Update #4

Oh my goodness, We have not updated for two months. I am SOOOOO sorry, but when you read this post I am sure you will understand why we haven’t updated. In the interest of brevity, I will shortly describe our adventures across planet earth over the last two months. 1 – Murchison falls – We saw some giraffes, elephants, pumba’s, deer, kingfisher’s, hippos, the works. We even had a hippo, which happen to be responsible for more human deaths than any other mammal, rub up against our tent at 2 am. Scary. Giraffe The smaller of the two baby elephants in this shot is probably only a few days old The African Buffalo – Water Buffalo We did not get close to this croc Warthogs (Or in Swahili – Pumbas) Our group who went 2 – Rwanda (which we learned is pronounced Ronda) – We saw an active volcano (complete with red glow). We were surprised when people braked for pedestrians. We learned the way to call a taxi there is to hiss like a snake. Our bus wrecked on the return trip causing much frustration and paranoia. Behind us is mountains of the Congo Rwanda is very densely populated, with farms that go up the sides of hills. Pretty Our welcome home sign Don’t take this bus line 3 – Kapchorwa visit 2 – Greg went back to Kapchorwa to continue his project that he started his first week at eMi (See update #1). This time the locals drew up a map for he and Janet made out of dirt, berries, sticks, garbage and other items. Greg is still excited about this project A Ugandan Engineering meeting 4 – Entebbe botanical gardens – Greg joined Stephanie and her kids on a field trip where we all swung on vines like tarzan. Yes he beat his chest afterwards 5 – Aber (aka “The Village”) – Stephanie and I went with our house-girl (maid) to her village in central Uganda. We ate gizzard, pet a goat that was slottered five minutes later, and we came back with 60 lbs of vegetables and a chicken. In Kampala, most people are attached to a rural village of some kind, each with a different name. But rather than identify each one by a different name, people refer to any of them as “The Village.” (I am going to the Village this weekend - she went to the Village - have you been to the Villages?) Our giant Kasava and young chick we were given as gifts 6 – Harlem, Netherlands – Greg and Stephanie went to Holland for a day and learned that even though Greg has always said he loves cold weather, he doesn’t when all he has is clothes from Africa. We had to buy some wool socks. After that we greatly enjoyed the luxuries of cheese, decent roads, dikes, hot chocolate and blending in with other white people, even if it meant explaining we don’t speak Dutch repeatedly. Pretty The square outside our hotel Greg is feeling slightly ridiculous The church next to our hotel 7 – Houston, Texas – and then the rumored trip to America commenced, and we saw Melody get married and ate a piece of pecan pie. Greg got to meet the presidents head (We don’t know what this was for either) Love birds Darcy and Lizzy 8 – London, UK – Greg drug his sleepy wife around London and we saw all the typical sites in under four hours. Greg and Steph are both excited about our trip there in June where we can spend more time there, but it was sure fun to see London in the winter time. Not any good pictures of us, but here’s a nice one of some clock 9 – Return to Uganda – Fairly uneventful these last two weeks (which was intentional) but we did see some of our fellow interns off, they have all arrived in America by now. Stephanie wrapped the semester with Heritage’s Christmas program with ballerinas, actors and even a band. She will enjoy her two weeks off. Greg, Stephanie and their house-girl they went to the village with, Monica That’s a wrap, enjoy the pictures.

Happy Independence Day!

