IYs at work

Chapattis for sunday lunch has become a good tradition - the challenge is getting teenagers up early enough to cook enough for 13 of us before leaving for church at 10.!

The Investment year students who are living with us have to do a lot of general work. With no washing machine and no electric iron, clothes washing takes up quite a bit of time at the weekends or spare moments during the week. Everything generally gets ironed to get rid of the mango fly eggs (mango flies like to lay their eggs on damp clothing...the eggs then stay in the clothes and wait for some nice warm skin to burrow in to ..mmmmm - we should say we have never suffered from such choice african bugs!!)

We spend some part of saturday mornings cleaning the house together, everyone has to get involved before being able to choose what to do with the rest of the day. There are 8 teenagers living with us at the moment...or is it us living with them. Things are working well at the moment, and despite the odd confrontation or misunderstanding we are all adjusting to being around each other.

Ugandas Independence

The 9th October was Independence Day for Uganda. Joel and Anya had a non-uniform day at school, having to dress up in the colours of the Ugandan flag : black, red and yellow. Here, with the IYs our main way of celebrating was to make and eat cake...of course, for the Investment Year students - celebrating freedom from the British is done with tongue in cheek as we are holding them to account and they are under our charge!!

...first wobbly tooth....

Well Silas has lost his first tooth : at the age of 5 and a half. We all thought this was a bit early, but out it came without very much encouragement. He of course was very excited, and proud to show off the gap. In uganda there is the tradition of a 'tooth rat'! - who comes to get the tooth. We preferred the tooth fairy story, so did Silas!..., so he was expectant and happy to find some coins under his pillow the next morning.

...school trip

i remember my first school trip, it was a long time ago when i was in primary school and the trip was to the natural history museum in London. Though it was a lifetime ago i still remember it so well, and remains a fantastic memory....Silas has been doing school for the last few weeks and focusing on animals and so a trip to the zoo was needed. Both of us were very excited and so this morning we headed off to Entebbe to the Zoo. We arrived at 10am and had the run of the place, Silas was very keen on seeing Giraffes, and as we headed off towards them, they were the furthest animals away, we got distracted by the monkeys. As we left the monkeys we wandered over to the lions who as normal were sleeping, so we thought!! There is a viewing point which overlooks the lions and as we studied them, i noticed that one of the lionesses was following Silas with her eyes, wherever he went so did her eyes. After quite a while we descended from the viewing platform and went across to the peacocks opposite the lion pen, after a couple of minutes i turned round to see that the lioness had moved and was now creeping and stalking towards Silas!! As we moved back towards her she was obviously taking great interest in Silas, thankfully there was fence between us, though was it thicker enough? I don't think i have been so close to a lion..

The adventures didn't finish there as a young camel also took interest in and decided to chase us!! Zoo's boring......Never!!

This could be a school trip Silas would never forget.....

Hi from Joel

Joel here...hard at work (we think!) on the computer. Joel has settled into year 8 at school and made some friends,...highlights of the school day being swimming lessons, and football and rugby clubs!

Sunday Roast!?

Eating lunch outside with some of the IYs. Sunday is a day that they cook...today was meat, chapattis, beans and 'doh-doh' (a type of green leaf!). Not quite roast chicken and crumble but very good nevertheless!

fun in the sun.

Silas here - demonstrating our very simple solar water heater : a plastic bottle with a black plastic bag in it, filled with water and left in the sun. As long as its a lovely sunny day, we can get warm water for washing...not exactly a hot bath but its not bad!

school days

Silas gets to spend all day with us! - here he is in the area that has become his school room.

Joel and Anya leave for school by 6.45 each day, they get picked up by a school minibus, - so we are now all attempting to eat breakfast at 6.30. Quite a challenge for all of us. Here's Anya after school with one of our neighbours friendly dogs Haki .....she's trying to look as tired as possible!

giddy up!

Anya and Silas got a chance to go for a horse ride while we were away with the IYs - lots of fun for both of them.

..Kampala

.

..Just in case anybody is still reading the blog, it has been a long time since the last post, but heres a quick update from the last few months......

We have now made the move into the capital City of Uganda - Kampala. We are

settling in well to our new home and surroundings.

There has been a lot of change over the last month as we have returned to Uganda, spent 4 weeks at New Hope, reconnecting with friends, as well as packing up to leave. It has been quite a tough time of goodbyes

yes and changes, but also busy which has kept us all moving ! We are very happy with the house and it is a real blessing, the kids are very excited especially now we go upstairs to bed! Our neighbour has 3 dogs, hence the dog in the picture, the dogs have become Silas' best friends as each morning the minute the door opens he's off to find them and if he could i think he would ride them as a horse!

