Food & Sustenance

Our son Rod gave us some blog ideas. I picked up on the food idea pretty quickly. Dennis can tell you that when I get bored or need a distraction, cooking is going to take place.

Let me say from the outset that we appreciate so much all the support that has been given to us to allow us to have a nice home & kitchen to cook in. We are so blessed!!!

When we first came to Uganda I was concerned that things would not be sterile enough resulting in us getting sick, or that I would not be able to find enough food to eat since the shopping here is so different from the U.S. Well, God has been faithful & He has taken care of all that. I’m now confident that we will survive in Africa!!!

Home Cooking:

I have learned to cook some of the African dishes, but mainly cook what I did at home with variations. I have a stove with a gas cooktop & an electric oven. And we have a refrigerator. We’ve had guests over a few times for pizza, fried chicken dinner, etc. I’ve made salsa & guacamole for the mission teams. (The avocados are bigger than my fist & guacamole will keep for a few days here. The going rate is 500 shillings – about 20¢). Fresh fruit is our dessert of choice, but I have made a few Texas Sheath Cakes & Dutch Apple Pies. I’ve been given the responsibility for most of the birthday cakes at Calo Me Lare, the orphanage where we serve (48 kids & 6 house moms). Thanks to people at Discovery Bible Fellowship for sending cake mixes & cans of frosting – makes my life much easier!!!

The fruit that looks like a big green strawberry is jackfruit. It is pretty tasty & rare. A staff member shared it with us. See the size of the avocado in comparison to the bananas? The pineapple is extra-large. Now you know why fresh fruit is the dessert of choice. Pineapples are 3000 shillings, about $1.25, bananas are 200 shillings, less than 10 cents each.

Orphanage Cooking:

The moms at Calo Me Lare have a kitchen very different from mine. They have cabinets with concrete counter-tops & no refrigeration. They cook very much like other people in Africa…on a charcoal burner. This is a picture of hauling charcoal on a bicycle. The bags are very heavy.

Our Head Mother, Tino Joy is cooking outside the home she shares with 8 girls. Joy plans the menu for each week. Meals are prepared in individual homes but they are exactly like the meals in the other homes.

A charcoal burner looks like this.

Charcoal is transported on bicycles in huge bags weighing over 100 lbs.

This is Akello Molly, taken in the kitchen of the home she shares with 8 boys. Each mom prepares a balanced diet for the children in her house, 3 meals a day. The children are given much better food than most children in Uganda.

The moms also prepare breakfast & lunch for the entire staff at CML on a rotating basis, along with cooking for their own home.  Let me tell you, their beans & rice are the absolute best! For lunch the children usually have beans with rice or posho. The evening meal might include carrots, green vegetables, a starchy vegetable, meat, or eggs. Everything is made from scratch…and everything is fresh. There are no frozen or packaged items to be used in cooking. Milk is purchased at a local dairy & the moms boil it as soon as it arrives.

Starches include cassava (a large root vegetable - see below), white maize flour, cooked in a paste form slightly resembling grits (posho) or used in porridge, fresh maize (boiled or roasted on the cob), Irish (potatoes) & white sweet potatoes.

This is Dennis' attempt at roasting maize.

Moms use onions, green peppers, tomatoes & peppers to spice things up. Besides this they use Royco, a beef-flavored seasoning which is quite good & thickens the broth in beans, soups & sauces.

Street Cooking:
Dennis & I have been on a Mission Trip to Uganda in the past for short stints, so we thought we knew something about eating out in Lira…we thought there were only a couple of “safe” restaurants…but we were wrong. Almost any restaurant is safe; even the street vendors are OK to buy from (with discretion - avoid the beef on a stick).

A local favorite is chapati, which is an unleavened flatbread. There are chapati vendors stationed all over Lira. They use a wheel rim, put it on a stand & fill the center with homemade charcoal. They use a small metal plate – like a griddle – to cook on. Next to this they have a table with round balls of prepared dough. They use a lot of oil to bake what looks like a huge, thick pancake. It is really good. They also make Rolexes at some of the stands by making something similar to an omelet on the same griddle & rolling it up together – Yum!

