The African Adventures of Team Crow!

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you!  Lots of things have been going on here in Uganda.  However, a good water supply has NOT been one of them, in fact we’ve not had showers for about 2 weeks now (bucket baths are better than you’d think, though, so we don’t pong too much!). 

Emily wishes you all a merry Christmas!

A story that might bring you some Christmas Cheer is that of Marvin.  Do you remember him?  The little starving 4 year old boy who we sent to the Nutrition Unit?  If you want to read a little more about him, and be encouraged, go to the River of Life blog at: http://ugandariveroflife.blogspot.ug/2015/12/meet-marvin.html

Marvin before & after - what a difference 6 weeks makes!

Marvin is going to join our White Eagle Home today! No doubt this little fella is going to need a sponsor soon enough, so if you feel a tug on your heart to be part of his story, please do let us know!

We’ve also done our best to cobble together a Christmas video as usual – this time around with a reggae flavour. Lovers of 10cc’s song ‘Dreadlock Holiday’ will hopefully appreciate! Having said that  time has been tight so please don’t have high expectations!  Ready?  OK, now, click on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9kzOZ6R-X8

As for Synergy, we have finished the first half of the season in both Big League and Junior League. Our junior squad have had an excellent start and lie second in the table at Christmas. 9 out of 12 of the matches the senior squad have played in Big League have been away matches (away matches are notoriously tough as most teams focus paying the ref bribes on their home matches), so we can be fairly happy with sitting mid table in 7^th with lots of home matches to come in the new year.

Synergy Academy Star Ssali in action!

We’ve also continued to see lots of exciting things happen in our players wider lives. We have a number who have been excelling in their education one example being Ssali Abaasi who has finished his first year on a full scholarship at the prestigious London College in Kampala. Up against some of the most academically gifted students in Uganda, he has been the top performer in his year of all those on scholarships.

It has also been wonderful to see some of our players’ parents coming to support their boys during Big League matches. Much as they are not particularly football lovers, we have a number who have come simply because of the difference they have seen Synergy making in their sons’ lives. Time and again we are seeing parents’ gratitude thanks to the vast improvement in attitude and application that they are seeing in their sons. It spurs us on in the face of the challenges we sometimes face!

Speaking of challenges, in home life, we’ve been “challenged” daily by Noah and his capers, as well as his outstanding ability to elevate the blood pressure.  And if he isn’t enough to induce hypertension, not to worry…. a delightful shower with a rabid grasshopper will sort that right out, as Sarah recently found out!

And then out and about in Masaka, Sarah has been really enjoying a weekly run with the Masaka Running Club!  A good opportunity to see a bit of the countryside around Masaka, and (dare I say it) enjoy being out of the house CHILD-FREEEEEEEEEE!!!!  So she is very grateful to Tim for looking after the babies during the run – even though she always returns to a house full of water, usually with everyone screaming (and Tim rocking slowly on the bathroom floor!).

Also we’ve been learning lessons about who we trust, after a text from a friend apologising for our pick-up breaking down.  Our response was “do you have the wrong person?  We don’t have a pick-up.”  Turns out it was the River of Life pick-up, which had been rented out (without any of our knowledge) to another NGO by our mechanic who then pocketed the money from his shady dealings!  Needless to say he has now lost our business.

Finally a cute mama and baby pic.  But not our usual Baby Unit fare.  This time it’s a beautiful bovine pair, the mum having been kindly donated by one of you, some time ago, to give to the Nutrition Unit – and we wanted to show you the “fruit of her womb”, not to mention the reason that our little Marvin had lots of delicious milk to drink, and was able to thrive.  Thank you so much again!  And for all of you who helped us to accept the most recent girls to be helped by the White Eagle Project.  Your support means so much!