Africa Update 4

Hello to our Dear Friends and Family,

We're sorry it has been long since we last sent an update. This has been mainly due to the fact that we have moved. This involved quited a bit of time looking for a house, then packing and cleaning the place at the YWAM base and then moving in and settling at our new place.

We have moved a bit to the west. We are closer to Jinja but further from Bushfire by about 12km. We are living just on the west side of the Nile in a place called Njeru which means "white". It has been an adjustment moving out of a community like YWAM into a regular town setting. We will still try to bring the boys to YWAM for there pre-school two days a week. They love their teachers Susan and Janet (Ugandans) who have been so loving and nice to our overly sensitive boys.

We recently had our nephew, Tugume David, with us who is more like a son to Jane and I and a brother to the boys. He lives at New Hope in Luweero in the family group I used to care for. He had so much fun with our boys -- five boys was quite a bit for us but we love them so much. He cried quite a bit when Jane's brother Augustine took him back to Nerw Hope.

We have not been so busy with work as the housing has been quite consuming but we will be getting back into things quickly now. I have been in charge of getting a bunch of t-shirts made for the OKM network as they wanted to have some nice shirts for the HIV/AIDS conference that YWAM is now hosting. This meant a number of trips to the city but the t-shirts look good and hopefully we can sell some to pay for their cost.

I am continuing with ox-work in Bushfire and we should have some planting yokes finished soon and will start planing in lines this coming season. We will also be training a few young guys in the ox-ploughing techniques so that we can conduct seminars in the village starting in the new year.

We have successfully introduced water purification tablets to the OKM group which seems to be going very well. This is saving them a lot of money as they do not have to boil all their drinking water now. It is amazing how simple things can change life so much!!

We are also happy to announce that we have a new vehicle thanks to you, our faithfull supporters. We have a Isuzu Big Horn which a 7-pasenger SUV. We are so happy with it as it has A/C which will help so much with all of the dust that plagues most of our travels here.

The boys have recently had very bad colds again and Isaiah developed pneumonia again. They are recovering now and are enjoying their new home.

I should go now and get the boys from pre-school.

We love you and appreciate all you do for us.

Chris and Jane and boyssss

Jinja - Kampala Road

We often travel from Jinja to Kampala for a lot of our business and official work. This road is very bad for accidents and we often see at least one accident per trip. Last time we saw a dead body near a lorry and a large crane putting aright another lorry we had seen flipped over last week. We have seen too many dead bodies on this road. Most accident are caused by overspeeding and carelss or aggressive driving. This is the main road that services all of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Southern Sudan and Eastern Congo with petrol and imported goods. So there are many overloaded, overspeeding, and undermaintained lorries let alone the crazy matatu (taxi) drivers.

Please coninue to pray for our safety as we travel this road often.

Attached is a recent Newspaper article from the New Vision ( a Ugandan Daily newspaper)


35 die in Jinja road accidents
Monday, 28th May, 2007

E-mail article



By Esther Mukyala -- THIRTY five people died in motor accidents between January and April in Jinja town and the surrounding areas. The Police indicated that 51 serious and 32 minor accidents were recorded in the same time. Fifty-six people were seriously injured and eight sustained slight injuries. The traffic chief, Constantine Tarasi, said 43 pedestrians, 20 pedal-cyclists and 24 motorcycles were also involved in the accidents. He said speeding, overloading, old vehicles and the poor road network were some of the causes of the accidents. Tarasi urged drivers to be careful and respect the traffic rules and regulations. He advised passengers to shun vehicles in dangerous mechanical condition.

BIG HORN

We're SO happy to tell all of our faithfull friends and supporters that we have been able to purchase an 1995 Isuzu Big Horn. This is a seven passenger SUV which allows us to now all fit in our vehicle. We
got it at a very good price and have been so happy with it so far.

It's so different owning a "nice" vehicle as my pick-up is more of a bush vehicle and I normally wouldn't worry so much about the paint scratching in the bush or fender-benders in the city, but now my mind-set has to change! It is a diesel which we like as petrol is so expensive. It has working A/C which is also a HUGE plus in coping with the hot weather and the un-ending dust of Jinja. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support which allowed us to get the vehicle. Some of you may recognise is as a GMC Yukon/Sub-urban - I'm guessing it is a Isuzu/GMC joint product (it is direct from Japan).

Thanks again!!

Above is a pic of Jane in her seat and another of the vehicle on a trip to a traditional wedding ceremony "in the bush".