Thank You for your prayers & support

One last goodbye to London from our princess!

Leon, Bekah & I want to thank you all for your prayers and support. We feel privileged to serve the Lord in Uganda. The children were so thrilled to be able to check out their first library books. The team gave each of the LCH children their own Bibles. The children were so excited to be able to read the Bible stories for themselves. Leon had several productive sessions with the leadership at CBIT discussing their vision & development for the school. I felt useful with my nursing skills in taking care of some of the staff and children in Dyana's absence. After two days of sightseeing in London & Oxford we returned safe and jet-lagged. Bekah celebrates her 17th birthday on Sunday the 19th. WOW! "Over & Out!"

Our last full day in London

This will have to be brief because it is very late and we have early breakfast before pick up to Heathrow. I will try to embellish at airport if I can.

Today we had full English breakfast at the hotel then walked to the bus station to take the London-Oxford Tube. It was 1 3/4 hr ride--through gorgeous country NW of London. It was a sunny blue sky with puffy cloud day! PTL

When we got to Oxford we took another Hop on-Hop off tour bus. When we got to Christ church we hopped off and walked around the cathedral, and the grounds. Lovely gardens and wonderful aromas. My Mother's love for English gardens came to surface and I started telling Bekah more than she wanted to know about the plants and tree's. I never knew that maiden hair ferns bloomed. She was commissioned to take some photos for me. The lavender aroma was wonderful! When the doors were opened at 2 PM we were of the first to enter so we went to the Dining Hall first to see where the Harry Potter film was shot. Then the cathedral was spell binding. The stained glass windows are magnificent. I wish we could have come early to the service and heard the boys & male choir sing! Afterward we took the rest of the tour, ate delicious lupper at the Giraffe Cafe and returned via tube to London. Bekah and I went on a photo shoot while Leon got our boarding passes printed for BA00197(?). I had her go inside a phone booth--which she said reeked of urine (LOL) and display the narrow halls in the hotel & the door of our executive suite--Henry VII.

We then took Leon along as we walked across St James Park to the Horse Guard quarters and took photo of Bekah with a very good looking young guard.

We trekked back via Trafalgar Square, past the palace and mews to our hotel. We figured we walked 3 miles. :) Leon didn't think I could do that without stopping to rest on a park bench.

We had a nice dessert and coffee in the lounge and called Houston and talked to Bekah's parents and our son Jon. Good night all. Pat

Sight seeing with Bekah in London

Seeing London thru Bekah's eyes was fun. After a full breakfast at our Rubens Hotel at the Palace, we went and purchased tour tickets on the Big Bus Red Tour. It is a 24 hr pass to just ride the bus around town and get off and on at your desire. We walked to the Apollo theatre to buy our tickets for Wicked before getting on the tour. We first walked to Buckingham Palace, across the street from our hotel to watch the changing of the guards. Then we walked across the green to the first bus stop. We had good seats on the open top level of the red double-decker bus. Our tour guide was wonderful-quite witty-- and very informative. We rode past Hyde Park, the Marble Arch, Baker street (Sherlock Holmes museum), Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, big Ben, Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, & aquarium, and Royal National theatre. (There was a diversion because of a Jesus Festival on the Tower Bridge on Saturday. They slightly changed their routes to avoid the pedestrian crowds.) We saw St Paul's Cathedral from a few blocks away and jumped off at the Tower of London. Bekah was having some PMS and cramping so we slowed our pace hoping for the ibuprofen to kick in. The tour leader was the Warden who had a great presentation but meant standing in groups for short spurts of information. Bekah seemed to be fading--so I stopped into the royal jewels souvenir shop to inquire what we could skip. The lady said that the Crown jewels were only displayed at that location--she would lead us in a side entrance ahead of the long queue so Bekah could at least see the 'best' of the show. God is good, she didn't need to offer to do that for us.

We left without exploring the tower or the dungeon, and the large dining room for the knights. Instead we hopped on the Thames River Cruise and floated down to the Westminister Pier. That gave us many photo opportunities.

Have I said it was cool and misty most of the tour--even donned rain poncho and umbrella for short spurts of rain. We returned to our hotel about 4 PM and prepared for supper. We ate at a small Italian Restaurant a block from the hotel. Having refueled, we were able to return to the hotel to dress for the theatre. We had good seats and the music was great! Bekah said it was almost as good as the Broadway show in NYC. Leon had a hard time keeping up with the story line of Wicked since he had not watched the Wizard of Oz with the grand kids as often as I had. The lead singers had great voices with very broad vocal range. The costumes and staging were the same as the Broadway production. We were all exhausted by the time we walked back to the hotel. Leon wants to sleep in and take things at a slower pace today!

CBIT Report

I haven't been adding much to the blog but I have had a number of meetings with Morris, Edward Mukiibi, Boaz and various instructors. I will compile a summary with action points soon after I get home. I will distribute that to those wanting to be involved in CBIT. I will also set a meeting date and time that fits the schedules of those on the start-up board of CBIT-USA. I hope that we will be able to do that within the next two weeks. Thanks for your prayers as we have seen God leading and providing throughout this trip.

Leon

Visit with Foibe Rugamayo

Before we left Uganda, on Thursday we had Jimmy drive the three of us directly to visit my dear friend Foibe. (For those of you who don't already know she was my roommate at Wheaton in 1962. She adopted my Mom as her American Mom and spent several summer vacations in Pennsylvania during her 4 yrs in the states.) Her husband Edward was entertaining President Museveni in Fort Portal so we could not see him.



