Heading Home

It's hard to believe my trip has come to an end. At the moment I'm at the London airport waiting to board my plane. I've been traveling for over 24 hours already and I'm pretty anxious to get home now. Saying goodbye to the Wiebes was sad and tearful - not to mention the 4 hour bus ride to the airport by myself wasn't much help! They are such a unique and special family and I am SO happy I was able to tag along on this adventure with them. We have had some great times and I'm very sad it had to come to an end. They have such big hearts and I know they will be such a blessing! My last day with them was perfect! We spent 10 hours in Kruger game park on a safari. We saw pretty much everything; lions, elpehants, a leopard, buffalo, giraffes, baboons, hippos, turtles, rhinos, zebras, etc. Then to finish off the day we went out for dinner. It was a great way to spend my last night - discussing some of the best memories over delicious food. Thank you Wiebe family for everything, I love you guys and will be praying for you. Loves xoxo
And to everyone else...well I'll see you very soon!

DE-WORMING!

On Friday, Erin and I had the opportunity to go with a volunteer group from a church in Johannesburg to another one of the care centers to give hundreds of kids their de-worming pill and Christmas presents! We spent a few hours at the Hands base in assembly lines as we put together about 600 Christmas goody bags. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed to the care center called “Clau Clau Joy”. When we arrived we unpacked everything and started making peanut butter sandwiches – a lot of peanut butter sandwiches! Kids started showing up and while they waited they got their faces painted and played games.

So let me tell how things went:
The kids lined up at the door and once their name was recorded they came inside to get their de-worming pill, followed by a cup of juice, a peanut butter sandwich, a bag of chips, a water bottle and their Christmas present. I mean how great for these kids hey? It was a lot of fun and kids of all ages came, from toddlers to teenagers. At the end of the day we figured out that we had about 570 kids come, which is the most they’ve ever had! So great!

Visiting LULA CARE CENTER

Tuesday was a great day because Erin, Megan and I visited a preschool that Hands is associated with called “Lula Care Center”. We were all pretty excited especially after hearing stories from when Mr. Wiebe visited it on his last trip. The preschool was of course so much fun, the kids were adorable and we didn’t want to leave – as per usual! We were there for four hours basically playing with the kids, checking out the baby home, preparing lunch, and cleaning dishes.

The hardest thing for me was seeing this little girl who was always with us but never wanted to play or do anything. She had no energy at all and she seemed really tired. We couldn’t tell if she was sick but she sure acted like it. She didn’t really smile and she seemed to have quite the fever, as well as bumps all over skin. All she wanted to do was sit and cuddle with us. Aw, I just felt so bad for her but there was nothing I could really do, other than pray that she feels better.

Spitting Cobra in our backyard?!

Every day is filled with new creatures I have never seen before! We’ve had a number of frogs roaming around the house, along with unique insects, bugs and spiders. But I think the spitting cobra right outside our house tops it all off. EWWWW!!!! I almost screamed! I hate snakes with a passion so when Megan called me over to see the scary snake I almost decided to run in the opposite direction, but then again how many times do you get to see a cobra on the loose in your backyard right? When I got there, our two guard dogs were going crazy and barking at the snake which made it rise up and its wings (the little flappy things on its neck) come out. The snake eventually slithered away but it spat in both the dog’s eyes so they were all red and watery. Poor girls! But they’re doing fine now so it’s all good – although I think I would sleep a bit better at night knowing that the snake was dead...oh well!

“I Want to Be Your Hands...I’ll Go Where You Send Me”

For those of you who are unaware of the Hands at Work organization, I will give you a little description from what I know. Basically, Hands at Work does a lot of training for people who want to go out into different parts of Africa and help orphans and those children who are living in child-headed households. This is a passion for the Wiebe family, so they’re hoping to receive training here that they can take with them to other parts of Africa (possibly back to Uganda!)

The last few days have been pretty low key, just settling and getting to know the other staff and volunteers who are working here. We were invited to have lunch with a handful of the staff on Sunday and Vivian, one of the staff, gave us a tour around the campuses. We’re staying on a campus which is located at the top of a hill. Most of the staff stays in the ASM (Africa School of Missions) housing down the road, but due to spacing we’re staying on the ‘farm’ as they refer to it as. I love it here though! We’re all enjoying the beautiful views as well as the huge backyard. There’s two other families staying up where we are and they’re all so great. There are a few teenagers that we have gotten to know and it’s nice to have people our own age to hang out with.

