From a Tiny Seed

We are back up and running with phone and internet again, so here I am again, back blogging! Things have been rather unreliable again - phone/internet, very unreliable water, and a power cut. It has all been a wonderful introduction to life here for Tim's Auntie Ann and cousin, Rachel! And then with tummy bugs and Auntie Ann's fall on day one which gave her a smashing black eye, there hasn't been a dull moment! But all are currently upright, clean and happy, so that's good!

On Wednesday, we all went to Mafinga for the final day of the Mission Course which Tim has been teaching at the Bible College. We took with us Yuda and Ezekiel from Magozi as we were using the Stoves Project as a case study for the course and they came along to speak about it. Tim brought the course to a close and then they looked at the project in the light of all they had learned through the course. At the end, I did a cooking demonstration on the jiko and talked about the other aspects of the project that we have been able to do alongside (gardens, reading and glasses, bread and cake making, nutrition and efficient cooking....). It was a long day due to the long 2 hour wait in the roadworks! But a great end to the course and a real boost to Tim's Swahili!

Tim teaching at the Bible College with Ann and Rachel following along

Rachel doing the cooking demonstration for the students and their wives

We were off early the next morning to Magozi, taking Ezekiel and Yuda with us. We just had two days there, but were able to introduce Ann and Rachel to many of our friends there and show them around. They are still having problems with their water too. There was no water coming out of the new water system. We take drinking water with us each time, but it isn't easy for the people in the village. Rachel was with Ezekiel as he made a stove with some new clay they found in the new village. It thankfully looks much better than the last lot! We did another bread-making lesson. But a lot of the time we were planting trees. We took the ten little seedlings with us and took them to plant near the gardens recently started and also the homes of Mendrad, Yuda and Ezekiel. It is such a small thing, this spindly tree in the middle of dry barreness, but everyone was happy and we hope it grows and encourages hope and growth in many ways!

Tree planting

We were so encouraged and happy to see Mama Juliana's garden. It is a blaze of green in the brown surroundings! Her first tomatoes are ripening (Rachel helped her snip off the side shoots), her cabbage is growing and she is thinking of new things to plant and do with the garden! Thanks, Canada Team ... she would love to show you herself! Kalista is battling bravely on with her garden. She overcame the bugs only to have the pigs break into her garden and completely destroy all the carrots. She is left with a few tomato plants, but when we go back next week, we will help her get things going again and see that another protective barrier is built!

Mama Juliana's garden

The first tomatoes