Can you believe it?

Today I was looking for something in one of the kitchen cupboards and I had to move a few things about and then to my horror, what do you think I found hiding in there? A stinking little container of CREAM of TARTAR!!! UGH! Since it''s a U.S. brand I must have brought it with me. So now I have plenty in case I need it.

Today's drama was not being able to find any diesel fuel for my car. I drove to several stations and all said no diesel. I called a couple of people to see if they had any suggestions and then finally came across one that had it available. It was quite a bit more expensive but I didn't really have an option. There's a rumor that there may be a shortage for a while. That sounds interesting. I have been walking a lot lately so looks like I may have an opportunity to continue.

Headed down to Entebbe airport in a few hours to pick up my son. Wonder what his impressions will be of this place I call home?

on going saga of the cream of tartar

Okay so six supermarkets/stores is ridiculous. Don't know why I didn't think of this before but I walked down the hill and around the corner to fellow Aid Sudan team members house and borrowed a few teaspoons :-)

I have Scottish shortbread baking although I messed up the recipe, hoping it turns out okay. It would be tasty with my afternoon cup of tea. I have also made the master baking mix. Did you know a colander will work as a sifter if you don't have one? It's all about improvisation on the mission field.

I have been listening to a Christmas CD while baking. Sounds funny to hear about a winter wonderland when it's sunny and hot outside, in the 90s!

Cream of Tartar

A to of recipes for baking require cream of tartar. Simple enough, you just buy some, right? Well not here in Kampala. I have now been to 4 supermarkets and can't find any. I know it's out there 'cause I have seen it before but that's how it is here. More often than not, its here today and gone tomorrow. I guess I am working in mostly tomorrows.

I was hoping to start some baking so I will have some yummy Christmas cookies when my baby boy ( he's 28 ) arrives Friday night. I also wanted to make my own Bisquick mix. It's good to have on hand for a variety of things like pancakes, coffee cake,cinnamon rolls and a host of other things according to my African cookbook.

Well I think I'll listen to some Christmas music for now so I won't be so irritated about the you know what.

I've Shifted

What does shifting mean to you? In Australia where I grew up and apparently here in Kampala it means the same as moving. Saturday I shifted some of my things from the Henderson's where I have been staying since I arrived 5 days ago, to my new temporary home for the next month. I am living on the Baptist Mission compound. It is well located, very secure and is just what I need for the present time. I took a photo of my apartment so you can see where I am. I also wanted you to see some of the native wildlife here in Kampala. These critters are roaming the compound. I also hear a loud rooster at inappropriate times. His body clock is out of sync, kind of like mine until a few days ago when the jet lag wore off.

Today I realized I was a true missionary when I reused a tea bag for the 3rd time!!! It was still good. You can't get Lipton Super fruit White Mangosteen and Peach here so you do what you have to do. I forgot to bring some back with me and only have 2 more left. More updates later. Hope you will update me with your life events as well.

Back in Africa

Hello again from Kampala. I arrived safely just before midnight on Tues night. One of the highlights of my trip from Amsterdam to Nairobi was seeing the sun set from my window. The sun was a brilliant orange and I was able to watch it set completely. Directly below was I think the Sahara and the Nile River. It was an amazingly beautiful sight. Wednesday is kind of a fog as tried to get my bearings and navigate my way through some pressing needs. I had to go across town and although my driving on the left side was okay I did once try to get in the car on the wrong side and of course I put on the wipers a few times instead of the turn signal :-(

Most big shopping areas have a security guard at the entrance and they check in you glove compartment and take a mirror on a long wand and swipe it under the car before you are allowed to enter. Sometimes it can be very funny, yesterday was no exception. The very pleasant guard asked me if I was carrying any firearms. Surprise! I said no. he then asked if I was having a nice life today. I replied yes and he waved me through. Makes you feel really safe about would be terrorist in public places.

After a not very good sleep, since my body clock is still on Houston time, I went to see a potential place to live. Looks like I'll be moving in on Saturday afternoon for one month. More about that later. Time for an afternoon nap now to catch up and be refreshed for an Aid Sudan team meeting this afternoon.

Third time a charm!

Well here I am back in Kampala. It was an uneventful flight from Houston to London. I had a 10 hr layover so decided to take the "tube" ( underground) and visit some of my old haunts. Back in 1977 I lived in London off and on for 6 months. Yes, I am that old :-( I enjoyed seeing some old sights with new faces like Picadilly Circus and the fountain in front of Buckingham Palace. The queen sent her regrets but was not able to have tea with me that day. After much walking with the autumn leaves swirling at my feet I wound up in fashionable Knightsbridge. I enjoyed getting lost in Harrods and spent a while wandering in the vast and amazing food hall.