We’ve also been able to visit the nearest town a couple of times to pick up groceries and take a look around. I can’t wrap my head around the fact that it’s almost Christmas, it’s so hot and totally feels like summer. It will definitely be weird coming home to cold weather and major holiday spirit!

Hello South Africa!

Well, we have officially arrived in South Africa, our last destination spot. We had to wait in the airport for about 4 hours before our bus arrived. Then we drove another 4 hours to White River, where the organization “Hands at Work” (the one we’re working with) is located. We were greeted by the very nice staff from Hands; they picked us up and drove us to our house.

All Good Things Come to an End

Well I’m sad to say that we left Kibaale on Monday, November 16. I haven’t really talked about what I did for the rest of the week so I’ll fill you in briefly.
Wednesday was a full day! We went with Shannon and Jamie on two more home visits. Dennis was one of the houses we visited and it broke my heart to hear that their family had no food and both the parents and one of the five children are HIV positive. The father is too weak to work and therefore cannot earn money to buy food. We also visited another home but this one was different from the other ones we have visited. It is a child headed household and in this specific situation the mother had 8 children and took off with 3 of them one morning. The parents always fought and some nights it was so bad that the children slept outside. It’s so sad but the good news is that Kibaale steps in and helps a portion of these households by providing them with food, education and medical access.

But I think the ultimate highlight of Wednesday was going on the clinic outreach! With my interest in paediatrics, I jumped at the opportunity to go with the Kibaale clinic to a rural village and see them give baby immunizations. I was so excited! We went with some of the nurses into little village where there was women everywhere arriving with their new babies. Each baby got weighed and then received two shots and one oral medication. It was the craziest thing just to see the nurses set up in the middle of nowhere outside giving all these babies their shots. Although we weren’t able to help much, we were able to hold some of the babies – and OH MY GOODNESS it was hard for me to give them back. We were there for a few hours and everyone left with immunized and healthy babies! It was so great!







The next few days were pretty low key. We played with the kids at recess and lunch and also visited with some of the secondary students. I was so happy when Ivan and his mom showed up on Friday to visit me to say thank you for my sponsorship. They even brought a bag of bananas for me, which was so sweet.



Oh and I have a funny story about Saturday night. Well, it’s funny now but it wasn’t funny at the time. It was late Saturday night and we just finished watching a movie in our room (Erin, Megan and I have our own little building with our own room and bathroom). Megan was in the bathroom when she came like bolting out and jumped right into the bed. She said she heard noises and heard a tap on the bathroom window. The three of us freaked out and jumped into the big bed. To calm ourselves down we watched an episode of “The Office”, pausing it occasionally when we thought we heard a noise. We all ended up sleeping in one bed and it was the worst sleep of my life! It was so hot and uncomfortable but we were all too scared to sleep by ourselves. We barely slept because we kept hearing banging and strange noises and of course being the only ones in the building we didn’t want to fall asleep. The next morning we were all exhausted and when we went next door to the next room, we discovered that a bird had somehow got into that room and had been in there the entire night. Yes – that was the thing making all the noises that kept us up all night! Needless to say we were SOOO tired at church the next morning!

Sunday, we attended church and then visited a few more houses for our friends in Canada. They wanted us to visit and take pictures, so we were able to do that. We also made it our goal to climb Kibaale Hill once before we left, and we decided Sunday would be the day. It was so hot when we started to climb I thought we were going to die. But as soon as we got to the top it just started to pour and pour. There was a beautiful rainbow but we got completely drenched and we looked like complete idiots trying to make it down the slippery and muddy hill. But it was so much fun and something we can definitely laugh about!






Now, we are in Kampala (one of the main cities in Uganda) and we’re staying at a guest house for a few days. We’ll probably be relaxing most of the time, and visiting markets and seeing around town. Today we went to the mall and it was the weirdest thing to see other white people! And I was a happy camper because I finally was able to eat an apple! That’s something I’m looking forward to when I get home. Anyways, we leave early on Thursday morning for South Africa so I will talk to you then! Oh and one more thing - I tried to upload some pictures but it takes forever, hopefully I can upload some more soon.

Happy Birthday Ayana!

What an exciting day for Ayana who turned 5 on Tuesday! She woke up to a decorated house and French toast! We celebrated with a little party with the Dyke kids; Joel, Avin, Finn and Mazzy. There was a scavenger hunt, lots of games, prizes, gifts and cupcakes. We topped off the night with BBQ of hot dogs, hamburgers and pasta salad - thanks to Jeff and Shannon who cooked it all. It was an amazing meal!


