It was with much excitement that we flew in to Entebbe Airport, just outside the city of Kampala. However, it still took us the best part of an hour to drive to the MAF office where we were met by the whole Verboom family. The Verbooms lived in Dodoma with us just over a year ago. They have 2 older boys and a little girl, also aged 3 years old. The older boys are very similar ages to Joshua and Benjamin, so perhaps you can imagine some of the excitement that there was. Esther asked me every 5 mins if Naiomi would be there, but I thought not, so it was a complicated answer, with a "...maybe not, but perhaps you'll see her tomorrow."
Kampala we found to be a very busy city, with many people, much traffic, "bora bora's" instead of "piki piki's" (motorbikes) and many bicycles too. It is set in the midst of many rolling hills, hence all the roads go up or down hills. There are many, many potholes (and we thought Dodoma was bad!) but there are also great things on offer too. Shopping is more like South Africa than Dodoma. There is a cinema, bowling alley (for wet Saturday's), shopping centreswith Game, Shoprite and Nakumat, but mostly people don't go into the city that often. There are smaller shops closer to home, which although a little bit more pricey, they save that trip into the city. So, during our time there we learned some things about how to function in a city - we've never really lived much in a city. The children did some learning about holding hands and waiting to cross the road. We visited the ARA (American Recreation Association) where we were able to get a weeks membership so that we could swim a few days. It also has a couple of tennis courts, a volleyball court (where MAF play weekly), a gymnasium, a restaurant and bar, and a TV room with a big plasma television. Wow, what a lot for us to take in. So, hopefully we'll be able to join there and get some regular exercise. There is also a smallish conference room that we visited on the Sunday, to go to a church called 'The Sheepfold'. The worship was great - led by 3 Ugandans (2 guitars and 1 drum) and the pastor joined in with guitar too. He is from the Netherlands, and his sermon was really good - can I say 'nutritious'? Nourishing! It was great to join with them; the service began at 10.30am and finished around 12.30pm with coffee. There was Sunday School provided, so the children all went out to that - though after being left at school one morning, Esther was not going to be left in Sunday school by herself! There were 2 different classes for different ages - and the littlest ones were able to stay and play with the duplo just outside the conference room, on the veranda.
There were a couple of short termer MAF ers there also, and we went with a MAF family, who were hosting us for lunch that day too.
During our 6 full days in Uganda, we were on the hospitality of MAF Uganda. Now what that simply means to a lay person is that for each meal a family took us to their home and provided us with that meal. So we were able to meet almost all of the MAF Uganda team over a meal, giving us time to takl with them, find out a little about them and any other advice they had on our move, on schools, on housing and/or living in Uganda. Dur to security measures, all MAF staff live close to the office (so that the staff can walk there within a few minutes) or at least a 5 - 10 minute drive.
We visited 3 International schools on the Tuesday and Wednesday, and the children experienced 2 days in 2 of those schools on the Thursday and Friday - giving them a better feel of what they were like.
The first school we visited was Heritage - the American Christian school. Photo above is during our tour and of the Early Years outdoor area.
This is a picture of the children all ready for their taster day at Rainbow - all in uniform. Joshua is in full uniform and the other 2 are wearing PE uniform. We were able to borrow it from our Dutch friends (who lived in Dodoma with us) who already go to this school. The children were very excited to be in the uniform - the same as all the other children.
A picture of the nursery at Rainbow - Naomi is in this photo.
A display in one of the classrooms.
The playground for the primary children. This is the school that runs with the British curriculum. However, at the moment the numbers for the classes that we would need are full, so we have to see how we get on later in the year, if there is some movement of children - leaving the school.
As their old friends (Joel, Ruben and Naomi) already go to Rainbow, they are already slightly influenced towards it. It's wonderful to be able to have a choice of schools to send the children to. Esther also had a bug or virus during this week too, but she managed a half day (well a couple of hours) at Rainbow school on the Friday. She already knew Naomi, who was in her class and was happy to go in with her. However, as it was her first day in school, she didn't realise that her Mummy and Daddy were going to leave her for the day, and was a bit upset later when she realised that we'd both gone. We went to the MAF office to have a meeting with Steve Forsythe, the Programme Manager for Uganda, and then to have an office tour. As a result of that meeting, we were able to decide on a date of when we should move, so we are aiming for 20th July, as our moving date. More progress.
A picture of the Verbooms garden.
ISU - The International School of Uganda was the third school that we visited. They use an international curriculum and have a very well facilitated school, set out on 33 acres of land. It is very well set out and run, and unfortunately very expensive to attend.
The Early Childhood Centre at ISU.
In for a closer look at the Early Childhood Centre.
Swimming pools at ISU.We saw a couple of houses that would be possibilities for us when we move, and they both seemed suitable. I had been hoping that the children would each have a room, allowing the boys to get to sleep a bit earlier than they do at the minute. They always have so much to talk about when they get together and the lights go out.
This was the first house that we saw, and we think, probably the one that we will live in - it's the one that MAF Uganda had eyed out for us. It's already been used by other MAF families.
The second house that we saw.
Also the second house. The grounds are fairly small for both houses, considering they have 4 bedrooms, making the photos difficult to take - trying to get the whole of the front of the house in one picture.
We saw that MAF Uganda don't provide the same amount of furniture as Dodoma, so although there is some in the house when you go there wouldn't be enough for a family to function. So we were shown where to go and buy furniture along the side of the road. We were also told that you need to be careful that it's not been soaked and so changes shape after purchase, or needs a lot of extra work to make it functionable. When the Parker family shipped their personal stuff about a year and a half ago, we were able to ship a suit of furniture. So, although it is well worn, it is just so comfortable to sit on, we're going to do our best to take it with us. Maybe I could stuff it into Glenn's suitcase?
We also went out to the airfield, and saw the old and new hangars.
This is the new hangar that is being built. At the minute they are in the process of building offices on the inside, as the plan is to move most people out here to work. So far the plan is that Glenn will have an office out at the airfield.
View from the hangar.
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