Lunch at the Serena Hotel

Today the Senior Missionary Couples in our complex decided to go to lunch since it is our day off.

From left to right:  Elder and Sister Brown from Mesa, Arizona, are serving here and their mission is to handle the Perpetual Education Fund for the African returned missionaries.  They are nearly finished with their mission and return home Nov. 3rd. Their apartment is in Jinja, Uganda, and they are working in Kampala this week and staying in an unoccupied apartment in our complex. 

The next couple is Elder and Sister Jonsen.  They live across the hall from us.  He is the Medical Advisor for our mission and Sis. Jonsen is over vehicles and apartments.  They have been here nearly 14 months and have extended and will be going home in May instead of February.  They are from Ephraim, Utah.

The couple on the right is Elder and Sister Wallace.  They are the Mission Office Couple.  She is the Secretary for the Mission and he handles all the finances.  They are from Canada but recently retired in St. George, Utah.  They arrived about 6 weeks ahead of us and live upstairs above us.  

 

The Hansens at the Sarena.

 

Interesting flowers on the beautiful manicured grounds at the hotel.

Fun, fun day!

Transfer Week just ended

This week we invited the 4 Sister Missionaries that live in the apartment below us to come have dinner with us.  We were afraid some might be transferred and we knew one was going home so it was now or never.

 

This is Sister Francis from Tanzania and she has been out about 3 months.

 

From left to right are: Sister Lusiba from South Africa, Sister Ofwete from Kenya and Sister Nayiga who is from Uganda, was serving in Ghana, moved here with visa problems.

Sister Ofwete was called to Zimbabwe and served there until the last three months when many missionaries there had visa problems. She finished her mission here and flew to Nairobi on Friday.  She had a great personality and often would lean over the railing of the apartment balcony and call to the District Leaders..."Elders, Elders"...with African Sisters it is "Eldas, Eldas."

LtoR-- Elder Chauya from Zimbabwe, has been an AP with Elder Plant and Elder Reed. Elder Chauya's  mother died  when he was young and his father died while he was on his mission. He goes home to a brother who just out of high school.  Elder Chauya has been accepted at LDS Business College and starts in January.  He was an amazing AP and a wonderful person. If he returns to Africa he could become a great leader in the Church. 

Sister Lubisa is from Durban, South Africa. She was a dynamic leader as well. 

Elder Plant and Elder Reed are the current APs and have both been out less than a year.  Our missionaries are young.   

Surroundings

On a recent trip to Jinja, Uganda, we crossed the Nile River.

Jinja is east of Kampala about 40 miles and is located also on the north shore of Lake Victoria.

 

We often comment as we look out our back door and see this view that all we need is an ocean and sand and we would think we were in Hawaii.

Sisters' Conference at the President's Home

 Yesterday, Friday, Oct.11th, Sister Chatfield hosted a conference for all the young Sister Missionaries.  We have 11 Sister Missionaries serving in our mission and all of them are African. I was invited to attend and help along with Sis. Jonsen and Sis. Wallace as we all live in Kampala.  We met at 10 AM and one of the young sisters showed us how they make bread with flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, butter and water.  It was yummy and moist and baked for our lunch.  After that we divided up and rotated through the different activities:  manicures, pedicures, and designing pillow cases that everyone signed as a remembrance.  We enjoyed soup for lunch along with salads, bread, yummy desserts and ice cream.  The Sister Missionaries all shared with us the hardest and the most fun thing about missionary work.  The Senior Sisters also shared a bit of advise for the young sisters. The day concluded with talks and testimonies from the 3 Sister Missionaries going home soon and President and Sister Chatfield.  It was a wonderful day! 

Uganda's Independence Day In Kajjansi--Oct. 9, 2013

Wednesday, we had the opportunity to attend and cover the events of the 13th Anniversary celebration of the Kajjansi Branch.  They were celebrating having been a branch since 2000, celebrating the service of their first branch president who was released after serving for 13 years

and hoping to help the missionary effort in their branch.  It also was Independence Day in Uganda, so most people were off work.  We arrived before the events began and were followed by the arrival of a Brass Band from an orphanage that had been hired to play for the event.  The kids in the band are all orphans and ranged from age 8-18.  The orphanage houses over 100 children in ages from 3-18.  60 children are members of the band but only 24 came to perform.  They all arrived in one taxi (a mini van designed to hold 12.)  That morning the taxi arrived with 24 band members, 4 adult teachers, and all the instruments.  They only had about 20 old, old instruments and so they took turns playing.      

