Our trip to Jinja, Uganda and Easter :)

We got the chance to travel to Jinja, Uganda for a week at the end of March and beginning of April, for a baby shower, for one of Arielle and now my friends. We stayed with her and her husband and had a great time. Arielle enjoyed showing us around jinja. She was glad to share a part of her life with us. In 2009 she volunteered at a baby house in Jinja and lived there for three months, so she really knows her way around that town. Here are some pictures from our trip :)

Amani Baby Cottage :)

Waiting to feed the Monkey's.

Thanks Mom :)

Don't Open Untill April 8th :)

Sad she cant open it until April 8th :(

Smells like My house they said!

Happy Easter in Africa

Our Easter clothes for Church!

Traditional African Wear :)

Last night dinner with Rochelle and Charles 

Itanda Falls :)

Source of the Nile 

Rochelle's Baby shower.....Diaper Cake

Who says you cant make a good cake while in Africa.....

Baby Shower games

Baby Shower Games :)

GREEN HOUSE PROJECT

Today I am writing to you on behalf of my community here in Uganda.  We are currently dealing with food security in our village, there is not always enough food to go around. This problem is due to the rising cost of food in Uganda, as well as a drop in monetary funding from various supporters. Although this may seem to be sad news, these circumstances are pushing us to look into alternative solutions that empower the community in a sustainable way. I believe in a “hand-up” not a “hand-out”.

“Well let’s just plant a garden then!”  It’s not quite that simple….the seasons here are getting worse; extreme droughts followed by too much water when the rains come. These factors make farming very difficult and crop production unreliable.  Therefore we are turning to a widely used, age-old strategy used in countries around the world, such as Kuwait, Israel, and Philippines: greenhouse technology.

Balton Greenhouses is a local company whose goal is “improving food security and livelihoods for small scale farmers in Uganda”. The effects of constructing a greenhouse on our property would enhance numerous aspects of the welfare of our village and the surrounding community.

We will be able to grow continually throughout the year, making the crop yield up to 10-12 times larger (depending on the crop). We will be able to incorporate farming education into our schools curriculum, providing knowledge not only to our community but to the surrounding communities via the students that attend our school from outside. The most important benefit is the food security that it will provide. We will be able to sell off the excess vegetables and fruits to provide income for the staple foods, rice, posho and beans.

The total cost for this project is $3,710.42 USD. This includes EVERYTHING; Construction materials, seeds, irrigation tanks and drip lines, gardening tools and four people to be trained properly in this gardening technique. If you ask me, that’s a bargain for not only what we will be getting, but for what we will be able to give this vulnerable community.

I ask you to consider donating to this project today. Donating is easy, you can send a check to my parents at 1738 Sims Place Lakeland, Florida 33803 or cash or you can drop it off with them. And they will make sure I get it. If you would like an alternative method to give, please contact me. The greenhouse can be constructed as soon as we can pay the company, hopefully before I leave in May.  

I have more information about this greenhouse than you want to read about on here, including a PowerPoint and project proposal.  If you would like any more explanation about any aspect of this project please ask! Either via comment on this blog or email: caylynbrooke.10@gmail.com

We really are making a big push for this because we would like to have the money raised before we leave so we can see the progress on the green house or the final product so please keep that in mind.

Thank you all so much for being a part of my amazing adventure in Africa!

Love,

Caylyn Brooke

“Now these three remain faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is LOVE.” -1 Corinthians 13:13

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you…. write them on the tablet of your heart.” –Proverbs 3:3

FAITH HOPE LOVE

Us at Immy's Daughter Gorett's Visitation Day 

Shabon and I walking home :)

This past weekend has been pretty busy for us. On Sunday we went to visitation day at Immy’s daughters school. She boards there, which means she lives there through the school term and when there are breaks in between terms she can come back home for a few days. Anyway we cooked on Saturday night and Sunday morning to bring food with us, because each family that comes to see their kids, bring food and they have like a picnic on the lawn. So after we were done cooking on Sunday we left for the school. So 8 of us hopped on bota-bota’s and went. We when got there she was so excited to see her family and all of us. Timbo and me had not met her yet because she has not been back to the village since we have been there. She welcomed us with open arms, even though she did not know we are coming, but I think she was pretty happy to know all these people cared enough for her to come and see her at school. It was a fun experience, to see higher-level education here. Because in the village all we have is a primary school, which is like elementary school. We hung out there all afternoon. The students at the school sang and danced for all the visitors.

Gorett and I

 When we got back to the village we decided we wanted to chill and watch a movie because it had been a long day and we got back late. But as I said before we like to plan but I think that is just God’s way of stretching our patience, because not many things go as we plan here. Arielle was called by Immy to come and see this mom and her son, because they were not feeling well. Arielle thought she could be quick and that she should be back in like 20 mins. Well she came back like 30 mins later. And she was scared and freaking out, because both of them were really in bad shape. She was looking for a number to the nurse in the village so she could come and check the two out to see if it was bad enough that we need to come to the hospital. We got all our things together just incase we had to go. And we went back to the clinic and we decided that is was bad enough we needed to go somewhere. Joshua came and picked up, Arielle and I and the mom and son. It was about 10:30 pm on Sunday night. We got to the clinic and they took them both in to assess them. The boy has sickle cell anemia and he was having a crisis that is what they call it when his systems of sickle cell flare up. So we thought they would give him fluid because he was dehydrated and pain medicine because sickle cell gives you a lot of pain in your bones and joints. They next day they found out that he had malaria and bacteria in his blood. So now he is being treated for all of these things, but he is not getting better as fast as he usually does, so please be praying for him he is only five. The mother got assessed also and they put her on fluid and pain medicine and she is doing ok, she will be able to go home today (Tuesday March 27). Please also be praying for her, she found out some not so good news today (Tuesday March 27) nothing life threatening for her but prayers are greatly needed for this family. Also her daughter has a herniated belly button and will be having surgery with in the next week, which is good for the daughter but a lot of stress for the mom and the family.

Him on his last day in the hospital :)

The mom and son went home on Thursday (march 30) and are doing better. They both still have some healing to do. The boy will fight his sickle cell for the rest of his life. This situation has been a growing and learning process for me. God keeps showing me that he is in control and that I need to have faith in him, no matter what the situation is.

"Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." -Hebrews 11:1