In between celebrations, we went with Jamie into the town to get supplies to fill up gift baskets. We needed supplies for about 30 baskets. We loaded it all up in the truck and took it back to the center to organize it all. We were also able to see some of the children receive their baskets, which was a neat experience because we know some of their sponsors from Canada. We also visited a nursery class (which my boy Ivan is in) and read a story to them. They really enjoyed it and sang a couple songs in return for us.

Jail Break?!

Sunday we visited a prison farm with a group of primary students. I had no idea what to expect because I’ve never been to a jail before. When we got there I was surprised to see the very minimum security. The prison is very close to the Tanzania border and later that day we crossed over the Uganda border into ‘no man’s land’ which is in-between Uganda and Tanzania. We sat in the ‘meeting room’ place at the jail while the students prepared and practiced their songs and skits. I was sitting with one of the staff members from Kibaale school and when the prisoners started to file in, I leaned over to ask her what type of crimes these men had committed and she responded with “I think rape, murder and theft”. Needless to say I was a little more uncomfortable as they came and sat basically right beside us. But, it was clarified later that most of the crimes committed from this prison aren’t too serious, so that was a relief!

I actually really enjoyed visiting the prisoners. The students did a great job singing and performing the skit. The men loved it, they were laughing so hard! Pastor Eric gave a quick sermon and 39 prisoners gave their life to the Lord. We also presented them with little gift baskets with soap, toothpaste, tooth brushes, etc. As well as some food before they were sent back to their little prison huts. It was a really good experience and I’m glad I was able to go.

Oh Canada

Friday was a pretty low key day. We played with the children at recess and lunch, and then ate with the staff at lunch time. That evening was the “Canadian BBQ” for all the staff at the school. There was a pretty good turnout, about 140 people to celebrate the end of the school year (their school year starts in February and ends in November). We cooked and served pasta salad, donuts, and hot dogs. Not your typical African meal. I don’t think any of the staff had tried ‘hot dogs’ before so it was a new adventure for them! It was such a fun event with great food, DJ and even dancing! They also celebrated all the November birthdays with singing and cake.

Back in KIBAALE!

Hello again! Well our time at Eagle wings has come to an end – a very sad end. The last couple days were spent planning and playing games with the children, attending worship time with them and just spending time with the family we are staying with. Sunday we went to church, where we were presented as the “Canadian Choir” and sang a couple songs for everyone. Mr. Wiebe preached and Megan sang one of the songs she wrote, they both were great! We’re hoping to maybe visit the children one more time before leaving Uganda because we have a few extra days at the end of the last week.

We are now in KIBAALE!! The time we have all been waiting for! I can’t believe I’m actually here again, it feels so unreal. Erin and I had a hard time sitting still as we drove up the gates.




School was out for Monday and Tuesday due to secondary students taking exams, so the campus was quite empty. So on Tuesday, Jamie Davis and the interpreter, Mugabi, took us all on two home visits. First we went to Reagan’s house (one of Erin’s sponsor children) and also Jackie’s house (another one of Erin’s sponsors). We had a great time meeting their families and seeing their homes.

On Wednesday, Erin, Megs and I went to check out the new daycare center. There were about 15 babies, so of course we all loved that! After lunch, we went on two more home visits. First up was Clair’s house (Erin’s third sponsor) and then Ivan’s house (which is my little 4 year old sponsor boy). I just started sponsoring Ivan in March so I didn’t have a chance to visit his house last time I was here, so I have been looking forward to this day for the longest time. When I arrived at his house, I grabbed the gift basket and my bag of little treats for Ivan. We were welcomed into their house by his mom who was so grateful for our visit. We chatted for a bit about their family and Ivan, and I learned that they are in desperate need for a water container. Right now they have a small jar that collects all their water. I’m going to try to work on getting one for Christmas for them. I also started pulling out the little toys I had brought for Ivan. He loved the whistle recorder I brought, as well as the stickers. And you should have seen his face when I blew the bubbles! It was absolutely priceless! He was so surprised! I was disappointed that our visit had to come to an end, but we were able to go outside and get a family picture. When I bent down to say goodbye to Ivan, he wrapped his little arms around me and gave me the biggest hug. He is so precious and I love him to bits. Later that afternoon we visited two more homes. The first was Scovia, which is the Wiebe’s university sponsor. She just completed a three year certificate and her English is very good. She ended up spending the majority of the day with us which was great. The second visit was at Teddy’s house, which is Cathy Carter’s (who is a friend and teacher at PA) sponsor girl. Cathy just built a new house for them so we were excited to see what it looked like. From there we walked into Kibaale town to buy “chapattis” for dinner. I love walking into town, everyone’s so friendly and the kids just crowd around you. The chapattis were excellent and so cheap! I think we bought 25 for $2.50







