Chameleon

Yesterday, Susan Boyett (our teammate up the hill) called to say she had a chameleon at her house, had my kids seen one yet? Since we hadn't, the kids (all of them), Ruth, and I went to see. The young man living on their compound, Justus, had caught it and saved it.I should have known Dara and Dade would want to bring it home. So we headed home with the sweet new chameleon named "Cammy" (short for camouflage).

Rob quickly found some grasshoppers and Dara cleared out an old shoe box. The desire was to make Cammy our new family pet. After looking online we declared Cammy a girl. Here's the best picture I was able to take of her eating. It was quite fascinating.

She ate 3 grasshoppers relatively quickly. It was cool and kinda gross at the same time.

After the last grasshopper met his fate, she looked like she was ready to get out. So Dade took her inside while I went to search the internet to see how best to care for our new pet until Daddy came home (he was off doing work while we were playing). My search taught us that chameleons are very sensitive creatures. They like quiet and trees and specific lighting - quite finicky animals actually. I explained this to Dade, but all he heard was the need for branches. He got the box and ran outside in search of the necessary ingredients to make a happy home for Cammy.

Within minutes he and Dara are back saying that Cammy is lost! We first looked in their room yet Dade was sure Cammy was in the box when he took it outside. We continued to look off and on for the rest of the day, and even a bit of today. No luck...THEN after we prayed and tucked the kids' mosquito nets in, Joel said, "Dade, look at that big lizard. Wait, isn't that a chameleon?!" Yes, indeed, Cammy is alive! I thought she blended well with the wood frames, but Dara read in her book that brown is the color a chameleon turns when they are very stressed. Dade and I took her out to a small tree and she was already looking better. You just never know what may happen in a day....

Cow Costs

Since so many of you have now asked.....let me give you a brief rundown of what a cow costs here and how you can participate if you want to.

We plan on roughly 1 million Uganda shillings for each cow we need to purchase. That's roughly $500 US dollars, depending on the exhange rate. To put it in perspective for you, an average daily income for a Ugandan might be $4000-$5000 shillings which is $2-$3 US dollars. I know ya'll can do the math, but to save you some time.....that's about $60-$90 per month or $720-$1080 per year. As a farmer or villager, that could be considerably less and would depend on how well your crops do. So....potentially, they would have to save close to a year's worth of wages to ever be able to afford a cow. Hope that helps a little.

Many have asked how they can give towards this wonderful project. You can always scroll down the blog and look for the "Online Giving" link on the right hand side. This will take you to AIM's giving site. Choose "Projects" from the drop down list and then choose "Heifer Project - Hollenbeck" from the list. All money given this way will go directly to the Heifer Project. You can also send contributions directly to AIM and specify it for Account 000807004 - Heifer Project.

Thanks so much for your interest and I will make sure we post updates as funds are raised.

Ntongamo - Part 2

I want to tell you about my most recent visit to Ntongamo. But first…..just had to share an “only in Africa” moment with you. We sat down with some teammates last night to watch a movie. We had borrowed one of our teammates projectors and we were enjoying a “theater” feel in the living room. Towards the middle of the movie, Richard, who lives on the compound with us (and is our guard) came to the house to finish watching the movie with us. In he walks with his AK47, swinging it just a little too freely for me. As he moves past me to sit down, I get way too good of a look at the end of the barrel. Don’t know that I’ve ever had a gun pointed at me – certainly not a semi-automatic! Only in Africa would you enjoy a movie while the person sitting next to you is holding an AK47 on their lap! I did mention to everyone later, that I don’t think I’ve ever felt quite as safe in my own living room before.

Before I start on this next part, just realize that it is a lengthy explanation (with pictures mixed in) – so if you just want to look at the pictures, or if you simply want to come back later and read it when you have time, feel free.

Many of you may remember that earlier this month, I traveled with John (one of our teammates from New Zealand) to a village just south of here. I went with him to learn more about the Heifer Project, which is the ministry he is involved with here in Mbarara. We visited the village of Murissa and met with the Mother’s Union to determine if they would be a good fit for the program. So, earlier this week (Tues and Wed), I traveled back to Murissa with John and two others to spend two days in education and training with a group of 30 women and men from this village. We were there to explain more about “zero-grazing,” milk production, artificial insemination, proper pens and fencing, acceptable grass and other feeds, general health conditions of cows, and to encourage them to select those individuals who would be the first receipients from their village to receive a heifer.

Ntongamo is about an hour drive from Mbarara. It happens to be the hometown of Janet Museveni (the first lady of Uganda). To get there, you do have to travel on what we have been told, is one of the worst paved roads in Uganda. Driving is very different here…..other than the obvious of driving on the left hand side of the road, there are really no traffic laws I have been able to see in my short time here. Let me share with you several of the challenges of driving here (and some pictures as well).

