Photos of Living Learning Centre

The front of the Centre faces north. This is the west side of the Centre showing the kitchen window and kitchen entrance. The window at the corner of the house nearest the water tank is the kitchen pantry, which now doubles as the solar power collection/storage headquarters (see photo further down). Beyond the water tank you can just make out the bedroom & bathroom windows, which face the south. The brown object jutting out of the ground in front of the kitchen window is a tree stump!




The raised water storge tank holds about 1000 litres and water has to be hauled to fill it. We have arranged for gutters (eavestroughing) to be installed and for a 5000 litre tank, which will be placed on a pad at ground level. The ground level tank will then collect rain water, which can be pumped with a manual pump to the raised tank. It's amazing the amount of water that comes pouring off the Centre's roof during a rain!




The team ate very well! Rice, sweet potatoes, matoke (steamed, mashed green bananas), Irish potatoes, beans, cooked cabbage with a tasty seasoning, a variety of cooked greens, free-range chicken, smoked beef in peanut sauce, farm-fresh eggs, pineapple, papaya, sweet bananas, watermelon, fresh roasted groundnuts, chapatis...Everything was organic, prepared from scratch and was cooked over a wood fire outside or on these charcoal cookers in the Centre's kitchen. The cooks were awesome!





Here's the solar power collection, storage & inverter system, which converts 12v DC into 240v AC for everyday use at the Centre. It will produce enough power for lighting, computer use, and charging of cell phones. There are 4 solar power panels installed on the roof, each producing 130w of electricity per hour under full sun. There are 4 batteries, each capable of storing 200Ah. Together they store 800Ah, which equates to 800 x 12v = 96w hours, of which only 60% can be used. Fully discharging the batteries will damage them. (Ted)

Leading a Mission team for the first time was a challenge ... you never knew what they might be "getting into"!

I discovered this photo on my camera after the team had left ... Sylvia looks like she's enjoying the ride!

Lights in Tilling

Here it is ... the Living Learning Centre! It's so incredible to see it there. When I think back to two years ago, this plot of ground was growing beans!


For those of you who have been checking the blog, I admire your perseverence. The demands of the day, weariness, blogger inexperience, and my struggle with technology took their toll on my great expectations of keeping up the blog on a regular basis during our stay in Tilling. My personal recommendation is that the next team to travel to Tilling has a designated, experienced blog writer and a doctor. Both will go a long ways to relieving my stressload. Not that we needed the doctor this trip, but I would have slept better!



You may have noted the sudden appearance today of a post dated September 13/09 which ended rather ubruptly. It's a case of the lost being found, at least in part. While we were writing the original draft, our internet connection timed out and we thought we had lost everything. I just found this bit safely stored away in the drafts department.





One of the challenges of being in Tilling was keeping all the batteries from numerous devices charged. We went with several back-ups in place, but one after another they fell by the wayside. If it wasn't the battery, it was the amount of air time you had left on your phone, or whether the internet provider would come through that reminded you of how much you were accustomed to relying on technology.



Ted was focused on getting a solar power system up and running before we left Tilling. On the day the team left Tilling, a solar power technician began installing the solar power system at the Living Learning Centre. That night the switch was turned on and we had electric lights! The next day the technician went on his way, and we happily went about our tasks as the solar panels soaked up the sun's energy filling the batteries. As darkness fell we turned on the switch and ... something was wrong. Over the next few days Ted poured over the system manuals and tried troubleshooting. Finally, on the day before Ted and I left Tilling, the solar tech returned and discovered the batteries needed a setting adjustment. Immediately the lights went on and we had our laptop fully charged in only an hour!

I have a few more photos of the Centre and of the solar power system and will post them separately.

Love from Kampala
Lynn

We're in Tilling ....!

In spite of all our planning to arive in Tilling in daylight, we turned into the lane leading to the new Living Learning Centre under the cover of darkness and an incredible display of stars above! But, that wasn't the best part. Before we could even see the Centre, we could hear the amazing sound of voices singing, even though it was already 9 pm, a very late hour for the people here. As we pulled up to the Centre the children were lined up along the driveway singing, shouting, waving a wonderful sign of welcome. When we climbed out of the vans the children rushed to us with flowers and led us up to the lighted verandah where we were seated. It was a very emotional moment for the team, an amazing welcome ... homecoming!

