...P7 week

Morning all! last week, or was it it the week before? we had our annual P7 week, a week long youth event, for our P7 class, the last year of primary school here and Yr 7 equivalent in Uk.....At the end of your P7 year here in Uganda, the students take their national PLE exams and therefore there is lots of pressure to read and read and read!!
Here at new Hope the traditional P7 week has been running for 16years as a week to 2 chill out, focus on character issues |(life is not all about books!), and looking at what God thinks about them...we spent time playing games, sitting out at camp fires, eating well, planning a p7 trip, throwing water at each other, feeding each other ...lots of fun...by the end all exhausted but all agreed it was a fun week, for those who know P7 week, the BLUES won....first time ever since i've done the week...

..school days

This week has been exciting for Joel and Anya as after much thought and discussion they have started to go to the primary school here at New Hope, they were very excited over the weekend getting books and pens ready and on Monday headed off @ 7:20 am for assembly at 7:30am!! This will be a great way to intearact with more Ugandans and develop new friendships and to experience another aspect of Ugandan life. They won't be doing all the subjects and Kathryn will still be teaching them some. They have already enjoyed the fun of being back in a classroom and actually going to school. On Joels first day he had a test!!
We have been so proud of them and their attitude as they face this challenge and new experience...One note, Joel bought back some maths questions and asked yours truly for help, as i confidently wandered up to the table only to find i couldn't help as i had no idea!!

Snow White

...as it's been so long since any post or what so ever...i thought i should really try and impress anybody who is still reading our ramblings...well it all happened without any effort on my part....it was all very exciting, at the beginning of the week there was a rumour that the president was coming to Kiwoko, our local town, but more than that he was going to land his helicopter on new hope land!! as the day got nearer the excitement built and much cleaning and slashing of grass went on... he was going to land in our football field on the mian site...as thursday afternoon went on we waited and waited and waited...finally the helicopter appeared and i have to confess we were all very excited..and so we ran to the field, the helicopter circled and circled until it decided to land in our football field (field!) at our secondary school, so a mad dash started...1stly the presidents guards/army in their cars sped off, with one falling out the back of the pick up as it hit a bump, he sheepisly returned to his seat. As we arrived where the helicopter landed, the president exited it and welcomed people over... of course we ran over like excited kids....Anya and i stood near the car, now i should mention that Anya was dressed in a snow white dress? as the president walked by he spotted Anya and came over and shook her hand and then of course as i was the Dad he shook mine!! It was all very exciting! Later on we returned to watch him take off...it was very exciting!!

...i love the smell of coffee in the mornings...

Its been so long but hey some excoting news this end. Investment are selling coffee to help us become self financing and to learn new skills.

This week i went in to Kampala with Caleb and we have purchased coffee from the Mount Ruwenzori region of Uganda to be roasted in Kampala and then packaged for resale. There has been a growing coffee market in Kampala and we are hopeful that this business will be a success. We have already sold the coffee to short term teams that visit New Hope and then eventually to hotels and stores in Kampala. The long term goal will be exporting it to the US and European markets. The pictures above are of IY (Investment Year) students from New Hope who will be learning to run the business. All the profits will feed into that program and will help make it self sufficient.

While the world often sees the growing number of fatherless and orphaned children as a problem or burden, New Hope Uganda believes they are an unprecedented opportunity. Our mission is to work with this generation to “bring the Fatherhood of God to the fatherless” children of Uganda for generations to come. One way we can do this is to prepare our young adults to enter the market place if that is where the Lord takes them. New Hope is now roasting, and distributing coffee in a growing economy in Kampala, Uganda for the purpose of generating income and providing opportunities for the IY (Investment Year) students to learn new business skills and to help offset the IY programs expenses. New Hope Uganda Coffee Roasters' will become a self sustaining business after the first year of operation.



· IY students will learn vital business skills of marketing, sales, and accounting

· Income generation to help offset the cost of the IY program

· IY students will learn how to work as a team

· Project will help expose New Hope to potential partners

Happy new year to one and all.............................