Zim Update

Well they're in Zimbabwe, staying at Kelvin's family's house and are apparently having a great time. My mom just sent a text last night:

"We had a wonderful eve, walked around town. Tomorrow we're going to the market, then braiing (bbq) in the afternoon. We're going to see a concert tomorrow evening."

Megan and I are spending the weekend at a friends' house, which has been great.. Lord of the Rings marathon tonight apparently :)

Sisters :) (Summer '09)

Still no camera!!! The Vision 2000 trip never panned out, hopefully sometime this week :( Plus my computer is NOT covered by my warranty, so even more billions of dollars to spend on my crappy electronic luck :( 

Off to Zim!

Well, they left at 1am this morning, and called me around 9am to say that they had safely arrived in Zimbabwe. Getting their visas and going across the border all went smoothly and without a hitch, and now they're just excited to be on their way!

Please keep them in your prayers for safe travels and a great trip. 

Ayana (then 4), trying on a party dress (in Canada) '09

PS My mom wanted me to say a special hello to Corrie in Cranbrook.... thanks for reading this blog, she loves you lots! :) 

Winter is Coming!

Unfortunately no, that picture was not taken in South Africa :( (duh). I'm guessing its never going to be quite like that here.. but winter is still coming none-the-less! And with it, 'cold' weather. 

Recently its been getting chillier and chillier... well, for African standards. I wasn't quite sure what to think when I said I was "freezing" yesterday in my sweater and jeans, only to find out that it was around 15 degrees. 

Hmm I guess I'm acclimatized! 

In other news, most of the family is heading off tomorrow to Zimbabwe for 2 weeks! Megan and I are staying here.. Megan to do school, and me to keep her company (my parents don't want her staying down here in Westmont by herself.. plus the 'no electricity or running water' in one of the places they're staying kind of factored into it too, just a tiny bit) but our parents, Joshua, Ayana, Moses and two friends (Kelvin and Adonis) are going to have a great time. 

I'm kind of sad that I'll be missing out, but Megan and I are planning lots of movie nights, full of popcorn, Gilmore Girls, and the Office, which will be great. Plus I'll be updating my blog whenever we get news from the Zim-Mobile Crew (as they're calling themselves) on here, so stay tuned!

One more thing.. my mom is at Vision 2000 this very moment... I'm crossing my fingers!!

Oh how I miss the snow, and being truly, truly freezing cold. 

Time for Timeout

Moses was put on a timeout for writing on the wall, and was quite upset! He saw the camera towards the end, but decided to continue on with the show anyway :)

10 Hours to Joburg and Back

I’ve been wracking my brain for something to blog about, and I just can’t think of anything that would be all that interesting for people to read about. Nothing very monumental at least.

We did go to Joburg yesterday to buy a car.. we were successful, but the day consisted of a lotof driving and waiting.

4:30am à wakeup and get dressed

5:30am à pick up Debbie and Kelvin

5:55am à leave Hands Village

10:30am à arrive at the house of the people in Joburg who would sell us our combie

10:45am à my parents, Joshua, and Kelvin left for a test drive, leaving Megan, Debbie and I (for “collateral”)

11:40am à they finally arrive back, after getting lost in Joburg

11:40am-3:00pm à we sit in the couple’s garden, reading the wife’s old magazines, and waiting for negotiations, paperwork, and insurance to be all settled up.

3:30pm à we arrive at the mall, just having bought a new combie, and go to have lunch

4:10pm à we leave Joburg and head back to White River

9:00pm à we arrive home!

Sooo, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but it wasn’t actually that bad; just having a change in pace and scenery and getting out was nice for a day. And road trips are always fun J

In case any of you are wondering why we’re buying our own vehicle, when both Hands at Work and Kibaale have vehicles, well let me explain!

First of all, we have to pay to use Hands vehicles, which is very expensive. We also need a vehicle to drive all our stuff up to Uganda in (which some of the guys here are very nicely doing for us!), and not only would that be wayy too expensive using a Hands car, we also wouldn’t be allowed to take it up there on un-Hands business.

And lastly, the most important reason (well maybe not most important, but most unfortunate) we needed to buy our own car is because at the end of May we are going to be homeless! Yes, that’s right, homeless. We are not able to move into Kibaale until the end of July, but unfortunately we aren’t allowed to stay at Hands at Work past May 31^st. So in a few short weeks, we will be packing up all of our stuff, and moving to another, temporary home on a different campus (I’m not exactly sure where we’re moving to, but its something to do with a friend of a friend’s organization I believe), where we will live for the next 7 or so weeks, before packing up yet again, and moving up to Uganda!

