Thursday's Experiences

On Thursday, our team travelled to Kiyindi to visit the local IN sponsored medical clinic, the local primary school and high school, and to make home visits. Kiyindi is a lively fishing village located on the shore of Lake Victoria.

The journey to and from Kiyindi was quite a trip! The road is narrow, dusty and very well travelled. There are many pedestrians who make use of the road, as well as those on bicycles and boda-bodas (commercial motorcycles that are primarily used as taxis). We cannot say enough about how grateful we are for our driver, Daniel, who safely transported us there and back. Though our speed rarely exceeded 60 km/h, Daniel's expertise showed itself again and again as he navigated around the countless potholes, rocks, ruts and uneven surfaces of the roadway. There is little room to maneuver on the road in many instances, and occasionally the sideroads upon which we travelled narrowed to a single lane path, lined with forested areas, and used by the many local residents. When we entered the market area along the main road into Kiyindi, we were all amazed to see a goat that was quietly resting in one of the large ruts on our right hand side as we carefully squeezed past it on the other side.

As Kiyindi is a fishing village, we experienced the sights (and smells!) of a busy fishing community along Lake Victoria's shores. There were fishing boats dotting the shoreline, with many people busily spreading their catch of silver fish to dry, either on the beach or on large flat tables that were erected along the shore. On the beach, we observed workers removing the fresh catch from spread-out fine nets. Simon, who accompanied our team, explained that the fishermen head out in the evening onto the lake and remain there through the night, returning to shore the next morning with the fruit of their labours. The silver fish are considered a delicacy here, and we observed people bagging the bountiful fish catch into huge bags to be transported to market for sale. Also present along the beach were little children and some livestock, as well as various sea birds, including huge, unusual storks that look like something like pterodactyls from a dinosaur world.

We appreciated a wonderful opportunity to visit the local medical clinic in Kiyindi, where a great deal of excellent work is being done to provide preventative immunization for the people of the community. They are truly doing a remarkable work here with the resources that they have. The hospital includes a birthing room and we learned that there are an average of 30 children born at the clinic each month. We were introduced to a mother who recently had twins and one beautiful newborn child was resting comfortably in another room. We saw a freshly minted hospital ward with many new hospital beds, and we were given a tour of the hospital's lab that contained a microscope and a manually operated centrifuge. The clinic plays a vital role in the health care of the Kiyindi community and it was very encouraging to learn about the difference it is making in the lives of the people there.

After leaving the clinic, we travelled a little further to the primary school at Kiyindi, where we were warmly welcomed by Barnabas, the headmaster. We were thrilled to meet up once again with several of the teachers who had recently attended our teacher workshops at Buikwe. We had an opportunity to tour the school, including several classrooms where we met and introduced ourselves to the students there. Classes were quite crowded - in one case, there were over 60 students squeezed together in a small room. We enjoyed watching kindergarten children demonstrate their abilities to count at the chalkboard, and we had a drumming demonstration in another room. Some of the older students were busily reviewing for a social studies examination in a beautiful area above the school buildings lined with lush pine trees. The location offered a gorgeous vista, as it looked down toward the school grounds and beyond to the waters of Lake Victoria. We saw fishing boats plying the waters and large islands in the distant horizon.

At the school, we delivered the school supplies and teaching materials that we had brought with us from Canada, including a Kobo reader and sports equipment. The teachers were most appreciative, expressing their gratitude for all that we shared. They enjoyed trying on the reading glasses that we brought along, and were thrilled to see a brand new volleyball and net (Along with soccer, volleyball is very popular in Uganda). In the early afternoon, after lunch, we met many of the foster children who were attending the primary school and enjoyed watching them open the packages that were lovingly sent by our many Forestview families. The Roddy's were thrilled to meet Mercy, their foster child, and to also have an opportunity to travel to her home for a visit later in the afternoon.

We said goodbye to our friends at the primary school and set out to deliver home visit packages and bring greetings. As always, our gifts were received with so much gratitude. In one case, we even received gifts of a hen and a massive bunch of bananas, as well as being prayed for by the woman who was so appreciative of what we offered her. It was very moving and reminds me of God's love which is so clearly evident in the midst of our encounters. We serve an amazing God!

We also dropped by to the high school in Kiyindi to deliver more packages. Sharon and I met Dorothy whom we sponsor, which was quite exciting. The students at the high school were in the midst of exams that afternoon, and we did not linger there too long as we were completing a long day and were needing to head back to Buikwe.

All in all, it was a wonderful day! We wearily returned home for some much needed rest. We enjoyed a dinner with two visitors, Pastor Justus and Augustine, the deputy of the primary school. Please continue to pray for Glenna, who is experiencing much discomfort while walking with two bruised and painful toes on her left foot. She persevered to accompany us today, though she will likely remain back at the guest house on Friday for some much needed rest.

Thank you for your many prayers and support. It is a privilege to be able to share with you some of our experiences - we hope that you enjoy keeping up with our experiences on the blog.

Until next time,
Blessings!
Paul