Northern Uganda Women and Children Support Initiative, Inc. (NUWOCSI)

I know it’s been too long since my last update and I apologize. The last couple of months have been pretty busy and power has not always been available when I am able to get on my laptop. I’m working at getting some kind of back-up power.

I can’t believe that it is March already but it has been a busy time since my last update. I think I’ve spent a lot of time cutting out material for all the different quilt projects the women are working on.

January's projects. These wall hangings are the same pattern as the practice pieces. We thought we would try using the pattern in a small quilt.

The ladies quilt/sewing project has been going very well and I know they really enjoy working on these. I meet with them a couple of times a week for what should be for 3 hours but we usually go for 4 to 5 and I’ve noticed I’m coming home later and later in the evening.  We always have a great time though and try to end the meeting with a devotional and some bible reading.

In January we completed a couple of wall hanging size quilts and are currently working on several different projects, some wall hangings and some table runners.

A new project...and a new design.

Working on a table runner. Agnes is there with her new baby girl, born just a few days before Christmas.

A recent class...or maybe we should call it a "quilting bee"

Back in June 2010 I wrote about receiving a generous gift of over 300 books of curriculum and children literature. Well, I was finally able to deliver these books to the Tegot Primary School. The headmaster was very excited and happy to have these and told me the curriculum will be welcomed by the teachers and will be a great resource for them. Due to many years of war (with Kony/LRA) the school had lost much of their curriculum and books.  He was especially excited that the literature books were at the reading level for his students.

No, the cat wasn't included!

This school enrolls students up to the P7 level, which I think is equivalent to grade 7 in the U.S. There are 719 students and 13 teachers. This equates to a teacher to student ratio of 1:55. Yaks! I’m not sure I could do that job. The teachers work under limited work conditions too..no electricity..no computers..little curriculum and resources..and limited supplies of pens, paper, chalk, etc.

A previous ECM missionary worked hard at getting the library restored at the school before she went back to the States. I recently visited the library and am very interested in picking up where she left off. It’s a good size room with lots of light and potential. I think it could easily double as a library and a tutoring area. It has a blackboard that just needs some paint and I think the only thing else needed is a table and benches..and a little organization. I also see it as doubling as a sewing center on Saturdays and some of the mothers have expressed wanting to learn English so let’s add an “adult learning center” to the many possibilities.

In January, I and a couple of high school boys from my neighborhood, painted the blackboards in the school. The boards were pretty warned down and painting them was something I wanted to do since I got here. I think we were able to paint seven boards.

A freshly painted board.

During ECM Bible clubs on Saturday I would sometimes practice some math problems with the children using one of the blackboards but the board were so worn it was difficult to see what I had written. I’m not sure how the teachers managed. Now, with new blackboard paint the chalk is nice and clear. I think we painted about seven boards.

A few days before the new semester began (January 31) I arranged to have some of the sponsor children come to the school for a “clean-up” day. We swept the classrooms, wiped down the desks and cleaned up the grounds a bit.

The school headmaster and school committee is kind enough to allow ECM to hold it’s Saturday Bible Club

Tegot Primary School

at the school so I though this was a way we could all say thank you.

The last couple of months found me becoming more involved with the ladies than just in giving quilting or sewing lessons. There were trips to the hospital to visit one lady who went in for surgery and another who had a stroke. I’m sad to report that Doreen didn’t recover from her stroke and has gone home to the Lord. During a January sewing class, another lady received word that her husband passed away suddenly. So, in addition to hospital visits there have been visits to grieving families to pray with and to try to offer words of comfort.

Evelyn's new bike.

Here’s Evelyn’s (the Tegot ladies group chairwoman) new bike. (Well, it’s her’s as long as she is chairwoman.) One of Evelyn’s responsibilities is to visit and disciple the women through-out the village. Some of these women live in remote areas and one can walk several miles on a trail before reaching someone’s home. I know, I’ve done it a few times! A bicycle will make these journeys easier and will allow Evelyn to reach more ladies, more often. We went to a bike shop in Gulu town and she picked out the bike she wanted. She thought that this was the sturdier, more reliable bike. I would have picked out something totally different so I’m glad we did this together.

Early in February the director for ECM, Lorella Rouster, visited Gulu to do some work on the Tegot sponsorship program and to make some changes to the program and the staff who oversee it. None of this directly effected my ministry as the work I do with ladies is independent of the ECM sponsorship program.

The dry season began sometime mid-December and up until a week ago there hasn’t been any rain, just dry and hot. I think temps were in the upper 90’s to 100 but I think now we’re heading back into the wet season  that officially begins mid-March. It has been very dry and VERY dusty. My visits to the village is usually on a boda-boda and by the time I return home, I and my bags are completely covered with dirt.

The dry season is also a time, I think, when critters come in looking for water. Recently, I encountered a black snake in my bathroom. I went looking for some heavy gloves so I could pick him up (he was only about 15 inches long) and put him outdoors but by the time I found the gloves he was gone. I have no idea where he went!! Then, when in the village I had scorpion pulled off me. I’m glad someone else noticed it as I wouldn’t have recognized it as a scorpion. I’ve only seen pictures..never the real thing.

I’m still having lessons with my scooter but I think I’m ready to take it out on my own. I hope my teacher agrees! I’m a little concern though about getting out of my neighborhood without running down a child so maybe a few more lessons are in order. I also have my bicycle now and have been using that to get around town and to get some exercise.

I have been staying healthy though and I thank the Lord for the good health and for his continued protection during all my boda rides and with my encounters with poisonous critters. I’m so grateful that I haven’t had any major health issues. My only problem seems to be in making sure I eat enough…and eating properly. I have lost all my excess weight and my weight now is pretty much where it should be but it would be so easy to keep losing. This is something totally new to me as I’ve always had to work at keeping the weight off. It must be all the healthy eating…fresh fruits and vegetables..very little snacks or junk food…no Vermont cheddar cheese..no fatty foods!!

I want to sincerely thank you for the packages I have received the last few months that have been filled with wonderful sewing notions and other goodies.  These are truly appreciated and the supplies are being put to good use. It is almost impossible to get quilting supplies in Uganda and sewing supplies in general are limited. I recently found some hand sewing needles from China but they weren’t very good and broke at the slightest pressure.

Here’s a short video taken right before Christmas. The ladies were in a celebration mood as they anticipated Christmas. They are here singing a praise song. I hope you don’t have a problem viewing it. My internet connection is very slow as I do this blog so I can’t play it to test it out and I’m not sure how it’s going to play.