Today is Independence Day in Uganda. This means I get the day off, but Greg has to work, so the first grade teacher from my school and I decided to go downtown to the mall to see Hairspray. Yeah, I was kind of surprised they have those things here in Kampala, too. The movie theatre was even air conditioned. I was freezing. Nothing too exciting has happened lately, but maybe that's good because it means we are settling in. I've started running in to people I know around town (not just ex pats, but Ugandans), and it makes me feel good, makes me feel like I really live here and I'm not just visiting. Living here has also made me feel like the world is huge and tiny, all at the same time. I can talk to my friends and family over the internet, which makes them feel so close, but sometimes the culture here is so different that it reminds that the world is also huge. I'm pretty sure Greg and I make cultural mistakes on a regular basis, but the people here have a lot of grace for muzungus. We have found a church home, Calvary Chapel Kampala. We really like it there. There is even a cell group that meets not too far from where we live, although we haven't been able to go yet because they are on hiatus for a few weeks. But we are looking forward to joining that when they get started up again. Greg has also been able to volunteer at a babies home in our area, and I hope to be able to join him soon. eMi allows their employees a little more flexible schedule than a school, so we are trying to find a time when we both can go together. School has been busy, but it will return to normal for while now. We had our rain festival last week, (which is kind of like a Halloween substitute - which is really funny since most of our kids don’t' even know what Halloween is, but the school was started by Americans, so traditions stick.) and 5th grade was in charge of the weekly Chapel. They did a very good job. My students put on two skits, one about Abraham and one about Noah, and they led the elementary students in worship. I was very proud of them. Greg and I are getting ready for a busy few weeks, we will be going to Murchison Falls National Park this weekend, up in the northwest part of the country, then the next weekend we will be traveling to Rwanda. In November we will be heading to Northern part of the country to visit with a friend's family. Time is flying by for me, but that usually happens when your life is divided up into semesters. Greg says that life is not going by quite so fast for him. We are thinking about you and praying for you, and are so thankful that you are doing the same. There are some things we would love you to pray for Greg and I about. I think i will put them in a list format. 1. Pray for one of the eMi staff's (Monica) family. They live in Northern Uganda and their crops have been ruined by the floods. 2. Speaking of Northern Uganda, they have been really flooded, and lot of people have lost their homes and crops. Please pray that they will be able to make it through the year, or the next few months, and be able to rebuild their lives. 3. Pray for Greg and I, especially that we would be able to make good relationships with our neighbors. Sometimes it is difficult because we are not sure what is and is not culturally acceptable, but we really should be reaching out to our neighbors mroe, because they are our neighbors! Ok, i hope everyone has a wonderful day today! -Stephanie p.s. there are some pictures too! p.p.s. If you scroll down more on our blog, you will see a couple of small entries that weren’t sent out over e-mail. Sometimes we update randomly and don't send it out. This is John's graduation party. John is an intern for eMi this semester, and he is from Jinja, a town down the road from Kampala, and at the source of the Nile! We felt very awkward. For some reason, it is tradition to sit muzungus up front at parties and such. I don't really know why. John is the guy with the wearing robes on the left. It was a lot of fun to go to a Ugandan party! While in Jinja, we went on a boat road and got to see the source of the Nile. It was neat! There was lots of bubbling going on at the source, you could really tell that there was springs around us. Another view of the Nile. This is a cool little bug in Jinja. Isn't he pretty? Here's a monkey along the Nile. They were cute. These are Ankole cattle. They're the cattle in Uganda. I love their horns! In fact, I bought some. These are a couple of little punks we got. They will probably be food when we leave, and if they have any babies, they will be food too. This probably shocks a lot of you who know me well that I could talk of rabbits this way, but it is fun to have them while we are here. Its really easy to feed them too, here. All I have to do is go to a market and ask them if they have any greens they are going to throw out, and they just give them to me! It's awesome. We call them Squash and Potato.

What is Greg Doing?

This is what Greg is doing. He's drawing up a survey of Stephanie's school campus. Click on the picture, he even pointed out Steph's classroom for those curious. He has found this a very difficult assignment. He's never drawn up a survey before, he's never used AutoCAD before, and he was told that this is the most complex survey his office has done, EVER! But he is thankful that if he can do this, he can do anything. Hopefully his next entry will not be in third person.

