The flight was fine, and Agnes and I both slept for almost 10 hours each (although not a very good sleep due to crying babies in front of us the whole flight).
We had some worries about luggage weight, as we were packed to the brim, but luckily we had no problem and we got everything through.
We were also a bit concerned about getting an entry visa. For those of you who may not know, I have had a lot of trouble getting a permanent visa due to the corruption in the ministry of internal affairs. As a result I have a lot of tourist visas that have been extended, and sometimes this can raise an eyebrow at immigration.
Luckily the man at immigration saw myself with Agnes and was very happy that we were married (even trying to give me some marriage advice by telling me not to 'cheat' on Agnes) and so we had no problem getting my 3 month visa.
Hopefully this gives me a good amount of time to try and organise a long term partner visa.
As far as projects go, the last week has involved a lot of 'cleaning up' and sorting out issues. Agnes and I have both had to spend a lot of time sitting with different girls in the tailoring class, and co-op. This is includes warnings, counselling and also having to make hard decisions of letting some people go.
It has been unfortunate that some girls have really been causing a lot of division in the groups, with gossipping and bullying type behaviour. Other girls have just not been committed and never show up.
Agnes and I had to make the hard decision of letting a few girls go. Of course we tried to do the very best by them. With the money that they earned from making bags, they used to pay off half of their machine. So they have been sent on their way, with their own personal machine, plus the knowledge and the skills to do their own tailoring work.
Some girls just were not able to work well in a team.
It is also a decision we have had to make based on an outlook that we can only help those who themselves want to be helped. Continuing to try and pick someone up, and treat them like a child, when they themselves are an adult, does not necessarily do any good.
Especially when we do have dedicated hard working girls who would love this opportunity and as a result are missing out.
Agnes once told me of an African parable that says "You can bring a herd of cattle to green grass but only half of them may eat"
This is something we have found true with a large group of girls. Many of them will work hard at the new opportunity we have given to them, but there are others who don't put any effort in and take for granted the help offered.
We are still trying to work on ways to break this mentality though. Many girls have grown up as victims their whole life, so they can only see themselves in that light, and hence don't bother to try because they think they will fail anyway.
We see we still have a lot of work to do with these young women, the resources and support are there to help them create an income, but we are finding the social and emotional problems these girls have are bringing them down.
Farouk has also enjoyed having us back in Uganda to deal with all these issues. He has expressed that he doesn't wish to work so much with young women anymore, they certainly gave him more then a headache! As he was trying to manage the work for these girls, they were all expecting him to solve their little fights and tiffs as well.
Of course this was not what Farouk was expected to do, but he has done a great job either way without our presence.
Otherwise the tailoring co-op girls have been getting lots of work, and they have been making uniforms for at least three different schools! So the position they are in, compared to when they first begun, has really improved.
Farouk and I are looking at running an afternoon program for some of the rougher type boys in the community here. Many of them coming from Muslim backgrounds.
Because of Farouk's similar upbringing, he certainly has a way with these type of young guys, and they are very much attracted to him. As a result farouk has been running his own outreach type program every evening, where he goes and organises soccer games with these boys. Before, or after, they play, Farouk usually sits down with them to counsel them and give them advice on a whole range of different topics and issues.
I would love to utilise this special relationship he has already created with these boys, and see what other types of discipleship we could do with them.
We have also been blessed to have a few Australian girls volunteer for us at YSU, who have been teaching the tailoring girls English skills. We will also be hosting a group of British volunteers, including our good friend Racheal, to do some volunteer work with us.
An interesting little event happened on our way home from church the other day. Agnes, myself and the Australian girls were near subi house when we saw two young boys out the front with a baby monkey tied up with a rope around its waist.
The boys were teasing the monkey and treating it a bit rough. I asked them where they got the monkey from and they said they had caught it up at the school. When I asked them what they were doing with it, they said they wanted to sell it, possibly for someone to eat. After asking them how much they were selling it for they cheekily said "3,000" (about 1 Australian dollar). So we said we would pay them, we got a sack to put it in, and I hopped on a boda to take it back up to the top of the hill where all the monkeys live.
The hardest part was trying to untie the rope from around its waist, as I was scared it would bite me and give me rabies. I managed to do it by keeping the monkey in the bag I had it in, and kind of keeping it tucked in their while I had access to its belly.
The monkey then ran free into the bush where all the other monkeys lived! It was a job well done, and since I have always been fond of animals, I am glad I could help the little fella out.
Funnily just after I had left on the boda boda to take the monkey back up to the forest, the Australian girls paid the boys their 3,000, to which they started complaining and asking where the remaining money was. It seems they were meaning 30,000 (about 14 Australian dollars) Agnes scolded them and said that they had said 3,000 and that was their problem! So everyone left them and said 'too bad'.
Teaches them right for stealing baby monkeys anyway.
Otherwise we look forward to this year. I have already started up my little bible study group on Saturday night with my two boys. And we hope to get back into the swing of things now that the co-op has been sorted and the tailoring class is back up and running for the year.
Thanks again for all the prayers and support to all my friends and family.
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