Treasure Your Jewels!

There have been considerable “logistical issues” to resolve for the Baby Unit this month, not least a leaking ceiling, oxygen tanks that need filling (only possible in Kampala), a phone line that needs to be connected (still waiting on that), and more worryingly, an inverter that would turn on for 2 hours and then fizzle out.  Fine, if power cuts were only 2 hours long, but as you may remember, we have power cuts from at least 6am-7pm every Friday, Saturday and Sunday these days, and they’re set to continue well into 2014.

Luckily, our technical whizz kid, Collins, was able to source us some newer better batteries, and now we have the power to supply oxygen and fluids to our babies and keep them toasty warm.  This means more babies getting to go home to their doting siblings, such as Agnes, the proud big sister of the little gem pictured here!

We’ve started having regular internal Baby Unit meetings where we discuss issues, but also include a training/education element, and these are going well.  In addition, we were SO blessed at the end of last month to have some visitors from Ireland (Anne, Aisling and Catherine) who came and did neonatal training for our nurses and doctors, brought loads of much-needed equipment, as well as tons of encouragement and support.  We had an extremely busy week that week, with so many babies, we had to add extra rows on our “baby board”, but that too was a blessing as it meant we could get their opinions on ways we could improve things!

The last major thing for the Baby Unit was a big serious meeting that Sarah attended.  Rob (an elder/director of River of Life) kindly came along for moral support, and ended up saying the best line of the whole meeting.  Just at the end of the meeting, he beamed warmly at everyone, and said “weebale for the amazi”, attempting to thank them for the water they had given him.  Alas, Rob has clearly not read one of our earlier blogs about the nuances of Luganda, so unwittingly had said “thank you for the sh*t”.  The nuns did slightly pale when he said that, but soon figured out what he meant!  Considering it was quite a challenging meeting, one might wonder whether it was a Freudian slip?

Now, one thing I was wondering is whether anyone would like to pray for specific baby unit babies, for example ones that are particularly sick, or where the families have extraordinary challenges.  If you are interested, please get in touch, as I could then send email (or facebook if that is preferable) updates when the need for particular prayer arises.

It has been an exciting week for Synergy, with our biggest game to date against Super League's Masaka Local Council in the Uganda Cup. To put this in perspective it is like a League 1 team taking on a Premiership team in the FA cup in England. 

It didn't quite start as planned, conceding a soft goal in the first 10 minutes, but after that we sprung to life. After a fairly even rest of the first half, we completely dominated in the second, pinning them back with wave after wave of attacks, thrilling the spectators with slick passing and deft touches, causing our opposition to start trying to waste time with still 20 minutes to play! Despite losing 1-0, it was a massive success, our boys putting in a stirling effort, and ensuring that everyone left the stadium with the name of Synergy on their lips!

As we often do, we can't help but mention the ongoing battle to train our rather overexcitable puppy, Kibuto. Sarah has been doing a great job, getting her to sit and chase balls and has only experienced the odd playful nip here and there. Tim on the other hand, has had a torrid time. It seems that Kibuto thinks of him as her plaything, and in this last week he has had the humiliation and pain of constant leg humping (especially strange as Kibuto is a SHE), having his trousers pulled down by her and falling over in front of the neighbours, and finally, the jewel in the crown, having HIS crown jewels munched upon as if they were just another toy to be destroyed. Better get a move on and think about a sibling for Noah whilst everything is still intact!

Now THAT'S integrity!

As I'm sure many of you will be aware, one of the greatest battles we face on a day to day basis here in Uganda surrounds the issue of integrity. One of the challenges is that with so many people struggling with poverty, the chance to make a few thousand shillings whilst compromising your values is a serious temptation. For example, whilst I would never condone a policeman accepting bribes, many get paid so little that I can understand that with hungry mouths to feed at home it can be a case of 'needs must.'

That is why arriving back from Christmas in the UK to the story below from Brian, my right hand man at Synergy, was so impressive.

Peter: Man of Integrity!

"What would you do if you were the only 'breadwinner' in your home, your father was blind, you didn't know where the next meal was coming from... and you were offered money to do something a bit dodgy, but would at least buy enough food for your family for the next few weeks?

At Synergy, building upon our Godly foundation involves consistently encouraging the development of Christian character in our lads. At the forefront of that is drumming home the importance of integrity.

This has recently really been put to the test in one of our players. Having reached the semi finals of the Tonny Mawejje Cup this Christmas, we were drawn to face a team from Masaka Town. This is a team who had put a lot of money and resources into their push for victory, even bringing in professional footballers from around the surrounding districts, paying big money and giving their players promises of hefty bonuses for every goal they scored and match they won.

To try and give them an edge, they decided to offer our keeper Peter, a sizable amount of money, to play below standard and help them win. To put this in perspective it would take him 14 Regional League matches for him to get this amount of money through playing for Synergy.

Peter is in desperate need of cash. He's the main breadwinner at home due to his father being blind. Did he accept the bribe? No way! “See my manager if you want to give me that money,” he said, and from then on ignored his phone every time they called him. More than that, on the day of the match, he put in an outstanding man-of-the match performance to keep that team at bay with a clean sheet allowing Synergy to win 1-0 and progress to the final where we eventually were crowned champions! Now THAT’S integrity!!"

Tonny Mawejje Cup

A GREAT BEGINNING

In other news, the Synergy team has also increased in number in the form of a new, and badly needed, under 13s coach mentor Tonny. He will be leading the work with our young academy players and has already bedded in nicely, even acquiring 8 new scholarships to a good private primary school for some of our younger players!

The Synergy Team: Tonny, Brian and Timmo

TEAM CROW GROWS AGAIN

And what blog would be complete without an update of an animal nature. We can proudly announce that the orphaned chicks, after intensive care with the help of makeshift hot water bottles, have all survived and have therefore now been named: Mabungi, Kibibi and Bruce! Kibuto (our puppy) is still as annoying as ever, and is getting ever closer to dogmeat kebabs! And finally Tim has finally started to win in his battle against the rats, as you can see, 2 bagged in the last 2 weeks! Pied Piper step aside!