One week later!

Well - we've been here a week - and yet it feels so much longer than that! I thought our readers might like to know how everyone is doing. So here goes...Uganda according to Debbie...

In general - we've all coped really well indeed with being over here and being faced with such enormous poverty. Our blog entries can't convey the extent of the poverty, the dirt, the smell, but at various times it has got to all of us. Having said that we're all also challenged by the positive outlook that the boys in Tigers have to life, many of them have a strong faith too. We're also humbled by the staff who work in this environment day in and day out and who have such an apparent love of God and have responded to His calling on their lives.

I think we've all been reduced to tears at some point or another (privately or publicly) but are supporting each other through it. Please pray for us all as we individually deal with what we're encountering - including daily stories of the boys suffering abuse and even death as the Government look to clean up the streets of Kampala before the Queen and the heads of commonwealth governments come in November.

In addition to this, many of us our missing our loved ones. It was particularly difficult over the weekend when we'd normally be engaged in family activities, but again we all supported each other through this and the distraction of rafting, chimps and vibrant church services on Sunday helped too.

Health - everyone is remarkably well. Yes, the mosquito bite count is increasing daily - I'm winning with my 5 bites! Yes, a number of us are taking Imodium Plus! There was quite a bit of sun burn after the rafting on Saturday, but nothing that won't either turn brown or peel! Poor Chris also suffered a cold and a sprained ankle (from Friday's football) but even he is on the mend now. So thanks for all your prayers for our protection, please don't stop.

PEOPLE UPDATE
The lads - any parents of Darren, Dave, Jono and Will reading this blog - be very proud of your sons. They're amazing. They have literally throw themselves into everything here, they're thoughful, considerate, polite and more than that they really keep us all entertained and amused! The staff at the Tigers Club are also very impressed with their maturity and general can-do attitude.

Helen - is doing brilliantly. In Uganda the average life expectancy for a woman is around 45 years and so when Helen tells them she's 60 years old they gasp. She been an integral member of the team and nothing has stopped or slowed her down yet - not even the football!

Chris - despite his injuries, managed to go rafting and has also joined in with everything. He has been very much praised for the work he has been doing in training some of the Tigers staff on computer skills.

Paul - continues to work hard keeping us all organised and on track. In addition to coordinating the team (with considerable help from Jon too), he has as you'd expect also helped us all to reflect and consider and deal with everything we've seen. Our spiritual health is also very good, thanks Paul!

Jon - has also been playing a very important part in the organisation and coordination, he took such good care of Helen and I when we visited the Chimps on the Island on Saturday. Jon has thrown himself into everything at the Tigers and gave a very good finance and budgeting talk to them this morning which they were clearly grateful for.

Simon - is also doing great and survived the white water rafting. Simon and Helen went out to Tudabuja for their 4 hour church service yesterday and had a 10 minute slot to do so Simon did the talking and Helen taught them "marching in the light of God" both of which went down very well. Then Simon also had to lead the holiday club at Tuda today again - great job as you'd expect.

Mike & Debs - running out of time now - next meeting to go to - so I'll lump us together. We're both fine, and actually in the luxurious position of having each other for support as well as the team. This has been jointly challenging but also jointly rewarding. I'm finding the basics - dirt, water, toilet issues - no trouble at all, contrary to what I'd expected. However there are lots of other things that I hadn't expected that are more of a challenge. I've cried buckets and there are a number of boys that both Mike & I would love to take back to England, I can't tell you how lovely they all are and how clever and how funny. Mike really enjoyed the rafting and is going to be doing a talk to the staff on time management and communication tomorrow.

SO...hopefully that gives you a flavour of how we're doing on a personal level. Please continue to pray for us, and particularly pray for us on Friday, our last day, it will be difficult to leave some of the people behind and move on.

With love from us all.