Update 1

Alicia is settling back into life in Canada, and is happy to have secured a summer job at Garry's Garden Centre.  Congratulations, Alicia!  Our rashes have resolved.  The craziness of returning to work is beginning to wane, and I am making plans to meet again with the Fleming College faculty and dean to further discuss plans for sending a contingent of student volunteers in January 2014.

Sue and I are also arranging to meet with Pauline & Lou, board members of the BKU foundation and very active supporters, and also Martin & Marie Pinto.  Manuel Pinto was the co-founder of Bright Kids with Victoria.  They met through Scouting, and the idea of a children's home (originally called Sunshine) was born.  Lou had met Manuel while teaching in Uganda during his time in the Peace Corps.  Manuel unfortunately died in a freak accident, but his son Martin is a doctor in St. Catherines, about a 2 1/2 hour drive from our home in Lindsay.

We will discuss BKU in general, our recent experience, and plans to increase exposure and support for BKU in Canada.

Sue and I met with our good friends Leslie and Marylou yesterday, and their husbands Maurice & John.  The ladies are connected with Fleming College, and the guys are keen to promote fundraising efforts locally, so we did lots of brainstorming.

Victoria has taken Justine to the optometrist and she soon will be modelling her new glasses.

I have updated the portraits page and there will be more to follow.  Please check them out.

Rose in the upstairs clinic doctor's office before the new desk & chair are installed

View from the upstairs balcony at the clinic.  Centre is the field where boys play soccer.  The big house compound is behind the field.  A small neighbourhood road on the left, and the piggery on the right.

Again from the upstairs balcony.  Central is the carpenter's shop, with the church under construction behind that, and Sister Immaculate's quarters further back.  To the left is Rose's & Richard's quarters.  The little one's dorm is just out of the frame on the left.  In the right foreground is a neighbour's place & yard, with the boys who love to joke & pose for me.  

One follows the road between Rose's quarters and Sister's place (heading right & away) to get to the small village centre, and beyond that to the Entebbe-Kampala highway.  Coming back towards us, the road turns 90 degrees to the left of the picture and continues on to the brickworks (quarry), past Banana Village and eventually to the neighbourhood of the big kids' dorm.

The clinic building was erected with materials & labour donated by University of Florida volunteers, hence the American flag on Rose's desk.  I'm thinking we'll have to balance it off with a Canada flag on our next visit.

natural-born hams