Trip to Nagongera to see Janet

Last Sunday (12th), Becky, Ella and I loaded up the car and headed east to visit Becky's second Compassion child, Janet, in Nagongera. Nagongera is located only 12 km from one of the Bible translation and literacy projects (the Lunyole) that we work with, in Mugulu. I have been to Mugulu many times and the place is just beautiful. I have been greatly blessed with amazing colleagues so it is always nice to see them.

The Lunyole Language Committee is trying to start a guest house there in Mugulu at the offices, so that is where we stayed. Mugulu is just a village and the translation and literacy offices are set out in a field so it is quiet, there are no people, and it's just like being in the country again. Something I REALLY miss after living in an urban setting for so darned long. I am a farmer at heart :).

It was really neat though to be able to take my daughter and sister to one of the language projects and meet some of the people who I work with, which is the reason why I came and have stayed in Uganda in the first place! The work that is done by each of our language projects is the only thing that has kept me going at times. And now Ella has been to two of these projects (the Lugwere in September for their office dedication, and now the Lunyole project) and that makes me happy :). All the translators know her because she attended the last afternoon of the finance meetings this April, and snoozed on the couch in the back of the room. For some odd reason it is important to me that Ella knows what I'm doing. Although at three years old, I don't think she cares much!!

Some of the beautiful tea fields that you pass along the way

The nice thing about Uganda is that there's lots of foliage, making pit stops quite comfortable, allowing you to take your time. I grew up squatting behind sagebrush in Wyoming and Montana so this is a bit of a luxury for the likes of me!

Once again, I was a little concerned about the roads getting into Mugulu and Nagongera. It is a nice road until you reach Namatumba, but then you have to turn off onto a dirt road for about an hour or so until you reach Mugulu. Fortunately for us it was dry season and the roads were GREAT!! And I didn't even get lost, which is pretty good considering I took a "shortcut" and you just never know about finding your way through one of those!

Our good, dry road that my little Toyota Corona sped along

Typical mud/dung huts that the majority of villager dwellers live in

Some of the gorgeous scenery (and cows. We saw several BLUE cows that I just love)

The railroad bridge that you get to cross when heading to Mugulu and Busolwe

We were warmly welcomed at the Compassion project in Nagongera. The school where the project is, is a Christian school run by a Deliverance Church. 250 students are enrolled in the school and 232 have Compassion Sponsors. The school is four years old and the Compassion project is two years old. It was really neat to see the church and Compassion working together so closely. Mom's and Becky's other sponsored children are both in projects associated with government, public schools. This was the first Christian, church run school that I'd been to.

The majority of the children in this school are in nursery or P1 (first grade). Surprisingly (and encouragingly!) there seemed to be and equal number of boys and girls enrolled. Very unusual in village schools. Usually there are far more boys enrolled than girls, as most families don't see any advantages to sending their girls to school.

Becky (sponsor), Florence (in charge of communications with Sponsors), Margret (project director), Peace (head of finance), Janet (sponsor child) and Ella (sponsors niece)

When we showed up, Janet was waiting for us clutching a picture of Becky. In the picture Becky had her hair down and when we arrived Becky had her hair back in a pony tail. This picture is of Peace (the administrator of finance for the project) trying to convince little Janet that Becky was the same one as in the picture! You could tell that she wasn't totally convinced until Beck let her hair down :)

Janet, clutching her picture of Becky, and Ella

The children gathered together and sang several songs for us

The celebrity shaking hands with the children

Becky and Janet, standing in front of the classrooms. They were made of mud and dung. Not as nice as public schools (usually made of falling apart bricks).

Janet's class, P1 A

I was impressed with the teacher to student ratio here. Compared to US standards it wasn't great but compared to Ugandan standards, it was pretty darned good

We went to Janet's house to meet her family. They also welcomed us with songs and dancing.

As with Grace, Becky brought some gifts for Janet, as well as a picture book. The entire family gathered around and greatly enjoyed Janet opening her gifts!

All smiles :)

The family had erected a nice shade for us to sit under, complete with flowers hanging on it!

Janet proudly showing off one of the dresses that Becky had brought for her. Both the dresses fit perfectly!

Janet and her family. Her father died early this year so she lives with her mother, an uncle, several older brothers, baby sister and her orphaned cousin. She comes from a polygamist family so there was also another co-wife and half siblings that also lived nearby.

Janet's mud and dung home

The really cool stove that was in their kitchen hut. Apparently it takes very little fire wood to use

The granary where food and grain is stored

Janet, Becky and Ella with the goat that Janet bought with the money Becky sent for the family

Once again, the family gave Becky gifts. This time a bag of pumpkins and a live chicken! I was mildly jealous of the live chicken as I have lived here THREE AND A HALF STINKIN' YEARS and NO ONE has ever given ME a chicken!! Maybe because I've never given anyone a reason to...;)

After getting some chicken handling techniques from her Grand Champion Chicken Showman mother (two years in a row at the MT fair, then a Reserve Champion Chicken Showman one year), Ella was finally brave enough to sit alone beside the chicken. No idea why this child is so freaked out over poultry. She can handle large dogs and even enormous pigs but ducks and chickens totally freak her out. Nothing her Chicken Showman Mommy can't handle though!

This fine hen of Becky's was left at the Lunyole Bible Translation and Literacy offices in Mugulu.

So we had an awesome visit to see little Janet. She is a DARLING little girl! Now, I see a LOT of children ALL THE TIME and this kid really stood out. She was just too cute. I am very thankful that my family sponsors these kids and that I have the privilege of escorting them to and from the projects when they come to Uganda. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND anyone to sponsor a child through Compassion International. If you pick a child in Uganda then you have your own chauffeur and travel guide, too! I've gotten quite hooked on going and visiting these kids :).

Tuesday we came home, after stopping by the St. Philomena's Iganga Babies Home in Iganga, which my friend, Sister Elizabeth, runs. She wasn't there but we were warmly received and shown around the place. I was really glad that I was able to take Becky to an orphanage before she left, as they have been a big part of my experiences here in Uganda in the last three and a half years. And her nieces too! Who would have thought! Afterwords we headed to Jinja where we had lunch and bought a few gifts for friends. Then we headed home. Ella slept the ENTIRE way to Kampala - about an hour and a half. The traffic was amazingly good and it didn't even take us forever to get through Kampala. All in all, it was an awesome trip and quite the grand finale to Beck's stay.