Final words… December 7, 2010

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Sitting in the comforts of an air conditioned apartment in Australia, sipping on a cold drink and eating my fav chocolate, life in Africa almost feels surreal. Even though we are having a wonderful family holiday, there is a deep heart wrenching feeling I have left something behind. For the first few nights every time I closed my eyes I could see the vivid image of all of the kids and ORA Uganda team standing behind the wire mesh fence at the Arua airstrip, as I turned to wave jus before boarding the plane and seeing the sadness and tears in the eyes of some of the most precious people and children in my life, will be a memory that stays with me forever.

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We had a wonderful last week at the ORA base, savouring every last moment of time spent with all the foster home kids and ORA team. On our last night we had a big farewell party, our last Ugandan meal (so not going to miss beans and rice), lots of emotional speeches and the best bit was giving out Christmas gifts to all the kids and ORA Uganda staff. The day before, Sam and I, and the kids had put together 20 bags full of our own clothes, shoes, books, toys and so many other things that all different people had donated over the last 6 months. It was so liberating to give so much of our own stuff away and so wonderful to see how excited everyone was to get their Christmas gifts.

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The day before we left, my dearest Peace gave me a letter that made me cry more than I have in a very long time. Only days earlier she had finally shared the painful full story of how she made it to be living on the ORA base, and had become our much appreciated helper, hand washing our clothes and in the beginning cooking some meals for us.
At the tender age of 15 Peace had become pregnant, not by her own choice. A teenage pregnancy is a shock for any family, but in the African culture when a child has “disgraced” her parents like this she is completely cut off and abandoned by her family. For Peace it was even worse, she was publicly beaten so badly by her father, that if she had not run from the beating and hid in the bush she quite possibly may have died. She hid in the bush for 3 days and 3 nights, without food or water, bleeding and badly bruised until she was found barely conscious by an aunty, who bought her to her brother Gasper (one of our ORA social workers, and Peace’s uncle,) so that she could be safely away from her father and live at the ORA base. Thankfully she and her unborn baby survived.

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This was about a month before we arrived, the timing was Godly appointed, as we had asked Gasper to find us a Ugandan lady to work for us to help out with hand washing and cooking (this is culturally expected and a necessity when you have no washing machine or oven.) So that was how sweet, beautiful, broken, abandoned, homeless Peacey became our helper and one of my best friends living with us at the ORA base. I’m not sure how I’ve managed to write so many blogs without much mention of Peace, because she was a huge part of our lives. Not only did she wash our clothes, by hand, and cook for us until her baby was born, but she looked after our kids and especially Lucy loved her so much. She also willingly took on the role of the Sunday school teacher, we mentored her and guided her, and she soaked up every bit of what we taught her and lead the Sunday school worship and teaching with more passion and wisdom and maturity than most 16yr olds could only dream of.
Peace and I have sat for many hours over the last 6 months, talking, laughing, learning from each other. Some days I could see behind the smiley mask of maturity a very vulnerable, scared, lonely little girl fully pregnant and about to become a mother. She had no role model in her life, she had no mother or no friends to teach her about childbirth, how to care for a baby or any of the challenges that come with being a mother. When her baby was born in October she asked me to name him, I named him Levi. The next 3 months I spent guiding Peace through the challenges of caring for a newborn baby, even though culturally things are so different, the basics are still the same, such as how to feed, burp and bath a baby. It was a privilege to be able to be there for Peace and provide her with the support and knowledge that those of us with loving families and friends take for granted.

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One day I asked Peace what she found the hardest about being a young mum, she said it was not being able to go to school, she is a super smart girl and had such potential for getting a good education, but once you have had a baby a Ugandan girls chance to return to school is almost impossible. Firstly the school kicks them out when they become pregnant, and their family disowns them and therefore wont pay school fees. So, our Christmas gift to Peace, was to pay for her school fees, organise someone to care for her baby when she is at school, we also left Sam’s bike with her so she could get to and from school and helped negogiate with the school principal to allow her go home at lunch time to feed her baby. It was the best Christmas gift I’ve ever given someone. At the end of the letter she gave me on our last day, she said “ from this day on I will now call Kim, my Mother and Sam my Father… I am forever grateful for how you have changed my life…”

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Its not an easy journey from Arua to NZ… we left our little house on the ORA base at 8am on Wednesday morning, jus to top off the African adventure, much to my disbelief Gasper, Zak and Leejay insisted that that the boys ride on the back of Gaspers motorbike to the airport. So wearing only shorts, t shirts , jandals and no helmets, the boys rode sitting on the back of the motorbike! I was tense the whole 20 min trip as we followed behind our car jam packed with an extra 15 other kids and adults, all so excited to have their first ever trip to see a plane! We then boarded the first plane in Arua at 9am, and took off and landed 5 times, 4 different planes, 25 hours of flying, 2 long delays and 34 hrs later we were in Brisbane!! We are so grateful we have a few days here to recover from the jet lag and change in time zones, as it was quite a long trip without any stopovers. The kids were amazing tho and Lucy coped so much better this time, sleeping well and was totally sweet with using the aeroplane toilet! The first few nights the kids were waking at midnight, wide awake and wanting breakfast! We had a few midnight snacks of toast and milo, but they have now settled into Aussie time, jus in time to move into another new time zone in NZ in 2 days!!

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But despite the crazy journey we’ve been on, its been all worth it, for the wonderful memories, friendships made, lives changed, lessons learnt, the privilege to make a difference in so many kids futures. Nothing beats living life with the purpose that was intended for us. I am forever thankful that God has revealed this to me and I have shared this with my family.

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To all of you our faithful supporters, whether it was financially, prayerfully, encouragingly or just by reading my blog and being aware of what is happening on the other side of the world, Thank you, without you the journey is not complete.

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Time flies when you’re having fun! November 21, 2010

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Time is flying so incredibly fast! The last month has been so crazy busy as we try to tie things up here at the ORA base, it feels almost surreal that we have only 2 weeks left living here. Part of me is getting so excited about going back to NZ to see friends and family, live in our house, Christmas, summer camping trips, hot showers and electricity, wholegrain bread, ice cream, nz chocolate, a real flat white, a fridge and oven and washing machine….
BUT and even bigger part of me is feeling sad already and even a little teary eyed just thinking about leaving our beloved ORA children, our wonderful lifestyle living here …

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So, last time I wrote Lucy had just turned two, now Leejay has just turned five!! I can hardly believe my little boy is already five, it just seems like the other day that the little guy was whisked out of my arms, only minutes after being born, not breathing properly and a little blue, and taken up to the new-born intensive care. He was only there for 24hrs as just like he always does he bounced back in no time. He has continued to give us frights like this from that moment he was born right through his wee life, only to bounce back to full health quickly and as though nothing has happened. That boy is surrounded by angels I’m sure! He has been an absolute delight to everyone here at the ORA base and made so many friends, adults and kids. If he is not walking around with a massive stick in his hand, climbing to the top of the massive mango tree or fearlessly swinging from the highest rope swing, we will find him sitting in a local Ugandan hut eating rice or posha, telling stories in his cute Ugandan accent, with a bit of Lugbara (local language) added at just the right times. He always has people in fits of laughter with the stories he spins and he has the most friendliest, outgoing, extrovert personality. Such a treasure.

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So to celebrate the two little ones birthdays we had a huge party here at the ORA base, it was such a fun party with about 30 kids in total, half were the Ugandan kids that live here with us and half were our mondo(white) friends who are also missionaries here in Arua. I managed to create two fantastic cakes, a tiger for Leejay and a princess for lucy, definitely not quite as easy or successful as it would be living in NZ, but kids don’t notice stuff like that (only perfectionist mums) and considering the limited resources here, with a bit of borrowing from my amazing bible study friends, including using lovely Joanna’s oven, they came out not too bad at all and Lucy and Leejay were stoked! We managed to still do the Trenwith party tradition and have an awesome treasure hunt, play “pass the basin” (my Ugandan rendition of pass the parcel), this time instead of there being one multiply wrapped present, we had a little gift wrapped for each child to get when the plastic basin stopped at them, much to the delight of all the Ugandan kids! We had yummy food, and sodas of course and it was such a fun day.

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So, you all remember, little Jonah, the boy with the horrendous burns whose mother had put dead rabbit skin, fur side down into the open wounds to heal it…well, I spent an hour each day debriding(cutting away) dead skin, cleaning and dressing his wounds, getting him to exercise his fingers, splinting his hand and every day it healed just a little more. Three weeks later his hand is completely healed with hardly even a scar!!! Its amazing, such a miracle! Praise God that I saw this little boy when I did, and that I had the resources to treat him and that Jesus healed him. He really was in such a bad way when I first saw that wound, it was so infected, his hand and arm so swollen and he could hardly move his fingers, but now he has complete use of his hand, there is hardly even a scar and he is back to his normal wee self. Such a great feeling! Its funny cos if I was at home in a well equipped western hospital, it would be nothing less than expected, that a kid would recover from a burn like this, but here in rural northern Uganda, in one of the poorest communities, for a kid to not just, actually survive such a burn, but to have complete healing without deformity or scarring is an absolute rarity. And a miracle.

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A couple of weeks ago, I was getting so desperate to do some baking, seriously I miss baking in an oven so much and there is only so many batches of pikelets and girdle scones you can make on the frying pan. So I decided to try baking a cake in the sun using tin foil and metal pots and piling burning charcoal on the top… well about 6hrs later the cake was cooked and fairly edible with loads of chocolate icing piled on top to disguise the slightly ‘boiled’ butter taste! Anyway this inspired my amazingly talented husband to make a pizza oven (something we had always planned to do while we were here, but had got so busy with so many other projects we had forgotten about it). So bring out the two muscliest African men you can find (Peter and Aniko, the ORA maintenance workers), a pile of bricks and wet mud, a few hours and a lot of sweat later…wola! We have an oven!! Ok so it takes a few hours to heat up, no spontaneous decisions to whip up some baking round here! But everyone on the base was so excited about it, as soon as it dried we tested it out and baked a banana cake and a loaf of bread. The banana cake was eaten within seconds of removing it from the oven, first taste of a cake for most of the kids who live here!

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So this new buzz of having an oven and my excitement of baking every day spurred on some baking lessons for Sally the Foster House Mother, the social workers, our cook and any other person that happened to be around at the time. It was so fun putting on my best impression of Martha Stewart in my posh Ugandan accent and the ladies loved learning how to bake cakes!

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The ORA coffee business is booming here in Arua, all the western missionaries are stoked to find some good local coffee, freshly roasted and delivered and Sally is loving her new business. We are excited to bring home a suitcase full of freshly roasted beans for our friends to try out!

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So next Thursday it’s mine and my darling Sammy’s 10 year wedding anniversary!! I can hardly believe its been 10 years since I married the man of my dreams, and I’m so stoked that we are just as madly in love as we were all those years ago! It was definitely worth all the convincing and pretending I liked other guys I had to do to in order to nab my man! He was definitely a great catch, even though it was like reeling in a shark, he has proved to be the best husband and father I could have ever dreamed of. I am so blessed to have him in my life, and we feel so incredibly blessed that not only did our paths cross all those years ago, but that God has blessed us with the 3 most gorgeous kids and the most incredible enriching journeys we have been on together. I’m losing count of how many times I’ve dragged this man over to the other side of the world with me, so I can follow my dreams and the call God has put on my life, and he, not only obligingly comes, but he puts all his unselfish heart, soul and whole self into everything we do here. Love that guy.