Ah, I just felt like writing a little mid week update. I really enjoy living in Uganda. Its very pretty and I enjoy not having to have a car. There are some things to get used to. For instance, friends coming over and staying for 2.5 hours even after you told them that you are sick. The upside is you don't get lonlely here. I am also teaching 6th grade English and Bible now in addition to 5th grade. It has been interesting have 2 classes in the same room and trying to teach diffrent subjects, but it is not bad, considering that there are only 4 6th graders, and 8 5th graders. Greg and I are also really excited because our house girl (maid) has asked us to go visit her family in their village with her. We are very excited to get to go. We feel special that she would want us to come, and we have also been told that since we are living in Kampala, we do not know what it is really like to live in Uganda. Over a million people live in Kampala, but the majority of the population still lives in rural villages. She has not been home in over 2 years. She tells us that they will probably slaughter a goat for her homecoming! We will not be going until November, however. Well, this has been a random update, but have a great day! -Stephanie

Uganda Oyee!

Uganda Oyee! I don’t know what this means, but everybody has been saying this all night at the Cranes Game. The Cranes are Uganda’s soccer team, and tonight we beat Niger, which means Uganda qualifies for the Africa cup…I think. Greg and I were able to go with a few other people, and the game was fun, but getting out of there was way more fun. The stadium is kind of outside the city, and all the way back to the city on the matatu (taxi) from the stadium was just one big giant party all over the place. Everybody was so excited, and people came out to watch all the people leaving the stadium walking and driving home. Everybody was yelling and cheering, and traffic was bad because the streets were blocked with people celebrating. It was awesome. I hope everyone is doing well. In these past couple of weeks all the other eMi interns have arrived, and Greg has begun regular work there and I have been continuing on at Heritage. In my opinion, life here is much less stressful than in the states, but that may just be because I have 8 kids at school instead of 170. All my students are great kids, and it is a real joy to be able to teach them this year. I am really enjoying teaching at Heritage, it is a great place to be. The staff there is very nice and helpful to new teachers. The staff is made up of probably about 60 % nationals, and 40 % other. The principal is British, but we follow an American curriculum. Greg is actually working for Heritage, too…sort of. He has been assigned by eMi to survey Heritage, because they would like to build a new wing for their high school. They have a high school, but the school is growing quite a bit and will not be contained in the present buildings for long. We are much more comfortable with getting around now then we used to be, which is very nice. We are still looking for a church, but we think we may end up at a church called Calvary Chapel. Apparently there are Calvary Chapels in the U.S., but I have never heard of them. We are also getting to know more Ugandans, and understanding the culture and country a little more. And in Uganda right now, there is something going on that needs prayer. November is bringing with it something called CHOGM (cho-gum). I don’t know what chogm means per say, but I do know that it is when the Queen of England is coming to Kampala along with a lot of other foreign diplomats and dignitaries. So because of this 3 day event, Uganda is trying to “get ready.” While getting ready, they are doing things such as road repair(this is good), rounding up beggar children in the town centre and sending them…who knows?...and kicking people out of their stands used to sell things if they’re structure is not permanent (these are bad). This is sad, and I would ask that you would pray for people that are having their lives and livelihood affected by this. Last weekend we were able to visit an orphanage called Watoto (meaning children in Swahili). It is sponsored by Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC) here in Uganda, (which is probably the biggest church in the country), and we went so eMi could look around to see how they built it and how it was laid out. KPC goes and searches the whole country and tries to find children who are the most destitute and have the least likelihood that someone will take care of them, and they bring them to Watoto to live, be loved, and get an education. They have 3 orphanages around Kampala, and they are all very good homes for these children. Watoto also has a children’s choir that travels the world performing. Please pray for these children that they would grow up to loving God and praising him. There are many orphans here, largely due to AIDS. I know you have heard this of Africa, but it becomes much more of a reality when you are here, and you talk to so many people who are affected by this. Please pray that more and more children would find homes, and that people could have their lives emotionally and physically healed. Pray for Greg and I, that God would use us here, and that we will make sure and listen to him so that we follow his will! Namboole Stadium in Kampala. Yes, if you look closely, you will see a man with a big flame caused by lighting hair spray or something on fire. Watoto This is also at Watoto. Another child is taking the picture (those kids sure love cameras), and I told the boy in my lap to make a funny face. I love this picture. This is one our way to Mabira Forest, a rainforest outside of Kampala. We were able to go there last weekend. This forest has a lot of controversey surrounding it, as the President wanted to tear down 1/3 of it for sugar plantations, but the people of Uganda did not like that. So that plan has been put off, or possibly stopped for good. Here's a huge tree in Mabira forest! Here's the nile river in Jinja, right after it comes out of Lake Victoria. This is our apartment. Across the street is a cell tower with a very loud generator, which is actually quite nice because it blocks out the dogs fighting that used to wake us up every night. Chickens! I love all the barnyard animals that run around. A monkey in Mabira forest. He wanted food. A Maribou stork. These are trash birds that are extremely numerous in Downtown Kampala. They have got to be the ugliest things I've ever seen. They probably stand about 3 or 4 feet tall. Thanks for reading and praying! We love to hear from you!

