Kato Andrew

For those of you who have been following from the beginning, I wanted to introduce you to Andrew, who is Peter's twin brother. The two of them are Sarah's youngest sons, and were vital to our team, working as translators, as well as becoming fast friends to us all. One or both of them were with us everyday as we taught our classes, aiding us not only in teaching, but also in negotiating prices, giving directions to drivers, and generally building relationships with the women we taught. They have truly become like brothers to me over the years, and it was awesome to see them bond so quickly and easily with the rest of the team also! There were many laughs as Andrew adopted some new "American" phrases. And there were some tears as we heard, through their translations, the heart-wrenching stories of the women and teens we work with. Their gifts of speaking sensitively, yet honestly, with people brought out some true stories that broke our hearts and brought us closer to the work we do in Uganda.

Waiswa Peter and Kato Andrew, THANK YOU! We loved having you as a part of our team!
This is Andrew with Misham, their little cousin whose mother died as an infant. He now lives with Sarah and is the sweetest little thing with huge eyes and cheeks. He is very serious and was captivated, and a bit scared by us. Towards the end of the month we spent in Jinja, he had improved slightly and would take my hand after much prompting, but mostly he kept his distance.

Another side note...."Waiswa" as in Waiswa Peter, means "elder male twin" and "Kato" as in Kato Andrew, means "younger male twin". "Nalongo" as in Nalongo Sarah, means "mother of twins", which means her named changed when she had her twin boys. Peter, unfortunately, couldn't remember her previous name. Peter, if you are reading this, find out and let me know! Interesting, isn't it how some African names are descriptive of factual information like that?!

Stuff On My Bike, part 1

This is just a quick-teaser of a blog post.

During our trip last year, Courtney was blown away by the amazing efficient use of the bicycle in Africa. On every street or dirt path or such, you will see the most amazing sights of men transporting crazy things using their bikes......huge bags of maize, furniture, chickens, etc. We decided that it was a visible picture of a euphamism for when you have so much going on you don't know what to do...we all know that feeling....."I just have so much stuff on my bike!" Before leaving, Courtney presented me with a "Stuff On My Bike" award....a wire statue of a man with piles of "stuff" on the back of his bike. It proudly sits in my living room in New York.

This summer, our team was again constantly amazed by the bikes full of stuff, and decided to do a project where we tried to capture as many photos of "Stuff On My Bike" as possible. So, in anticipation of the "Stuff On My Bike" and, the soon to follow sequel "Stuff On My Head" posts, I wanted to send a little something out to whet your pallette, so to speak. This photo was taken by Kathleen Lindeman, who traveled with Fount of Mercy this summer, serving on another team.