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I had fantasized about spending our wedding anniversary on the island of Zanzibar just as we had spent our 1st year wedding anniversary 9yrs ago, and even got so excited when we realized Zanzibar was only a 2 hour flight from Uganda! However, we quickly remembered we are poor missionaries with 3 kids, it is not cheap to get there and would hardly be that romantic with our gorgeous but crazy kids in tow! But we were so so blessed when some of our amazingly thoughtful and generous friends here offered to look after our kids and lend us their car to stay at a beautiful hotel a few hours from Arua. We are indebted to Billy and Jo and Kathryn and Doug for taking in our kids and feeding them, loving them and caring for them, so Sam and I could spend 24hrs of bliss. Swimming, lying in the sun, reading, uninterupted conversation, amazing food, dinner overlooking the Nile river and just wonderful time spent together. Such a treat!

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We have just two more weeks here. We have been crazy busy trying to get all of our projects we have started into a place where we can leave them confidently in the hands of the Ugandan team. I have been really busy writing new job descriptions for the ORA staff, writing proposals, typing up health assessments, writing guidelines and protocols and year plans and lists of instructions. Its so hard to imagine leaving this place, it reminds me of how I feel leaving my kids, how I find it so hard to do, as much as I know how much I will enjoy time away from them I also quickly feel desperate to get back to them. It’s like that with leaving ORA and all the kids that live here on site with us. I feel like I’m going to be always worried and thinking about how they are doing. I don’t mean this at all in a conceited or demeaning to the Ugandan team, way, but more in a way that shows how precious this place, this project, these kids are to me.

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I love the way that living here has changed the way our kids think, it has challenged them and enriched them in ways I’d never imagined. It’s opened up conversations and created moments that would have never happened living in NZ. Just today, about 10mins after I had put Lucy in her cot for her afternoon sleep I heard her calling out to me, “MUMMY! Mummy. Look Mummy!”
I replied without going into her room..”Go to sleep Lucy.” She didn’t give up, “You come Mummy! Look Mummy, a lizard in my bed!!”
“Whatever Lucy” I was thinking as I went in to tell her to lie down and go to sleep, but when I looked in her cot sure enough a small lizard had found its way into her bed and was sitting there right next to her!!! I tried so hard not to scream at the sight of this little prehistoric dinosaur like creature that has a nasty bite sitting next to Lucy in her bed!! The crazy thing was after getting the little guy out of her bed and settling her back down to sleep, 10 minutes later she calls out again “Look Mummy, a Lizard!”
“Don’t be silly Lucy, the Lizard has gone, now go to sleep!” I call out.
“No mummy, not that Lizard, another lizard, this is the other lizards friend. This one is a baby lizard.” So I thought I better check just in case she wasn’t just trying to get out of going to sleep…and you guessed it! There was another baby lizard just hanging out in the cot!!! By the time we got rid of that one and the third guy that was hiding, Lucy was stoked to realize it was too late for her to go to sleep and she got to “get up!”

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A couple of weeks ago I was doing school work with Zak and he said to me, “Mum, can we stop doing school work now, I just really feel like sitting and reading my bible.” How could I resist a request like that! I love it. Long may that desire to read Gods word continue.

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When I asked Leejay a few days ago where all his 30 new cars were that he got for his birthday, (another amazingly generous gift from our lovely friends here) as I could only find about 4 when I was tidying up the toys. He looked a bit worried, and shrugged his shoulders. “Leejay where are they?”
“well…” he replied, “I know you said I should look after them and not leave them where all the other kids could take them… but I just really wanted to give them away.”
“All of them?” I asked trying to have my 5yr old sons generous spirit but actually feeling so annoyed that he gave away such cool cars that he had been given for his birthday.
“Not all of them, I still have 4 left. That’s ok though Mum, cos those kids don’t have any cars and I have so many toys in NZ.”
Well what do you say to that… “good boy, that was so kind of you.”
I am always learning from my kids.

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And finally just tonight, I was asking the boys if they were excited about going back to NZ, and Zak said, “ I am excited… but I just wish we could take all the kids from here with us. Can we Mum?”
“That would be so cool Zak, but we really cant”
“Hey I’ve got a good idea, we should just hire that small plane with 12 seats and fit our family and the 6 kids (foster home kids) in and we could fly all the way back to NZ in that one!!”
Umm, no way Zakky. Imagine that, 28hrs of flying in a dodgy domestic plane with no toilet, no food and no leg space!! Gorgeous heart tho!

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So please pray for our final 2 weeks, It’s going to be heart breaking for all of us to leave. Pray for strength and unity within the Ugandan team we leave behind. And please pray for our tortuously long 4 flights without a break (excluding 2hrs in the middle of the night in Dubai airport!) until we reach Brisbane! Looking forward to a few days rest and rejuvenation in Aussie before we reach NZ.

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Love the Trennies xxxxx

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Ps… just before I post this blog, one last story! (sorry I know this is long but this story has to be told!!)

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Today I ran in the Arua Fun Run that my friend Cathy and her husband who is the mayor of Arua organized. I was so stoked as I came 14th overall and first place for females!!! It was only 6km, but was hard going running in the intense African heat and scorching sun, racing alongside tall, skinny Ugandans!! But I did a really good time and was so stoked to receive first prize (a set of 6 glasses!) for the ladies division, first time I’ve ever won a place like that!
BUT the coolest thing was not about me, but about one of the ORA orphans. Just us we were driving out the driveway this morning, I saw Felix along with all the other kids sadly watching us drive off, as they always do. Then I got an overwhelming feeling that we should take Felix with us. We would never normally pick one kid to take anywhere, as it causes such jealously amongst the others. But I felt a real overwhelming thought that we had to take just him. I checked with Sally the foster Mother what she thought, and told her to tell the other kids we were taking Felix to help Sam look after our kids while I ran. And that we would be taking all the rest of them for ice cream and games in the park later that day anyway. They were all fine with this so Felix jumped in. Our kids were stoked, they all LOVE Felix so much, at just 12yrs old he is such an amazing boy, wise beyond his years and has had an instant rapport with our kids, even Lucy will allow Felix to carry her around and look after her.

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So anyway the kids are all just playing at the area where the race starts and we had all registered and pined our numbers on and they were starting to gather all the runners up to the start line, when I got that same overwhelming feeling to ask Felix if he wanted to run in the race. It was mostly adults but a few teenagers and a couple of younger kids were also participating. Felix was so keen and replied “I want to run!” so I quickly registered him, pined his number on and we raced up to the start line, where I suddenly realized he was wearing the oldest, tattered, about to fall apart, rubber jandals and hoped he realized it was actually 6km, not jus a little sprint down the road! I got a bit worried and asked him if he had done much long distance running, “yes I run to school every day” was his answer. So I quickly tried to pep talk him, warning him to start off slow and not race off and get puffed quickly.
The race started…Felix sped out in front of the crowd and within 5 mins I couldn’t even see him!! “Good one Felix”, I thought, “you didn’t listen to a word of that advice I jus gave you!” Then I kept waiting to see him puffed and sitting on the side of the road, but no, he raced the whole 6k like that, kicking his jandals off after the first lap and running barefoot for the second lap and he came 2ND!!!! Jus a minute behind a professional Ugandan athelete!! It was such a buzz for us, I felt so proud of him and he got the attention of so many people. He not only won runner up prize (a thermos and an umbrella) but he got to shake hands with the mayor, interviewed for the local paper, offered to be sponsored by a shoe shop for proper running shoes and asked to be in the Arua running club which is also a sponsored club!! Watch this space…

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I love it when God puts little prompts like that in your heart and mind. Today may change this boy’s life.

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Football, fatalities and fun times… October 29, 2010

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It’s been a very busy productive last few weeks here at the ORA base.
Two weeks ago we were blessed with 3 amazing visitors. Catie and Sam Wilkinson and Phillipa Moffit gave up their luxurious western lifestyles, time, money and annual leave to spend 12 days working alongside us, and the rest of the ORA Uganda team.

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They immersed themselves into the culture and village life quickly, admirably coping with the basic living conditions, sleeping in mud huts, no electricity, jerry-can showers, long-drop toilet, buckets to pee and (for some) poo into at night and beans and rice for every meal. They quickly overcame their hilarious fears of contracting malaria and typhoid (although I’ve never seen someone apply mozzie repellent quite so often as Sam did!) Then they got stuck in and worked so hard, painting the playground, which looks amazing and really stands out even from the road with the funky stripes and Ugandan flag colours. Pippa painted hop-scotch and oversized naughts and crosses on the floor of the piyotte (meeting room). Catie got stuck into sorting the slightly chaotic office and giving Stephen (ORA project manager) some computer lessons, and her and Pip used their artistic skills to re-organise and makeover the ORA office. Sam W imparted much wisdom and inspiration into the kids who come to our Sunday school with his sensational soccer tricks and motivational pep talks. Phillipa captured 100’s of magical moments of the orphan day, the beautiful children that live and play here and our own family’s everyday life with her amazing photography skills.

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The orphan day was definitely a highlight for all of us, despite the fact we were all mentally and physically exhausted by the end, it was well worth the pleasure it bought to all the kids.
A beautiful sunny day at the ORA base, about 70 of our sponsored orphans turned up for a fantastic fun day. In traditional African style we started off 2hrs behind schedule with chai tea and cold, sweet potato. After speeches, jokes from the MC (the one and only Disco Richard), introducing the visitors and prayer time, a bit more mucking around, then the boys all headed off to the nearest football fields, where Sam Wilkinson did training and coaching tips with all the kids, using all the soccer balls he had bought with him, and inspiring them with all his amazing skills and knowledge. After lunch they split into teams and played a serious game with the big kids against a local club team, and a fun game with the little boys.

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Meanwhile the girls stayed behind at the base and we had so much fun doing arts and crafts, painting toenails, making cards, gluing, glittering, laughing and having lots of fun. Throughout the day I also managed to do health assessments on 50 of the sponsored orphans. With the help of my lovely assistant nurse Catie, we weighed, measured, de-wormed, assessed and treated rashes, wounds and worries of the kids. Checked their skin, teeth, living conditions, home situations, and gave out advice, toothbrushes and sanitary pads. As draining and tiring as this was I loved getting a chance to do a good health check on the kids and was stoked to see that the majority of these kids are thriving due to their sponsorship, are healthy, happy and feel so blessed to be getting a chance in life to receive an education and health care, that without sponsorship they would not have.

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The day was a real success, topped off by prize giving by candlelight and paraffin lamps, and a shared meal of maize bread, goat meat and of course, rice and beans. It was so awesome to see the ORA Uganda team so involved in the day, their real passion and care of the orphans so evident, and to see all of the kids on sponsorship having a real sense of ownership and belonging at the ORA base. It’s buzzing with atmosphere here, this place belongs to the kids, its their home, even for the ones that don’t live here you can clearly see how proud they are and how blessed they feel to be an ‘ORA kid’, to have opportunities that otherwise would not exist. I love seeing the evidence that we are making a difference in the lives of these children.

