Good Bye's

Saying Good bye to home and friends The little girls that collect the ants in the front yard

Good bye to Peace Corps who will remain in Arua

Good bye to the students that I followed around and ecouraged for 21/2 years

 Good Bye to the garden that this year is producing a bumper crop of grapes.  God gave me a gift when I was there yesterday.  A tiny cluster had turned dark pink and were ready to eat.  They were good so I am glad we left good things growing for the ladies at Nacwola.






Good bye to Adriko and the mode of transport

Just some thoughts as we leave Arua Town.  A place we have called home! and who has called us FRIEND

PEACE CORPS THE TOUGHEST JOB YOU WILL EVER LOVE!

THANKS PRESIDENT KENNEDY FOR HAVING A DREAM AND SEEING IT THROUGH.

What we will do next :

We leave for Barcelona on Friday and then head to Germany to meet Conor for a 2 week bike ride along the Danube River in Germany, Austria Hungry. After down to Bosnia Hersogovina, down again to Croatia"s Coast, over to Italy up to Netherlands to see Aart and Geesja's to see what living on an ark is like, down to Normandy, then up to Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England then 4 nites in Iceland and back to MN on August 12th.  Aren't sure where we will live yet but the adventure will continue.  Love to all, IN HIM, Marc

PS Kate got a job in Kampala for a year, starts the 5th.  So I plan to come back for a visit... 

Easter

First shot is of the tree that was taken down with an AX on Good Friday the first year here. 2nd shot is what is looks like now laying in the yard right out our back door.  Every so often someone comes and chope more off for a bit of firewood.

So this was GOOD FRIDAY now there are ducks that live in the trunk and chickens that nest under the tree.  I don't think it will be gone from the yard before me...

Sunrise service on the top of the highest hill in Arua 

We received the word and a new day with friends

Was it a morning like this that the whole world was made new? Sins forgiven? Man reconciled with a God who LOVES! 

Some forgiven sinners enjoying the morning.

We saw this guy as we were walking home from the Sunrise Service.
Happy Resurrection to all of YOU!

Thing I see on the street that amaze me

Waiting for water it is a social past time and I am grateful I don't have to do it......         
  How much one can take on a bicycle and still pedal it.  I am grateful for my bicycle and not having to make a living by selling from it.  These bananas are used for a cooked dish called matooke

What gets transported on a wheel borrow. Someone is going to be happy tonight with a new mahogany(?)                                                                                    bed

How much a woman can carry. Selling from her head for a bit of $ for her family  I am not sure if she was pregnant or not but wouldn't be surprised if she was.

These little kids had just come from picking through the trash in the last photo.  Since there is trash every where this is a favorite kid past time.

I am sure I will find more interesting things before I go.  Hope you enjoy the pics from my side of the world.  We have 24 days left in country and it seems to be going so fast that the beans are tasting better and the weather seems pleasant.  I am sure I am in grateful mode. I hope it last the rest of my life.  From Arua...
 Love Marc

Well  this is what has gone on for a bit.  The conflict in S Sudan is getting worse.  The refugee camp had 48,000 people and now has 68,000 with the conflict getting worse.  The N wants the oil rights in the S and the people are caught in the middle and run to Uganda.  The Food trucks are seen frequenly going through town. 

This is the ongoing construction at the hospital.  They bring in a big load of huge rock and these guys break them with malls, in the hot sun, and then smooth it out to make the drive way.  I like living in the US where you can just order a load of crushed rock.

I have been walking around town to the bus companys to get them interested in building a rain water catchment tank outside the maternity ward for newly delivered mothers to have water for personal care when it is dry season and the town water is finished.  These are the hospital admin with the head of the airplane company that is here who donated the 4 milliion for a tank.   Now to get Toms school started on it before we leave....

Next is a story!  This is a request that was made a long time ago.  A government school has a section for blind students with some special faciliteis and teachers at it.  It is NOT a boarding school but these boys are not from the area so they have to board. They are sleeping in a classroom so a friend asked if we could do something.  Well I have this ongoing conversation in my head about "I don't really need this, I could use the $ to build an orphanage in Africa"  I havn't done that either so I thought it time to kick into gear.  We decided to investigate and meet the kids so this is the story.  So far they have the right mission statement for a school.  Don't think we will find this in America. 

IS ALWAYS AN ATTENTION GRABBER AND IT WAS AT THE SCHOOL 

The rest of the story is Tom with one of the tutors,

The actual dorm 

Two of the boys that live here
below is the kitchen that the night guard makes there meal in because they don't go home to eat.

