Generosity

"Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee!"

Megan, Paul and I have spent the last week or so saying good-byes and we have been enjoying invitations to people's homes and accepting gifts from the staff and our friends here.  It has been rather overwhelming to see the generosity of people who choose to use their limited resources to write a kind letter of thanks, buy some small gift or prepare a meal to share with us.   Their kindness is very humbling!

dinner at Sylivia's (the school chaplain) house

 a very fancy salad prepared by Joseph, our school cook

 Megan, Paul and Deo (the school driver) enjoying Sylivia's hospitality

 Megan and me in other dresses that were given to us

 a plaque made of banana fibre that was a gift from Ritah, the school secretary

another delicious dinner prepared by Doreen at her house

a handmade and personalized wall-hanging made by Julius, a university student

 who helps out at the farm here at Timothy Centre during his school holidays

Friends

I return to Canada in two weeks and the fact that I'm leaving Uganda really began to sink in this morning as we attended our last service at church. The pastor's wife organized a gift of custom made "kitenge" outfits for us to wear to church for the occasion and it was a lovely (albeit somewhat teary!) service.

As we brought our final greetings, and thanked the church for all they've meant to us, I began to reflect on some of the people that I've met during my two years that I now call friends. I have been so blessed by their generosity, hospitality and patience as they have tried to answer the many questions that arise when working cross-culturally.

These people have inspired me, made me laugh and have taught me so much about life here. It is men and women like these, who possess such a strong passion for the people in their communities, who will really make a difference in this country. It has been so wonderful to have gotten to know them, and since they have become my friends it is easy to imagine that I'll be visiting them again at some point!

Comment made to us by several people at church? --"You are smart!"

(which means we were looking particularly well-dressed!)

My friend Evacy--Timothy Girls College Head Teacher. The woman who is REALLY responsible for opening the school. She's the expert on Ugandan schools; I just do what I can to help her. I have so enjoyed working with her!

(left) Paul, a Sunday School teacher and English translator at church who sends his sister to our school and is a member of our Board of Governors, (centre) Pastor Elijah and (right) his lovely wife Florence

another photo with Pastor Elijah and Florence

our good friends David and Doreen--they live close to us and visit us often. We've introduced them to cupcakes, coffee and chocolate and they have tried to explain several complicated aspects of Ugandan culture to us. We laugh a lot when they're over!

Doreen and me

Party

We used Canada Day as an opportunity to invite the students to our housing compound and have a bit of a social time. The girls spend their days in the part of our property designated for school buildings and the majority of their time is spent in class, studying or in extra classes that teachers may decide to hold. Therefore, we thought it'd be fun to have them over for a brief celebration and let them share in some Canadian traditions.

The girls enjoyed playing a game that introduced them to Canadian wildlife, as they'd never heard of moose, raccoons, loons or bison (or any of the other animals on the list, for that matter!) When I asked them which animal they thought would be dangerous to humans, one girl guessed "the beaver" because of their big teeth! We also have some visitors from Canada staying here currently, so the girls loved chatting with them and learning more about our country. The highlight, of course, was the chance to drink soda and eat cake! They were very reluctant to leave when the time came to return to their dorms, but they assured us that on October 9 (Ugandan Independence Day) they would host us and teach us about their country.

we served Pringles potato chips, and it was the first time many of the students

had tried such a snack

Head Teacher Evacy got into the spirit and wore her red t-shirt

the makeshift flagpole we erected for the occasion