October 28, 2011


Hello, we are at Merchant falls game reserve. We arrived yesterday and will leave tomorrow for Kampala. I had an email from my daughter Moe asking me if I saw a lion, so I thought I would include what we did see. We went on our game drive yesterday and no lions or cats of any kind, lots of giraffes, elephants, many kinds of deer, wart hogs, water buffalo, birds, hippo's, monkeys and baboons but no cats. Our driver tried very hard and we didn't get back to the hotel until way after dark, because we spent so much time on the savanna looking.

It was very hard leaving New Hope yesterday, two children in the family we were assigned to, Samuel Family, very much didn't want us to leave. A young girl named Debra*, 8 years old, whose mother left her there at age 4, but kept all the other children, just cried and cried when I had to say good bye. God reminded me of Moses and I was able to share that with her, that Moses' mom had to leave him and not the other siblings and yet God had a wonderful plan for his life and does for Debra's as well. I think she really listened. Also hard to leave was a young boy, John*, 12 years old, who wrote us a letter and asked us to not leave and to let him be our son. Oh my, it is so hard, the family "Auntie and Uncle" of Samuel house have 4 children of their own and another on the way, with 18 orphans to care for as well in a 4 hut complex with a center one for eating and studding. It has one solar light for the children to study by, they have to work a 4 acre garden as well, even the little ones, and they are not given piped water like we had, because the thinking is that when they leave and go to live in villages or even the city, they will not have this luxury and giving it to them now would not really be loving them. So we got to hear them rolling wheel barrels full of gerry cans by our room before the sun was up, usually around 4:30 am to fill up for the day and then they do it at night as well. I understand the thinking but was so conflicted that I had running water, it felt like I should have to fill gerry cans as well. We had hardly any electricity there, much worse than Nicaragua, and of course no hot water. The cacophony of sounds was deafening most morning as dawn broke through; roosters, wild animal sounds, dogs, birds and insects. Last night at the hotel, was probably the first good sleep we had because it was quiet.

At New Hope our quarters were in the center of the primary campus so we got to hear and see all the activities of the Centre all the time. There are probably 200-300 people who live there and because of how the houses are built with screened open windows, everyone can hear everything, plus it echoes sooooo much. I got to go with Uncle Francis who is in charge of the oxen and watch how they plow with them and pet them :). Ugandans are VERY hard workers but there is just sooo little for them to improve themselves in because the infrastructure is so ancient. There was one cobra bite while we were there. It was a teenage girl walking down a path early in the morning before the sun was up and she felt a bite on her foot, she turned and shined her flashlight down on her heel and saw the cobra. She started running to the first home closest to her and the Auntie there turniqueted (misspelled) her leg in 3 places and had the RN at the clinic come. She was driven to the nearest hospital about 10 minutes away. She lived!!Praise God, because her running increased the blood flow, so the auntie who helped her lectured her on next time not running and why and to just scream for help. As the auntie was telling us this, she quietly said…we all die it is just a matter of how here in Uganda, auto crashes (the leading cause of death in Uganda), snake bite or malaria, God only knows. There was also a black mambo killed in a shed at the home of the man Lyle worked with. I looked down whenever walking, but thankfully never saw any.

PLEASE PRAY FOR ALL OF THE FAMILY FATHERS AND MOTHERS; IT IS SO DIFFICULT FOR THEM, but God's love shines through them.

We asked our driver Uncle Dan(he drove us from Kasana to Merchant Falls) to join us on the game drive, he was so touched and blessed, we are trying to see if we can pay for him to join us this afternoon on the Nile cruise, as he is not included in anything usually. The young woman, who met us at the airport and was our liaison at New Hope…when we had asked her about him joining us when she and U. Dan picked us up from the airport, said "Oh they really don't want to be with us, when we asked them they say no". Then she said, "Would you ask your gardener to have tea with you?" We looked at her and said well yes we would. So when we got here to the Falls and asked U. Dan (who is about 25-26 yrs old, if he wanted to eat with us here at the hotel and to go with us, he immediately said yes. I think people everywhere can tell when they are really being asked and when it is just polite gibberish. Oh it grieves my heart as these are our brothers and sisters!!! We had dinner with the founders of New Hope, and we think they were disappointed that we weren't ready on the spot to say we wanted to be a part of New Hope. We didn't get any AH HA conviction that this is where we are to be, but I definitely could see myself there. One thing I noticed while we were there was that the children have NO toys, foreign staff or Ugandan but there is a playground with swings and teeter totters and gym bars which they all love. I gave one of our rubber balls to the two year old daughter at Samuel house as well as bubbles, and her mother told me later that she said to her mother, "Do I have to give this back?" It made me so sad :(


I was able to make splints for 3 children with handicaps. a little boy named Hank*, who had trauma induced CP from his father, is fed by a tube in his tummy, and lots of spasticity. An 8 year old girl that is Lincoln's size torso, and arms and legs the size of a broom handle. She needed leg splints as her legs stay bent at the knee and they are having trouble getting them straight. I was able to give them some suggestions on how to give her therapy to increase her mobility. She bites her left hand so deep and frequently that she has open wounds and digs into her eye balls with her right hand. She has not wanted the two hands to touch each other. I was able to work with her for an hour and at the end of that time, she grasped her left hand with the right one and kept touching her hands together. The lady in charge of the special needs children, Kate from Great Britain, who has given up her teaching job in GB to come care for these children, is a teacher trying to do therapy with these kids. She was so thrilled to see this little girl Allie*, do this, And Allie just smiled at me so much, oh she is one of the least of these, but so precious to God. Then another boy named Eric*, I don't know his age but probably at least 3-4 whose got the same body type as Allie, his legs scissor across each other and his hands have lots of spacisticy, I was able to splint both for better position, hopefully to improve his function. Allie was propped by him, and she reached over and grabbed his hand and he just smiled so big. You would look and him and think he is not even aware of life, but it is so obvious he is. Another little boy named Bob* who has spina bifida so his legs are stubs and he is in a wheel chair, but with a wondrous smile, was getting therapy from a Ugandan helper and would just cry in pain when this man would attempt to bend his knees, so I was able to suggest a different technique that lessened the pain of movement. I told Lyle, I NEVER wanted to work with special needs children, EVER, and when I was told that was where I was being placed while at NH, I asked God for special grace to get me through, and oh did He. Lyle was placed working with the maintenance man and a man from the states building cabinets. He had lots to do. We both have had intestinal stuff, I am out of Cipro, and Lyle has 3 left. so prayers for health would be much appreciated.

It looked like we were not going to get to go to Dadaab prior to leaving Seattle. The UN had put a moratorium on aid workers because of the kidnappings, but we just received an email from Dr. Kelley asking for our passport numbers to give the UN so, we pray that it is a go.

PS…The lady at the hotel desk just stopped me and let me know that U. Dan could go with us on the cruise. They had said an hour ago that the cruise was full and there was no room for him. sooo Yea!!!

Tomorrow we start another leg of this journey in Kampala. Please pray for us, that we find our way around this teaming city safely. When I said that auto crashes was the leading cause of death I wasn't kidding, there are seemingly no rules and we have very close calls for head ons every time we get in the car.

Thank you every one for your prayers, we sense God's hand on our time everywhere we have been so far and desire that our lives serve HIS purpose each day we are alive.
Hopefully I will be able to update you soon.

*Names changed for privacy


Love, Ingrid