Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

FROM THE CASH FAMILY

Proud of Alex

The other night when we were all at Rwebisengo I had a moment with my son that I would like to share.
We were all so tired after the long bumpy hot drive to Ntoroko and then Rwebisengo. I preached out of the first chapter of James but I only spoke for 45 minutes.
We set up tents and the Grauls went right to bed and so did Cheryl, Isaac and Silas.
Kinley and Alex wanted to stay up with us and sing swahili songs.
We lit a big bon-fire and enjoyed the evening. After a couple of hours of singing Kinley went to bed but Alex wanted to stay up with Dad.

I was asked to go to a nearby hut and take a hot bath. Ronald, Bright, Alex, Dick and I walked over to the huts. There were some women cleaning dishes by lamp light. We sat around and enjoyed each other.

They told me that my water was ready and they led Dick and I out back and set the basin on the grass. Here you go.
Dick moved the lamp away so we would not be putting on a show for those around. I could see the fire off in the distance at the church and I could hear them singing.
I could see quite a distance in all directions!

I only heard a couple of giggles when I got undressed and stood there on the back lawn. I still haven't figured out how to get my feet clean when I am standing in the mud. We bathed African style.

After getting dressed we walked to the other side of the huts to find Alex laughing and having a great time with everyone. I was a little concerned because he can be a little shy and I had left him with Ronald and the others in the dark.
I sat down and he said, "Thank you for bring me to the village would you take me to the village more with you?"
"Sure Son"
He told me that I have the greatest job in the world!
He was having so much fun. There was no TV, videos, remote control cars, computer games or any other toys. There was not even electricity. But Alex was having a great time. He just wanted to do what his Dad does.

I was proud of my son that night as we sat in the lamp light and talked.
As we started to walk back to the church building I gave Alex my headlamp. He said, "Thanks Dad. I'll let you know if I find any snakes!"
That's my boy.
It is exciting to think of what the Lord might do through this young man.

Computers

Computers...Modern day blessing...modern day curse.
This laptop crashed six time yesterday. I think sometimes I spend as much time trying to solve problems as I do actually being able to use this thing!
Back in the old days missionaries would write a letter and send it with someone headed to the coast. The letter would make its way by ship as it slowly worked its way around the world.
Now we are so used to instant communication that we get frustrated when it doesn't work right away.
When we first arrived in Uganda there was no email or internet access anywhere.
To make a call to the states used to cost $8.00 a minute
Mission Aviation Fellowship set up a way to do email. We would dial directly to their computer which could take for ever to get connected.
Then several time a day they would call Europe and upload and download all messages.
We had to pay for every kb sending and receiving. Plus the long distance calls.

We then purchased a satellite phone in 1997. It would take some time to get it set up outside but we could actually call from anywhere for only $3.40 per minute. This was so great. We would sit outside with several chairs and call or do email.
We sent email this way. $3.40 a minute connecting at 9.6Kbps
We would take our phone outside and set up the antenna to find the right sattelite. We would hook up the laptop and away we would go.
We were the envy of everyone including some of my friends in the Ugandan military. It was just extremely expensive and slow.

There was an internet cafe that opened up in Fort Portal that used three laptops. I would go to the cafe and type my email into the laptop. Then the following morning the laptop was physically sent with a bus to Kampala. They would upload and down load email messages and then send the laptop back.
I could write a message today and it would be sent the next day to Kampala and then a day or two later I could get a reply.
We used to call this the Fort Portal pony express.

Some of my friends were able to set up HF radio towers to send and recieve email. That was cool. As long as the message was small with no pictures you could get messages.

Then the impossible happened ...internet came to Kampala. We were able to sign up for only pay $68 a month for the service plus pay a long distance call for each connection. It was slow but we had internet!
(This is what we used until last month.)
Then the world changed...cell phone towers began to appear all over the country. Everyone bought cell phones.
I could be sitting in a mud hut having a meeting and get interrupted five or six times by cell phone rings. We had to ask people to turn off their cell phones during church. Sound familiar?

Instead of asking what village someone is from people are exchanging email addresses.

Now we have arrived we have unlimited access to the internet for a little over $50 a month. The speeds are so much faster...I am able to connect at 22kbps! Now that is blazing speed for this town as long as the computer doesn't crash.

We loaded up the LandCruiser with our kids and the three Graul kids. Cheryl wanted to drive that car with Kaelea. Ike, Ronald, Bright,Derrick and Dick rode with me in the old pickup.
We headed towards the end of the Rwenzori mountains. We stopped at a market on the side of the road to buy 22lbs of beef. The man wacked off big pieces of the hanging meat.
The dirt road hugs the edge of the valley as we decend down two thousand feet into the grassy floor below.
The Semuliki game reserve had been scorched by a grass fire. It was hot and dusty as we headed to the fishing village of Ntoroko. The road was so terrible that we saw one lorry just driving through the bush. It was smoother then the road.
It is hard to describe how bad the road is. I have driven down river beds that were smoother than this. It would be easier to drive down 80 miles of stairs than to drive this road.
This was the first time for Cheryl and the kids to make the trip to Ntoroko or Rwebisengo.
After a couple of hours of bouncing we pulled up to the old metal covered hut where Samuel's mother lives.
Sam's sister got sick and was buried on Christmas day. They showed us where they burried her. She was a nice young lady.
We were quickly surrounded by crowds of children wanting to see the white kids. It was a bit overwhelming for them. We all went inside and greeted Sam's mom. Her sisters were seated on the on mattress on the floor next to her. She was very thankful that we came. She was happy to see Kabatooro (Kinley) and the other children.
Samuel led the Cashes, Grauls and a hundred other children down to the lake. It was cooler near the water. Silas loved seeing the boats and the Maribu stork. He got really excited when a hippo poked its head out of the water. "Hippo! See Daddy?"
We walked back and said our goodbyes and then ates a snack before getting back on the "road".
We bumped along for a couple of hours. The children enjoyed seeing Ugandan cob, water buck, baboons, wort hogs, turtle, squirrel, and frogs.
At one rest stop Ronald and I jumped out of the truck and chased three worthogs. It was funny.
We got to the church at Rwebisengo. They were happy to see us.
We did some teaching and singing before we set up our tents.%