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We managed to squeeze in a couple of days at Murchinson Falls National Park amongst the business so we could show the incredible scenery, wildlife and treat our visitors to a well deserved hot shower, cosy bed, beautiful swim and delicious western buffet food!
We were lucky enough to see loads of amazing animals, giraffes, elephants, hippos, wildebeest, monkeys, buffalos, warthogs, we even managed to see a mother lion with 3 baby cubs which was so cool. Such an amazing experience for our kids, especially the boys who had seen photos of our last trip there 3 years ago but couldn’t really remember it. There is nothing quite like seeing wild African animals, up close in their natural habitat and I’m sure this trip will be well embedded in Zak and Leejays memories. Lucy loved hanging out the window calling “come here giraffey..” “come here baby lion..”
Even though our accommodation mix-up meant our family of 5 had to all sleep in 2 beds, the boys loved the adventure of ‘top and tailing’, and the beautiful pool and food well made up for it. This was our first real break and little taste of luxury since being here, so we also really relished it and actually found it a bit hard to return.

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Coming back to Arua after a small taste of the ‘good life’, mixed with waving our beloved visitors off 2 days later bought a few tears and a feeling of sadness and even a bit of homesickness. But what I love about this place is that there is never time to sit around dwelling on your own selfish problems as there is always someone with far greater problems than your own. And that very Sunday we were straight back into it, when I noticed one of our regular little Sunday school boys was looking very sad, in pain and not well, then I realised he was gingerly nursing his hand and arm in his lap, with what appeared to be a massive open wound. When I went closer to take a look, the sight and smell almost made me vomit. The little 3yr old boy had a really bad burn to his hand and forearm, it was a huge open wound, his fingers were grossly swollen and the burnt skin had started to peel off and huge blisters were filled with fluid. The wound looked infected and when I looked even closer I noticed it had what looked like animal fur all stuck in it! So I took little Jonah out of Sunday school, and as he had come by himself, (as you do when you are 3yrs old and have a badly infected open wound covered in animal hair and you’re in intense pain and feverish and having to hold your own little hand to protect it!!!) Unbelievable, I was so angry that someone had sent their child along like this, I have got used to the fact that 3 and 4 year old kids wander around by themselves all the time here in Africa, they turn up to our base and play and stay around all day and often til after dark, but to leave your child alone with a wound like this, feeling this miserable just made me feel sick. So I sent another kid to find his mum and bring her back to the base. When she came I found out that Jonah had fallen into the fire that he was sleeping next to 3 days earlier and that the only treatment he had was his mum putting a dead rabbit skin onto his open burn, which explained the fur!!! Just another crazy, old cultural tradition, that people still believe in around this area. The mother was not keen to take him to the hospital or to a clinic for any treatment, but I couldn’t turn my back on this kid, and knew that thanks to the amazingly generous donations of so many friends from NZ, I had all the best dressing supplies to use for burns. In the end the mother said she wanted me to treat her son and no one else, its a great feeling to know that I have gained the trust of the local people but also a big responsibility for me. So I began the slow, tedious, painful process of cleaning, debridement of dead tissue, removing the embedded fur and rabbit skin, and dressing this brave, little boy’s burns. It’s now been 5 days and I can see a definite improvement and some positive wound healing happening, although it still seems like a long way off from being healed and I guess only time will tell if it will heal completely. I am so unbelievably grateful to the amazing timing of the best, most appropriate dressing supplies that were donated and bought over for our medical clinic with Catie, and also the best advice and encouragement from my lovely friend Dr Zac. Gods timing is impeccable as always, 3 weeks ago I couldn’t have offered that little boy as good as a chance for wound healing as I can now with all the best dressings. So many kids around here die from burns like these that are either not treated or inappropriately treated with traditional local village beliefs, like covering them with dead animal skin or urinating on them (yes you read that right. There is a belief by some people in this culture that if you urinate on a burn regularly it will heal it!!!) There are also many kids that have badly disfigured limbs or huge lumpy scars from burns that were not treated properly. So to know I am making a difference in at least Jonahs wee life makes every moment of our time here worthwhile.

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At the same time that I have been dressing Jonahs wounds I have also been busy doing minor ‘surgery’ and dressing the infected wounds of my little Zakky. Poor old Zak who is the healthiest person I know and until this was the only one in our family who had not been at all sick since we have been here, got these crazy thorns stuck in his body in 7 different places and all of them got really infected, I had to painstakingly squeeze the pus out of each one leaving a little hole where it had been!! Not a nice experience for Zak, but again at least we had great dressings and antibiotics from our donated supplies and of course the little boy who proves the saying “if you eat an apple a day, it will keep the doctor away, “ correct, as he eats at least 3 apples every day (more if he was allowed) healed up quickly and is now all good. During one of his ‘squeezing the pus out’ treatments, he was crying and saying “ I wish I didn’t have these sores”, then he lay there in silence thinking and busted out with this… “at least I’m not like Jonah though aye mum, his Mum didn’t even know how to fix his sore hand, she just put a dead rabbit on it. We are so lucky that our mum is a nurse and we have a nice place to live and nice food to eat and we are not poor like Jonahs family. We should pray for him tonight.” Now this is the kind of character building and lessons learnt that makes living in Africa such a valuable thing I’m doing in my kids lives, there’s nothing more humbling to realise there are so many more people in this world worse off than yourself. A lesson we all need to learn.

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So apart from Zak’s little encounter with a thorn bush and all the usual scrapes, bumps, bruises, grazes, the kids are all still thriving and loving life out here. Our gorgeous little Lucy Star turned two last week, I can hardly believe how fast that time went. She has developed into a beautiful little toddler, full of fierce independence, strong willed, sensitive and dramatic. She desperately tries to keep up with the boys (infact her best friends here are boys) climbing, digging, chasing the pigs, goats and chickens, play fighting and getting as dirty as possible. But she also loves to play with her ‘babies’ always carrying them around with her, she loves to talk and is the most descriptive, articulate of our kids at this age, she also loves to sing and even though she can be very demanding at times she is super sweet and often throws her arms around us and declares in her sweet, husky voice “ I love you so much!” Which of course, then cancels out all the classic toddler trials and tribulations.

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Leejay also turns 5 next week!!! And so we are having a party for Leejay and Lucy this Saturday here at the ORA base, it will be one of our biggest ever with about 30 kids coming, and that’s just the ones we’ve invited! Will let you know how that goes in the next blog…

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So 5 weeks to go…so much more to be done….

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Please pray for our final weeks here, that we are able to leave all of the projects we have started in capable hands and whom are able to take over them in our absence, and allow them to become sustainable and continue impacting the ORA community.

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Please also pray for the healing of Jonahs burns. And, as always, continued protection and good health for our family.

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Thank you again to all of you, whom by even simply reading this blog and having an awareness of what we are doing here in Arua, is a huge support.

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Love The Trennies xxxxx

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Brews, bruises and crazy cruisers!!! October 9, 2010

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I’m loving the sound of the rain pelting down on the tin roof, thunder rolling and gorgeous streaks of lightning!! Praise God for rain, its been hot and dry and the water tanks have been empty for over a week, so no running water. Funny tho, how that would of really thrown us into slight crisis mode when we were first here, but now we just take these little challenges in our stride. Its amazing how easily you can actually manage without running water, and without a fridge, without electricity, oven, flushing loo etc etc. It all just takes some extra planning, and thinking and certainly gives you an appreciation of precious resources like water. If I’ve boiled some eggs, I’d never just tip the water down the drain, I would always think of how I can use it for something else. Lugging jerry cans full of water from the bore hole to our house is just all part of our daily routine here.

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We are totally thriving on our lifestyle here, in some ways we are minus all the luxuries of living in NZ, but in other ways we are having luxuries here that we could never have back home. One of the things I love the most about living here is the way each day begins, always with brilliant sunshine streaming through the windows, roosters crowing, kids from the foster home bustling about and laughing as they get ready for school. Then our relaxed family breakfast time (with the most amazing organic ora coffee) as we sit around the table having a story and discussion from the kids bible devotions, no morning madness rushing around getting ready for school, kindy, playgroup, work etc.

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Then everyday I have the best luxury of all… to run, just me, and my Ipod, for an hour in the beautiful wilderness of lush greenery, up and down the rugged gravel dirt roads, blue sky stretching all the way to the Congo. Every time I go for a run its never just a simple run, I’m always stopping to greet the tons of kids who come out to the side of the road to meet me, they always get so excited to see this funny white lady jogging along, dripping in sweat with strange white things poked into her ears. By now most of them know my name and call out when I pass their huts or village, most are just happy to shake my hand and have a giggle at me, then run off, but there are a few gorgeous little ones that wont let me pass without clinging onto my leg and me giving them a cuddle and swinging them around. I hear them yelling my name long before I see them come running from deep within the dense greenery of forest or crops. The other day whilst out running a big black snake crossed my path and I got such a fright I slipped on a rock and went skidding down hill on the gravel road into the ditch, got some nasty gravel grazes and created some quality entertainment for everyone around me, who all laughed and pointed and laughed some more. Never a dull moment and always a new friend to meet, I come home soaked in sweat, totally exhausted and incredibly inspired.

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After my cold shower, its team devotion time and the ORA team gather in the piyotte (meeting house) for worship, devotions, prayer and team meetings. I love standing next to Sam as he strums his guitar and singing at the top of my voice, not caring what anyone thinks of my singing and loving that we are here together as a team. The rest of our days are filled with home visits to orphans, school visits, hospital visits, teaching, education, building, talking, mentoring, playing and working on the many projects we are doing. Not only is it an amazing luxury and honour to be spending our days in such fulfilling ways, but we also get to be together as a family so much. I love having Sam and our kids around all the time, I love it that the boys don’t have to go off to school and kindy, I love it that we always sit down together for meals, even if it is just rice and beans or pumpkin on toast. Another luxury we have here is the healthy organic fruit and veges, all from the local market or from our own crops on the ORA base, free range eggs and fresh fish from the Nile river.

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The kids are still thriving on their life here. I love to watch their amazing imaginations grow by the day as they play with whatever they find here on the land; trees, dirt piles, rain puddles, the coolest, craziest (mum can hardly watch) rope swings from trees, bikes, huts made from branches and what ever else is lying around. And of course the tons of other kids that are constantly around. Sam continues to create things that keep multiplying the amount of kids that come from all the surrounding villages to play at the base. The playground now has a massive metre wide metal slide that can have about 5 kids all going down together and has created so much fun and laughter as well as the inevitable odd minor injury. And added to the mix of bikes is now a gigantic wooden trolley that has wheelbarrow size wheels and can fit about 4 or 5 kids on it, although I have also seen 8 or 9 kids in classic African style all piled on top of one another, another 5 or 6 pushing from behind and the one brave kid sitting up front steering with the rope and swivel front wheels, desperately dodging trees and huts and pot holes. There is always a lot of delighted/nervous shrieks of laughter, beaming smiles, a sense of pride and responsibility from the ‘driver, ’ and often a mop or 3 of blond hair amongst it all. Which makes me smile and cringe all at the same time. In all my nearly 7 years of parenting I’ve never patched up so many cuts, scraps, grazes, bruises and most of them from my own children!