Update # 3 - 2 weeks in Uganda

8/18/2007 Hello Everyone! This e-mail is kind of long. At the end is a summary of what I have written. There are also pictures at the bottom of the post. I hope this e-mail finds everyone well. Greg and I have been in Uganda now for two weeks. I just wanted to e-mail and let everyone know what’s going on. First of all, let me tell you a little bit about life in Uganda: 1 Greg and I have been happy to find the weather here very mild, and it never really getting as hot as it is in Houston. I am even pretty cold sometimes in the morning and nights. We were also happy to find that the mosquitoes are not anywhere close to as bad as we thought. I don’t think either of us have been bitten by one yet (although we certainly have been bitten by some sort of bugs…), and we find there is no need to sleep under a mosquito net. It is very beautiful here, with rolling hills as far as they eye can see. If you walk a little uphill from where we live you can see Lake Victoria. There are several neighborhoods in Kampala, and we live in the Kansanga district in the southeast part of the city. It’s sort of the suburbs. There are children and goats and chickens and very surly looking dogs all throughout. The people here are very friendly. Lots of people will say hi to you, and everyone is always willing to help you out and answer questions. Getting around and getting what we need is much easier than what I expected it would be. There are 3 small grocery stores within a kilometer from our apartment, and one of the main roads, Ggaba road, is also within a kilometer. There are also lot of stands on the side of the road selling various items, such as fruits and vegetables, eggs, and bread. If we need to go somewhere else, it is very easy to catch a matatu (public transportation) to pretty much anywhere around town from Ggaba road. On a side note, the public transportation here is great. All matatus charge the same price for different areas of town, so you never have to worry about being overcharged, and you rarely have to wait to get on one. On top of that, it only costs 500 schillings to ride one into downtown, which is about 29 cents. They are actually 12 passenger vans, so if someone in the back wants to get out, everyone has to get out and then get back on. Greg and I have only experienced one power outage the whole time we have been here, and it only lasted 10 hours. This is apparently amazing, and we are thankful for that. I’m afraid we will get spoiled, though. We’ve heard that a hotel on the same line as us has some diplomats staying with them, and that is why we have had power for so long. That’s how it goes, here. 2 Its amazing how God has taken care of us since we have been here. The first week, I was sick with a fever, but it passed in only a couple of days. I have been working at Heritage International School for two weeks now, and I love it. I only have seven kids, which feels amazing to me. I have 2 students from America, 1 from Canada, 1 from Italy, 1 from Rwanda, 1 from Uganda, and 1 from S. Korea. Most of them are missionary kids. Teaching at Heritage is really a blessing. 3 Greg has hit the ground running as well, and has already been on a trip out to Eastern Uganda to an area called Kapchorwa. He was able to go and do some preliminary work for a water well project for that area. Greg is really excited about this, because it will be something that affects a whole community of people, which is really what he wanted to be able to do. He also had a blast getting to play with the kids who followed them around while they surveyed. Greg will tell more about this project later on. 4 Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. We could not do this without you. God has provided for us so much in that we got here safely, none of our luggage was lost (which I hear is rare), and were able to get settled and get to work without much to stand in our way. There were a lot of things that could go wrong, but God makes sure that they don’t. We have been able to meet some wonderful people here, both western and Ugandan who have made our transition easier because of their caring spirits. Please pray that Greg and I would find a home church to be a part of while we are here. We have visited two, and will be going back to one tomorrow. There are international churches here with more western style services and local churches as well. We will be going back to a local church tomorrow. The long services take a little bit of getting used to. Please pray also that we would adjust to the culture here and be able to learn the language well enough to communicate with people. A lot of people do speak English here, but a lot don’t, too. We have to adjust to sticking out like sore thumbs and people (especially children) yelling “muzungu” at us all the time. Muzungu means foreigner or rich person. They are not being rude, but it can be difficult to get used to. Pray for us that we would seek after God, and he would provide opportunities for us to serve outside of Heritage and eMi. Thank you again for your prayer and support! We would love to hear back from you, so e-mail back and let us know what’s going on! God bless, -Stephanie Summary: 1 Life in Uganda 2 Heritage International School 3 Greg in Kapchorwa 4 Praises and prayer requests. PICTURES - You can clikc on the picture to see a bigger version of it. What we think is the Sahara desert, or close to it from our plane window. Sipi falls in Eastern Uganda. Greg saw these on his way back to Kampala from Kapchorwa. Greg at a well site in Kapchorwa with another eMi Staffer, Janet. A view of Lake Victoria we are able to see if we walk uphill a bit from our apartment. Ggaba Road. The vans with blue checkers on them are the matatus (taxis). Greg surrounded by kids in Kapchorwa.