Camp Saaka...Faith Quest preparation

Camp Saaka is our where we host Faith Quest each year. We purchased this land about nine years ago with the dream of developing a youth camp and training center. We have been preparing for months for this years Faith Quest.


Preparing to host over 200 youth has its unique challenges. Dick helped to build a number of small structures at the camp.

The first thing we did was to fix the doors, windows and floor of the staff store room. The doors, windows and even part of the roof had been stolen.


Dick worked until 3:00AM to build this three hole toilet. It may not look like much because he didn't get the doors on or the the walls plastered but this outhouse is built over a twenty foot hole. The men chiselled through solid rock to make the hole.



This is the area that we call the director's village. This is the staff dining with our brand new mahogony tables.


This year the staff has hot showers. This is how we warm the water.
Just fill the barrel with water and build a fire under it.


This is our new staff shower house. The water is warmed in the barrel and then carried up and put in the metal buckets on the roof. Nice hot showers!


We built a fifty foot metal roof to shade the tents using recycled telephone poles.



We had seperate kitchen for the staff this year.


I know it might be a little strange to take a picture of a toilet but I wanted the guys who might come next year to help us with Faith Quest to see this beautiful structure. Many toilets are just a hole in the ground. This is a real sit down toilet at Camp Saaka. You are not going to have to walk a mile and a half back to the airstrip if you want this luxury. This toilet is in honor of our last couple of Faith Quest teams from the US. (Greg, Steve, Jono, Wendy, Jessy, Jason and Ike.)
This is for you!


For the last four weeks two men from church have been overseeing the cutting and clearing of the bush. There has been a lot of work on everyone's part to get ready for Faith Quest.

The Grauls arrive

Ike and Kaelea Graul made the long journey from Portland, Oregon to Uganda. We are enjoying having them and their children in our home. They came to help with Faith Quest and then to spend Christmas with us.
The girls keep asking me "where are the elephants?".
They can't wait to see the animals!!!! "I'm sorry girls we don't have any elephants in our yard. They live at the game park."

Webale Christmas

In Uganda, Christmas was brought by the white missionaries over a hundred years ago. So it is not such a big deal as it is in the states. Most people dress up and walk to church. The speeches are extra long this day. The Christmas carols are not the same. Here they sing the ancient British version of all of the songs. Even if the tune is the same the words usually are not. It is a religous holiday more than anything here. It is only one day. There is no mad rushes to get the sales the day after Thanksgiving. There are very few stores selling anything "Christmas". The Christmas season last a day or two.(except at the Cash home!) The Christians thought it was funny that we decorated for Christmas soon after we had our private "Turkey Day."
For most Batooro this day means going to church. After church the Christmas meal will consist of boiled millet, motoke, and some kind of boiled meat(Beef, chicken or goat).Many will also gorge themeleves on Nsininne (grasshoppers) Some people exchange small gifts but it is not expected. Those from the towns, who are more western may give a store bought Christmas card. Some rich men give their wife,or wives, a dress.
There are no chestnut roasting on an open fire or Jack Frost nipping anything. The only stocking hung by the imaginary chimney with care are by the two American families with kids. A sleigh ride with jingle bells is out of the questions in the 80 degree weather. There is no Rudolf the red nose reign deer. There are very few chimneys for Santa to go down. And I think he would have heat stroke being "dressed all in fur from his head to his foot." There is no eggnog or candy canes. It is all a little different here.
Recently the government put a ban or high fees on cutting trees from the forests. There are not many Christmas trees anyway.
The big Red guy is not known as Saint Nick or Santa Clause
but people may know him as "Father Christmas".
One Ugandan described him as "some white guy in a story".
There are not any huts or houses with Christmas light.
Normal Rockwell would have an interesting challenge capturing the Ugandan Christmas.
It would be a picture of Ugandan children acting out the birth of Yesu.
He might show a family in their modest hut with their heads bowed thanking God for sending Jesus. I think the picture would be very simple.
Families together, eating, laughing and praying.
Maybe we can learn something from our Uganda brothers. Simplicity. When everything is stripped away we can sit down together and drink some hot tea. We can enjoy being with those around us and thankful for our family and friends who may be far off. In all of this together we can thank the Lord for sending his son. What a perfect gift He gave!


Silas wanted to show me the sheep that was from the nativity scene.
Soon after I took this picture he launched it across the room.


"Daddy this is the angel dat told people about baby Jesus!"
Isaac said.


Silas loves the Christmas tree. He is trying to get the glass passifier out of the tree.
Isaac told me that we need to buy a glass blanket to put next to the glass passy.
"That would be cool, Dad!"
Merry Christmas!

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