First of all, the quality is lacking just a tad…..



And, there is always construction…



There are sections of dirt, then pavement, then dirt, then pavement…



Or some combination of both…



And potholes, deep enough to disappear in and never be found…





Oh, yeah…did I mention the occasional cow crossings or markets that sit literally right beside the road where cars are zipping by? Or the bicycle drivers who weave on and off the road – you just pray that your brakes are good and that no one jumps out right in front of you!



The last time we traveled to Ntongamo, the rains had not yet come and it was brown and dry. This time it was very different…..many of the hills were green (although some look brown in pics, but trust me….they are green compared to last trip) and there were truly some amazing sights along the way and from up on one of the hills we climbed while there.





While we were up on the hillside, I took many pictures of some of the houses of the village and the local “market” or town. It is amazing to see people who live so simply – no electricity, no running water, and far as I can tell, no indoor toilets or any kind.







Our meetings were very successful. I even had to do a presentation on the expectations regarding milk production. Basically, I had to help them understand how much money they could expect to receive from the milk they will sell at market. I think they were impressed when they saw actual figures in their own currency. We were blessed by our time with these wonderful people. In the end, five were chosen to be the first reciepients – either through an initial donation of a cow or through the blessing program where the first female calf is passed to someone else in the village. Here is a picture of the five, along with Canon Rabon (who accompanied us and did a lot of the teaching) and Pastor Emmanuel (the local parish pastor). The ladies are Rosette, Jolly, Juliet, Loy, and Lovelence.



We hope to have enough money donated to the Heifer Project by the end of October to provide at least the first two cows. I hope to be able to go back at that time and take pictures of these ladies receiving their cows.

On the way home, I took a picture to show you another example of the terrible driving conditions and the lack of any laws or etiquette on the roads.

In this first picture, you can see us passing a truck with very little visibility while a car is coming at us head on!



This is another one….the only good lane on the road was on the right, but you can’t really see who is coming and you don’t have a lot of room on the “bad” side of the road.



People get to where they need to go by any means possible….this is a view from the back….I wish I had gotten one from the side when we passed. There were at least 25-30 people on this truck – and those were just the ones we could see!



I am truly amazed as I continue to see how God is changing my expectations of “business” ministry each day I am here. Please continue to pray for wisdom for us as we press forward. We have the ongoing ag programs, but will also be hosting our first meeting with local businessmen on September 22nd. I will be speaking to a group of 50-100 business owners and sharing with them our vision in the hopes of getting many of them to partner with us to reach the business community for Christ. We have also been in touch with several college students who are studying business at the local university and hope to be able to start a discipleship group there soon. God is certainly keeping us busy!

Signs

Here are a few interesting signs I've found over the last couple of days. I've been trying to carry around our little camera for times such as these...

How many scissors do you count in this "4 pack"?

This sign can be found on of the busiest streets in town. I've yet to see a zebra crossing there, but the road is painted here to allow pedestrians to cross. I have loved this sign since I first saw it. I haven't seen any goats crossing here, but I'll be ready when I do.
I wonder if the Lord would like having a bar named after Him? :)

Finally, what we did accomplish yesterday, while Joel was out in a village (hopefully he'll post about his time soon)...was putting some steps up the tree. The kids had a blast!

Outside

Here are some pictures of the outside of our compound...

The first pictures is of our hen house (left) and one of the rabbit houses (right). We are frequently having to catch the chicks which are now trying to fly when they escape from their home. The kids find it quite humorous.

Here you can see Dara coming out of the rabbit house with a baby rabbit. I didn't know that's how she went and got them until I happened by with my camera. Those poor rabbits probably think a giants coming in to snatch them up!

This next is of the pig pen. Notice the black barrels on the right. One has a silver tube going to it. This collects the rain from the tin roof and saves the water for the pigs. Many homes have this capability as well. It's wise to use whatever resources God sends your way.

This is the gate to our compound. The guard sleeps in that little room on the left during the night. Dade loves opening and closing it for cars that come in.

This is our goat shed (left) where they spend the night. Joel and the guys helped build the pen on the right. It's for the cattle (the 7 who presently live here). The animals have to come in at night so they don't get stolen.

Joel's kneeling down on the ground on the left hand side of the pen. This picture is a bit harder to see clearly. The barb wired fence is what Joel also worked on with the guys. It goes the perimeter of the cattle pasture. It's a pretty big field. We're in the rainy season, so it's a bit greener now then when I took the picture last week.

Here's a closer picture of the fence. I would like to brag a bit on the straightness of the fence. Joel and John Ward focused on teaching excellence and the fence proves it.