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I love it how the ORA base has become a haven for kids, its not just a wonderful place for the children that live here but so many more that live in the surrounding villages. It’s a place where kids can come to play, have fun, laugh, learn, to forget about the incredibly hard life some of them live, plagued by hunger, diseases, sickness, abandonment, lack of education. This is a place they can come to enjoy the true meaning of what childhood should be about. They come from near and they come from very far, they are always on foot, usually barefoot, tiny babies are tightly wrapped to the backs of the young 5 and 6 yr old girls, every day there is a new face or two. Most have skinny limbs and bloated bellies, snotty noses and scabby sores. It still breaks my heart, even after all this time, I wish there was more we could do, the need here is overwhelmingly great. I would desperately love to take each one as they come and bathe them, deworm them, feed them, groom them, clothe them… I know that’s not possible….(just yet), I know that would create so many new issues. But at least for now we can hug them and welcome them and love them, we can teach them the word of God and the promise of Jesus and we can let them play, let them be children at least for a short time til they eventually have to return to their own broken homes.

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The need in the local community and surrounding villages where we live is overwhelming. Most of the children that come to the ORA base to play and to attend our Sunday school, are from homes where one parent is an alcoholic, one or both parents have died, where they are beaten, abused or neglected. Tragically there are many old traditional cultural practises that still happen every day here, such as sacrificing of babies, witchcraft, beating children for doing things such as wetting their bed. Some of the health care traditions are heart breaking, like slicing a child’s chest open with a scalpel to “release the infection” when they have pneumonia or making them drinking caustic washing powder mixed with cooking oil “to clean themselves out” when they have diarrhoea. Sometimes I don’t know where to begin, I feel like what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. The need for health and parenting education of this community is overwhelming. I’m just scratching the surface.

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But you know what, despite feeling so overwhelmed with need, I am seeing evidence of what we are doing here to be incredibly beneficial. The little extra school I am doing with the kids from the residential care home is amazing. In just two weeks that myself and social worker Lillian having been teaching these kids, they have improved so much, its amazing how much a child can learn when you spend some quality time teaching them and empowering them with the gift of knowledge. Our next goal for this project is to find a qualified teacher to start working part time with these kids and all of the ORA sponsored orphans that need extra tuition. Please pray for this need.

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The other little project that we are doing is starting a coffee business.!! Sam has loved getting this started, alongside Sally the foster Mum, who has had small businesses in the past but lost them due to financial burdens after the deaths
of her son and husband. The idea is that some of the profit will go back into the running costs of the residential care home and the rest will be for Sally to help support her other children who don’t live with her. It’s been an exciting project, especially for Sam who is quietly quite obsessed with coffee. We have started from scratch with purchasing the green beans from Sally’s 90yr mother in law, de-husking them by pounding with an oversized mortar and pestle, roasting them in a huge pan over hot charcoal, then we have started packaging them and selling them. We are using locally made packaging and initially our aim is to sell to the expat community here in Arua. Which we already have had a massively positive response and bags of roasted beans purchased. We are hoping to eventually get the coffee beans into NZ to sell, so if you’re a coffee lover get your orders in before we come back. We are planning to bring heaps of freshly roasted beans back with us. And trust me, this is GOOD coffee and totally fairly traded and totally supporting a wonderful cause. We have also bought a huge retro style coffee grinder that absolutely takes over our tiny kitchen bench, and the freshly ground espresso coffee Sam whips up is divine!

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It’s a privilege to be living a life so full of purpose. I am thankful that we can be here, that there is an overwhelming need that we can start to make a difference in. I’ve heard people say “what’s the point?… there are so many, how can you change all their lives? … how can you make a difference, where do you begin?” I’ve actually even felt like that myself sometimes. But you just get out there and try your very best to make a difference in one life at a time, that’s all we can do. And our hope and prayer is that for every life we make a difference in, that person will go on to make a difference in somebody else’s life.
And it’s not just about us imparting something to the community of Arua, we ourselves have been learning, growing, changing, thriving. For me, it’s a dream come true to be here, it’s a vision I’ve sensed for my life as long as I can remember. I’ve often had dreams of my life been surrounded with African children, loving them, healing them, teaching them. Right now, I know I am absolutely living the purpose God has planned for my life. It’s an incredibly fulfilling journey and I’m not sure I’ve ever felt my life quite so enriched.

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For Sam (he said I can speak on his behalf), what more could a man want in life, than to be building playgrounds, tree huts, trolleys and rope swings, teaching kids to ride bikes, and play guitar, teaching them about God, imparting a fatherly wisdom and love and self esteem boost into the lives of so many kids. And to be at the frontier of a coffee making business, constantly having to sample your new recipes, never, not having the time, for that beloved cup of coffee. Really, all that’s missing, Sam told me the other day, from a complete fulfilment of life, is a rock band to play in, “ I would just love to plug in my electric guitar and have a jam with Tim!”
And as for our kids… well, life here in Africa is just one big adventure, really the ultimate in kids desires, dirty, wild, crazy fun with lots of wonderful opportunities for learning some deep lessons in life, what life is really about and what’s important.

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Love The Trennies xxxxx

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Ps: thanks again for all your wonderful encouragement and support, please if you can continue to pray for good health and protection for our family. Pray for our projects and needs here at the ORA base.

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Pps: we are soooooooo excited to have some amazing friends arrive next week, pray for safe travelling and an enriching experience here for Catie, Phillipa and Sam!!

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When it rains, it pours! September 22, 2010

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When it rains, it pours! Since living in Arua we’ve realised the meaning of this saying not just literally but figuratively! The rain storms in Uganda are spectacular, the loudest rolling thunder, amazing streaks of lightning that light up the whole sky and rain that absolutely pelts down. There is no such thing as a drizzle or a light rain, the rain only comes in thundering buckets and drenches everything in sight. Any dramas or problems we’ve had since living here have also come in this manner, soaking us to the very core.

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It all began the day after Chris and Jan Barker (the ORA NZ directors) arrived, not that we’re blaming them, but now that they’ve gone, it’s interesting that we are all well and healthy again! (Hehehe..)
So it started with Lucy waking up crying in the night, herself and her cot covered in vomit, then projectile vomiting all over me and the entire floor space of our lounge (which isn’t that big), so for a while we just sat there in shock, not so much because she had vomited, but more, wondering how on earth we were going to clean it all up! It’s not like at home where we have washing machines, mops, hot water, excessive supply of clean sheets, towels, blankets etc. Here, we only have one set of sheets for each bed, Lucy’s now covered in vomit, no mop, no running hot water, we don’t even have paper towels, and no washing machine… somehow we sorted it, I think Sam used toilet paper and rags to clean the floor, I boiled the kettle and washed Lucy and she spent the night in our bed. Unfortunately, in the night she had explosive diarrhea and more vomiting all through our bed! The next day I spent the morning hand washing sheets, blankets, towels and clothes covered in vomit, in buckets of cold water. Definitely a few under my breath curses and complaints going on that day!

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So, Lucy came right and Jan and I got busy doing staff appraisals, team meetings, and lots of ORA work. One afternoon busy at work in the office I heard a heart wrenching scream and saw a pale Sam, running, carrying an even paler Leejay in his arms over to me. Sam had been riding his bike with Zak on the back carrier and Leejay side saddle on the front bar when Leejays foot got caught in the spokes of the front wheel, and the wheel kept moving, twisting his little ankle with it. The ankle looked really bad, skin grazed off down to the bone, and already swelling up before our eyes, Leejay was screaming in pain, so we jumped in the car and raced to the local hospital, thankful it was a Wednesday as they only do x-rays Mon til Fri. Although in classic African style the radiographer/ x-ray technician was nowhere to be found, and the only doctor around really wanted to give Leejay an IM (into the muscle) injection of pethidine in his butt. It took a lot of reassurance from me that this would be more traumatic to Leejay, who at this stage was hardly even crying, and could he just determine whether or not there was a fracture! Without really even looking at his ankle he suggested we should come back tomorrow when the orthopaedic doctor was around as he didn’t know!

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Ok, so me trying not to get impatient asked again about x-rays and was told someone had gone to find the x-ray guy. Good. So we patiently waited, eventually got the x-ray, of course by now the doctor could not be found, so I held the x-ray up to the sunlight, was 99% convinced there was no fracture, that and the fact Leejay was now able to limp around on it was enough to assure me all was ok and we headed home. I cleaned the wound, bandaged up the now very swollen ankle and told Leejay to rest it, but in classic Leejay style, later in the day he was back outside climbing trees and riding his bike. We expected it to heal just like the many other wounds that had healed since been here.

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Two days later, I came home after spending the afternoon out, and found Leejay lying on the bed, pale, crying in pain, his whole foot and lower leg red, hot and swollen. And Sam cleaning up Lucys vomit off the floor! In a bit of a panic I rung my friend who just happened to have a visitor who was a Paediatrician staying from the states. She confirmed what I already knew, a very seriously infected wound, and gave us some antibiotics to start. I spent half the night awake, sponging Leejays burning forehead trying to bring down his fever, giving him pamol, brufen and antibiotics around the clock. But by the morning he was worse, the redness and swelling now tracking up his leg and he was starting to look septic and dehydrated from being on fire with fever. We rushed him to the hospital, but of course it was Sunday so there was no doctor on duty. (It’s just tough luck around here if you get sick on a Sunday!) Thankfully the paed doc from the states came to the hospital and saw Leejay herself and said he needed to start on IV (into a vein) antibiotics straight away, but of course the antibiotics we needed weren’t there. She was really worried about Leejay and told us we should get to Kampala International hospital asap, so we desperately starting trying to sort out how we would get to the capital (7hrs drive away!)

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Of course, as it was Sunday there were no plane flights, so our only option was to drive. Our not so flash vehicle would not be reliable enough for the long trip. Thankfully my lovely friend Vicki got on the phone and within an hour we had the mayor of Aruas driver organised to drive us in the Mayors UTE. A quick stop in at Arua hospital to get one dose of an alternative IV antibiotic to get Leejay through the trip, turned into a traumatic nightmare for me and Leejay. Two attempts for the nurse to get an IV line into a good vein that I can hardly believe she missed, then ending up giving it IM (into the muscle), had both Leejay and I in tears. Poor Leejay who was already feeling so miserable was screaming for me not to let them “stab” him with a “needle.” Being so sleep deprived, I starting crying, and desperately trying to hold back from yelling at the nurse. The only thing that got Leejay through it, was me promising him if he stayed still, I would buy him this toy gun that he had seen in a shop here and had been begging to have for the last 2 months.

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The mayor’s driver got us to Kampala in just over 5hrs! Sitting in the back of that UTE with a very sick, pale, lethargic, child in my arms, driving at 160km/hr on a bumpy, pot-holed road, knowing it was going to be hours before we got to a decent hospital, that’s when I was so thankful to believe in a God that has the power to heal. About half way through the trip I got a text from a friend in NZ who told me our entire church in Hamilton was praying for Leejay, I could literally feel Gods presence and protection and healing on Leejay, the redness that had been slowly creeping up his little leg stopped and I had such an overwhelming sense of Gods hand on this little boy. We are so incredibly grateful and blessed to have such an amazing church family and an amazing network of friends here in Arua.
Not long after this, Leejay sat up and asked “Mummy, is that man driving us to the shop to buy my gun?” “Yes darling, don’t you worry we will find you the coolest gun ever in Kampala.” Now for a mum that is not really into my kids having toy guns, at that point I was so relieved to have him sitting up talking that I would of bought him an AK 47 machine gun!

