Update to the update!?

I have really never seen people with such a strong work ethic as the people of northern Uganda. Deo and I left Gulu this morning at 5:00 to drive to Kampala to get the computers that I got from Computer 4 Africa. The roads were already populated by women, in particular, who were walking with jerry cans on their heads either to or from the bore hole. Now THIS is a job that “Americans won’t do.” And, I doubt if there are many illegals that would do this kind of work. I have never seen so many people who work so hard at what they do in order to survive. It was very, very dark but there were people walking on the side of the road to get their water. I just hesitate to think what it would be like if we could not turn on the tap and get water. These folks can spend up to eight hours to fetch water. The women will take their cans to the bore hole and put it in the “queue.” Then, they go back or their children go to the hole to get the can and put it on their heads and carry it back to their huts. Of course, none of us would live in the kind of squalor that these people live in. We would insist on government housing, food stamps, Medicare and so on. These people have none of these options. They can only do what they is in front of them at the time. If this were not so pervasive, I would be unhappy. Today, Deo and I went to Kampala to pick up the computers for the school. I filed a grant with the computer company and they came a while back. I put them at Ggaba Modal, the school where Stella goes, and so we went to get them and bring them back to the school. It was a LONG day of traveling. It was almost like flying over the ocean. It took us 12 hours to make the round trip…not to mention the stops we had to make. But, it is funny, I absolutely adore the African savannah and right now there is a plethora of farms growing fields and fields of sunflowers…my favorite flower. Everyone gets so upset with me when I make them pull over so I can get in the fields and take pictures. I know I have some lovely sunflower pictures! We picked up Timothy, a friend of our and a film maker in Ggaba. He is going to make a short documentary on the suffering here for us to put on the website. I am so impressed with Deo. He has such a great vision!!! This was his idea. I am very thrilled that we have him working with us. He understands the culture so well and he knows exactly what we need to highlight. I just cannot tell you what a great joy Deo and Irene have been to us. They are going to stay here for the summer and work as Interns for us. They both have to have internships for their majors and so they are going to work for us. I just couldn’t ask for more!!! Tomorrow, we are supposed to have a documentary done on the bikes by the New Vision, the production company that is part of the newspaper. We have made quite a splash here!!! I cannot wait to see what the bike turns out! I need to call my friend in California and find more bamboo. We are going to make the best bikes ever!!!!! I spent the day yesterday in meetings with people about the property. Speaker Martin has told me that they are going to ask the project at the facility to leave in one month and that we will have all the buildings! I just cannot believe how much we are blessed. We have found a donor for another well at Palyec, someone has come forward with the money for the toilets at Lamintoo and the school is coming together so well. God is good…all the time. There is a team here from Rock Harbor, California. They are going to do medical mission work. I am not particularly fond of medical missions…they really do nothing to address the underlying issues. People get a pill for a day, but their lives are not changed. I shouldn’t go into too much here as I could write a book on how I feel about how the aid has been handled in Africa. It’s time for bed. Tomorrow will be another very full day. We are having to use the mosquito nets this time...we have been plagued with the critters at night. We lose electicity all the time, but we can't lose the mosquitoes!? SMILE Sweet dreams to all!