Finally, here is a picture of Dade riding a bike that is a wee bit too big for him that doesn't have a seat. Where there is a will - there really is a way! His face does look a bit pained. :)

Is there any wonder?

Introductions

It's about time I introduce you to our new home and the people who live here. I wish I could make it so the pictures get bigger when you click on them, but I have to compress them in order to upload them so - I hope they'll do.



There is a family who lives on our compound with us. The father is Richard (picture still pending) and he is a soldier in the Ugandan army. This is arguably the safest compound in Mbarara because it belongs to a brigadare general and as Richard says, "everyone knows Richard has an AK47!" His children are James (13), Rob (10), and William (8). His niece, Dativa (12), and nephew, Paul (14) also live here. (We are guessing on the ages) Donna is Richard's wife, and a frequent guest is a 12 year old boy named "Happy". Okay, now for the pictures I've taken thus far - the gallery is not complete yet...

From left to right: William (holding Gray), James (holding a baby rabbit whose name I forgot), and Dara (holding Rascal).

Dade (holding Melissa - he's a male rabbit but was initially mistaken for a girl - thus the name)Happy and Rob - sitting on the front porch playing Dara's DS.

This is Ruth - she is our house helper and hopefully will be my language helper. She is 20 years old.

Ruth and I were trying to clean between the screen and the bars and the windows. The screen supposedly can come completely out, but we were a bit nervous that it might not go back in. So we blew the leaves and dead bees to the screen that did open. So don't laugh to hard at my face - I was working really hard.This is me after driving for the first time here. It's just a wee bit scary to drive on the left side of the road while sitting in the right seat of the car. Especially when there are no traffic lights, stop signs, or really any other signs. It really is the most assertive driver goes - it does help if you are bigger than the other cars. This vehicle belongs to John Ward (the ones we were staying with last week) and he has been most gracious to let us you it when he's here working with the cattle and stuff.

Now for some of the inside of the house...

This is my new shower and faucet (actually it's the kids - but they are identical). The walls are concrete or tile and so they had to brace it in an interesting fashion. They did a great job!

Here is Dara's side of their room. She has a double bed and is loving it. We told Benjamin (one of the boys whose bed this is) we would paint his walls pink - but we were just joking. We just put flowers and puppy posters up!

This is Dade's side of the room.

I'll work on some more of our house and the compound another time. It's late and I'm off to bed...

Settling In

Did you think we disappeared? Are you curious to see our new home? Well, you'll have to wait until I get unpacked a bit more. :) We moved into our new home on Sunday. Joel and John (the man we had been staying with) worked diligently to add two new showers to our bathtubs. They weren't able to finish until today, but I just took a shower and it was so worth the wait. Thanks guys!

It was so nice to realize we're no longer nomads. We have a home! We unpacked our clothes and put them in drawers. The kids were able to "decorate" their rooms. Lucy (John's daughter) helped me rearrange the room to make it different. We didn't take into account the hooks holding the mosquito nets. But we made it work. I still have quite a bit of unpacking to do, I'll try to take pictures before too long.

Many of you may know that we sleep with fans. We enjoy the "white noise" - it helps drown out the other noises around. We've slept with fans our whole marriage. All this to say, that before we went to sleep last night, we turned our fan even higher to hide the sound of the bats that live in our attic. They make a shrill squeak that the fan couldn't hide. About an hour after we fell asleep, the electricity went out! We could hear the bats, the dogs barking (it's the end of the dry season - people barely have enough food for themselves so they definitely haven't been feeding their dogs), birds, and the rooster who started crowing way before daybreak. The blessing was that the kids slept through all of it!

It's late and I'm tired, I'll try to post again soon with pictures and introductions of other people in our lives here - so you won't be in the dark.

The Park

We decided to break up the morning by going to the local park. It's down the other side of the hill we're staying on. There were 3 swings and 2 of those climbing pyramid things and 3 see-saws. I think it would have been more fun if we had a few more kids and the day had been more cloudy. There was a bench in the shade that I thought would be enjoyable, but the tree providing the shade was covered with ants (which I found out when I felt the first ant on my cheek). All in all we stayed for maybe 12 minutes before both kids were asking to leave. Today wasn't their best day of playing together, so I agreed it'd be best to walk up the hill and head home.

As I read this, I realize this was kind of a boring post - sorry. :) But I thought the park was interesting. We did spend our afternoon with other missionary moms and kids. They meet almost every Thursday from 2:30-5. It's a good time of fellowship for me and the kids have a blast. I'm so grateful to have such a neat group of people around us. I also made chocolate chip cookies today! The sugar here is very granulated so the texture is a bit different, but I chopped up a chocolate bar for the "chips" and they were good.