 

 

 

 

Ray snapped these pictures of a couple of cute kids in the band.  We do not remember the boy's name, but the girl pictured right above is Rose.  She is 14 and wants to be a musician and a lawyer when she grows up.  The children seemed happy and loved and treated each other like best friends.

It is a requirement in all the schools in the country that if you attend you must come with your head shaved.  So sometimes it is hard to tell the boys from the girls. I also wonder how they all have perfectly straight teeth and never need braces. 

 

You should have heard them play "When the Saints Go Marching In."  They had the crowd dancing and clapping their hands.  They sounded amazing!

 

The Branch had hired a local restaurant to cater the event.  They were set up in front of the church

and had fires going and pots filled with food were cooking.

 

This is a pot of beans cooking with tomatoes, onions, and peppers.

 

These ladies are slicing big heads of cabbage to make coleslaw.  They just did it with a knife and

it was shredded so perfect.  Then they add a little shredded carrot, green pepper, and a vinegar type dressing.

  

 

This is one of our handsome missionaries serving in Uganda. 

 

This was the banner the Branch had made.  Two young men held this up and followed the police escort as they marched up the hill from the church and then around the town of Kajjansi.  They followed the dirt road that circled through the town...passed the shops, the homes, school, etc.

The members of the Branch followed behind and invited those they passed to follow them and join the celebration.

   

These kids marched and played for 3 miles through the town.

 

Many people paused and watched.  The pictures that follow are ones that Ray snapped as he followed the band.  Can you tell that he loves taking photos of the kids?

 

Cute little girl with typical African hair-do.

 

Another sweet little girl...

 

Here we are back at the Branch building helping with an orientation they had for the investigators that attended.  They took them through the rooms of the Church and explained what types of meetings we hold, who attends, and what we teach.  They explained many of the programs of the church and answered any questions.

Over 200 attended the event and 40 were investigators.  The missionaries received 23 referrals.

 

Four cute children from the Branch.

 

 

This little girl was Ray's friend for the entire day and followed him everywhere.  She is a member of the Branch.

 More cute boys from the Branch.  There were so many children at the event.  Some where members and others were just off the street.  They were so well behaved and never loud.  They obeyed extremely well.  They were so tired of waiting for the tour for the investigators to end.  They sat quietly on the lawn and one older lady from the Branch made sure they were quiet and behaved.  I could see that they were restless and hungry and so while we waited for lunch I asked if I could teach them a song.  I had them all stand up and I taught them the "Hokey Pokey".  They sang with me after the first couple of verses and big smiles were spread ear to ear on their faces.  Then we sang "If You're Happy and You Know It" and more of them knew that song and sang right along.

  

This young gal is a member of the Branch and a returned missionary. 

  

This sister is a member of the Branch and was the one keeping all the kids under control.  I asked if she was the Primary President and she said no.  She is dressed in a typical African dress that they would wear when they dress up for church or a special occasion.  



Lunch was served!  It consisted of matooke (baked green bananas-- is yellow, looks like squash but has no taste.)  This is a staple for them.  Then they served beans, Irish potatoes, rice, pumpkin they bake(it is not orange but green outside and yellow inside, tastes like squash), chicken, pork, sweet potatoes, G nut sauce ( looks and tastes like a peanut but they mash it so it looks like refried beans), a flat bread like a tortilla, green beans, coleslaw, watermelon and pineapple. 

First Trip to Ethiopia Sept 2013

September 27-30 we made our first trip to Ethiopia, which is part of the Uganda Kampala Mission.  Ethiopia is a nation of 90 million people.  There are approximately 2000 members of the LDS Church in the country.  Ethiopians do not consider themselves to be African, they are Ethiopian.  They do not consider themselves black but colored.  There is a
strong Middle East influence in the country.  50% of the nation is Muslim and 50% Christian.  The government owns all property, including automobiles, and leases it back to you.  In school the children are tested and based on their scores, they are told what vocation or profession they will pursue.   Our reason for going was to find a National Public Affairs Director for Ethiopia.  This first picture was taken from our hotel balcony and shows the roof tops nearby.  We found it to be a clean city with a satellite dish on nearly every roof.  They must be a prosperous nation as there is more building(both commercial and residential) in Addis Ababa than anywhere else in the world. 