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The trip to Kampala went amazingly well considering the circumstances, Leejay and Lucy (who was also still sick) slept most of the way, Zak sat up front with Sam and got to see loads of elephants, monkeys, baboons and even a warthog out his window. The mayors UTE had government license plates, which meant we were waved through all the police security stops, of which there were many since the recent Kampala bombings. But I was still so grateful to arrive all in one piece and we got to see a very competent doctor at a private international hospital, where Leejay was given the best treatment, antibiotics and wound care and thankfully didn’t have to be admitted. We just had to take him back each morning for review, dressing changes and more antibiotics. This meant we had to stay in Kampala for 3 days, which initially seemed like the worst timing with so much work to do back in Arua with the Barkers, and an ORA board meeting I was supposed to attend. However the silver lining of it all, was a relaxing few days staying in a guest house with hot showers and western food; a shopping mall, supermarket, real coffee…the kids loved the toy shop and milkshakes, Leejay got his gun (a plastic water pistol) and we all got to chill out a bit and unwind. Leejay got better, Lucy got better and to be honest we all felt a bit reluctant to go back to Arua.

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We had a hideously slow (9hrs!), uncomfortable, squashed trip back, Lucy vomited all over me, and the car, (the poor man that we hired to drive us home probably couldn’t wait to get us out of his car!) Arriving home to our little house full of fruit flies, and none of the luxuries we had just relished in Kampala, I actually felt so bummed to be back, a few days of normal living made me realise just how basic, simple and remotely we live here. However, as soon as I saw all the kids and ORA workers run out to greet us, so relieved to see Leejay well again and so happy to have us back, it made me realise how much a part of this community we are. They are like our family.

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This morning at our Sunday school, we did the story of David and Goliath and got the kids to do a drama, each having a turn acting out David and Goliath. As each ‘David’ defeated goliath, Sam and I would hold them up, high on our shoulders and get everyone to clap and cheer for them. As we did this, I felt this simple act was probably one of the first times these children have been ‘held up’, clapped for, cheered for, a much needed boost for their low self esteem. My heart is so here, as much as the sickness, flies, lack of hot showers, long drop toilet, remoteness, third world health care is all a part of it, our work here is far from done.

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We are now half way through our time here, and have so much more to do. We have just started some exciting new projects that I am so passionate about. One is an after school education programme for the kids that live in the residential care home. These children, like most in Arua attend primary school where there is about 150 kids in each classroom with ONE teacher, as you would imagine, there is a lot they miss out on. So, as their school day finishes at 1pm I have started an afternoon ‘school’ at the ORA base, teaching them the basics. The timing of starting up this school was impeccably, miraculously timed with 3 huge boxes full of educational materials that Marian School (Zaks school in Hamilton) had sent us. We were amazed and humbled by the generosity of the children, teachers and parents at the school, who provided so much. Stationary, art supplies, books, puzzles, pencil cases, balloons, calculators, stickers, learning aids, posters, as well as so many toys, clothes and much more.
It was so wonderful to see the sheer delight and amazement on the faces of the kids when I gave them each their own pencil case filled with pencils, pens, rubber, pencil sharperner, felts. To all those that donated you have no idea how much your simple act of generosity can change a life. Our vision for ORA is to eventually extend this extra education programme to every child on sponsorship.

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My next project is getting the medical clinic/sick bay up and running. We are starting small with more of a ‘sick bay’ set-up to avoid the logistics of starting a clinic. However, I still have big plans for this project and my vision is to see it develop into a full medical clinic with a registered nurse working in it. I am so excited about getting all the kids on sponsorship together next month to start basic health assessments and education. I’m also so looking forward to having a good set up of donated medical/first aid supplies coming from NZ with my lovely friend Catie. If anyone is keen to add anything to Caties suitcase for the medical clinic, she has a list of things we need. Contact her on catie@somewherecreative.com

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Its easy to wonder in the midst of a crisis if this is the right place to be, but I always know in my heart we are no greater protected or safer where we live, but rather, what we are doing with our life, and whether we are living in his will is what’s important. It may have poured down on us a few times since we have lived here, but the blessings that are pouring into our lives and the lives of the people we are working with are what keep us doing what we are doing. We are so so humbled by, and thankful for, the amazing prayer and support we’ve had from all our family and friends. You guys are amazing.

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Love The Trennies xxxxx

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birthdays and bicycles… August 31, 2010

So here i am sitting in the office on a hot sunny Saturday afternoon, it always seems wrong to be inside on such a beautiful day but I’m making the most of this opportunity where I have some free time to write. Lucy is fast asleep, Sam is working on the playground and the boys are off playing with their friends.

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The view from out this window, i can just see, two mops of dirty blonde hair amongst the black shaven heads, its always nice to spot the boys somewhere safe and happily playing. Although from an onlookers perspective it might look like such a contrast to see these two white boys amongst a dozen african kids, to them, there is now, very little difference. The kids have fully immersed themselves into this new culture and are thriving on living here. We are loving living out here in this remote conutry side at the ORA base, of course it still has the difficulties that come with living so basically and remotely, but things that we found hard in the beginning like no electricity, no fridge, no washing machine, limited running water are all now just part of life and we hardly notice the difference. Its amazing how a simpler life, actually becomes an easier life, in some respects.

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So a couple of weeks ago we celebrated Sams birthday and it was such a fun day. The kids and i made a suprise breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup and bananas, and birthday cards and i even managed to make a birthday cake! I was wondering how i could make a cake without an oven, when i came up with the idea of making a rice bubble cake/slice. We had found rice krisps over here and so i used them and made ricebubble cake with melted chocolate over the top. I couldnt really remember the recipe so had to guess a bit and the chocolate didnt really melt properly (i think they put some anti melting ingredient in the chocolate here to stop it melting in the heat) , but it turned out fine, looked fantastic covered in colourful candles, and despite been really crumbly when you picked it up, was a hit, especially with all our african friends! Infact it would only be in this culture that it is totally acceptable to scoop up bits of cake from a communal plate and eat with your fingers!

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We had told all the ORA workers and their families, and the residential care kids, that we would have a small party in the Piyette (our meeting house) at 12noon and they were all invited.We bought sodas for everyone, I made pikelets, Sally made munduzi(african version of doughnuts) and we had our usual array of all the beautiful fruits you get here. In traditional Ugandan style, noone turned up till 1.30pm and that was with us hurrying them along, but it was such a fun party with about 30 people. We ate and drank and played fun african style party games, that involved lots of jokes played on the birthday boy and lots of singing and dancing and speeches! For Sams present i had secretly been on a mission to buy him this coolest looking old school bright blue bike, complete with carrier, bell and basket, he had seen people riding them and since we have arrived has been talking bout how cool they are and how much he would love one. So for a crazy low price i found a brand new one and we hid it in the guest house and suprised him on his birthday, he was so stoked and loves riding it around. So all in all he reckons it was one of his best birthdays ever!

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So Sams new bike sparked a great interest with all the kids that live here and Sam spent a lot of time giving them all rides on the back and even trying to teach the bigger ones how to ride it. Then we came up with the idea to try and find some kids bikes to buy for the kids that live here and our own boys to use. So after a lot of searching for something that could stay in one piece for a good amount of time (which is actually quite hard to find here in Arua!) But eventually he found two semi decent bikes of different sizes, one for the smaller kids and one for the bigger ones. Bringing them back to the ORA base and telling the kids they were for them was so exciting. These kids were so excited, enthralled and amazed that we had bought them, their very own bikes. Most of them had never even riden a bicycle before, let alone actually owning one! It didnt matter to them that it was to be shared between the 6 of them or that they didnt even know how to actually ride a bike! So then we made it our mission to teach these kids how to ride a bike. And what a joy that has been for Sam and I. None of these kids have a father, and although they have a great foster Mum, they are actually without any father figure in their life. I ‘ve loved watching Sam take on that role and spend time with these kids teaching them how to do simple but essential tasks in life, like learning to ride a bike. It has been such a heart warming experience to see these kids laughing and learning and loving their new found freedom, to enjoy what most of us have taken for granted as been a normal part of childhood. Of course like lots of things made here, the bikes have constantly been breaking down and so Sam is constantly been fixing them, but even that in itself has provided yet another fatherly role that sam has had, to teach these kids how to put a chain back on a bike, use a spanner and a screwdriver, its so empowering for these children to learn such valuable life skills and such a priviledge to be a part of it.

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With our heart so in the idea of giving these children a glimpse of some of the wonderful essence of a what most of us know as part of a happy childhood, I had an idea to take all the kids to town for an ice cream. One of the shops here has just started getting in small tubs of ice cream, its not exactly delicious and has that look and taste of been melted and refrozen possibly a few times over as the power cuts shut down the freezers, but in saying that its still ice cream. So we told the kids last Sunday after Sunday school we will take them to town for an ice cream in the afternoon when Lucy woke from her nap. Once again they all got so excited and went off to wash and bathe and came out wearing their ‘best’ clothes and jumped excitedly and impatiently around the car all day until it was time to leave. So, with the 6 residential care home kids, house Mum Sally’s other 2 kids, our 3 kids, and Gasper and Stella’s 3 kids that made… 14 kids, plus me and sam…16 in our 5 seater Pajero!! Its amazing how many people you can fit in a car when you live in a country where there are no road rules!! All the kids, including our own were so so excited, laughing, shouting screaming, singing all the way to town, pointing out the windows and watching in amazement. Half way there we realised that most of these kids had never even been into town and some had never been in a car, and all but 1 had never eaten ice cream before! As we sat in a huge circle on the grounds of an unused golf course in town with our 14 children sitting quietly, excitedly spooning ice cream into their mouths, indulging in the delicious taste of something most of us take for granted, Sam and I looked at each other, and I said “this is what life is about!” Surely there is not many things more satisfying in life than allowing some children to experience some simple joys of been a child. We stayed all afternoon and played “whats the time Mr wolf”and “stuck in the mud” til the warm rain sent us back to the car and we all squashed in and laughed and sung all the way home.

