Map of Uganda

Map of Uganda
The Uganda Kampala Mission includes Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi and Southern Sudan. Our assignment covers all the areas except Ethiopia.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

WE GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS…

Actually, a lot of help from our friends and relatives. Many of them in the U.S. send us supplies like reading glasses, children’s books, candy, pinewood cars, dolls, etc. You can’t imagine how much joy these small things bring to the kids here. Many of them have never had a toy as we think of them. Recently we got a package which included some balloons. So, we decided to buy the ingredients for ice cream floats and have a party with the kids at a nearby school, during their break.

We had made some hand puppets on one of our projects to teach hygiene in schools, so we started with some stories (complete with puppet accompaniment). The kids had a great time reading the stories.

Next,it was time to hand out the balloons.


It did not take long for the excitement to start. The contest was on to see whose would fly the highest.

Then it was time to get down to the serious business of ice cream floats.

Life doesn’t get much better than this.

The next day we went to a school where we are starting a new project. It is not as fortunate as the first. The school is deep in the forest of the Nakaseke District about 30 miles from Kampala. The villagers have built a mud brick classroom which is falling down.

Their latrine is also mud brick, full and beginning to collapse. The village had purchased supplies to build a new latrine. We are not allowed to construct classroom buildings…but we can build latrines (complete with a 45 foot deep pit).

So, we built a six stance latrine and they will use their supplies to build a new classroom building. Then, we will install a rainwater catchment system with a 10,000 liter tank.

This is what the almost finished latrine looks like…

Complete with a new design we are trying out for a hand washing station.

When all the work is finished, we will take the ice cream float-balloon-puppet party here also. A heart-felt thanks to all of our friends for your contributions. They have brought a smile to many a face!

3 comments:

Brad and Karen said...

Yea for the Glenns!! Thanks for posting these pictures. Makes us feel so happy!

6footmama said...

hi there Glenns! This is Michelle Larsen. I was perusing my notes from Africa and saw your blog address. You are doing what is my dream someday. Good work! Kristin and I are still plugging along with our education piece to go with the fem. hygiene. We have some interns this semester to help us. How is the sewing going in the Relief Society? Our next project is New Hope to pilot the sewing and education for the girls. Hope you are well and I love meeting you both. God bless.

Anonymous said...

Hello Brother and Sister Glenn,

I Googled the Uganda LDS mission and found your blog. I was hoping you might be able to help me.

I served an LDS mission in Brussels Belgium where I baptized a wonderful family, Clause and Pauline-Mmombo Van Eeckhout. She was from Congo. He was Belge. They were sealed in the temple around 1993 and then moved to Kampala, Uganda in 1996.

In cleaning my office today, I found a letter from Pauline in 1996 and felt inspired to see if I could find a way to reconnect with them. Do you have any suggestions for how I could go about finding out if they are recorded as members of the church in Uganda? I would love any feedback you might have for locating them.

Your mission blog looked absolutely fabulous. Most of the people I baptized in Belgium were from Africa and I would LOVE to be able to serve a mission like yours one day.

Ryan D. Robinson
ryan.robinson@wvc-ut.gov

"Everything must have a beginning"

"Everything must have a beginning"
Children at an orphanage in Entebbe, Uganda. There are so many children here it is incredible; there are orphans everywhere. The people take them in and it is not unusual to see families struggling with 8-10 children. We talked to a woman yesterday who has taken in twelve children. She said, "sometimes I feel sad that I cannot do more, but everything must have a beginning". We have decided to use that as our personal reminder to guide our actions here as we try to help.