 

The Humanitarian couple, Elder and Sister Campbell from Hurricane, Utah took us to their home on Sunday for dinner.  On the way we stopped by the apartment of their office manager.  His name is Chewaka, but they called him Chewy.  He has recently moved into his own apartment and is planning on getting married in a month.  This apartment complex is about 1 square mile and has 70,000 occupants.  There were many complexes similar to his as we drove through the countryside.  There are 4 million people who live in Addis Ababa.  Notice the cattle and donkeys wandering through the streets.     

 

 

Chewy has furnished his apartment and he had covered the concrete floor with what appeared to be sticky contact paper.  Notice the sofa and animal hide covered foot rests.

 

This is a picture of Chewy.  He is a sharp looking young man who is a returned missionary and now serves in the District Presidency.  There are 6 branches of the church in Ethiopia...no wards or stakes.

Across from Chewy's apartment large stones had been dumped into a field.  The government gives homeless or street people huts nearby and they cut cobble stones by hand in return for their housing.  We found the main roads were nicely paved, but streets in the housing developments were made from these stones and last a long time.

 

We took this picture of an Ethiopian Orthodox church.  Notice how brightly it is painted. 

 

This is just a picture of the countryside around Addis Ababa.  The sky always looks hazy and they say it is most likely dust blowing in from the Sahara Desert.

 

This is the chapel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  It is in a gated complex with a mission office and an office for Latter-day Saint Charities in other buildings on the complex.



Writing Articles -- Part of our PA Assignment

This is a picture from a recent article we submitted.  While we were in Ethiopia, the Humanitarian couple shared with us several projects they have completed.  One was to help with treatment of Podoconoisis-- a curable elephantitis.  It comes as a result of them never wearing shoes or socks and walking barefoot in the fertile volcanic soil of the highlands of Eastern Africa.  It is estimated that over 1 million people in Ethiopia alone have the disease.  The clinic educates them on how to prevent it and then treats it by soaking the feet in bleach, then applying medicated ointments and bandaging.  After a couple of weeks the patient can return to his village with equipment to continue the soaks and medication.  After treatment for about 3 months the disease is often gone. The church had special shoes made for the patients and donated 1100 basins, 1100 pairs of shoes, 1100 pairs of socks, 3300 bottles of bleach and 3300 bars of soap.  Some people associate the disease with witchcraft and hide their inflicted family members because of the unsightly swelling of the legs and feet.  Little do they realize it is a result of "dust in the feet" which causes the lymphatics to fibrosis, obstruct and the femoral nodes enlarge.  The skin can actually ooze lymph and infections may result.

Everyday life in Uganda...

Thought you might like to see our kitchen and how we do laundry.

  All the soil here is red and our laundry water is not filtered and so we have to pre-treat all of our whites.  Here we are using a laundry soap bar to treat all of the collars and any spots. 

 

You can get a good idea of our kitchen...we have a small gas stove but the oven is electric.  We also have a microwave and you can see the water filtration system in the background.  It filters through 3 filters that we change as directed.  Notice the bars on the windows that were installed for our safety throughout the house.

 

This is our tiny washer which sits out on our back deck.  We do not have a dryer so we use a drying rack inside the house.  Behind the washer is our back-up power source in case the electricity goes out.  It works off of 6 large batteries. We also have a generator for the whole building if needed. Ray irons his own shirts as we have no dry cleaner available.

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We took a fun trip to the Equator on September 20th that also took us to the village where the native driver who helps the Humanitarian couple grew up.  He is the Chief of his village of about 2000. 

 

 

Ray is standing in the Northern hemisphere and Susan is standing in the Southern.

 

We visited the school in the village of our driver, Ssimbwa, who is in the center in the red shirt.

He wanted to leave several soccer balls for them to use.  There were very few students at the school as the teachers were on strike, demanding higher salaries.  These students are there because they live far away and actually board at the school.  Notice the schoolhouse in the background. 

 

We visited Ssimbwa's home and he asked Elder Stevens to plant an orange tree on his property.  He has had all the Humanitarian couples he has worked with do that on his land.

 

Here is a 150 foot well Ssimbwa has dug in his land.  He is going to put a pump on it to pump water to the hill behind his home, so he can supply fresh water for his village.  Currently they are using "raw" water from streams where animals also drink.

 

Here is a photo of his mother who is 76.  She has a home on the property as well.  She is cutting up potatoes for their meal.

 

 

This is an ant/ termite hill.  We see them all over Africa and some of them are huge.  This one is about 6 feet high.