Synergy Winners & Christmas Dinners!

A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!  We have had a great past couple of weeks, starting with the triumphant success of Synergy in the Amoured Brigade Cup.  The Tournament has been running for the past 6 years, and oddly enough (or not), the Armoured Brigade has won every time.  We do wonder why?!  It is perhaps telling that in the semi-finals, the referee decided to add on an extra 15 minutes of “injury time” when the Armoured Brigade team was losing 0-1 to the opposition.  They scored (immediately after which the final whistle blew) and then won on penalties.

Our hopes were therefore not high for unbiased officiating, but on the day, God was definitely on our side, and when, with a score of 1-1, the referee indicated publically that there was only 1 minute left, within 30 seconds a final Synergy goal was scored, and the referee had no choice but to finish the game 30 seconds after.  We did feel a little sorry for the opposition (well, Sarah did), who soberly packed away the congratulatory cake that they had made for themselves, and cancelled their celebration party. They did however go away with their pre-printed winners certificates and also a quickly acquired "runners up cow." All in all a good lesson for them regarding counting chickens before they hatch, but as we're not sure how well that proverb translates into Luganda we decided not to share it with them!

 

As is now a tradition, we have a little Christmas musical gift for you – perhaps not an extravaganza worthy of your expectations, but nevertheless....  Please find it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgXyS0wY-WY

And of course, we would like to clarify that we intend no offense to the illustrious King of Buganda, for whom we have nothing but great respect and admiration!

Other people enjoying gifts this Christmas included our malnourished babies on the Nutrition Unit, who each received a very sweet knitted toy, courtesy of a very kind knitter from Saltash.

This Christmas period has been a busy one, but very enjoyable, with our first ever River of Life Church Christmas Service.  With our involvement, a certain element of chaos could be expected, and indeed we did not disappoint.  All the same, it was good fun, and (we hope) enjoyed by all. 

As well as a splendid time spent dancing and singing to Christmas Carols on Christmas Eve, whilst munching on mince pies (thank you Mum for the mincemeat so we didn’t have to endure my home-made stuff again!!), we also had a fantastic day consuming a delectable BBQ pork lunch with Rob, Katherine, Elena, and some of the White Eagles who don’t have families that they could spend Christmas Day with.  The only sad moment was the huge disappointment in realising that “The Snowman” doesn’t end happily.  Now that snow is just a distant memory for us, it’s easy to forget the tragedy of combining it with a sunny day.

Finally, along with the New Year comes the joyful opening of the Baby Unit.  Not a moment too soon, as Sarah is likely to pop a spring in her head if she has to encounter another newborn baby who hasn’t been fed for 12 hours, or another baby with meningitis who has endured 48 hours without antibiotics!!!  ARGHHHHHH.

And that’s all we have time for – but we do send you all lots of Christmassy love! 

The Ever-Expanding Crow Clan!

Greetings from an ever-expanding Sarah and her faithful beau Timmo.  This month has prompted Sarah to learn a very important luganda phrase: “Ndi omunene alinga enjovu”, which means “I am fat like an elephant”.  For any doubters, here is a photo to prove it!!

On that note, we have been busy researching parenting tips, just in case our chicken Petra was not able to bestow adequate wisdom upon us.  Luckily we happened upon the following book in a local book store, so at least we have options!

Whilst our human family is increasing, so is our animal family, with the arrival of a new baby chick (no, not Petra’s – she is well and truly banned from reproduction for the near future – but a friend from church gave us a new little chick).  We have called her Bam Bam, but alas, like previous chickens before her, she is being bullied by Petra.  After Tim found Bam Bam wandering in a nearby garden with blood on her crest, we decided separating them for a while might be the most sensible option.  It makes us feel slightly less sympathetic when Petra is in turn mauled by an effervescent Jaffie. 

Within the next two months, we shall be heading back to the UK, but rest assured that plans are being made to tend to Jaffie’s needs.  Indeed, we have found three (semi-) welcoming friends at a nearby cafe, and so provided the least friendly of the three resists the obviously great temptation to eat Jaffie, she may be spending the following months playing with her new buddies.

Security-wise, we have been delighted to note that Jaffie has developed a good bark, which comforts us, since we were not that keen to get a night guard.  We feel vindicated in this decision by a sad tale that one of our friends told us.  Turns out that their night guard found their pet rabbit just a little too tempting, and decided to kill and eat her, after giving a small “fillet” to their cat in order to shift the blame.  At least you can trust man’s best friend not to shirk the consequences of their action!

Baby Unit update: well, we’re moving on, awash with new frustrations and set-backs... so we’re moving at glacial pace, of course.  But our preparation is complete, so as soon as we have staff, we will be up and running.  Watch this space!!!

On a final note, we have had a complete revelation this week.  After all these years of us condescendingly shaking our heads when people said “oh is that a banana tree?” whilst pointing at the matooke trees in our garden – well, you were right.  It turns out that matooke is actually.... banana!  We cut down some matooke to see if Sarah could muster up a taste for them, and conveniently forgot about the bunch, and now we have a whole pile of tasty yellow bananas that have ripened over the past two weeks J