Roasted or boiled maize is plentiful everywhere you go (tastes like silage, if you know what that is). Ladies walk several miles with maize boiled in the husk balanced in a tray on their heads to sell at the local market.

Gnuts (peanuts) are in season now. They are usually roasted or made into a sauce to serve over sweet potatoes or whatever you like.  Sometimes the sauce is mixed with Simsim (sesame seeds). (We have discovered this is great over homemade pancakes with bananas & syrup). A team favorite in season is Simsim balls, made with Simsim & melted sugar.

Street cooking also includes Mandazi, a pouch-shaped donut.

Conclusion: We are all so spoiled & so blessed.

We thank God for each one of you & know you are praying for us. Some prayer requests this week:

• Teachers are on break this week, so pray for creativity in interacting with the kids...& energy for it.
• PTL! Several children prayed to receive Christ today in Children's Church. Pray for us as we follow up with them. Pray that the children will all come to understand who Jesus is.
• Last night a thunderstorm took out our microwave. Our oven needs repair...not a result of the storm. Pray it can all be fixed.

Blessings,
Dennis & Margie

A Week in Uganda

Thank you again to those who are following our blog, providing prayer & financial support. God has blessed us so much by your interest in our mission!

We would like to share a typical week with you, but there is no normal week. Here are some highlights from last week:

Sunday:  We are part of the church which meets at the orphanage, called Bunga Bunga Bible Fellowship. The past few weeks we have been without a weekend driver, so we have been leaving at 8am for Dennis to transport people from Lira to the church. We arrived at the church just in time for the prayer service at 9am. Church begins at 9:30am. We have about 45 minutes of praise & worship, offering & testimonies. While Pastor Dennis preaches the children go to Children’s Church. We’ve been meeting in the school, spitting into 3 groups & rotating for worship, Bible story & activities. We have about 130 children each week. Margie teaches the Bible story three times with a House Mom translating.

Monday:  We both spent the day at Calo Me Lare (Village of Redemption), the orphanage supported by Project Hope Worldwide. Dennis planted watermelons on the orphanage grounds. He worked with the welder & attended to electrical/plumbing issues, which is a never-ending job.

We have been training the children & staff at Calo with the Character First materials. During lunch every Monday I introduce the character trait being emphasized that week with the staff. Last week’s trait was “Gratefulness.” We are teaching everyone at the orphanage from the kids to the guards at the gate, so everyone is working on the same thing. At 1:30 I introduce the charactere trait to the staff & at 2:30 I introduce the character trait to the House Moms. We currently have 6 homes with 8 children & one mom in each home. As soon as this is finished I check in Tony, who does our purchasing.  

Tuesday:  Last week Dennis & the teachers marked off the soccer field by hoeing the edges & down the center. Today Dennis & men from the community dug holes in which to plant clumps of grass. They dug up the whole field with holes about a foot apart.

 I helped just be a presence with the kids/guardians at the medical clinic for several potential orphans to help fill the houses this fall. We have 14 identified & 2 possibilities. They have some medical testing before we take their applications to help us determine how to best help them. None speak English, which is typical. Seeing their condition would break your heart. They had to borrow clothing from a neighbor for one little 3 year old guy. He had not clothes of his own. It was pretty incredible watching him walk in shoes for the first time in his life!!!

Wednesday:  Staff Meeting is every Wednesday at 9am. Dennis usually takes part in this & sometimes I meet with them depending on what is being covered & my workload. The department heads meet & the administrative staff meets after that. He spends the rest of the day running errands & fixing things.

Thursday:  Again men from the community came to help Dennis with the soccer field. Dennis hired a truck to transport the grass. The men dug the grass with a hoe & loaded it by hand. They brought 4 truckloads of grass today. We prayed for rain because the field was getting dry. PTL it rained!!!

We spent another day screening children, this time at the Lira Medical Clinic. We gave the kids lunch & a soda & they were ravenous! One little girl just looks like she can’t get any thinner, but the next time we see her she looks even thinner. This little girl never has a guardian who will come with her.  Pray for Prisca.

