Friday 31 March 2017

Back to Australia

Hey everyone!
Again I am sorry about the big delay in between blog posts, it can get rather tiring here and it is easy to get swept along with everything going on here on the ground.

The last few months have seen us trying to get a bunch of things done before leaving for Australia.

Grace continues to live with us as his leg is still healing! He still has to use crutches to get around, because the part of his bone that was removed in his leg has not yet healed, causing it to be very weak.
It has been a pleasure to have him live with us, and to be able to take him into our family. We know he is very appreciative and he feels right at home (and Ethan loves him)
We believe he will be healed and ready to walk again in about two months, which means he will be able to move out to his own place again.

Grace's little baby was born the other week. This has been a happy occasion despite the circumstances (Grace impregnated a teenage girl of the same age as him at the start of last year, this happened when we were still getting to know him and getting heavily involved in his life)
In most cases of teenage pregnancies here, the boy will deny it was him and leave the young woman to care for the child on her own.
Grace owned up to what he did, and with some guidance and discipleship he wants to face the consequences of his actions.
He met with the family of the girl to apologize, and they were very understanding. At first Grace was worried since they are a very strict Muslim family, but they have been very considerate. They even allow Grace to visit their home to help with his child.
Although Grace is still so young, he has the right attitude of facing up to this huge life challenge. And although he regrets his actions, he see's the child as a gift from God.

I am happy at least to know that there will be one more child here in Uganda growing up with a father who will be around.


For now the child will live with the mother and her family (the mother is only 17 years old, and Grace is 18) but Grace is allowed to make visits to contribute to the life of the child.

Another boy I am very involved with named Solomon has also been very sick. After a three night stay in the hospital, and a colonoscopy and endoscopy, plus a wide range of tests, he was diagnosed with peptic ulcers, alkaline reflux, erosive gastritis, a bacterial infection in his bowls, typhoid, and a polyp in his lower intestine that will have to be removed.
Talk about being sick!!
He is now on his way up and looking forward to joining a Ywam DTS in June.

We have a bunch of young men who are being sponsored who are off to their universities and vocational schools after finishing highschool last year.
This had taken up a lot of time for us. This has involved career guidance, visiting institutions, helping prepare the young men.
But it is great to see a group of guys who I have been involved with for over two years, now heading out to begin life for themselves!

Agnes and I also ran a Wise Choices for Life course with the HopeBuilders team here. This included all staff members, board members and employees of Village of Hope.
Andrew came over from Australia and he was a great help in contributing to the facilitation of the program.
We believe many people learnt a lot, and some of the comments we got after the week long training were very encouraging.

Our tailoring girls also finished their course yesterday! So that meant a happy graduation party, involving games, speeches and a meal.
The girls were also handed their certificates, and they will now have some small capital and a machine to start their own small business.
We believe we have given them everything we can give them in regards to training. They have learnt about Business, Maths, English, Tailoring. But they have also gone through trauma rehabilitation, learning about relationships and reproductive health as well as a lot of spiritual discipleship.

It will be a bit sad to see them go, as we have formed strong relationships with them ... but C.S Lewis once said this: 'The proper aim of giving is to put the recipient in a state where he no longer needs our gift. We feed children in order that they may soon be able to feed themselves; we teach them in order that they may soon not need our teaching. Thus a heavy task is laid upon Gift-love. It must work towards its own abdication. We must aim at making ourselves superfluous. The hour when we can say 'They need me me no longer' should be our reward.'

Although not our children, the same principle applies to our tailoring girls. Although we will always have a friendship with them, and they are welcome to visit us, we will not be caring for them in the same way we have over the last year. We expect them to go out and help themselves.

So we thank those of you who have supported the tailoring class and sponsored girls!!
We hope to have another class running by July! So anyone interested in a $50 a month sponsorship for a full year would be most welcome.




Aggie and I are now preparing to head back to Australia for a month to be a part of my sisters wedding.
I really look forward to this time in Australia, and although short, I think I need it.
I always get to this point after a full year, where I feel I am just surviving and getting along each day as it comes.
It is always nice to refresh, get away from the constant demands, and have a think about our aims for the next year.

Please pray for us as we travel, Ethan is a rather energetic little boy who loves running around. Many hours on a plane with him does not seem so appealing!

To finish this blog, here is a picture I took of the milky way galaxy from our front yard at 4.30 am in the morning!!





1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the update Luke, always great to hear. Will continue to pray, particularly for those that need healing. Looking forward to seeing you guys in a couple of weeks.

    ReplyDelete