The days have been filled with so many things ...

On our first morning in Tilling (Sept 9) we helped feed 55+ children porridge. Sylvia was thrilled to tell the story of young Samuel to the children, complete with lots of action! The little ones laughed when she acted out the various parts of the story.

The women on the team spent several hours unpacking the many suitcases and organizing the contents. We also began planning for a Ladies Tea for the following afternoon. Darryl & David spent the afternoon scouting out the neighbourhood, checking out chicken coops and various other stops along the way, including a brief visit to New Hope Home for Children. Their driver was a young man named, Laz, who has been volunteering with GROW for some time. The guys really enjoyed getting to know him.

The plan for Friday was to feed the children porridge at 9, and then go for a walking tour of the nearby huts and fields, before it got too warm. Well...as Ugandan time goes ... and the other things the team needed to attend to the walking tour began more like 11:30 (the heat of the day!!!). You will have to see the great Kodak moment of all the gals in the Ugandan walking attire!

The team visited some of the nearby fields in various stages of planting, growing, and harvesting. The drought has really taken its toll on anything being able to grow or reach maturity. To get to the lake the team walked through dry ground covered with bushes, where once it had been swampy land. The lakeshore line is signicantly receded since Lynn's first visit 2 years ago.

The team met a woman harvesting groundnuts (peanuts) and stopped to visit with her. Winnie did a great job of translating. And they learned how to harvest groundnuts. Sylvia dug up one plant, to find only 1 lonepeant

"The Undiscovered Country"

Taking a break from the seemingly unending list of things to do before leaving for Tilling, Ted & I found ourselves in front of the television last week watching the Star Trek movie, "The Undiscovered Country". After saving the confederation's tenuous peace, Captain Kirk makes this dramatic speech about the future, describing it as the undiscovered country. As the credits rolled, Ted quietly began to compare Captain Kirk's "undiscovered country" with the adventure the ARISE mission team was about to embark upon.

The ARISE crew of 8, like the infamous crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, is uniquely gifted and chosen for the voyage ahead. Challenges wait for us in the days ahead, but we are confident in the Lord. So, we will not be afraid or discouraged, but be courageous for the Lord our God will be with us wherever we go. We will boldly go ...

In about 6 short hours ... that's when the team will be packing up the 2 vans with alllllllllll the luggage and hoping there's enough room left for them. It's amazing how quickly 23 large suitcases, 1 golf bag, 2 guitars, 8 wheeled carry-on pieces, 3 laptops, and 5 purses can fill up two 8-passenger vans!

These past 2 days in Kampala have been filled with trying to adjust to jet lag and from "sleeping" 2 nights on an airplane, while at the same time trying to maintain our schedule.

This afternoon the team travelled to Sseguku about 10 km south of Kampala to visit the home of Ronnie. Ronnie has built an incredibly beautiful, large home on the top of a hill, at the end of a very narrow, winding, rough, dirt road...what we would be more inclined to call a quad trail. The amazing thing about Ronnie's home is that it is completely run with solar power. He has his own water well and his yard is designed to catch all the rain run-off to maintain his extensive grounds. The home is completely self-sufficient in regards to its heat, water, and sewage needs. The team was inspired by the possibilities for the Tilling project.

We were also treated to generous Ugandan hospitality. Learning that we would be visiting on Ted's birthday, Ronnie even had a birthday cake! I don't think we could have planned a better day for Ted to celebrate. After all, we went to the tractor dealership, the water pump and irrigation dealership, and then he was able to use all his technical language and know-how to converse with Ronnie about inverters, parallel and series circuits, kva's, bio-fuel generation, and .... Ronnie knew what he was talking about! Ted was delighted with all the gifts he received ... stacks of technical brochures which he poured over during lunch.

The team is doing very well. I wanted to include a few quotes from them, and some pictures. But, they all went to bed hours ago and I haven't quite figured out how to "do" the pictures.

Thank you for your ongoing prayers. We have received word that Mama Kevina has been ill with malaria. She is now on medication for it but was ill again today. We're not sure if it's side effects from the medication, or something else. Please remember her in your prayers. She has been so excited about the upcoming ARISE team visit, and we want her to be well so she can participate in all that has been planned.

"Live long and prosper"