Friday: Dennis & others on the administrative staff interviewed for open positions at Calo. After the interview Dennis led a young lady to the Lord who was applying for a job!!! PTL! Dennis again worked on the Soccer Field. This was a fun day for him because it was a workday for the children & they helped plant the grass. The field was perfect after the great rain. I stayed home to attend to bookkeeping.

Saturday:  We normally have Saturday off. We both worked at Calo. Dennis was happy to see about a dozen men come to dig the grass to sprig & about a dozen teenagers (who play soccer on our field) to plant it. Dennis worked out there all day because when he stopped the kids did too. They dug & planted three more truckloads of grass.

I began teaching the children about abstinence. We want them to have a solid knowledge of what a family is according to the Bible. The children love books. With Irene, our Social Worker translating, I shared a book called, “The Story of Me”, which was recommended by a family ministry. We will continue to follow up with this, including reading a second book to older children.

It was a great week! We have seen God at work in our lives & those around us.

We would appreciate prayer that we will glorify God & that He will be the center in everything we do. We would also really like to learn the language. Thank you for praying!

Blessings,

Dennis & Margie

Land of Plenty - Land of Poverty

We are grateful for family & friends who are supporting our mission in Lira, Uganda with your prayers & financial support.  As God works through you He can accomplish much & extend His kingdom around the world.

In Uganda there is plenty of rain & great soil. The people work hard, doing all of their gardening by hand. This is Maize Season…like our field corn. They pick it quite mature, boil it in the husk & sell it on the street. Or…they might roast it over a fire & sell it on the street. It is typical to see people walking around eating corn on the street for break, lunch, even in church. They discard all the corn husks in the street or wherever they happen to be. They grind it to make a very fine flour to make posho (similar to grits). G-nut (peanut) harvest is beginning now. They boil, roast & grind these as well. But in this land so plentiful with vegetation there is extreme poverty. Unemployment & inflation are very high. The value of their shilling is very low. Many live in extreme poverty. Dennis tried his hand at roasting maize.

July has been a month of change & challenge for us. The other resident missionaries, Andy & Cami Flege left on furlough in the U.S.  July 5^th. They took time to train us well & God has led us step by step as we’ve tried to help fill in the gap while they are gone.

Dennis has been working with Pastor Dennis & regional directors trying to get rice farming started which could supplement income for the orphanage. He has been working on getting the soccer (football in Uganda) field ready. First the old wiry grass which hurt the kids’ feet had to be killed off. A line had to be dug with a hoe around the whole field to mark the outside line. Then a line had to be dug down the center.  This week the field will be sprigged with new grass (by hand). Dennis did some of the work & the teachers also helped with it.

Margie is doing the in-country bookkeeping while Cami is on furlough. This week will be our first payroll during their time away.  She has also been directing Children’s Church at the Bunga Bunga Bible Fellowship which meets on the orphanage grounds.

Our son, Terry & his family have been experimenting with raising chickens on our farm while we are away. The following picture shows the typical method of getting chickens to market in Lira. These chickens are alive. They are tied to bicycle handlebars to be transported to market. We understand that the chickens make no sound until they are released. This picture was scanned from a photo a friend of our took so the quality is not as good.

Dennis drives to Calo Me Lare (the orphanage) every day on Aduko Road. It has become almost impassible in spots. Last week a road grader attempted to fix the road for which we are very thankful. We received a lot of rain right after he worked on it, so it is slippery & treacherous in some areas, but it will be better once it dries. See pictures below.

Pastor Dennis, his wife, Grace, their son Mark (on the right), a niece Sharon & a neighbor boy came to our house for lunch on a Sunday after church. It was delightful having that fellowship & made us miss our Community Group from our church, Discovery Bible Fellowship. This picture is taken in our front yard. Pray that Pastor Dennis & family can move out of their apartment into a house with some land for gardening. Grace spends weeks at a time gardening in an area far from Lira.

We were saddened the last week to hear that a dear friend from Discovery, Irene Rusk, went to be with the Lord. Irene was a jewel & everyone loved her, including us. I had the privilege at age 11 of being baptized along with my sister & Irene. We are glad that our hope is not in this world, but our eternal home is in heaven where we will be reunited. Our sympathy goes to her family.