Unfortunately, the temporary house we will be moving to soon only has three bedrooms, so we’re back to cramped and very closely shared living quarters L oh well, this separate house of ours was nice while it lasted. Plus, once we arrive in Kibaale, the house we’re moving into has four bedrooms (which will be so nice!) plus a little flat beside it, which I will be able to live in myself! So that’s exciting news.

Sorry that this post isn’t exactly the most riveting of posts (or that there are no pictures.. not even going to pretend to go into all that yet again) but, again, not a lot is going on in our life at the moment, apart from the every day stuff.

Just to tide you over until I can finally come up with something good to write about, here are a few pictures… they are so random I don’t even know what to say about them, but pictures are always fun to see so enjoy!

 

Really?!

ARGGHHHH!!! That's all I can say right now. Yes, Forward Education has started up again, no I haven't been able to find a new battery charger for my camera, so still no new pictures. 

But the thing that is on my mind right now is my computer.. which suddenly has a huge crack down the middle of the screen! I left the room for all of five minutes, and when I came back and opened it up, it was cracked. Everyone swears they didn't touch it, but how else could that happen?

I'm just hoping that my warranty will cover that, because I really can't afford anything else right now. Why does this stuff keep happening?! 

Editing

One of my hobbies (I know, it sounds kind of random, but its true!) is editing pictures, and here are a few recent ones that I think turned out pretty well :) 

I know that these posts are getting so random, but Easter break is almost over, and then I'll finally have more stuff to talk about :)

Its A Hard Knock Life!

Ayana and Moses have recently discovered the movie Annie and are absolutely loving it. I think they're both under the impression that the both of them are, in reality, little orphan Annie. 

Anything they say, they say to the tune of an Annie song. For example, Ayana (looking through the supply closet) said to Moses, "Is this it?" and he replied with a slow and mournful, 

"Maybe it is....

maybe its not...." To the tune of Maybe (the song Annie sings about hoping to find her parents).

In another nice Annie moment, I was just sitting on the couch reading (and before I say this I need to let you know that when I'm reading, I block out almost everything around me; you pretty much have to rip the book out of my hands to get my attention) when I realized that the repetitive noise I was registering in the back of my head was singing. I looked up and saw Ayana and Moses vigorously scrubbing the coffee table in front of me, singing at the top of their lungs:

"Its a hard not light from us!" over and over.

I guess they almost got it right.

Occasionally they would stamp their feet and run to dip their brushes in the sink, then return to their hard work, singing all the while. When told to put the brushes away, they slammed them down (in rhythm of course!), put their hands on their hips, and marched out of the room.. still singing. 

Wow, these poor little orphans have such a hard life here at our house, they never get to do anything but work. 

They are currently outside, looking for their dog, good old Sandy. 

This next sentence, I'm sure, is getting a little repetitive (and trust me, I hate saying it!) but... still no new pictures! That's an old(ish) one of the two little vagabonds from way back when in Canada.

Nothing Much to Say

Well apparently I’ve already failed at my one-post-a-day vow. Its kind of hard to think of things to write about when nothing much is happening, so I’m just going to say right now.... it may be changed to something more like a one-post-every-few-days vow. J Its still Easter break for the schools, so Forward Education isn’t even happening at the moment.

Carley and I have been working on stuff for the Hands at Work conferences in Zambia and Mozambique.. hours of putting together packages, stapling papers, and laminating book marks. It’s a blast, really!

Other than that, not a whole lot new is going on around here. Still no pictures.. I haven’t had the chance to visit Vision2000 (the other store I’m supposed to go to in order to buy a new battery charger for my camera) but I’m hoping to go there as soon as possible!

For now, here’s a couple of old pictures I found recently....

Look how cute we were :) 

Back Home

The Joburg people are back, and everyone had a great weekend (including the left-behinders :P)

I went to a camera store, and I should hopefully be able to get another camera battery charger soon, I just need to visit another store which actually sells them. So that's great news!

I went with my family to watch "How to Train Your Dragon", which was a great movie! I love kids movies, and this one was an excellent choice. I would have preferred a different voice for the main character, because his was quite annoying, but all in all I enjoyed it. :) 

Kibaale, Uganda (Nov 09)

Happy Easter Everybody!

We're just on our way to church, but thought I'd quickly take the time to wish everyone a Happy Easter! 

Hope you have a great time celebrating with family and friends. :)

Beautiful Girl

First of all…. Happy Birthday to my wonderful mom! Love you, hope it’s been a good day so far J

Santorini, Oct. 09

Second, since I did a post about Moses yesterday, I thought it would be only fair to write one about Ayana.