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Another passion that has been stirring my heart over the past 2months we have been living here, is the need for a medical clinic here on the ORA base. I have been busy researching this idea and putting together a proposal and business plan to present to the ORA Uganda board of trustees when they have their meeting in September. This has been a dream of mine ever since we first began the development of the ORA site back in 2007, and it’s also a vision that the Ugandan ORA team share. My passion for this to happen has been reignited on our return, when been witness to some of the poor health care given to some of our sponsored orphans. Particularly the wound care of my darling little Bernard, who had a really infected, deep wound on his foot that had been treated at the local hospital. But when i went to the hospital with him and saw the unsympathetic, rough nurse dig deep down into his wound with tweezers, without pain relief, and saw this normally very stoic 10yr old boy screaming and squirming in pain, and been told to sit still and stop crying sternly by the nurse. Then after cleaning the wound covering it with a non stick piece of gauze and plaster! It just about makes my blood boil watching the way some of the doctors and nurses here treat the kids. And so i set out to find some better, more appropriate dressing supplies and decided to do his wound care myself. Much to my frustration I have had real difficultly trying to find anything better than gauze and plasters in Arua. It makes me so annoyed to think about how much wastage of dressings we have in NZ and probably every western country, once you open something sterile you have to throw the rest away. Its heartbreaking when you live here and realize what a difference it could make if we had those dressings here. So i’ve been busy running my own basic clinic which consists of my own first aid kit I bought from home. But am quickly running low on supplies, with so many kids living here, including my own crazy boys who are always injuring themselves i am busy each day doing dressings and wound care. I’m really praying and continuing to research into the possibility of setting up a clinic here on site with a trained Ugandan nurse to work in it. The logistics of such a vision are not always simple, i know, but I also believe nothing is impossible when God is involved.

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Its been so cool to hear about how people in NZ are getting behind some our projects here in Arua, especially hearing about the Gaties from Gateway doing fundraising for the playground, which i must say is becoming bigger and better by the day, as Sam works his creative skills into a master piece. Such an amazing, talented man. The kids are really loving their new play area and it’s such a pleasure to watch the joy they get from it. Over the school holidays we also had many of the other ORA sponsored kids come to the ORA base to hang out, play, work, eat, and they too, have also loved the playground and joining in our morning worship and prayer times. It’s so cool that this place is a real haven and home to all the 96 kids on sponsorship.

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Anyway, I could seriously write all day about whats been happening here and how passionate I am on making a difference in these kids lives, but i must stop before i get too carried away.

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Thank you again for your support, encouragement and prayers. We really could never be here without most of you, even if its just your prayer or your word of encouragement, it means so much to us.

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Please continue to pray for protection of our children, we have been so blessed how healthy and well they have been. I really feel God has his hand on them and am so grateful for that. But they are always playing hard and doing crazy things, especially the boys, as boys do, and they have had many not serious injuries. Pray that it stays that way, and we dont have any serious injuries or illnesses to deal with.

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Thanks so much.

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All our love,

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The Trennies xxxxx

Feels like home… August 9, 2010

So we have been living in Arua for just over a month now, and I feel like we have finally settled in, found our feet and feel like we are at home. Its been a rough start but things are going really good now, Gods grace has seen us through the hard times and we’ve come out on the other side all the better for it.

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Lots of you have been asking how we are all doing, and especially how Sams leg is, thankyou so much for your emails, thoughts, concerns and encouragement. Sorry that we haven’t been able to reply to everyone, but our internet and computer time is very limited, please know your messages are so appreciated. Unfortunately our laptop has not been able to be fixed, we have filed an insurance claim and are hoping and praying we will get insurance for it, so we can get the Barkers to bring us a new one when they come over in Sept. And for the update, Sams pain has definitely improved, although it still gives him pain first thing in the morning and he is still unable to sit for long periods of time, thanks to our physio friend Jake and Massage therapist friend Kirsten who both gave us some great advice for exercises and treatment, with that and regular pain relief he has been able to still do most things.

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The kids are all doing amazing, despite Lucys few days of diarrhea when we first arrived, they have all been totally healthy and thriving on the lifestyle here. Its been so nice having so much time with the kids and we are all loving the slow pace, relaxed way of life. No rushing off in the mornings to school and kindy, no rushing around to swimming lessons, soccer practice and games, no vaccumming, no grocery shopping, no windows, oven or fridge to clean! No TV or dvds to watch. All this means more time spent together, we‘ve been teaching the boys lots of card games and spent many hours at night playing cards or having kids cranium challenges. The boys continue to amaze us with the way they have adapted to their new life so well, they have made so many friends are always off with the local kids making huts out of sticks and rocks, climbing trees, playing in the dirt, playing soccer and rugby, chasing their chickens and making houses for them, rounding up the goats or following around Peter, the ORA builder/gardener/maintenance man.

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Often we cant find Leejay only to discover him in the back fields hoeing or slashing grass with Peter, or over by the cooks house holding 3 or 4 chickens upside down by the legs, he always has a stick or a hoe/slasher/knife/hammer in his hand, he is always busy working hard, wearing the least amount of clothes that is allowed, and talking away non stop to who ever he is with. His outgoing, talkative, friendly nature has been so loved here. Yesterday I went with the ORA social workers to do some home visits, Leejay really wanted to come so I decided he could, little did I know that we ended up having to trek, by foot, in jandals, in the middle of the jungle half way to the border of Congo! We were trying to track down the home of my friend Julie’s sponsored child, Francis. What a mission! I should have known, this is Africa, nothing is ever quick, short or simple, there is always an adventure in every task. And of course Leejay took it all in his stride. When we had driven as far as we could on the dirt road deep into the village, we had to then go on foot, about another 30mins, trekking through long grass and muddy puddles into the depths of the forest, until we finally found the remote, basic village where this boy lived. Leejay never once complained even though he would have been hot and tired and hungry, instead as he sat high up on one of the Ugandan men’s shoulders on the trip back he chatted away answering this mans questions about NZ, and pointing out cassava and coffee plants. What a wonderful memory for this 4yr old boy, I’m loving the way this culture is soaking into my children’s lives, giving them an understanding of how the other side of the world lives.

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Zak, has also made so many friends, and continues to amaze us with how different he is this time living in Africa, to how he was living here 3 yrs ago. Once a shy, easily scared little boy he is now so confident, brave, fearless around animals, and shows such wonderful leadership qualities, often teaching the other kids games or new skills. We often find him sitting with the kids showing them how to draw or write or teaching them how to play soccer, rugby, tag and wrestling. He has been loving doing home schooling, and I have just as much enjoyed teaching him, its amazing how much work you can do in an hour of one on one time and he amazes me with his thirst for knowledge and learning. He has learnt how to speak the local language better than any of us and loves to converse with the kids.

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Lucy has also now totally settled in, although it has taken her a lot longer than the boys, she now considers this her home, when we drove up to the ORA base after being away for the day she said “we at home now!” She is still a little weary of the adults here, but loves all the kids and especially the many babies that are always here. We are starting to see her little personality and character now and she is a wonderful mix of girly and tomboy, she is very strong willed and decides what she wants to wear and dresses herself, she is incredibly nurturing to babies and animals, but also loves to follow the boys around playing in the dirt and mud. Wearing a pretty dress with muddy gumboots and carrying either a baby or a goat or a chicken sums her up! She is still very much a mummy’s girl and doesn’t like to be very far from me, which is actually quite nice. She is a great little friend and we have so many cute conversations together, she loves to make you laugh.

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We’ve seen some great stuff happening here at the ORA base; with the orphans on sponsorship and many of the children that live in the surrounding villages. One of the coolest projects Sam has been working on, is the new playground at the ORA base, this has provided the kids who live in the residential care home, our kids and many, many more from the community with such excitement and delight, its been a real pleasure to watch. The kids here have very little to play with or on and are very good at making their own fun, but seeing the joy they have got from the beginnings of the playground is so cool. On the weekends there is often up to 50 kids from the local villages at the ORA base playing on the playground, the sound of kids laughing, shouting, playing and shrieks of delight as they swing unbelievably high on the tyre swings. It’s been so cool for Sam to get into this project now that his back/leg is better and as always he has produced amazing plans and this playground is going to be super cool. Its been such a blessing also to have some amazing generous friends donate some money to us, just when we were wondering how we were going to pay for all the costs involved in making the playground. Gods timing is incredible and I hope you realize how many kids lives you have blessed! (you know who you are!)

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Our Sunday school I talked about in the last blog is thriving, last Sunday we had over 50 kids there! It’s been so cool seeing these kids come with such a thirst for learning about God and such a passion to worship him. Most of the kids that come would be too poor to be able to attend any local church, sad as it is, the biggest reason would be because of the clothes or lack of them these kids have. In this culture it’s very important to dress up for church, so most of them who only have ripped or inappropriate clothes have nowhere to go. At our church, we don’t care what they wear. We are teaching a wonderful young girl to be the Sunday school leader, so that when we leave it doesn’t leave a gap, that’s so important in this country, that what you do isn’t just a band aid that will eventually fall off and not be replaced. What ever you begin, needs to be self-sustainable, the community needs to be able to carry it on when you leave. It’s actually a constant battle that I have here and I am always struggling with the best way to deal with it.

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Like last week when I took some of the orphans to the hospital I see all these babies with plastic bags for nappies and in my head I’m working out how I can give all the mums just one or 2 good reusable cloth nappies. That’s all they would need cos they would just rinse them or dry them out in the sun and then the babies wouldn’t have to be wrapped in a plastic bag to contain their wee and poo. But what happens when the nappy wears out or breaks, who will give them the next one? Or the little boy who begs for money down at the markets, if I give him 100 shillings today and he realizes this is an effective way to get money then tomorrow when I’m gone how will he eat? It’s always on my mind it’s a constant battle in my head. I would love to walk around with a backpack full of food, money, shoes, clothes to give to people in need, but you just cant do that, it solves no problems, only creates a culture of dependency on the white man. That’s why we are trying so hard to be here in a role of serving the Ugandan people who are already doing a great job, equipping them, mentoring them, encouraging them and everything we do we want to leave behind a way for it to be continued long after we have gone. It’s not always easy, but that’s our goal.

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Something else we have helped to facilitate is some much needed team building within the Uganda ORA team, doing worship and devotions each morning, praying together, talking about the plans of the week and getting everyone communicating effectively with each other. Sam of course has been leading the worship but has also been teaching Stephen, the ORA project manager, how to play guitar, we hope he can be at a level to lead the team at worship by the time we leave, we are also planning on leaving Sams guitar here so Stephen can use that after we have gone. It’s been cool seeing the team come together and start to communicate and share their dreams and visions for the ORA base.

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We are so grateful to now have our vehicle back which means we are not so isolated out here, and also it has provided much needed transport for home visits of some of the sponsored orphans. It also came in handy a couple of nights ago when Stella, the wife of social worker Gasper, went into labour. We were so grateful to be able to drive her to the hospital, instead of her going on the back of the motorbike. Imagine it, 11pm at night in full on labour, sitting side saddle on the back of a motorbike, driving on a remote rural road in pitch dark to the hospital! And the next day, only hours after she had given birth, I went back to the hospital to pick her up, and she walks out, a huge basin on her head full of things, baby in one arm and two jerry cans in the other. She looked beautiful and relaxed and the next day was back out in the fields digging and hoeing and working. The women in this culture are amazing, most of them are still working in the fields and carrying huge jerry cans of water on their heads while heavily pregnant. They often walk to the hospital to give birth and walk home again the next day with their new born baby strapped to them, and they are the lucky ones, many women cant afford the fees to have a baby in the hospital and will have a risky homebirth out in the village with a local ‘midwife’ to deliver the baby. At least half of these women or their babies will die in the process of childbirth. Just another reason we have to be so thankful for the amazing, free, professional maternity services we receive in NZ.