It's time to drink our popo tea. Actually it is a tea made of boiling a papaya tree leaf in water. We've been told by locals that this will prevent malaria. We're not sure how, but the horrible taste would be worth it if we dodged malaria. Of course, we know God is answering your prayers.

Blessings,
Dennis & Margie

Where's the Beef & Kampala Here We Come

Thank you again to all of our faithful supporters & prayer partneres. We pray for you too & trust God is showing up in your life like He is in ours.

In July we enjoyed having the second missions team with Project Hope Worldwide here for close to two weeks. They followed a schedule similar to the first team, with the exception that on their final Saturday they sponsored a community celebration in Bunga Bunga (the village surrounding Calo Me Lare). This was well received by the community. We planned for about 500 people. When it was time to begin there were around 300 people, but as soon as food was being served a trail of people began entering the front gate. Estimates were from 700-1000 people. One photo shows the local dancers who came with the caterers to entertain the crowd.

Our special task was to prepare the beef for the celebration. Andy Cami, Derk, Kelley, Dennis & I cut up the beef on Friday. Then Saturday morning Dennis & Andy started the fires in the grills they had made while Cami & I set up our mosquito-net type tent to keep flies away (worked pretty well). Then we began cutting the beef in smaller pieces, putting it on skewers & dipping it in marinade while Dennis & Andy cooked it. Worked pretty well, but none of us wanted beef for a day or two. See photos of the crowds & the cooking. Dennis took the photos whoso you won't see him in them.

Other photos are of the beauty in our yard (Notice the one tree-type plant that looks like a poinsettia), mangoes on our tree & a photo of us celebrating our 47th wedding anniversary on July 2 at a local restaurant. For our anniversary dinner we both ordered Tilipia (the kind with the eyes on it). Neither one of us ate the eyeballs, although the locals tell us they are pretty tasty. We'll take their word for it.

Andy & Cami, who have been our lifeline, went to the U.S. for a couple of months, so we will be facing some challenges in the weeks ahead trying to help fill their shoes. We will really miss them. We took them to the airport in Entebbe (about an 8 hour drive). Dennis drove both ways. Kampala is massive with traffic you wouldn't believe, but God guided Him & kept us safe. Thank you for your prayers. We continue to need & appreciate them.
Blessings,
Dennis & Margie

Our Awesome God!!!

Nile River behind Paraa Safari Lodge

Our God is so awesome! He arranged for us to go on Tuesday with Project Hope's first team from here to the airport & then to pick up the second team at the airport on Thursday in Entebbe. This trip included a safari & stay at a great lodge near Murchison Falls. What a treat! We enjoyed spending time with this team from the States so much! (We knew about half of them beforehand. They were a young team & the only male on the team was 16 years old, so that's why we went this trip). And what a variety of things to see, from vegetation/landscape to birds/animals. We are so blessed.

We had excellent drivers to manage the roads in Uganda. These were more interesting than most. We had a photographer with us who has promised to share some of her photos with us, so we may be able to put some of them on the blog. Some of the animals we saw on the game drive & boat ride were antelope, heartabeasts, hippos, cape buffalo (like water buffalo) crocodiles, giraffes, & wart hogs. Dennis also went back in the evening with a couple of the gals on the team & SAW LIONS! See some of our pictures below.

We all completed a "challenging" hike to Murchison Falls. It was awesome to see God's creation. This waterfall was something to see & the water splashing out felt really good after a hot hike.

It was great to see the second team (most whom we did know). We arrived in Lira on Friday night & spent Saturday morning with them at the orphanage. The children & staff always put on quite a celebration when a new team arrives. Dennis helped the team with the work day in the afternoon & Margie came home to get things in order.

We went hut-to-hut with the first team in the Bunga Bunga village where five people came to know Christ. A couple of team members prayed for a young boy & he was healed instantly. His father stood up in church the next Sunday & praised God for it.

Having the teams here is just another reminder of how much we love & miss our family & friends in the States. It also makes us very thankful for your prayers & support. May God bless you for all you have done to make our ministry here possible. The other missionaries will be going to the States for a break soon, & we will need your prayers then more than ever. We are thankful to be here, serve the Lord and see His hand at work at Calo Me Lare (the orphanage) & at the Bunga Bunga Bible Church. Who knows what else He will do while we are here. He is AWESOME!

