As soon as we arrived I felt like I was home- the relaxed pace and community feel of Uganda oozes out as soon as the doors of the plane are open. Although Uganda has it's problems, it can definitely teach us so much about what is really important in life and how to be content with simply being alive and near family and friends.
There were so many more non-Ugandan passengers on the plane this time. When I used to fly, there used to be a few rich Ugandan men, a handful of nuns, missionaries and me. This time, the plane was packed with all types of people and I have noticed that I don't get Muzumgu yelled out at me as much as I used to. Uganda has changed so much since I first came. There are so many new laws being implemented. As you know, the laws for owning land has become strict to Ugandans only and the laws for working with children has really tightened up to protect the Ugandan children from child trafficking and abuse. They even have new rules on sim cards! Unlike before when anyone could buy a sim card from anywhere, now every person must produce a form of identification and the sim card must be registered in that persons name so they can track down any thieves of phones! The roads seem a bit cleaner too - well, there are piles of rubbish instead of streams of rubbish.
Also, the divide between rich and poor has widened. The prices of food has dramatically increased, leaving many people in the slums struggling even more. The dangerous slums we visited last time have recently been flattened and the area is now a taxi park so the street wise thieves have moved nearer to the boys home, which is obviously not good.
To be honest, when I saw the home for the first time yesterday my heart sank. There are only 7 boys left in the home full-time as now the others are in boarding school. However, without me knowing, those boys who are boarding took the mattresses, plates, mozi nets and safe boxes from the home with them when they moved to boarding. I am so frustrated that I wasn't informed of this as this could have been something which each boy's sponsor could have helped with so that the home could have remained as we last left it.
I really don't know where to go from here.. the home needs sorting but I do not want to spend money on re-vamping if the new project is coming together soon. I did raise my concerns in a meeting today and even suggested moving all 7 boys remaining in to boarding school and closing down the home so that more money can be put into the future project, but then comes the problem of where to place the boys when they are on school holidays. Help! My mind is full of things right now, I'm actually feeling quite deflated.
The boys are really growing up. I'm not sure whether they can be called boys now as they are more like men! I am so proud of the change they have made in their lives. We watched them play football last night and they have matured so much!
It is getting to the point where we really need to provide career advice and think about what they are going to do once they finish education as they can't stay with Mydel all their life! It's important that we get that transition stage right.
On a positive note, the plans for the new project as coming together and I had a meeting with the team about this today. I will just let the UK Trustees know of this first before I plaster it on here :)
Keep your prayers coming please. I really need clear direction as to where to go next with this whole thing, if even anywhere! Big love xx
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