Below is the site the dorm will be built on it will have a veranda so the guys can sit outside in the cool of the evening. 

The guy who will oversee the project when we are gone and the one that has a heart for the blind.  Dave from Church Mission Society Ireland.  We asked our kids and friend and we raised the funds for the foundation.  It was dug and they hit a water line. It was redug and made too small, finally re dug and poured this last week.  The official start to the AMBROSE HOUSE has begun.  CMS is providing  funds for the building but it needed a kick start and this seemed to be it. 

Time for lunch   GOTTA GO      Tom and Marc

CELEBRATING WITH TONINO 50 YEARS OF SERVICE AND 75 YEARS OF LIFE

 

Shortly after returning from S Africa we were invited to a birthday/vocation party held for Tonino, priest and radio station manager of  radio station we celebrate Christmas Eve at.  I was reminded of my aunts 50 years of service in the Franciscan order This was another wonderful celebration. He has served Africa for 40+ years as have 18 of his classmates from Italy.

Framed by the men he works with 

Framed by the people he serves

A chat with the archbishop
Giving gifts

A little cake, a little dancing and we all went home (after 2 hours of speeches too) and a lovely day was had by all.  Congratulations Tonino may you live long and healthy like your father who is 102 and living independently in Italy! 

HOLI A Peace Corp Multi Cultural Experience

WOW, 2 posts in 2 days.  Wanted to share a holiday that our Hindi friend Ankur (MSF Epidemiologist)  invited us to. 

 Holi is celebrated at the approach of vernal equinox,(OKAY GRAND CHILDREN WHEN IS THE VERNAL EQUINOX?)  on the Phalguna Purnima (Full Moon). 

 The festival signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair ruptured relationships. THIS IS THE WHOLE GROUP THAT CELEBRATED.  SOME  OF THE MSF STAFF ARE FROM THE SUDANESE REFUGEE CAMP JUST DOWN FOR THE WEEKEND. WE HAVE MANY NATIONS IN THIS PICTURE.

YES THIS IS MY NURSE DRESS.  MANESHA (MSF)  SAID THIS WAS A SIGN THAT I SHOULD CHANGE PROFESSIONS.      RIGHT NOW I AM SOAKING THE UNIFORM TO GET THE PAINT OUT.  WE DID PRETTY GOOD AT GETTING IT OFF OUR SKIN.  HINDU'S CELEBRATE THE FESTIVAL BY THROWING POWERED PAINT ON EACH OTHER SIGNIFYING THE RE- AWAKENING OF THE SPRING COLORS. Then they go party and visit friends.  We came home to bath....  HAPPY HOLI!

Long Time Away

So, I am sitting down to write a blog but I get bored with it and the sun is shining and I want to be outside doing my Lent workbook so I am going to load pictures of our last 2 months and just write about them.  65 days till we leave and I am still confused about what's next but I have other things to ponder.  Hope you enjoy the pics.  Miss you all but enjoying the weather here more then you all are there.  Sorri for you! COME VISIT!

We start with JAN. in  Pretoria, S Africa where Tom and I went for his surgery in January.                                                                                                                 THIS IS THE LOVELY B&B that Peace Corps put the evacuate medical volunteers in in Pretoria.
A lovely place for a rest.  Hot water and washer.

This is  our friend from MSF Michelle, that we met in Arua, and her boyfriend Simon from Zimbabwe. They live in Johannesburg and came and spent the day with us in Pretoria.  We went sight seeing to places they hadn't seen.

Like the Voertrekker monument part of the Dutch history of S Africa

The view of the valley from a cable car that took us for pizza at the top of the mountain outside Pretoria

A day by ourselves before the surgery

This is one of the Silver back Gorillas that are only found in zoo'z and the border of Rwanda and Uganda.  Cost to trek into the impenetrable forest to see them...$500 and you have to walk for 3-7 hours in the mountains.. This was nicer.

A friend we met on couch surfers in
Pretoria..  Sharon is a lab tech and she took us out to a farm, restaurant, dairy, cheese, ice cream place for the afternoon.
 When we went back to Pretoria in March, for Tom to have his cast off I stayed at her home with her 3 house dogs and 2 cats.  One of the cat brought in a live mouse for us in the house while I was there.