Our driver took us to their Kampala Home where her son Albert & wife Edna and 4 children also live. Foibe was quite a picture standing in the open doorway of her home when we arrived in her African dress. After some tea & cake, we left so Rebekah could shop before the stores closed and returned to find Mbabazi and her two children waiting for us. They loved the Bibles I had brought for them.



Mbabazi's brother,Edward and Grandson Ira were taken by Rebekah's visit and stayed to talk to her. It seemed to be none stop!
Rebekah was the guest of honor at dinner--Foibe served her first from every dish. There was roasted chicken, Chicken stew, Beef stew, Irish potatoes, rice, steamed bananas, sliced tomatoes and avocado, green beans with tiny dried mushrooms, pinto like beans, mango, watermelon, & freshly prepared passion fruit juice. Probably some more African dishes I cannot remember all--some bread-like millet dish, and flat bread. I told her it was like Thanksgiving and she smiled and said, "Of course!"

She was delighted see my slide show of the photos taken at Lulwanda and villages. She was very happy to know about the wonderful library that we dedicated on Wednesday. She was with us when we saw the initial construction in April 2004. I noticed that she sort of nodded off occasionally during the presentation. Her health seems stable but her focus is erratic. I watch the way her children seemed to cover for her and sometimes nod their head when they didn't agree with what she was telling me. She does not get to come to Kampala often these days because it seems too stressful for her. The stroke she had several years ago has it's lingering effects. Leon talked in depth with Edward Jr. who having just completed college and active in real estate seemed very happy to finally get to know us.

We arrived safely in London this afternoon!

We are enjoying our beautiful hotel suite at The Rubens at the Palace. What a joy to have comfortable bed and bathroom with hot water and magnifying mirror by the sink! There is even the luxury of an iron & ironing board & blow dryer! Two TVs-one on Bekah's side of the suite and one on ours! We've been too busy to turn either on however. We walked down to the Apollo Theatre to check on Wicked Tickets for Saturday evening. They said if we come back on the day of the show we can get Senior discount which is about 50% of the regular price-of course we said we would. Then we plan to take the Bus Tour of London--one fare is good for 24 hrs and includes the boat ride on the Thames. We can get off and on whenever we see a place we want to explore.

We had supper in the cafe and we sat right at the front window which over looks the Royal Mews. It was like being on a movie set--people watching and enjoying the delicious sandwiches. If we could afford the exchange rate we might extend our stay! Bekah is having a blast! She is trying to talk like the British.

Celebration at Lulwanda Today!

Wednesday was our last day at LCH. The time has gone too fast even though the whole team is exhausted--we were running on adrenaline and are crashing tonight! Morris rode along with the van and Leon went back to CBIT with him on the way out to LCH. Edward was going to take us to a village but said that Aidah was on her way so she would lead us on the village tour.

At breakfast at the hotel I consulted with 4 teachers from UT Arlington TX who are here teaching a community health seminar in a nearby town. The leader of the group looked at my photos of Baby John and totally agreed with Julie's assessment. The baby needed to go to a level 3 or 4 clinic and be sedated to have the wound debrided. The mother should be taught how to do range of motion exercises on his hand. She suggested honey as a good healing agent with bandage to cover the area completely. She said that if they couldn't get to a clinic I could bring the materials back from LCH and get Panadol with codeine from a pharmacy in town. We would work together to debride the wound and get it done right. I told Edward what Julie and the four nurses said and how urgent the window of time was for this intervention. He said he would phone Pastor Sunday today and see what has been done since Monday. When Aidah came she told me that the Baby had been in a hospital (not the one she likes) for a week after the accident. They discharged him in that condition--that they don't know how to treat burns here in Uganda. She was also going to call the Pastor's house and tell them to go to see Dr. Patrick as soon as possible. Sunday is 1going to be the pastor of the new church plant in Kenya and they are leaving Uganda on Sunday. I am leaving this in God's hands.

The tour into the village where Pastor Abraham leads the church that Midland Bible planted. Words cannot describe it--I will have to just download my photos to my facebook when I get home. The people live in the small mud huts with thatched roof. They have a small round covered hut for their grains and a latrine of sorts nearby. The radiance on their faces to greet us and praise the Lord is so humbling. There were all sorts of roosters, pigs, cows, goats, dogs with free range. Sort of makes me chuckle to think that they all have range-free organic eggs and food. We saw sweet potato vines, rows of corn stalks, g.nuts, kale, sorghum, etc. They truly live off the land. They may have mud floors but they sweep it and the area outside their huts with a homemade broom every day.

The one hut we went inside had a small table and one small stool. It had a curtained off door inside to the bedroom--one bed with mosquito netting. The family consisted of couple and three children. Need I say more. Be grateful!

The ceremony to open the library was great. Edward had some officials there..the government school inspector, the 'mayor' of the town, and the woman who selects the orphans for LCH. The children sang and danced. Pastor Morris spoke and each of the officials. Mike and Mary cut the ribbon to open the library officially and then were asked to cut the cakes made for the refreshments. They also served goat, irish potatoes, and some empanada like pastry with vegetables inside, and their flat bread.

I was hard to say goodbye. We felt so welcomed and loved by all. Some of the girls asked me to please greet Nana Dyana when I go home. They miss her very much. Tomorrow we leave the team to travel to Kampala to see Mbabazi's family and Foibe. I can hardly wait. Mbabazi is so excited to see us all.