2013

As 2013 comes to an end, I've had myself a bit of a reflection on what I’ve done in the past year. And wow is it a long list! 

2013 has been an incredible year and certainly a memorable one.

Back in January, I met my friend’s wife and daughter, who very quickly became very special to me. I’m so proud to be ‘Aunty Lorna’ to Berindah, and also now to Brian and Terry’s second daughter, Breanna, who was born in October and who I had the honour of naming.

Me with Terry and Berindah at Lake Victoria in February

I saw some amazing sights of God’s creation, particularly whilst on Safari in Murchison Falls National Park.
Being in Uganda for half the year, I learnt a lot of new skills including how to shower with a bucket and the optimum times for using pit latrines (i.e. not in the mid-day heat!). 

Our shower in Kuffu village

I learnt to cook a few traditional Ugandan dishes, and also to light and cook on a charcoal stove. I also learnt a lot of the local language – Luganda, and East African sign language. I learnt to braid African hair and to ride a motorbike (well… kind of!). One thing I didn’t do so well at learning was riding on the cross-bar of a bicycle, but oh well – you can’t do it all!

With all that learning, I did a fair bit of teaching too. I taught regularly in 2 different schools in Uganda, and did a bit of teaching in another school too. I had the absolute privilege of teaching numerous children to read and write and to witness their incredible progress.

Two of my students; Godfrey and Alex,
learning to read during three intensive reading weeks in Kuffu village in May

Teaching phonics in Kayunga village in June

Living in a rural village for a fair amount of time in Uganda, I learnt a whole new definition of the term ‘roughing it’, but I actually grew to love it and to appreciate the simplicity of a life that involves fetching water from a bore hole, sleeping on a mattress on the floor and showering in a bucket!

Andrew and I fetching water in Kuffu village in March

As well as all this I got to help with some really exciting projects including building a church, regular outreach work in the slums of Kampala, sponsored children’s projects, a project providing physiotherapy for children with cerebral palsy in rural areas, and a sponsored widow’s project.

Working with Kisaakye Rehabilitation Centre in Kayunga Village in June

I had some pretty amazing experiences at other times too, like swimming in the largest lake in the world – Lake Victoria, attending a Ugandan graduation party, turning 19 in Uganda and having an incredible birthday celebration.

On the shore of Lake Victoria near Entebbe in February

Also single-handedly cooking enough pancakes for 40 people, dispensing prescriptions in a makeshift pharmacy as part of a medical mission, taking part in a huge church picnic on the beach by Lake Victoria and having a massive water fight at 1.30am!

There are some things I did this year that I’m not quite so keen to repeat, such as eating cow’s lungs and getting tonsillitis, and there are others that I doubt I will ever get to do again, like having an interview for Bible college on Skype, and joining the locals in welcoming a short term mission team from the UK!

Lining up to welcome the visitors to Kuffu village in June

Clearly, I managed to squeeze a fair amount into the first half of 2013! As well as all of this, I fell in love with God all over again, several times, and saw him do so many things that I thought were impossible.

Of course, at the beginning of July, I got on a plane and flew back to the UK. That’s another thing that I’ve never done before – moving back to the UK having been living in a different country! 

Moving back to the UK in July

I had a difficult couple of months readjusting and suffering from re-entry culture shock, as well as missing the people I grew so close to in Uganda, but this didn’t stop me from filling up my summer with an array of things like cooking rice and beans for over 100 people, volunteering with Adventure Plus on an adventure holiday in the Peak District and taking a youth group to Soul Survivor for the first time. 

Beans for the Ugandan meal I held at Christ Church Chineham in July

Clare and I looking cool in our
onesies at Soul Survivor in August

I also worked for the Diocese of Winchester and helped to organise a Diocesan Conference. And all of this before September when I moved to the Isle of Wight and became a youth worker, and following that Skype interview earlier in the year, I started studying for my degree in Applied Theology and Youth and Community Work at Moorlands College.
I joined the Isle of Wight YFC team and set up new youth groups at my placement church on the Island. I also went on retreat to Pembrokeshire with the YFC team and I got my first car!

On Retreat with the IOW YFC team in October

So that’s it! What an incredible year. I’m so thankful for all the opportunities I’ve had this year, and everything that has made it all possible. But now I look to the future with optimism of equally amazing experiences to come.

…Bring it on!