As this is the last Hippo update until the new year, I thought I’d steal my ‘Life in Kampala’ space to say how much we appreciate all of you and to recap the last 4 ½ months.

 

 The time has flown since we arrived in Uganda at the end of July. We dove right into things and have been busy ever since. What started out as our family’s commitment to helping the poor of Uganda has turned into a cooperative project for many of you back home.  We were prepared to do everything all on our own, and you wouldn’t let us!

 

 The website has been an interesting challenge for us as neither of us are computer people (Tim is a builder, I am a hygienist) and have never had a website, used a video camera or written stories. We appreciate how you have chosen to overlook our spelling and grammatical errors and lack of expertise in the world of websites, please continue to do so. It has been 4 ½ months of adventure, stress, excitement, lessons, smiles and tears (sounds cheesy but it’s true) and we are so glad we didn’t have to go through it alone. With your help we have been able to do so much to help the families here in such a short time. Thank you for your emails, cheerleading, prayers and encouragement and for your donations that have allowed us to make Banda a better place.

 

 

SINCE AUGUST 1^st:

 

Number of times we have heard the word Mzungu (white person) – 1,000,006

Eggs given to moms and kids with HIV – 2394

Kilograms of posho (maize) bought and used – 1800

Tomatoes for school lunches – 1020

Kilograms of beans bought and used – 900

Kilograms of rice bought and used - 900

Carrots for school lunches – 850

Onions for school lunches – 765

Exercise books for school work- 432

Weekly food supplements for needy families - 380

Weekly food supplements for moms and kids with HIV – 342

Number of times we have discussed Swiss Chalet & Lone Star - once per day

Blankets given out – 305

Mosquito nets given out – 230

Kilograms of sugar bought and used - 225

School meals for 200 children – 180

Cabbages for school lunches - 170

Mattresses given out – 168

Houses assessed for immediate needs - 119

Kilograms of bread for school breakfasts – 102

 

Pepto, Gravol and Maalox tablets taken – too many to count

Reading books and textbooks - 62

Shoes given to kids – 54

Families from Canada and the U.S. that have shared with the Ugandans - 47

Houses built or renovated - 31

New breakfast mugs for school purchased – 30

Articles put on the Hippo Africa website - 27

Cases of malaria treated at the school clinic – 26

Number of times we have been asked for a job or school fees – 23

Number of passengers allowed in a taxi bus – 13

Number of passengers actually in a taxi – unknown

Micro loans in progress – 12

Times someone has hit our car – 8 (nothing serious Mom)

Times we have been harassed by the police – 7 (all unrelated to hitting our car)

Different countries we have received emails from – 5

Groups of people that raised money together for Hippo Africa - 4

Grasshoppers eaten by Tim and Emily – 2

Puppies rescued from the pound – 2

Children lost and then found 5 days later – 1 out of 1

Number of times an entire bottle of coke has spilled into our computer - 1

Snowstorms – 0 (thought I’d add that one just to bug you)

Amount of your money spent on administration, gas, vehicle expenses, internet, phones, website, “business lunches” or any other personal expenses - $0

 

With your help, we have also built and fully stocked a medical clinic, hired nurse Esther, built a cooking area and the pastor’s office, cleared a football field, and purchased a generator and a microscope.

 

Upcoming projects are: levelling and pouring concrete on the classroom floors, getting desks and chairs for the students, purchasing sports equipment and art & craft supplies, fixing and building more little homes in a village called Mukono, building a small school in Mukono and providing food for that school. We are also going to start an early learning centre which is really exciting, more on that in the new year. 

 

We are finishing up the year by completing two more homes, getting the last of the blankets, mattresses and nets distributed and beginning to put concrete floors in the school to replace the mucky dirt. 

 

Our son Matt arrives soon for two weeks and we are looking forward to relaxing and spending time with him over the Christmas holidays.

 

May you all have a wonderful Christmas with your families and be assured that you have touched many lives here. 

 

Karen, Tim, Matt, Em & Oli

 

P.S. A big hello from Uganda to Mr. Amaral’s Grade 8 class who has been following the website and has raised a whole bunch of money for school supplies, arts and crafts supplies, bread for school breakfasts and sports equipment!