Guess what we did Thursday? More home visits! They’re actually so amazing; I could do them every day. Every family has a different story to tell and half the fun is getting there, riding in the back of the truck on the bumpy red dirt roads. The first stop was my other little sponsor girl, Joan. In March I was able to meet both Joan’s mother and grandmother, so I was looking forward to seeing them again. When I arrived at her house, Joan was quickly washing up and getting dressed into her nice clothes. I greeted Joan’s mom and her little twin sisters. We sat in their living room and talked for a bit and I also gave Joan her gifts I had brought for her. I also brought a bunch of toddler girl’s clothes (tons of dresses and skirts) that my friend, Linda, had given me back at home to bring along. The twins tried them on and they fit perfectly. They seemed pretty excited to get new clothes! Again, I was sad to leave but the good thing is I’ll still get to see both Joan and Ivan at school next week.

Arrived in Uganda!

Hey – sorry my blog has been so behind! We have had limited internet access both in Cairo and in Uganda. But anyways, I’m now in Uganda and it feels so incredibly great to be back!

Right now we are staying at the Eagle Wings Children Village which is similar to an orphanage. The children live, sleep, eat, and go to school on the campus. It is run by a retired couple from Manitoba, and they are both such amazing individuals. They are so genuine, friendly and welcoming and it’s been such a pleasure getting to know them.










We are staying in the guest house (just down the street from the school) with a middle aged couple as well as a young girl with her brand new baby daughter, Grace. Of course Erin, Megan and I are all fighting over who gets to hold the baby. The other night the baby fell asleep in my arms, I was tempted to sneak her into my bag and keep her.

The rest of the time we have been journaling, singing, talking and getting to know the staff and family. At 4pm we go up to see the kids because school is done, we play with them until it’s their supper time. And then we return at about 7pm to worship in the classrooms with them. Ohh and this is probably one of the most amazing sights to see! Not even kidding! All these kids totally glorifying God despite the fact that none of them have parents and most have had a horrific childhood including abuse and neglect. It just breaks my heart to hear some of their stories, but I’m so happy that Bill and Anne have opened this orphanage for them.

Posing with the Pyramids

Hey, I made it! After stopping shortly in London to switch planes, I was finally on my way to Cairo, Egypt. Once I made it through customs I grabbed my bags and waited for about 2 hours for the Wiebe family to arrive from Athens. I was SO excited and relieved to see them! That moment was pretty epic...I dropped by bags, Erin dropped hers and we ran up to each other almost wiping out in the middle of the baggage claim, attracting quite the audience of airport staff!

On our first day here we spent most of the day trying to find a hotel after there had been a slight confusion with bookings at our original hotel. They had overbooked and with the ‘high season’ of tourists at this time of year we were left with nowhere to go. But thanks to our amazing tour guide, Mohammed, he was able to make some calls and book two rooms at a different hotel.

Friday was probably the best day ever! We spent about 3 hours riding camels through the desert sand and around the pyramids! Oh my goodness – what an amazing opportunity this was! AH – you should have seen my reaction seeing the pyramids for the first time! They are absolutely incredible, and WAY bigger than I expected. It was so much fun – my camel’s name was “Ricky Martin”









We also visited a few places such as a papyrus museum, an Egyptian cotton store, an essence perfume store, and a special jeweller. Later that evening we went to a “Sound and Lights” Pyramid show, where the pyramids light up and they tell the story about the pyramids while playing music. It was pretty sweet to hear the story of how the pyramids came to be...while sitting right in front of them!


Saturday we spent a few hours in the famous Egyptian museum, filled with historic artefacts found from the pyramids and tombs. It was so interesting! It included treasures, gold, jewellery, mummies, and even the remains of Cleopatra; all found inside the pyramids or tombs. We also visited a little restaurant to try “Koshary”, a very popular dish in Egypt. We’ve had it numerous times over the week – it was very good!
That evening we attended a dinner/dance cruise ship that floated down the Nile. We had a blast! We enjoyed delicious food while watching some unique types of dance. Megan and I were called up to belly dance with one of the dancers – it was pretty fun!