Ayana (5) and a new friend- visiting a farm in England, Oct 09

Ayana, at five years old, isn’t as much of an entertainer as Moses, but she is such a sweet, friendly, goofy, kind, cuddly, silly little girl… and I personally think that when she grows up, she’s going to be one of the most gorgeous young women ever!

Anyway, I don’t have any specific stories to share about Ayana at the moment, but here are some great pictures from the last few months.

Picture

Visiting a friend's house in Uganda, Nov 09

We don’t have any recent pictures at the moment, because my camera charger disappeared a few days before we moved down from the farm to Westmont, and my parents’ brand new camera mysteriously broke! So that’s soo frustrating… as soon as we can, I’m going to try and buy a new charger, and my parents will return their camera.

But until then, no new pictures, unless they’re taken on my computer, which are not very good quality.

These pictures are from Sept 09 until a few weeks ago though, and so are very up-to-date pictures of this little cutie-pie!

Ayana and Moses are the best of friends.. this photo was completely unposed :) (Santorini, Oct 09)

Santorini, Oct 09

Lounging by the pool in Santorini, Oct 09

Love you Princess! J

Conversations with Moses

Moses overlooking some ruins in Santorini, Greece.. I love this picture of him, such a cutie! (Oct 09)

Moses, at four years old, really is one of the funniest kids I know. I’m sure I’m a bit biased, but I can’t help laughing when I hear some of the things he says and does.

 

The following was said while in the car, completely out of the blue.

Moses: Daddy do we need to follow our dreams?

Dad: Mhm, we do.

Moses: Ok I’m gonna follow mine then. Know what I dreamed last night?

Dad: No, what did you dream?

Moses: I threw Ayana in the Nile River. Ok then. I will.

(Ayana: Hey! No fair!)

Hmmm, not quite what my dad had in mind, but oh well.

This next thing was said at the Reptile Park. Moses was looking at the sign for crocodiles, which had a “danger” skull and crossbones symbol on it.

Moses: Woa!! Look at this guys! Crocodiles can eat pirates!!

Me: No bud that means its dangerous.

Moses: ….. so then the pirates can eat the crocodiles?!

Umm ya, sure.

Such a goof!! (In England, Sept. 09)

And finally (this one’s a little old, but I found this picture and it reminded me of what he said) we were sightseeing while in Egypt, and entered one of the oldest Mosques of all time. Moses took one look around the temple, sat on the floor and said:

“Ok guys, I’m going to do some Hohmmming now.”

He then proceeded to sit with his legs crossed, arms in the air, humming; he was pretending to meditate. Where he got this from, I literally have no idea.

Moses "hohmming" in Egypt (Oct 09)

And when he’s not busy entertaining us, he’s either being adorably cute, or unbelievably naughty (one of his most recent discoveries is lying, and unfortunately he’s quite good at it…)

 Ah the joys of four year old little brothers. J

Moses with some new friends (Ivan and Reagan) in Uganda, Nov 09

PS In case any of the Kotts happen to read this, the bracelet on his arm (you can see it in most pictures) is a shout out to M&N … he hasn’t taken it off since you guys made it with him, he absolutely adores it J

All Alone :(

Well, our Zimbabwe trip was canceled; we couldn't get a vehicle that we could take over the border for two weeks. What a bummer :(

And so I'm home this weekend, with my parents, Ayana&Moses, and Josh. Nearly everyone else is gone for the long weekend to Joburg, but since I was planning to go to Zim there's no room for me to go along. 

Oh well, hopefully we'll be able to have a nice family Easter weekend (our whole family hasn't been home for Easter for the past 3 years! Oh, but I guess Megan's not home this weekend. Ah this is not working out!) and be able to celebrate my mom's birthday on Saturday really well. 

"Happy" Good Friday everyone (not really sure what else you would say about it.. Merry Good Friday? haha I'm not sure)

Moses (4) in Uganda Nov. 09

Did You Know?

In 2005, an estimated 48 million children aged 0–18 years (12 percent of all children in sub-Saharan Africa) were orphans, and that number is expected to rise to 53 million by the end of 2010.

One quarter of all orphans are orphaned because of AIDS (12 million), and about 2.6 million children are currently infected with HIV.

 

Untreated, most children born with HIV will die before their fourth birthday, most likely in the first two years of life.

 

UNICEF concludes that, although they represent a smaller percentage of all orphans, the youngest orphans are the least resilient and have the greatest need for physical care and emotional nurturing.