Joel and Anya have both started at a new school here in Kampala, its an international school so a complete change from home school / english school in Derby / village Ugandan school at New Hope! They get on the bus at 6.45 each day and have been adjusting well...though the differences have been something to get used to as well as all having to eat breakfast at 6:25am, its too early to talk let alone eat...

Since we have been here in Kampala, it has been fairly hectic, after a few days settling in we set off for a retreat with the IY's It has been good to reconnect with our Investment Year students and as they returned from their 2nd work placements, we all went away for a “Father Heart Retreat” where we spent time as a group seeing and experiencing God as our perfect father. It was a fantastic time and a real privilege to be involved with our I.Y’s as they started to deal with past hurts and pain and starting to see what God their father is like. In the afternoons we all enjoyed swimming in lake victoria which is always a highlight as its not often they get to experience swimming, as well as a few getting on a horse for the first.

Last weekend we have had them all come and stay with us to introduce them to the I.Y. house and for them to feel part of the new developments in I.Y. It’s been a bit of squash but a lot of fun

Life again changed for us as a family this week

as our first group of IY's arrived to live with us, so we have now become a family of 10, makes for a house full with all the challenges that it will bring as well as fun and successes. We are very excited as well as feeling slightly daunted with this new challenge we are entering in as a family and we will try and keep you posted.

..England

..We've been back in England for nearly a month, so probably time to note down some things! It's great to be back, but does feel very different to last time we were back as this feels like we are visiting and will be returning home to Uganda in July. At the moment we are with my parents enjoying some beautiful sunshine, that we have even ventured to the beach, we did try going in the water but was a step too far! It was very different for our first few days in Derby as it felt freezing, Kathryn took the kids to school on the first morning with flip flops on and some very kind friends took pity on her and managed to find some proper shoes, jumpers and trousers! The kids are enjoying being in school and catching up with old friends, Silas and Anya particularly like the idea of taking your lunch to school!
Our first weekend back was at "home" in Derby at a church weekend which was excellent and a great time visiting with friends. On Saturday we head back to Derby and looking forward to catching up with friends. Since we were last back, the roads have all seemed to change in Derby, so sometime you could see us driving round in circles wondering where we are or where or where we should be!
Joel and i have taken up running to try and stay in some sort of shape..will let you know what happens.

...worth the wait

For many of us a passport is something which enables us to travel and visit faraway places and we tend to take this little book for granted. But for Silas and for us it has taken to meaning so much more! Over the last few months Silas has asked each time we went into kampala if we were picking his passport and today we could say yes today is the day!
This little booklet is the final step of a journey we started in 2007, though it changes nothing for us because he is our son and no document or booklet changes that, he can confidently show it to others and say "hey i am a Brown". It's been a long process but its been more than worthwhile. Today we picked the passport from the High Commission and there was only one thing we could do and that was to celebrate with ice cream!

Silas and all of us are looking forward to returning to UK for a few months on 3rd April and i know Silas is going to be very proud to show his passport to anybody who asks and maybe people who don't!

A Long Dry Season

It has been the longest dry season that we have experienced in our short 5 years of living here in Uganda. We have not had proper rains since the end of November, and personally we have not had running water since early January. However the situation is harder on those around us who depend on their crops and cattle. Some cows have just collapsed from lack of water, and we are needing good rain to come so that people can plant and so get a harvest in a few months time.

The other day though I was driving along a back street and saw these banana trees that have started growing after drought and fire - beautiful flowers making an appearance!
This week we have had two downpours - very exciting and refreshing!

coffee

“As you know I am a coffee snob, and this coffee is great!” so said someone who had recentl
y had some Investment Year (I.Y.) coffee.

“Everyone’s a winner”- For every bag we sell of our coffee, IY benefits financially but also and maybe more importantly the many skills that running a business can teach you; marketing, budgeting, customer services, handling money and helping us to develop and encourage self sufficiency in our children.

The process of packaging the coffee starts with buying 60kgs (132lbs) from our supplier in Kampala and bringing it home in the car (by the time we reach home the very strong smell of coffee has filled the car!), we then pack it in ½ kg (1lb) bags and seal them with a charcoal iron. (The iron has proved to be much better than a ‘proper’ heat sealer! One final step is to put on the labels and to put some in our special gift bags. We then all rest and enjoy a good cup of coffee!

just for girls!