Sunday we visited the Pharonic Village, which is a tour demonstrating the different periods and history of Egypt involving real life actors. My favourite ‘scene’ was where they acted out finding Baby Moses in the Nile. Their costumes and props are so cool, and of course we know that story so it makes it even better! That night we went to the market, which was an adventure in itself! Erin, Megan and I tried to manoeuvre our way through the 2,000 or so stalls without getting lost. But, we were successful and made many friends along the way!

On Monday we drove to Alexandria, where Alexander the Great ruled and built his fortress. We visited the underground tombs as well as the library which is so incredibly huge. If it’s not the biggest in the world, it must be up in the top 5! It is, however, classified as the world’s largest “reading center”. Alexandria is beautiful as it is right on the Mediterranean Sea. We were able to sit down and enjoy lunch right on the water.

Tuesday was our last day. In the morning we went to “Dream Land” which is one of Egypt’s amusement parks. Again, we had so much fun and didn’t want to leave! Later we took a boat ride on a traditional Egyptian “Faluka” (the ones they used thousands of years ago) down the Nile.

The last few days have been so incredible and surreal. Egypt is an amazing place and the people make it even better! I don’t know if I have ever come across such friendlier people. Although, this was more of a fun vacation week, we were able to get to know some people quite closely, including our tour guide who arranged everything, Mohammed. On the night we arrived at the Cairo airport, we were a little flustered about getting to our hotel, but Mohammed stepped in and offered to help. He was so happy we trusted him that first night and ended up spending the entire week with us, introducing us to his wife (who had a dream about Ayana and Moses!), getting us great deals, buying us gifts, spending entire days with us (when he didn’t have to ), taking us to his favourite places, and even taking over the bargaining in the market to help us get better deals! He is such a generous and genuine man, so if you ever visit Egypt let me know and I’ll give you his business card!

As sad as I am that our time in Egypt has come to an end, I can hardly sit still knowing that we will be in Uganda so soon and I’ll be able to visit everyone at the Kibaale Community Center, including my two sponsor babies Joan and Ivan!

Sorry - limited internet

Hey everyone we have limited internet access here in Uganda and it is super slow. But hopefully I can update my blog with all we did in Egypt and Uganda. Right now we're at an orphanage and it is amazing! Fill you in soon, thanks for your prayers.

A few more days to go...

Well...only 3 days until I hop on a plane and head over to Egypt. I'm getting very excited! I can't wait to see the Wiebes and visit everyone in Kibaale! But at the same time I'm a little nervous flying by myself to a place I've never been before :S

I've just started to pack, laying out all my clothes and getting things ready to take to my sponsor children. If you have any small letters or envelopes you would like me to take for your sponsor child, feel free to swing by my house and drop them off. I leave this upcoming Tuesday, October 20th at around 5:30pm so anytime before that would be great!

Just a note, we're having an open house/appetizer night at my house this upcoming Monday, October 19th at 6:00pm. Feel free to pop in anytime to visit. Just a chance to say goodbye :)

Please keep me in your prayers as my departure date approaches faster. Prayer for safety and smooth travels would be much appreciated. Thank you!

A few more months to go...

Hey Everyone! Thanks so much for checking out my new blog. Basically I created one for those of you who would like to stay tuned as to what I will be doing over the next couple of months as I travel to Africa on missions.

I will be leaving on October 20th. I will arrive in Egypt where I will meet up with the Wiebe family. The Wiebe's have five children and feel like a second family to me. Their daughter Erin is one of my best friends, and we had the privilege of traveling to Uganda with our school during spring break of 2009. It was the best two weeks of our lives and definitely a life changing experience, that's why we're SO excited to be heading back!

We will be in Egypt for about a week; visiting the pyramids, riding camels...you know the usual :)
Then we'll hop on a plane and travel to Uganda. Here we will stay at the Kibaale Community Center where we'll visit with staff and students. We'll also participate in the classrooms and assist in jobs around the campus. We will be in Uganda for about 3 weeks, and then we'll head over to South Africa. When I'm there I will be helping the Wiebes get settled as they are planning to stay there for a minimum of two years. I will help Mrs. Wiebe with home schooling and looking after the little ones, as well as volunteering at the nursery. And as for the rest, well I guess we'll have to wait and see what the Lord has planned. Thanks for your prayers, keep in touch!