Life in a Third World Country

Thank you again, family & friends, for all your prayers & support! The last couple of weeks have been full, preparing for the US teams arrival. The first team arrived this afternoon. It was exciting to see Pastor Derk, Clay, Montana, Jesaca Gibson & Chase Mills from Discovery + a few new faces. We enjoyed a leisurely dinner with them at their hotel, the Margaritha.

Dennis preached last Sunday, May 27th at the Bunga Bunga Bible Fellowship, the church that meets at the orphanage. It was a big encouragement to Pastor Emiku Dennis & the church as a whole. The message was on sanctification.

God did a miracle for us on Wednesday. We were driving to the orphanage over very rough roads & must have hit a rock at the side of the road as we were meeting an oncoming car. We heard a huge hissing sound & every turn of the wheels we kept hearing it. We kept going and a little farther down the road the hissing sound stopped. We drove about 10 more minutes before reaching the orphanage. When we got to the orphanage we found a tire that was mostly flat with a bent rim. Some way God had sealed up our tire and gotten us safely to the orphanage. We used the spare, had the rim repaired & all is well.

Bananas growing on a banana tree in our backyard.

These are mud bricks, made by hand, laid out to dry with straw over the top. They will dry until they are cured enough to stack. Then they will stack them in a pile with a hollow center so they can build a fire inside to fire them. (See photo below). Everything is done the hard way.

Beautiful but strange!!! This is a worm Dennis saw at the orphanage a couple of weeks ago. There were several on one particular tree, but they are not there now.

We thought our computer had crashed on Friday, but the battery had run down. We are very limited on space, have other issues & are not sure whether we will be able to post again for a couple of weeks. We are getting another computer from the US , with the second team. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers.

You're in Uganda

These huts are near the entrance to our orphanage, Calo Me Lare. You might see huts like this in town as well.

The mounds of dirt we saw throughout Uganda were intriguing to us…until we found out they are termite mounds. This is why homes are not built of wood here. The only way to eliminate a mound is to dig until you destroy its queen. Very interesting…

 This is a picture of the street we drive on to market or to Calo Me Lare. People everywhere…walking, riding bicycles or motorbikes, cars, vans, trucks. Day or night, there is never silence. Birds singing, people talking as they walk by, the band playing at the bar down the street, church services, or the cry for prayers at the local mosque. And then there is the goat sounding very much like a kid trying to get attention. (Maybe it is)!

Our family has partner-sponsored Elizabeth at Calo for a couple of years. She is a very soft-spoken six year-old girl. In this picture she is wearing the backpack our granddaughter, Emma, crocheted for her.

 It rains almost every day in our area & the foliage is lush! Dennis planted cucumbers & zucchini after we arrived & they are doing well. He planted a flowerbed beside the entrance to the Administration Building. Everything is done the hard way here, as you can see in the above photo where men are cleaning up extra dirt around the new houses, loading fill-dirt into a truck by hand. They loaded 3 loads one afternoon.

These are photos of our house, living room, 2 of the kitchen & the bedroom.

Wednesday night we attended a sharing & prayer meeting in the neighborhood with several people who are living in Uganda now but who are from other countries. It was a wonderful time together! The electricity went off just as we are starting (much like it does every evening), we had sharing & prayer by candle-light, & just as we finished praying the electricity came back on. God’s ambience is amazing!

This week Margie had the privilege of spending time getting to know some of the moms & praying with them, which was a delight!

The Bunga Bunga Bible Fellowship is very different from our church back home. The people are definitely more animated. They have been very welcoming. Pastor Dennis’ love for the Lord oozes out of him to everyone around him. This is a church with many new believers who are eager to learn. We met with the Elder Board after the service today. They were most welcoming. Pastor Dennis invited us to dinner in his home Monday evening. We look forward to serving together.

Andy & Cami Flege have been so helpful with our transition to Uganda. We will try to get photos of them for our next update.

Thank you again for your prayers & financial support.

Blessings,

Dennis & Margie