Update #2 - Stephanie has a passport!

Hello everyone! I hope this update finds you well! Thank you everybody for your prayers and concern for my passport. I now have one! I called my congressman, and they requested expedited service for my passport last Thursday. However, by Monday, the Passport Agency had still not even looked at my passport. So I decided it was time to head downtown. In order to get my passport downtown, I needed my birth certificate, my marriage certificate (which was already mailed off with my original application), and a plane ticket stating I was leaving the country in the next two weeks. I was able to get a certified copy of my marriage certificate, and I still live right next to the county I was born in, so it was easy to get my birth certificate as well. So I had everything I needed ahead of time, and I headed down to passport agency at 6 a.m. today. I know God is taking care of me because getting a passport today was not at all like so many horror stories I have heard. I got to the building a little before 7 a.m., and I had an appointment at 8 a.m. I was 3rd in line, and there was lots of friendly people to talk to while I waited. I got to go into the building at 7:45, and I was out by 8:20. I also did not have to pay again, since they had a record that I had already payed when I mailed in my application in May. It was a pretty good experience. Now that I know I can leave when planned, I'd like to tell you about our travel plans, and some things we can be praying for! Greg and I will leave on August 2nd from Intercontinental Airport in Houston. We will have an 8 hour flight to Amsterdam, a 3 hour layover there, and then another 8 hour flight to Entebbe, Uganda. From there we will have about a 1 - 2 hour van ride to our new home in Kampala. Please pray for safe travel, and for everything to run smoothly. Please pray for us that we would continue to seek God with all our hearts, even in all the craziness of leaving the country. Please pray also that God would begin to work in our hearts and people in Uganda that he would have us to meet, that we would be able to accomplish what God has planned for us. Also, please continue to pray for Engineering Ministries International, and Heritage International School, that God would use these organization to show His love to the people they are involved with. Greg and I will be praying for you, that God would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, and that he will reveal His amazing love to you! -Greg and Stephanie Osborne P.S. I've attached a couple of pictures of Greg and I with a baby lemur that we got to play with while were in New Braunfels visiting my parents. I just thought they were fun.