Bird's Mission Migration: 2021

This has been a crazy and wild ride through our first month. I have a whole new appreciation for hot water in the kitchen sink or in a washing machine. As of yesterday, we finally have internet service in both countries. It was wonderful opening my email and finding a note from you. It was truly a Christmas gift.

We are doing fine. Still adjusting to wild driving on the wrong side of the road. We decided to invite the other two senior couples for Christmas dinner. This has given me something to focus on beyond presenting next year's projects and budget before we have visited possible sites. The first two weeks were a real whirlwind as our area couple mentors whisked us around Uganda and Rwanda closing projects they had just finished and then looking at possible projects for us to implement. I've seen more poverty here than I saw in two years in South Africa. That is partly due to our water well (bore hole) projects being quite remote areas. We drive up to a bore hole in the middle of nowhere and suddenly we are surrounded by children that have just appeared out of the bush or run down a path to the water hole with their yellow jury cans to get fresh water. They see the dust of our truck and know the water is being tested and will be turned on for a few minutes. We can't permanently turn on the water until they have someone in place to monitor it and charge a few pennies for water each week. That money, as little as it is, helps the village keep the pump repaired and working. The children seldom see white people. They stand in awe and as we discuss with our team consisting of a contractor, the sector engineer, our translator, I feel little fingers touching my skin and hair. That happens at schools as well.

It is so hot here I often pull my hair up in a bun. Dennis comments, "You are going to disappoint the children today."

We have two apartments. One in Uganda and the other in Rwanda. Our flat in Uganda is new. We are the first residents so it has been like moving into a block building and trying to set up home. We have spent hours and days shopping and trying to find basics. Today I was unsuccessful at finding measuring cups and spoons yet I found blenders, instapots and rice cookers. Go figure. In Rwanda (Pronounced ronda) our flat has housed multiple missionary couples and has everything imaginable in a kitchen (except a stand alone mixer). However it took us four days to find bath towels. Good thing we were used to back packing because all I could find at the local market were two washcloths. It added to the adventure. All in all this has been a rewarding but challenging experience. Once we have housekeeping set up we will be able to work much easier. We have an established office in Rwanda. Now that we are in Uganda we are focusing on finding desks, a printer, and office supplies in-between meetings with government leaders to discuss the needs of various districts.

Some of the projects we are ready to submit to the area authorities are as follows:

about 10 primary schools in each country that need water tanks, classrooms, roof repairs, kitchens and desks. Every school asks for desks.
a trade tech school that needs a security fence which their masonry class will build. In addition their wood shop will build 800 desks for the other schools if we can purchase supplies.
Two maternity wings on two different health clinics plus latrines. This is a whole nother story I will tell later.
A morg with a cold storage unit
Days for Girls (I could give away thousands of kits. Every school asks for them. The church purchases them at a very low cost from Days for Girls and AFRIpads. Very few women here have sewing machines and I have never seen flannel. I think they use wash clothes as the inner lining. Fabric in general is hard to find and very expensive so they cut up old clothes and when you think of it - why not? I am looking into clearing the purchase of a sewing machine and fabric for a stake RS to do a service project. We are teaching fishing!!!!! Sanitary pads are not readily available and if found, they are too expensive for the village people to afford so the girls stay home from school when they are in cycle.
wheel chairs
latrines at two refugee camps (latrines are a stall with a hole in the floor) (We do have a toilet in our flat and it flushes!!!)
Health camps (a two day visit from Doctors who donate their time to go into remote villages and give free check-ups.) Can't sponsor this one unless they follow up with treatments after diagnosis. What good does it do to tell someone "you are diabetic or you have HIV" if you don't get treatments?
New Mother kits.

These are just a few of the projects requested by our Stake and branch presidents. We will present them for the first half of 2022. Who knows what else we may discover as we meet with government leaders here in Uganda.

We will be in Uganda until the middle of January. Then we will return to Rwanda where we will settle. We are very involved doing Leader support in the branches in Rwanda so we like to be there on Sundays as much as possible.

I am long overdue for a post to our blog page. I promise to get an entry this week. We have just been going crazy trying to catch up. Elder Bird paid a craftsman to make us two desks and they just arrived. That is a welcome sight and now that we have internet service we will organize an office tonight. Things should move forward quickly.

Feel free to share this letter with everyone at Empty Nesters or at your discretion.

Happy Holidays to you all. 90 degrees here and about 55% humidity. It certainly doesn't feel like Christmas. In fact, the only sign of Christmas is the hymns we sing at church. I love hearing the music.

If you want a wonderful mission experience, apply for the new Rwanda mission opening in July. We need you down here!!! So far it is an CES couple coming in April and us. We are hoping for three more office couples and two MLS couples.

Elder and Sister Bird