Capture life 365–week 41

Our week of ‘Live below the line’ is over – whew! I didn’t think that only five days of living within dramatically confined spending limits for our food would be so tiring. But it was! Not only was it a mission to work out what we could eat for the week that wouldn’t put us over our NZ$2.25 per person per day limit for all food and drink, but once we’d worked out our menu, bought our food and started we realised the most tiring part was just beginning.  Some were constantly hungry, most of us were more tired than usual, found it hard to concentrate and found it harder to be nice show tolerance to each other! Thanks to countries that send over their nearly expired goods we got 510gm Ricies for $1 (usually $12!) while they expired in June they still seemed ok - according to the younger 3 kids! We even found some cheap expired biscuits and expired instant pudding – these were great morale boosters! It definitely gave us a greater appreciation for those that have to live on so little for all their daily needs day after day. I really take my hat off to them – and as a parent knowing how hard it was for just five days to see my kids hungry, I can only imagine what it must be like not to be able to provide enough food for your family on a longer term basis.

Some of the classic Gordon quotes for the week:

Lily to one of her sisters (who will remain anonymous) “Since we’re living below the line can I still play with my toys?”  Her sisters loving reply “No, and you have to wear second hand clothes all week too”. I pointed out that she may not have realised we all wear second hand clothes anyway!

Riana at dinnertime day two “It feels so good to eat!”

When I asked one child to take a shower “Some people living below the line can’t afford to bathe”

Drew (when he and Jed started catching white ants to eat) “We’re going to have to pay for these aye Mum, cos they have a market value”. Yep – they’re going to cost you, but at least it’s protein!These white ants (type of termite) are a seasonal delicacy here – usually sold fried, however the boys just ate them raw as that made them cheaper!Some semi-serious discussion went on as to whether there’d be any meat on this huge rhino beetle Drew found. As we didn’t know how long it’d been dead for, we decided against finding out! We weren’t really that hungry!

We ended up raising $1000 for Orphans Aid International so it made our week worthwhile! Josiah had promised to dye his hair blue if we reached $1000 so we’re now on the lookout for blue hair colour!

We couldn’t have finished our challenge any better if we’d tried. The day after it ended we celebrated with nine caregivers and their families who are enrolled in Imuka’s family strengthening program and were graduating from the business training course. To see the smiles on kids and parents faces as they enjoyed the graduation ceremony and Ugandan feast – to hear them now talking about their futures with hope. A simply beautiful way to end the week.Preparing the graduation lunch – machete style!Some of the kids putting on an item for their mums!Cake time!Praying for the families as they begin their new businessesThirty eight of the more than forty lives benefitting from investing in the dreams and potential of nine mums. Joy and hope abounds!Most of the mums that go through Imuka’s business training course have never finished school, with several never having been at all – to successfully complete this training is huge for them!We give the families we work with copies of photos we take during their time with us which they absolutely love! There are so many things that a photo doesn’t show - this mama faces numerous challenges on a daily basis that most would want to run away from. Yet she is facing them head on with dignity and joy and fighting to keep her family together. An absolute champion in our eyes! The line up for lunch begins…Playtime’s always more fun with Riana! Looking for one of the many balls that went over the fence! One ladder and three long poles tied together with a net on the end later and they were all retrieved!

Capture life 365–week 40

Just confirming it’s the bird he thinks it is! Yep – a handsome male African Gosh hawk (that was released to fly free as a bird!)

Pete and Kaluwe solving all the worlds problems…Learning to make wristbands – these guys were on a roll - at the end of the day we even found the babies wearing them!

Love the creativity of these two – making their own ‘room for two wheelchair’. No crutches needed now!Hide n seek!

Celebrating the last day of business training with pedicures and manicures for these incredibly hard working mums and grandmothers!

Friday afternoon I took Riana to a girls bible study with her friends in Kampala which meant 3 3/4 hours of driving due to traffic – lots of time to talk on the long trip home! While driving here is never boring, it’s also often downright scary. This day was more the scary kind - on the way into the capital we came across a fatal motorbike accident just after it happened which left us somewhat subdued (accidents and bodies aren’t cordoned off here so much), then on the way home a motorbike ran into a young girl crossing the road just a metre or two in front of us as we were about to pull out into the traffic. Thankfully I was able to stop in time.  The girl was taken to hospital with possibly a broken leg – so thankful it wasn’t worse and that we weren’t part of it. We were a little jittery the rest of the way home as it was now dark which makes it much harder to see people walking or cycling or driving without headlights – but we made it home safe!!!Josiah and Pete calculating the cost of one coffee before we start the ‘live below the line challenge.’ Some of us may have just become a little too reliant on daily coffee over the last few years and the news that we will have to choose between coffee and a meal was somewhat disappointing! However, it’s all for a good cause – helping raise money for programs designed to help families rise above poverty and provide care and education for vulnerable children in Russia, Uganda, Romania, India and Bhutan. Click here if you want to donate!

Capture life 365–week 37

The first package our post office box has seen all year that wasn’t schoolwork!! Gourmet jellybeans, salami sticks & sour lollies all the way from Alaska were the cause of much excitement! Not to mention awesome caps and other goodies! Made.Our.Day. Over one week later and the jelly beans are still being rationed each day!Love watching Seruga take care of his baby brother at the early learning program. Love even more seeing his family gain the resources and skills they need to stay together and the excitement they now have when they talk about the future!

Some days, this is what our ‘schoolwork’ looks like…

These kids that have never been to school, absolutely loving the opportunity to gain school readiness skills. And yes, if you’re homeschooling using Sonlight, you might recognise the Alphabet Bingo!

As referrals are received from a rehabilitation hospital - crutches, casts and children receiving various forms of treatment and operations are a common sight in our back yard!Learning about Gods creation – what better way to celebrate God creating water on a hot day than with with an afternoon of water play! Due to becoming experts in the last couple of years of covering casts for bathing, everyone could join in!This boy is truely awesome! He’ll fill the bottle, dump it on his head, shiver and screw up his face, shriek with laughter then do it again. and again. and again. Despite having cerebral palsy and not being able to walk, if there’s fun to be had – he’s right in the middle of it!Love seeing Imuka staff having just as much fun as the kids!

Learning about day 3 of creation – God creating land and plants. Fun opportunity to learn to care for their own plants and the world around them.

So proud of their very own plants, except for Pamela who just wants to keep pulling it out!

Free hair salon in our back yard. Appointments filling up fast!