Kathryn went with a Ugandan friend to a shcool that has become infomally linked with the girls in youth at CCD who have been giving to 'pads and pants'.
You can see the girls proudly holding up their new packs of reusable pads that can be purchased in Uganda and that should last them for one year.
Girls here often miss schooling each month because they cannot afford pads or other sanitary items, so they stay at home to avoid any embarassment. We have worked with Jessica, a good Ugandan friend of ours who has done the leg work in locating reusable pads, made the necessary contacts and then done the explaining and training for the girls themselves.
If you are interested in being involved either talk to Helen Millward in Derby (if you know her!) or just let us know.

Eating British style!

I.Y. AT PALM RESTAURANT

“Investment Year is an institution of its own” said one of the IY members during the public speaking practice. This greatly struck and I agree with it. Many people have joined different institutions but if you critically follow what is behind all this is to get training about the life coming or what is going on.

This business dinner was prepared long before we got to know about it by our teachers as they know what food it is to us. We had to pick from a list of 15 careers they had chosen (e.g. Doctor, lawyer, film producer, agriculturist etc.) and we were to act as that person through the dinner.

The day which seemed too far came closer and closer up to when it happened. It was amazing seeing how beautifully all the business people showed up at the ‘Palm Restaurant’. Men putting on full suits and ladies as well not forgetting the risky high heels which made them taller for a moment!

‘Palm Restaurant’ was opened at 7pm as the senior chef welcomed us in and we had to interact with each other getting to know about where different ones of us were coming from and what job we did. The restaurant had good customer care services as the staff seemed to know what they were doing. (The IY staff served)

This time has been really a training of its own because however much we credit schools as being training centres, no teacher will ever come to class with a knife and fork and teach you how to use it! We need these skills if we are to interact publically.

As we were taking our last course which was coffee and chocolate cake, we heard from our guest speaker, Aunty Judith Goddard. Her speech was so strong but easy for some one with little faith and slow to responding to Gods call. For many of us fear failure but we were encouraged to hear about Aunty Judith has dealt with them in her life and kept going. There were many lessons to learn from her words and one of them is knowing and clearly following what the Lord requires of you, persistence being the key. Remember he who started a good work in you will fulfil it.

Zam-zam. IY student 2011.

BUSINESS DINNER

Among the million activities that are done in Investment Year, there stands this wonderful adventurous opportunity given to taste different foods, notably the ‘British foods!’ I never imagined of how the whites feel like when they taste African food like matooke which they are not used too, but it became clear to me when we tasted their foods like salads. It really was bizarre for many of us, it was like tasting herbs! I remember when every body took the first bite we looked at each other in wonderment thinking “what on earth is this thing we are eating?”

It was a wonderful night and we learned the new skills of using a knife and fork (British style!), and I now know that when I am in the UK I will not look out of place.

Mitala Isaac. IY student 2011.

Day in the City.

I remember the first time I visited my capital city (many years ago!) I think I wandered around wide eyed and stunned at the amount of people, all seemingly going somewhere very important and in a rush. Part of Investment Year is helping our children to develop life skills and to be able to live and operate in different settings. As we live in the village it is important to be able to move around the city safely and confidently, so this week as a group we travelled to Kampala (Capital City). We split them into 4 groups and gave them a map, a phone with a camera and a list of useful buildings, sites and monuments (eg. Taxi park, post office, parliament, independence monument etc) that they had to find with the final place being the leaders with lunch! As each team drifted off into the chaos of a busy city, there was nervous excitement from each of our children as they headed, for most of them into the unknown! We went to the final meeting place, hoping that no one would get too lost…80 minutes later the team who headed off last reached their destination after successfully finding all their places. TThe other teams were not far behind. It was a fun day and I believe our children learnt a lot about themselves, working as a team, asking for help, reading maps and being in Kampala. A few of them also learnt how to deal with being stuck in a lift (elevator) for 15 minutes!!

We left Kasana with 15 of our children and happily returned with 15!

school days

I remember the 1st day of the school year...for me at least filled with dread! Suddenly the holidays didn't seem half long enough. This week after a couple of months of it being very quiet here at Kasana, the sound of school returned and to be honest it was great to see and hear again. We enjoyed seeing the childrens enthusiasm for school and the desire to learn. Joel, Anya and Silas also went to school, Silas was very excited and was quite prepared to go by himself, we did remind him he was 4 years old and at least for the 1st day we would like to escort him to school. They all will do some school at the Kasana School as well as with Kathryn. We were excited to see how keen they were to get back to be with their friends at school. Joel is also working with a distance learning Year 7 package which looked very exciting and the science equipmet was better than what i had school!