FEB.      I came back to Uganda and Tom had to stay in S Africa for 2 more weeks.  These are our friends  from college, Myrna and Jim Guyer .  We all went to different ones but I lived in the home town of Myrna's when I went to nursing school.  She and I were waitress's together in Bozeman.  She was with me when Jake was born 35 years ago.  This was after 2 days in country and the end  of our 8 hour bus trip up to Arua.  Myrna took lots of pictures but I don't have any more then this.

Tom came back to Arua for 4 days before we got back on the bus and plane and went back to S Africa for our last planned vacation in while in PC.  You cannot take vacation the last 3 months of your service so we had this planned since Nov it just happened to coincide with his surgery.
We rented a car in Johannesburg and we drove 2 days down to the  Cape.  These are some of the sights we saw.  The Dutch influence is seen everywhere. They came as the Dutch East India company in 1493 and set up a colony for restocking supplies as the ships went onto Malaysia to pick up spices and Asian treats for trading back in the Netherlands.

The view from the top of one of the highest passes in the country.  We hiked another 3 kilometers but it was 5 more to the very top on a goat trail so we just stopped and took pictures.  Going up is easy but coming down it is steep and lots of loose rocks.





Mare and Oat our Couch Surfer hosts in George. Fed us very well at the outdoor kitchen where they do all the grilling for a Braai (meat supper)

Billy and Joanna Coppage who we met in Arua.  They are missionary's with there 4 kids and are on sabbatical in S Africa until Billy starts school at St Andrew in Scotland.

A walk with Billy and the girls to see the sea.  Look at the majestic mountains surrounding the sea.

Okay, Dominic, Joshua, Charity & Micah how many penguins can you count at this colony? There are 2 types we saw and this was one of them.

We walked out to the tip that is the southernmost part of the African Continent.  The Atlantic is freezing but the Indian Ocean in town is warm.  I didn't go swimming though.

D, Josh, Charity and Micah how far is Antarctica from this point?

MARCH A view along the drive.  Kathy and Dave Suker I think this should be your next bike trip and plan for a month Feb and March the head winds are less and the temp are late summer early fall.  I will help you map it out when I get back. Maggie, get you passport out you gotta come.

Next photo is from the high hills over Muzenburg and our Couch surfer host Mcheal.  Behind is TABLE MOUNTAIN.  We are now officially at the area known as the Cape. Cape Town lies at the foot of the mountain.  We were staying on the other side of this high point on the sea side.

One of the souvenir shops on the water front of Cape Town.  I could not pack the lion skin in my back pack Chester so you will have to think of something else to get my sister for her birthday.

 Boulder Beach where these fellows live.  Can you count any, or only people swimming with them?

 Kate these are for you.  We really really think you should consider this campus.

This is a view of Table Mountain from Cape Town when we were touring.

This is the view from the top of it. Both sides one looks down on Cape Town the other on the sea. We spent 21/2 hours climbing up it thinking we would take the cable car down.  Because it is easier to climb up then down right?  Well we got to the top and the winds were gale force winds at 80 knots so the cable car was shut down and we had to hike down again.  So did everyone else that had climbed it from different sites.  So our legs were barking at us for the next 3 days... But at the bottom of the hill we met a German couple that were parked on the other side of the mountain having hiked a different trail and needing a taxi.  Of course there was none to be had so we gave them a ride to their car.  They were helping develop a schnapps at one of the many many winerys in the area.  They invited us to the farm and for a beer (they were thirsty Germans)
We were too tired to go that day but made a plan for 2 days later.

This is the light house that guides ships around Ca[e Point. This is what Bartholomewa  Dias said was the furthest point south of Africa. He didn't know about Agulus...

Hout Bay on the other side of Cape Point.

The wine lands of the Southern Cape.  Miles and Miles of fields of vine and a lot of hops too.  These are the Germans we met. Sven and Moniqua They make wine in the summer and hire out in the winter, S of the equator. They are employed by people needing help with brewing beer, schnapps or making wine.

This is the last photo from Stellenbauch which has a lovely university too Kate.  It is a picture of a suitcase.   So glad we didn't have to haul this around.
Well, that is all for our trip.  Hope you enjoyed.
After the trip we returned to Pretoria and Tom got the cast off.  Bone is healing well and to keep it that way he is on restriction for 2 months.  No bike riding, no lifting more then 22#s and use hand to your tolerance.  So, our bike trip for May is postponed till Jume.  We are home now and settling in. From Arua, .  Love you all, Bye
Marc