Back on the plane and another 10 hrs arrived in Kampala at 7:15 am. So tired. thought I would fall into bed but there were problems with my car that was still in the shop getting fixed. I think it was somewhere around 3pm when I finally took a quick nap. It took 3 trips to the mechanic to fix problems and three trips to the internet store to be able to get online. I realized quickly that I was back in Africa. The simplest of things can take a long time. I wish it would only take 3 times to light a match. I think 20 is average. The only saying three strikes and you are out does not apply here!

My days have been busy getting ready for the team arriving early monday morning and preparing my own things for 10 days in Sudan. More later as time allows.

New day

A new day dawned last Wed. 3rd. This day marked the beginning of my time as being the only Aid Sudan person in Uganda. As I write this a week has gone by and I'm still alive! Problems come and go and I find it's a testing time to see how hard I will lean on God when he's the only one here with me. You can't imagine the things that can happen here or not happen as the case more often is. Power outages, cars that wont work,computer mix ups,deadlines to meet,workers to help just to name a few, but my heart is gladdened to know that help is on its way come Aug 21st (yeah!)

Comedy of Errors

Tues night was Bible study as usual. What was not usual was the location. One of the Koreans, Abraham, wanted us all to come to his house. He likes to cook so he invited us at 6:30 for supper.I send out text messages to everyone the day of and remind them of the time and which chapter we are studying so that hopefully they will read in advance (hopefully being the key word) I never hear back from anyone so you never know if they got the message or not or if they are coming. The reason for this is the cost of airtime. They don't want to waste their minutes or shillings. Well anyway I set out for Ae Soo's house ( Korean woman) as she told me to meet there. As I was getting ready to turn to her place she suddenly appeared on the main road and waved us into Abraham's place. No problem. Abraham had the table set with Korean appetisers. Meat patties with yummy herbs and spices and also mushroom mixed with egg that had been fried. Next we were served a huge mound of spaghetti and washed it down with cold South African Rooibos tea! It was a great meal and sweet fellowship. We all then moved to the sofa around the coffee table. I brought out the Zucchini cake from my place, but everyone was still full from supper. We got started with our study from Genesis chapter 25. When I began with this group back in May I jumped in on chapter 17. We are slowly, but surely moving along. We were about half way through when I got a phone call. One of the ladies who is Sudanese called and said she was standing at my front gate. Her English is very difficult to understand, especially on the phone. I was trying to figure out what to tell her. Sweet Abraham said he would go and get her. So off he goes and we just sat around talking until they came back. Unfortunately no sooner had he gone than the electricity went out. We didn't know where the candles were but found a flashlight so we weren't in complete darkness. Abraham was back quickly and we were able to continue. It turned out the Sudanese lady was at the hospital and thought she would come to my house at 8pm and I would still be there. Something was lost in the translation of the text message:-( We finished by praying for some difficult issues that they are going through. Thank goodness there are no language barriers with God.

Economy

I watch the BBC and try to keep up with U.S. and world news. Things are bad all over it seems :-(
The economy is not doing well in the U.S., my homeland Australia and here in Uganda. Last Sunday night in the heart of Kampala there was terrific blow to hundreds of merchants who sell their wares in a huge market called Owino. I have posted blogs about visits here in the past. Apparently a fire started somewhere in the market area and traveled quickly destroying hundreds of stalls/booths. Reports say that there was another fire about 2 years ago and the vendors got loans then to help them rebuild their businesses. They have not paid off those loans yet so will definitely not get any new loans. This means they now have no source of income, no goods to trade and no bright future on the horizon. Sometimes when you feel like life is hard you can always look around and see so many who have overwhelming burdens to bear and your troubles seem smaller. Thank goodness we have a God who is bigger than the sum of all our problems.
I have included a photo of the taxi park I have referred to before. It's just a block away from Owino. The congestion here is similar to the atmosphere inside Owino!
Well I wanted to send a photo along but after 3 days of trying to upload the photo through the blog site I am still unable, so I'll keep trying. Check back later to see the photo. Thanks for your patience. Mine is getting strengthened! ***Update*** figured out the file I was trying to upload was too big, so I shrunk it and here is the picture of the taxi park as promised! Yay!

Big smiles

Today Daniel finished recording the last in a series of Chronological Bible stories that will be aired on the radio in South Sudan. He recorded stories from the book of Revelation ( The End Times Track) As you may know the book of Revelation is not for sissies. It's often times hard to understand and there are many interpretations about it meaning. Daniel recorded in English first and then in his own native tongue which is called Dinka Rek. This was no easy task. We were both elated when the last story was finished. I watched a big smile creep on his face as he was standing in front of the microphone in the sound booth. We then captured that smile on the front porch as he was leaving.
Daniel will be returning to his college classes here in Kampala next week and will be back a little later to record the next set of education and health and hygiene lessons. I am currently working hard on the next set of health lessons. I have completed 7 out of 23!