Zumah has been able to acquire all of the necessary paperwork to get a job. He has had many interviews and opportunities. His faith is strong and he has actually made the decision to turn down a number of jobs due to the fact that they required him to work on Sabbath. He has other opportunities and I am positive that the right job will come his way soon. We have not seen him in about a week, which is odd for him. We have heard through the grapevine that he has lost his twin bother. We aren't sure if the word lost is literal or figurative but either way, I think his family needs our prayers. A big thanks to Thomas Pyke for donating the money necessary for Zumah to get his paperwork finished up.
Henry is working hard at med school and from what he has been telling us, it has been going well. We have been in contact with him by phone, through facebook, and we actually sent him a postcard the other day. We are going to go up to see him in a few weeks. Thank you to all of you who have supported Henry in following his dreams.
For those of you that don't know, Alice and Mary-Bo are two girls that the director's family took into their home a few weeks after we arrived here. Their family life was pretty bad. When they arrived they each had only one dress and no money for school. We commissioned 12 of our friends from home to raise enough money for the girls to go to school for 2 years. Long story short, our friends raised enough for the girls to buy new clothes AND go to school for 3 years instead of just 2. Since then, the girls have been doing so well. They laugh and smile all the time and while being back in school has been somewhat of a challenge for them, they really enjoy it. Mary-Bo doesn't know how to swim. I told her that I have a certification to teach swimming in America and that I would be happy to teach her. I think we will head down to the lake tomorrow. Just today, Krystin and I brought up another fraction of their money to the director's house. As we were walking back to our house, Alice and Mary-Bo both came running after us. We thought we had left something at their house but it turns out that Milly had told them about the money and they just wanted to say "thank you". They had the biggest grins on their faces.
Zealand lives on in our memories but a whole new litter of puppies has been born on the L'esperance campus. We have finally given up our anger towards dogs and now embrace the adorable new puppies.
The dairy project has been going so well! Travis heads out to the bush each week for a few days to work on the building project. Remember we told you that the work would stop and go depending on how much money you guys raised? Well, it seems like at the start of every new week, there is just enough money to continue the work. So far, we have about $8,000 of our $20,000 goal. Keep up the good work guys!
For those of you who don't know much about the dairy, let me explain what it will do for the orphanage. It's kind of complicated but bare with me. L'esperance is owned by a company in Germany. They supply a monthly donation of about $1,000 to run the orphanage. This money isn't enough to cover the food, school fees, medical fees, clothes, and other necessities for each of the children. To make a long story short, the German company isn't always very cooperative or in touch with the needs of the orphanage. Wilbroad, the director here in Uganda, feels responsible for the orphans well being and wanted to start a project that would enable the orphanage to be completely independent of outside donations. Hence, the dairy project.
On top of all these money issues there have also been some land issues. When you buy land in Uganda, you are basically leasing it for 49 years. After the 49 years are up, the land once again becomes the property of the king. Well, in December, the lease ran out and the king wants to put a hotel where the orphanage sits. They offered to just take half the land and allow the orphanage to continue but the German company turned down the offer. Then the Ugandan board offered to give the orphanage 50 acres in another location AND rebuild all the buildings. For reasons unknown to us, the Germans turned down that offer as well. They have yet to offer a solution. So, as of right now, the king has every legal right to kick the orphanage off the property. This is another reason Wilbroad wants to start the dairy. The dairy is on a separate plot of land close to the 50 acres offered by the Ugandan board. If worse comes to worse, he can take the offer for the land himself and sustain the orphanage on the money from the dairy. If everything goes well and the Germans come up with another solution, then the dairy will still offer much needed income to sustain the orphanage.
All in all, no matter where God leads, the dairy is a key part to sustaining and improving the quality of life for all of the orphans here. Thanks again to all of you who have offered so much support whether that be prayers, money, sending us mail and muffin mix, phone calls, spreading the word, or just keeping up with the blog. You guys are incredible!
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