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Every day we are so inspired and in awe of the way people live here, of their courage and positivity, they have so little, yet they very rarely complain, they have experienced more hardship than most of us have in a lifetime, yet they are more satisfied than most western people ever will be. Sometimes I get annoyed at myself that I have to go to the other side of the world to realize how blessed we are in our sweet, easy lives in NZ. But I guess it’s not until you step out of your comfort zone, out of the life you live, that you really appreciate the simple things in life. When we were going through the hard times here, it was easy to think how nice it would be to be back in safe, clean, easy NZ. After the bombings in Kampala we received an email from the NZ ministry of affairs warning us of the extreme risk of living in Uganda and advising us to return home, but that would be the easy way out. We have a job to do here and we will stay until it’s done, God has put this place and these people on our hearts and we are here to serve them. You can spend your whole life wondering about “what if?” or “what could happen..” or not doing things because its not “safe” or its “too hard”, but imagine the wasted opportunities when you don’t follow your heart or step out of your comfort zone. I’d much rather be having some hard times, but making a difference in some peoples lives, than sitting at home feeling comfortable. It doesn’t take much to make a difference in someones life, it doesn’t always mean working in a third world country. All it takes is looking beyond yourself.

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Thanks so much for your prayers and support, we couldn’t be here without you guys.

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Love The Trenniesxxxxx

A week of highs and lows… July 22, 2010

Well it’s been a week of highs and lows, good times and hard times, trials and rewards.
To be honest we have been going through a real hard time and we are struggling to stay faithful and strong. We have been trying to stay positive and hopeful but each day as something new goes wrong it is harder to do.

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It started at the beginning of last week, on Monday our precious running water ran out. Despite it being rainy season here, it has only rained once since we have arrived, therefore our tank that collects rain water is now empty. So we are having to rely on water fetched from the bore hole a short walk away. Everything is so much more complicated without running water, just washing the kids hands, which has to be done multiple times a day is a mission. Thankfully we were only without our precious running water for a few days, as on Wednesday night it poured down, and as I lay in bed hearing each rain drop pelt on to our tin roof and slide down the pipe into the water tank I was so thankful. But we are also so aware that we can easily be in this situation again soon as it has not rained since.

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So the next hiccup we’ve had to deal with is our vehicle breaking down, in the middle of town, on a hot, dusty day at 5pm, with 3 tired hungry kids in the back! So this caused more attraction than a street circus parade, with people staring in the windows, jumping on the car, laughing at us and trying to push start us! Bout 2 hours later we finally got hold of a mechanic who said it will be about a week to repair it, as parts were not available in Arua, we then found a ride home all squashed in the back of a tiny jeep. The kids had bananas and lemonade for dinner that night. They were stoked.
Something I’m learning more and more about kids since we’ve been here is how they don’t see the problem and the annoyance in something, they are naturally optimistic, instead of seeing the problem with the car breaking down, they see a fun ride in a cool jeep and bananas and lemonade for tea (cos someone happened to walk past selling bottles of soda and bunches of bananas!)

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Ok, so the next day, trying to stay positive, and not too fazed by not having a vehicle, we are doing ok, until…. I accidentally spill some water on our laptop, we clean it up quickly and the boys finish watching their movie. That night I try to write a message on facebook and realize the keyboard is not working at all. We leave it out to dry and the next day get a “computer expert” to have a look at it to see if he can sort out the problem….unfortunately whatever he does completely kills the laptop!!! It now does not even turn on, it’s completely dead!! We can hardly believe it, a brand new macbook with everything on it, gone forever!

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So yesterday, we were without a vehicle and without a laptop. Lucy then starts to run a fever and has had constant diarrhea, we run out of cloth nappies and start using undies (unfortunately they don’t hold much in!) Poor baby is so pale and refusing to eat anything. We are starting to feel a little rocked, but trying to stay strong and faithful. We had a good pray and went to bed feeling refreshed. But it was a rough night, Lucy up all night with fever and diarrhea and Sam with this crazy pain in his right leg. He has had this pain that moves from his calf to his hip since we have arrived, he saw a doctor a few days ago who said it was a strained muscle and gave him some anti-inflames, however it’s gradually got worse, not better. This morning Sam was in so much pain and has been unable to barely walk on it all day, despite lots of pain relief. Of course if we were in NZ, we would jump in the car and go to the doctor, but we are not at home, we are in Uganda! And firstly we don’t even have a car, and secondly the doctors don’t work on Sundays here in Arua!!

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This morning I took our USB stick to plug in to the ORA computer to continue working on my blog update that I had thankfully saved onto, as it was now lost with our dead laptop, and I plugged it in and a little sign pops up saying that the USB had malfunctioned and was not working any more!!! So everything on that we have lost also!! Unbelievable!

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Talk about being stripped to the core! As you can imagine we are feeling a little vulnerable, a little shaken, a little unsure, we are trying to stay strong and positive but are struggling to at the moment. This week we have also had the sad, devastating news of the suicide bombings in Kampala (capital of Uganda), and also have just found out that another kiwi missionary family that lives in Uganda, their son has just died of Malaria. It just brings to reality some of the risks of living in such a country.

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However, without wanting to sound too depressing!! Which surprisingly we are not, let me tell you about some of the amazing Godly stuff that has been happening here on the ORA site…

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One of the coolest things is the “Sunday School” we have started up, it was firstly just a small group of kids, mostly the ORA orphans that live onsite, and a few kids from the local villages. On Sunday morning, we would sing some church songs, we taught them lots of classic Sunday school songs with actions and they taught us some of their own songs. I have then been doing a short kids bible devotion and more singing, praising God and dancing! The kids were so into, they had never had this type of “church” or spiritual input ever before, that they wanted to do it every day! So now every evening around 6pm the kids come, they pour into the piyotte (meeting room) at the ORA site, there is now about 50 kids coming, and we sing, and dance, play bongo drums and worship God! Our kids have been loving it. They have got so into, Zak often plays his guitar, Leejay is always pounding on the bongo drums, Lucy is running around dancing and clapping her hands or being carried by someone. Its an amazing feeling, seeing these kids come together with such passion and eagerness to worship and to see the ORA site being used for such wonderful purposes.

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Its been so cool seeing the kids that live in the residential care home, thriving and growing in such a wonderful loving family environment, each child looking out for one another, and Sally the foster Mum, caring for these orphans as if they were her own. And the amazing Ugandan social workers that live on site and dedicated their lives to helping the 100 sponsored orphans. These people that have lost so much in their lives, parents, children, siblings, are still willing to give so much. They have nothing, and never complain about it, they have so little themselves, yet have so much to give. Sally, the foster mum, lost her 16 yr old son last year, and her husband in 2006, and here she is dedicating her life to caring for these orphans.

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Just this morning we had to do our Sunday school without Sam, as he was unable to get out of bed due to his painful leg. I Had explained to the kids that Sam was sick and needed to see a doctor. Zak and I played guitar (I had to rely on Zak to get it right, I just played C the whole time!) But at the end one of the older kids started handing a plastic plate around, to take up an offering…..for Sam to go to the doctor! I actually have tears streaming down my face as I write this, cos I can hardly believe the hearts of these kids! These are kids who are wearing torn and dirty clothing, some may only have ONE single piece of clothing, so they are unable to even wash it, these are kids who may only get one meal a day and are undernourished and skinny, these are kids who may have 50 shillings (less than 5 cents) in their pockets to buy beans or cassava for dinner, and these are the kids that are digging deep into their pockets to give what little they have to a white man who needs to see a doctor. It makes me feel embarassed to be mourning the loss of our car and laptop. These kids may think I’m teaching them bible lessons and church songs, but they are teaching me more than I can imagine.

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Today is a new day, the sun is shining, it poured with rain last night so the water tanks are full, Lucy is much better and seems to be over her tummy bug, Sam’s leg is better although another doctor yesterday was still unable to diagnose the problem and its still giving him pain. We are praying that it’s nothing serious and resolves with time.
The boys are healthy, full of energy, turning a shade of brown (not sure if it’s a tan or ingrained dirt!), they are absolutely lovin the lifestyle here, climbing trees, playing in the dirt, playing soccer and rugby, making so many new friends and learning what life is really about. Even Lucy has totally settled in now, loves playing with all the babies that are constantly around or trying to keep up with the crazy antics of the boys. And in all the dramas and hard times we’ve been having, the kids are oblivious to it all, I love that about them, they have just adapted to this lifestyle so quickly, they have made so many friends and are gaining such an amazing new appreciation for what really matters in life. We still have no laptop which is really frustrating, we still have no vehicle which is annoying, and we are still living day by day relying on the sun and the rain for power and water, but we are living in Gods will and living with the purpose he planned for our lives. We are hopefully making a difference in some others lives, we have plans drawn up for the playground Sam will start building soon, we have started some great team building and morning devotions with the Ugandan team here, we have our cool Sunday school thriving, we have abundance of beautiful, fresh organic fruit and vege’s to eat, we have sunshine and warmth and we have each other and lots of time to spend together. It’s the simple things in life we need to learn to appreciate, even though it’s hard at times, I love being on this journey.

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Thankyou so much for your support and prayers, please continue to pray for protection and good health for our family and especially for Sams leg. Keep in touch we love to hear news from back home.

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Love Kimxx

Our new home… July 10, 2010

Ok so here it is… I finally have a chance to sit down and write…its been a crazy, exhausting week but I feel so peaceful and content right now.

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So, a week ago we left NZ, hot showers, flushing toilets, running water and all our friends and family. 4 plane flights, 2 overnight stops, 28hrs of flying and a few dramas and we have finally arrived in hot, dusty, beautiful Uganda!

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The drama began as we queued up in Auckland airport to check in and we suddenly heard a policeman shouting “PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!! PUT THE GUN DOWN AND PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD!” and then 3 policemen came running up and hand cuffed the guy who was holding the gun who was standing just in front of us!! Which actually turned out to be a toy gun, but gave us all a bit of a scare and a bit of extra adrenalin rush! Just what we needed to kick start our journey!

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Then we checked in our bags and were told our suitcase was 10kg over the weight limit and we would have to go to the back of the queue and rearrange our packing so that the weight was evenly spaced! Luckily Aunty Carla quickly bought us a new bag, which we off loaded into, and she took the kids off us while we started check in all over again! A bit of an annoying start to the journey, but we managed to have a laugh and finally we boarded the plane, after almost leaving our hand luggage behind! After only 20mins of being on the plane Lucy managed to do a poo that went right up her back and needed a full change of clothes! By the time we boarded the plane for Dubai it was 10pm NZ time and lucy was starting to lose it, she managed to stay awake until 1am and finally fell asleep in Sams arms as he sung to her at the back of the plane! She slept for about 6hrs then decided it was time to get up, unfortunately for everyone else on the plane who were all fast asleep!! We managed to survive the 16hr flight, only just, and not leave Lucy behind with the lovely lady that took a liking to her and gave us a break. Lucky her cuteness and gorgeous smile compensates for her strong willed dramatic side. The boys were amazing throughout the entire journey, watched movies, ate, read, slept, watched more movies and were jus so well behaved, we were so proud of them. Zak particularly took on such a role of responsibility and pushed the double stroller with Lucy and Leejay in all around the airports while Sam and I pushed the trolleys with our luggage on. He never once complained and was so good.

