It's Christmas Time!

It seems that many folks reckon that Christmas in Africa is a very sleepy, relaxed affair. That's not our experience however! It's true, that there isn't nearly as much commercialism as the western world - but we seem to be as busy here at this time of the year as anywhere else in the world! Laurie flew all last week. One day he flew from the very far west of Uganda (Kisoro) right up to the far north east (Kaabong). He thinks it's the first time he has really flown right across the country. Laurie is even flying Christmas Eve. He is fetching on of the Doctors from World Harvest Mission that have been working on the Ebola outbreak. This chap - Scott, is having a well earned break in Kampala with his family for Christmas. (MAF flew his wife out a few days ago, and his children a week or so ago). They are all now staying at the MAF guesthouse which is packed to the rafters!

Laurie's birthday on the 20th went well. The girls decorated (I say that word carefully) his cake. I think their objective was to get as many decorations per square cm as possible!
We are developing some great family Christmas traditions. One is a wooden advent calendar that we were given by Terri and Darrell Ingram some years ago. The kids love hanging the stars on each day. (They have also had their fill of chocolate from a choccie advent calendar - thanks Aunty Jane)!
This morning, we went to a different church - Kampala Pentecostal church to see their Christmas Cantata. It was phenomenal! It told the real story of Christmas in a really creative way. I'm adding a video of it for you to see a little bit.

Birthday Antics

Today was Bethany’s birthday. Laurie was flying in the morning, and so I had fun with the girls making Christmas cookies as well as decorating Laurie’s birthday cake for tomorrow! It’s all go here! One of her favourite presents so far was a towel from Uncle Jon and Aunty Erin. I couldn’t resist putting a picture on the blog of her trying it on. The other picture is one I took on the last day of term of the girls in their Rainbow School Uniforms by our Christmas tree. Wish we’d had cool uniforms like that when I was at school!

Ebola Update

The World Harvest Mission Doctor's - Scott and Jennifer are busy at work in Bundibugyo - the heart of the outbreak. They have a great website www.paradoxuganda which gives updates and photos on what's happening. It's looking promising as the medical team manages the outbreak. MAF will continue to fly in on a regular basis collecting blood samples for analysis to give that all important 'all clear' or confirmation of the disease. It's wonderful that MAF can be a part of serving that community in Bundi - and be of some comfort to the Dr's there.

Bethany's 6th Party

Lots of things have happened. School has finished for me and the girls. Hurrah! Now I am able to really think about Christmas! Yesterday was a big day for Bethany, as we had her 6th birthday party. We had it at Kampala's answer to DisneyLand - called Didi's World. For her age group it's actually really good and her friends had a fantastic time. They later all came round to our house for some food and of course cake!

Fun at the Panto!

We can do 'normal' things even in Kampala! On Saturday we put up the Christmas tree with the girls. They 'helped' no end! And then in the afternoon, we went to the Kampala Amateur Dramatics Society (KADS) Christmas Panto - The Emporer's New Clothes - with plenty of in jokes based on CHOGM. It was very good. In the evening, we went for a lovely dinner for the ISU (International School of Uganda) Teachers Christmas Party.

Ebola Virus Outbreak Continues

The Ebola virus outbreak is continuing to spread in the west of the country - near the prettily named Bundibugyo town. MAF have been flying in regularly last week and this week, bringing out samples and taking in medical workers. Laurie is flying in MSF (medecins sans frontier) today. Many local health workers are fleeing the area in fear of catching the virus themselves, and so the staff that are remaining are over-stretched with limited resources. Please do pray for Scott and Jennifer (World Harvest Mission) who are both doctors out there. They have evacuated their children with MAF yesterday, but they continue to be there. Please do pray for an end to this outbreak, and obviously protection on the lives of all who come close (including Laurie and the other pilots!).