I have my very own bike!!

Just a quick one to say I am now a proud owner of my own bicycle, which makes getting about so much easier, the other bike our house had got taken back about a week ago so I have been slowly walking places or on the back of the bodhas, bicycle taxis, which is great but now I can go where I want and when I want for free! Bargain!
my bike is red and very shiny, I am sure it will get very dusty soon as everything does here!
it has bonus features of a red waterbottle and holder, a bike stand and a bell that rings constantly when ever I am moving, so everyone knows I am coming!
so now I am getting every where at great speed!!

The church and the chicken

well we had an eventful church service on Sunday, a chicken was determined to stay in the service. At the beginning the chicken, lets call him bob, ran through the church, coming in from the side, trying not to get noticed, he was very quickly scared out of the building, only to return at again at the window, (the window has no glass just bars on it) firmly pushing his head through the bars and squarking loudly. Bob got push back out of the church again, he left it a little while for his final attempt to infiltrate the church. He entered the church from the back while it the pastor was introducing the guest speaker, as he entered he made very loud chicken noises and he ran through the congregation around the church and then up to the front of the church around the pastor and then was caught and has never been seen again, I am not sure of bobs fate, he may have become someone's Sunday lunch!!!
I have put a picture of my church up so that you can picture this event better and also have put up a pic of the pick up truck I now drive, I have not run anyone over yet or got stuck in any pot holes! Success all round !

kenya, driving and lack of sleep!

I went to Kenya last Friday till this Tuesday to see a group of guys from my church in Roehampton. It was so good to see them all, I had a really relaxing weekend, getting there and back was quite knackering, I thought it would take 5 hours it actually took me 9 hours squashed in very small mautatus (mini buses) but I got there and back in one piece which is what matters.
I went to see them in Nakuru in Kenya which was where I went last year, we did some of the sight seeing things around the town and did a day on safari where we saw a lion which was very exciting!!
It was great to spend time with people from home and to be looked after so well, a massive thankyou to you all guys. I was back to work on Wednesday which is great, unfortunately the guy that I work with, Dave has got malaria for the 3rd time in the last 3 months or so, so that is not nice for him.
I went to pastor Nelson and Agness' house for dinner last night (the leaders of my church) I was really nice to spend some time with them and get to know them better, they are desperate to get me preaching in church!!! Scary, I am trying to put it off for at least a month so I can work out the best way to leave the country!! Only joking, no so I can prepare really well!
the most exciting thing that has happened since I got back has been that I am now able to drive the house car, Robbie took me out for a lesson yesterday around town, teaching me the best way to avoid pot holes and the bicycles! Then he let me have the car for the night! Very trusting, but I got everyone home safely and I don't think I scared them too much!! I think his main motivation in getting me to drive was so I could be up at 5.45 am this morning!!! I know, very early, so I could take him to catch the bus in town, the gutting thing was when I got back I couldn't go back to sleep! Oh well it will make me sleep well tonight.

oli otya?

Well as you may be able to tell i have started lugandan lessons out here. The question i asked you was how are you? and your answer is 'bulungi' which is fine, every one is always fine here, even if you are not you have to say i am fine first. There is a lot of emphasis on greeting people well, even in shops or on the street before you can ask anyone anything you have to say nice to see you? How are you? How is the day? How is home? and then can you ask where the toliets are!
One the girls that I live with Nina, she is in the picture of the mountain walk, that hands on our hips photo! She is leaving on saturday which will be sad as she has become a good friend and she is the one that has forced me to start running again. We having a big leaving party for her tomorrow with truly the best ugandan food round being cooked here at the house, I may even get a ugandan cooking lesson tomorow morning hopefully!

Thank so much

I just wanted to say thankyou so much for all the support that you have all given in. The way that so many of you have kept in touch with me has really helped me settle here, as I still feel so connected with home. It has been so exciting getting letters and parcels, keep them coming and I promise to reply to everything. The emails are great, keep me up to date with all the gossip. I have had some great phone calls, lots from my family with has been great, makes me feel that I am so close to you all still, also it was such surprise to get a call from Nina and Clare, thankyou guys for call, your calls really got me excited.
Just thought I should let you know I am registered on msn messenger so log on to that and we can chat. Just so you can keep them coming, my postal address is po box 2059, Mbale, Uganda, Eastern Africa. My mobile is +25678981769, if you did want to phone one of the best phone cards is 'go bananas' cards.
also am just going to put picture of the lovely cats that I share the house with (manny is the white on and gizmo is the black one), mainly for the appreciation of croucher! Enjoy!

This week I have been mainly been bitten!! My feet are just covered in bites all over, there look lovely!
the week so far has gone well, am busy trying to get the first section of the life skills program finished which should hopefully be done by tomorrow. We have summer team here in mbale from oasis for this week which has been really great. They have been running a kids club in the area where our project will be set up, so I have gone along for the last 2 days. I has been so encouraging to see, they are such a great team, have run a great program and giving us lots of ideas that we will pinch!! It has been really good for me to get to know the area better and to meet some of the kids and see the situations that they are living in. As we walk to where the kids club is felt you walk through on of the local breweries which I am told is a small one, (it don't seem it) they produce the local brew which is so strong, and the kids of the families that run these places are involved in the brewing process normally and the girls in the serving which means they can be exposed to sexual abuse from the local drunks that they are serving. This is one of the main issues that the girls that we will be working with will be facing. It has motivated me more to work hard to get a really good life skills program that will hopefully help them understand their own self worth and value. Will try to get some pictures of the area where we will be working and our piece of land that we own which is very exciting still!!