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So after an overnight stop at an amazing Christian hostel in Dubai where we spent the entire day sleeping and the entire night wide awake, we boarded the next plane to Kampala (capital of Uganda), Lucy decided not to sleep for the entire 8hr flight and so by the time we arrived she had been awake for about 20hrs and was so overtired she wouldn’t stop crying and wouldn’t eat or go to sleep, she finally fell asleep with me pushing her in the stroller but was so restless and wakeful that I spent most of that night sitting on the side of the bed pushing her back to sleep in the stroller! Sitting in the dark, pushing that stroller, so sleep deprived in a hot dingy motel room I suddenly felt so scared that I was not going to cope with the challenge that lay ahead of us living out in the ORA project base in a little house with no running water, no electricity, long drop toilets and all the challenges that come with living in a third world country.

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Suddenly when you enter that part of the world things just become harder, a simple task like brushing your teeth is complicated by the fact that you cant use the water that runs from the tap without getting seriously ill. Or that at night you must stay inside and sleep under mozzie nets to prevent getting malaria. I started wondering if I really was a bit crazy to think I could take my family to Africa again and live even more basic than the last time. So there is nothing like feeling the fear, to surrender yourself in prayer, so I sat there in that room and prayed like crazy that God would give me the strength to carry on. And of course he did, and he blessed us more than we could imagine.

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The next morning we were up at 6am and on our last plane flight to Arua. As the dodgy 16 seater plane that rattled and shook the whole way, came to a rough, holding the edge of your seat, landing on the dirt airstrip in Arua I got tears in my eyes and had such an overwhelming sense of this was exactly where God wanted my family to be. Driving down the main road of this remote little town, I felt so at home, it felt so familiar, there was no culture shock, just such excitement to be back. And when we drove up to the Luku Yesuni site, the project that we had helped facilitate and set up 3 yrs ago, seeing the development of the land, crops growing, new buildings, the trees we had planted grown tall, and healthy, happy kids running about, again the tears welled up in my eyes. It was quite an emotional moment for me and Sam. That was just the beginning, next tear jerker was seeing our beloved friend and ORA social worker Gasper and then the orphans who now live in the residential care home came running out to greet us.

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It was so amazing to see these kids who had all been living in such awful living conditions, whose parents had died or abandoned them, particulary Asara and Bernard who I had such close involvement with last time we were here. Such a contrast to the first time 3yrs ago when I meet Asara, she was a little girl, shy and scared, covered in weeping wounds over her whole body, both her parents had died of AIDS and she was living with a brother that didn’t care for her. In the time we spent with her 3yrs ago she was also diagnosed HIV positive and struggled to stay well. Now here was a healthy, gorgeous, confident girl thanks to the loving family atmosphere she is part of, living in the ORA residential care home. It’s a priviledge to be part of something that has transformed a childs life.

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Then we were shown our house, again the tears came when we saw the efforts the Ugandan ORA team had gone to, in order to make the little house suitable for us. The house has been built for the purpose of a second residential care home for more at risk orphans on sponsorship, and we will help to facilitate this so when we leave that will be the purpose of the house. So it is a simple concrete house with 2 small rooms and a living area. Ugandan huts and houses do not have kitchens or bathrooms in them as all cooking and eating and washing is done outside and down by the stream or bore hole. But they had added on a bathing/cooking shelter just for us, with a separate room for our long drop toilet which has a seat on it!! (So no squatting!) And also a small basin with a tap with running water and another tap for washing!! This was such a surprise treat for us! We couldn’t believe it! I would never of imagined being so excited to see the smallest, dirtiest basin with a little tap that had running water!! And we also have a solar panel for a small amount of solar power, not enough to plug anything into, or charge phones or computer, but enough so we can have a light bulb at night! We felt so blessed to have these small luxuries, its amazing how much you can appreciate something so simple when you thought you wouldn’t have it.
Already we have learnt not to take these simple luxuries for granted, our water supply depends on the rain fall as it is water from a tank that runs off our roof, and our light bulbs are dependent on the sun to heat up our solar panel. It makes you appreciate both, without rain we have no running water, without sun we have no lights at night. What an awesome way to learn to appreciate things!

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Everything here is hard work, I’ve been falling into bed exhausted each night after spending the days, cleaning, handwashing, preparing and cooking food and trying to set up our little home. There is dirt everywhere, our floors inside the house are covered in dirt, the concrete is still damp and even wet in places, the kids are constantly covered in dirt and its not a simple process of just giving them a shower or a bath! Its not that hot that the kids are ok under a cold tap, so we have to boil the kettle on our little camp gas cooker and fill a bucket to wash the kids. Washing out pooey cloth nappies, hand washing clothes, cleaning the kids, keeping dirt out of the house are all constant little battles. BUT in saying all this WE ARE LOVING IT here, we feel like we are so meant to be here, we are loving living on the ORA site surrounded by so many amazing Ugandan people that are part of the Luku Yesuni project and the orphans that live in the residential care home.

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The kids are loving it so much too, the boys are in heaven, everyday they play outside all day, by 9am they are so dirty, there are always heaps of kids around to play with, trees to climb, dirt piles to play in, chickens to “hunt” and goats and pigs to chase. I’ve loved seeing them interact with all the local kids, playing soccer, play fights, tag, hunting…its amazing how kids are not at all fazed by a language barrier, although the kids here mostly don’t speak English they all seem to understand each other through play. I’ve been amazed at how thoughtful the boys have been, on the first day here they couldn’t believe how the local kids all had hardly any clothes and what they did have was ripped or torn. That night they were going through their suitcase pulling out their own clothes saying “we should give these to the African kids, we have got so many already.” So they decided what t-shirts they were going to give away and were so excited to give them to the kids.

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Yesterday I looked outside to see Leejay in his absolute element, a massive big stick in one hand, some hoe or axe in the other hand, covered in dirt, wearing board shorts and bare feet and chatting away to a little African boy walking beside him. If the boys didn’t have white blonde hair and fair skin you would never know the difference, it’s as if they have lived in this country all their life. After the first day Zak said to me “I wish we were living here for a long time“ and I said “we are, we are here for 6 months“ he said “no, I mean forever, like I wish I was African, I wish I was born here and will die here.” That sums up how much he loves it.

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Little Lucy has taken a bit longer to settle in, she was quite freaked out at first cos everyone was all over her wanting to pick her up and touch her gorgeous curls. She has been really clingy to me, with her latest cute saying “pick me up muma”, once in the safety of my arms she is more friendly and has learnt what a great reaction she gets when she says “min-goni” ( Hello, how are you?) to the locals, and so now says that to everyone. She is so stoked on all the babies of course and is loving following Zak and Leejay around everywhere chasing chickens and getting dirty. She often talks about her friends back home and always asks to “go see baby milo” she is still talking about Neeve and Indie and Luca and Scarlett, Gigi and Saffron, which amazes me of her memories for back home and made me feel a bit sad taking her away from her friends (must be a girl thing) but she is settling in now and loving her crazy fun new life here. Infact I see her outside now walking around behind Leejay with a big stick in her hand, covered in dirt and a big smile on her face.

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Sam and I are so excited about the plans God has for us here, we are loving just living alongside the locals in this village atmosphere, I have a feeling we are going to be doing just as much learning and growing as we would like to be imparting on the lives of the people who live here.

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Thanks for being interested in what we are doing, keep in touch we love hearing stuff from back home, and if you can, please pray that God will continue to direct and guide and protect us.

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Love The Trennies xx

Am i Crazy? June 13, 2010

So its exactly 3 weeks til we leave for Uganda!! Crazy. I can still hardly believe we are going, its all come about so quickly.

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So, we have had our Funk vs Folk gig and movie night fundraisers and it was such a success. About 300 people came to the gig and we raised almost $6000!! And about 150 people came to the movie, which raised about $2000!! So between the two fundraisers and some generous donations we have almost reached the $20,000 we needed!!

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We feel so humbled and in awe of the support and generosity of our friends and family and people we don’t even know. Its always a difficult thing to ask for people to support you financially but the reality of doing this sort of mission, is that, like most people we just don’t have a spare $20,000 sitting there. We are so grateful and so blessed to have such supportive people in our lives and want to thank everyone that came to the gig and the movie. We are also so grateful to have people in our lives who have taken on organising fundraising projects for us, the beautiful, amazing Catie, and my lovely ‘school mum friends’, Alice, Sarah and Julie, even our whole Marian school community has got right behind us supporting us financially and with their own resources and time.

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Its not just about the money people spent on their ticket, or the money people have donated although that is greatly appreciated, what is more so, is that fact that you actually came to the events to support us. Its about you believing in us, believing in what we are doing and supporting us in it. And that is exactly why we are going back to Africa, because we believe in the project we are working with, we believe in the Ugandan people that are giving up their lives and time to help the orphans and we want to show our support to them.

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When we left 3yrs ago one of the Ugandan social workers said to me, “you must come back, you must not go to NZ and forget us. Will you forget us?” We have never forgotten them, my heart leaps for joy when I see photos of the sponsored children we worked with or hear about the development of the project site. When I left Arua a piece of my heart stayed behind. I am so excited about returning to see the children, the social workers and the ORA project site. There is so much need, so many more orphans at risk, so much work to be done, but mostly the community we will be living with just need our love, support, guidance, friendship, mentoring and encouragement. That’s why we are going. We are going to serve and support them in the same way people have supported us here in NZ to enable us to return to Africa.

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So I’m actually starting to feel a little overwhelmed with how much more we have to organise, sort out, pack up, think about, pray about and do before we get on the plane! Its easy to forget God in all the busyness that surrounds this kind of journey, easy to lose focus on what you are doing, its easy to get stressed, annoyed, scared and simply overwhelmed with it all. Some days I wonder what the heck we are doing packing up our family and our easy, uncomplicated, safe, protected, luxurious lives and moving to the other side of the world to live in northern Uganda in a remote village without electricity and running water. The way that some people look at me when I tell them that’s what we are doing, or the fact that travel insurers keep turning us down for travel insurance because we are going to be living in a country that the NZ government has classified as an “extreme risk” country, I wonder if I am a little crazy.

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But as crazy as it is I wouldn’t have life any other way. I like the way it stretches you and challenges you to step out of your comfort zone, I like it that we are honoured to be able to make a difference in someone else’s life, I love it that our kids are going to grow up knowing that the world does not revolve around them, and that there are people in the world that are so much less fortunate than them, and that it is our purpose in life do something to serve and love others. Because at the end of the day if we are only living for our selves, and to serve ourselves then we are never going to find true fulfilment in our own lives. Don’t get me wrong this doesn’t mean that everyone should pack up their lives and families and be a missionary in Africa, doing that is not for everyone. Serving and loving others is simple and can be done in the most simplest ways. Some people have a natural gift to serve, they might just be the kind of person that always makes others a cup of tea. Unfortunately that is not my strong point, although I’m working on it, it doesn’t come naturally to me. But going to live in a third world country to look after orphans, that I can do. Serving and loving others is as big or small, as crazy or simple as you can manage, God has given us all a different purpose to fulfil in our lives here on earth, we only get one chance at it. And that is why i am crazy enough to take my family to Africa. Thanks for supporting us in this.

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We would really appreciate your prayers over the next few weeks as we prepare for our journey.