls and roof, all of it was done by them (under supervision of courseJ). The goal of the hen house is 1) sustainability, to help be a source of income for The Sanctuary and 2) teaching the boys life skills…not only on how to build the house, but how to take care of the hens, learning how to come up with a business plan, figuring out how many eggs they need to keep for us, how many to sell, bookkeeping on the money that we make…etc etc. Its exciting to have a project like this in our own backyard that will provide the boys with so many different skills.
Oh, another big event, my dad came down for a month! Having him here has been fantastic! Its exciting to be able to share everything that has been going on here in Jinja with him IN PERSON! I have to say that it started off a bit rough…he had $300 stolen from in on his 2nd day here…but amazingly enough he actually got it back! (thank you God) I would say that I am thankful for having my dad here for 3 main reasons…1) Its just nice to have your dad around…to have a dad that actually cares enough about what I am doing to come all the way to Africa to help! That’s pretty amazing! 2) He is an expert painter/site manager at the new house! I don’t think that we would be NEAR as far as we are on the house now if it wasn’t for my dad! PLUS he wasn’t afraid to tell the boys if they needed to do a better job..lol..which means our walls will look much nicer then they would have had I been incharge. 3) For him to get a chance to build a relationship with the boys! All the boys love him! David always refers to my dad as ‘the gentleman’..lol.. Ambrose left this week to go and see is Jaja (grandma) up north..and he talked to my dad on the phone the night before he left, and then again called in the morning to say goodbye, and to thank him for everything he had taught him. Then there is Michael who doesn’t often open up and talk to many people (atleast Muzungu) and he talks with dad all the time when they are walking home…so that part at been the most rewarding. I love when people get the chance to really get to know these boys, and to understand why they are so special…to hear their stories, and know why I am here. Love it! J
I completely forgot about the Safari! All I can say is wow! When I went on my first safari I prayed (and had other people praying) that I would get to see elephants…and I saw SOOO MANY of them! This time, my dad LOVES giraffes, so that was what I was praying for, and I kid you now, we saw ATLEAST 60-70 of them! Some alone, some in herds…often a few adults and then some babies, it was truly breathtaking. So quickly, the morning of the Safari we were supposed to leave the house at 6am…until it rained…and the other 3 people we were going with (Frank, Henry and Harrison) were coming to us from out of town on boda’s…they finally arrived sometime after 7…and then we were on our way. In the end we were only about 10 minutes short…but for my muzungu mind…getting up that early..and leaving so late, and then having to rush and sit in traffic…I started the trip frustrated.. lol In the end it all worked out though! The first day you just drive and drive up to the part. We stopped for about an hour at the top of Murchison Falls to check out the view. It was beautiful. I think I’ve said this before…its almost more amazing then Niagara Falls..not so much in how big or how powerful..but its in a natural setting..not with all of the lights or show…just a Falls in the middle of no where…big and powerful all on its own…without the hype. Or atleast that’s my opinion! After the falls we went to the Red Chili campground were we got supper and then went to bed. The next morning was the land safari…we had to get up at 5am to catch a Ferry and head out on our game drive. Nothing compares to seeing animals in their natural environment! We even saw a leopard up in a tree sleeping!! I should mention that in the middle of our drive our car overheated and wouldn’t start….yep…really not so surprising… we gathered all the waterbottles in the vehicle and poured them into the radiator…then we found some sort of random sheltered area with an air strip and a WELL! We refilled our waterbottles and pouring bottle after bottle after bottle again into the radiator…after some time we were good to continue our tour! In the afternoon we headed out on a boat tours…where we FINALLY saw elephants!! (I was still praying for this too! ) At first we only saw 2…but then on our way back we saw a whole family. We actually even saw an elephant with no nose! Apparently it had been caught in a trap set for crocidiles..and it came off completely! The tour guide assured us though that the elephant lived a normal happy life…even without its trunk. It was definitely a strange sight to see though. Oh, as well as a hippo with no ears…apparently it’s a genetic thing…and I gotta say, a hippo without ears just isn’t as cute. Anyways, that’s the safari in a nutshell. The next day we packed up and headed home. It was a great time spent with family and friends, enjoying all of God’s beauty in nature!
