During the last weeks in Uganda we visited one more eMIEA partner project (among multitudes of EMI-designed universities, hospitals, children's homes, churches, transition homes, medical centers, safe houses, etc. scattered over East Africa)  The newly finished Cherish Uganda medical center will soon be used by residents of the surrounding villages and by the many orphans Cherish Uganda houses, schools, feeds, and loves.

The open-air waiting area has (1)sliding grillwork,

                2)pine and metal benches and (3)light fixtures from leftover pipe, all of  which are currently designed and made in the new eMIEA mechanical shop at Kajjansi.

An additional outside seating area worked into the landscaping takes care of overflow patients,
 and an open-air pavilion serves for staff training purposes.

 

We also did some "behind the scenes" feeding at the Wildlife Research Center

(you can see Paula is having a ball!)

 

 

and inspected the ongoing progress on the new office shared and already occupied by eMIEA (top floor) and Mission Aviation Fellowship (main level) in Kajjansi, Uganda.

 

A couple of MAF's planes ready for engine checks are dwarfed by the typical "hills of Uganda", one of the many things it was hard to leave in this beautiful land of a gentle people with so many deep needs.

 

I arrived back in Sarasota, Florida on September 4th, tired, but, hopefully, a little wiser, with a piece of my heart still back in Uganda.  I ask for your prayers for the additional staff needed for eMIEA to say "yes" to more of the numerous organizations desiring to partner with eMIEA..... to be God's hand in helping to meet even more of those desperate needs - spiritually, physically, and emotionally - of the Ugandan people.  

Will I go back to Uganda? - Yes, Lord willing. 

Would I consider staying?  That would depend on the guidance of the Lord, as I listen for the Holy Spirit's prompting and as I continue to (slowly) learn to live each moment for Him.  I thank God for His patience and grace with me, for the opportunities He's given me this year, and for the witness of a daily life of sacrifice for the sake of the Kingdom that I've seen from both EMI and MAF families.   

 

"Let each of you esteem and be concerned for not merely his own interests,
but also each for the interests of others.
Let this same attitude be in you which was in Christ Jesus
Who, although being essentially one with God....
stripped Himself of all privileges so as to assume the guise of a servant....
and abased and humbled Himself
and carried His obedience to the extreme of death,
even death on a cross!"

                                                                                                                    Philippians 2:4-8 Amplified Bible                     

 

 

 

We visited Speke Resort's beautiful grounds, which the hotel has opened to the public for a small fee (since there are no public parks in Kampala). 

And I taught (with an interpreter) the pregnant women for the last time (below is a group of 60 or 70 women we worked with in a community center on the edge of the Kampala slums).

 

Pictured are some of my fellow workers - Christine, Barbara, and Betty

and a few of my beloved friends that I met with at Mama Carol's home.

Then, the move from Kampala to Akkrite (over dusty, pot-hole packed roads in the back of a big open truck) to John and Paula's new home - a little small (850SF) and many electrical, septic, and water problems to work out, but

 

a great yard (at the top of a hill with a cool breeze), where we watched 5 enormous and spectacular Great Blue Turacos fly into one of the trees.  We love this quiet and peaceful place with no all-day or all-night screaming, no loud speakers blaring out, no gangs of dogs barking all night (just our own pups waking Paula up with their crying, barking, and climbing up and tapping on her window at 1:30am).   

 

You can see the characteristic hills of Uganda if you climb up and peak through the grates of the stone wall surrounding the lot.

 

The Z's have had great fun burying each other with friends Jonathon and Eva in the piles of leftover construction material from years ago

and dissecting a poisonous (?) snake found in the yard to see the gheko it had swallowed whole (skip these pictures if you have a weak stomach!).

 

We also explored the botanical gardens nearby with its huge anthills, centuries-old trees with gigantic roots, and natural landscape.  God's creation is so awesome!

I fly out tomorrow night, but I'll send one more blog shortly showing (1) Cherish (another ministry partner of eMIEA) and (2) eMIEA and Mission Aviation Fellowship's new combined office building.