Radio Norfolk!

This morning Sienna, Phil, Andy and Emily visited Radio Norfolk to talk about our trip.

If you fancy a listen were on at about 2:42!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p024zyt9

An interesting experience!

Today has gone great- we had an extra half an hour in bed, before packing up all of our stuff.

Last day :(

The gardening team were working like crazy planing all of the plants, the catch up guys taught about bones and made skeletons out of straws, and the painting team finished their 5th coat and started the decorations.

Megan, Tom and I (Emily) have ventured out of the compound to visit a local woman's savings group. It has been an interesting experience, sitting with around 20 ladies in a very small brick building. They were taught about malaria, and how to prevent getting it and how to treat it.
It then began absolutely chucking  it down, onto a tin roof. Which resulted in a very loud and dark wait for the rain to stop. The ladies have all been so welcoming and it is so great to see them saving for new businesses and supporting each other. Its a great part of Oasis work.

We had a great last devotion with the Kampala staff, we will miss them all and we are so thankful for how welcoming they have been.

We are now currently on the bus to Entebbe, we have had our final debrief and we are stuck in crazy Kampala traffic.

This country has been so amazing, the people here so welcoming and God has been awesome.
Our debrief led us to think about these 3 questions: what has surprised you most about Uganda? How have you changed for the better? What has God been speaking to us about over the trip?
They came out with some exciting and encouraging responses from many people.

Please pray for:
-safe travel home
-the traffic breaks up and we will get out of Kampala
-everyone's answers to these questions and to work out what we need to change when we get home.

Goodbye Uganda

We are now on the minibus and are very much enjoying clementines, apples and kettle crisps (thanks Wormald parents!)

The roads are so smooth, organised and quiet! It's such a shock not seeing little children playing on the side of the road who immediately stop and wave at you when you drive past.

The morale of the team seems so low as we drive back from the airport. I don't think anyone expected to miss Uganda so much already. Even the novelty of being able to wash your hands with warm water and soap and not have to use antibacterial gel afterwards is no competition. There are so many things at home that we don't realise that we take for granted until we don't have them.

One of the most surprising things that we saw was how joyful everyone was. When we arrived at the compound in Mbale all of the girls immediately ran up to greet all of us and were so excited to see us. These girls are so joyful in the situation that they're in and it really struck home that we should be joyful in our own lives and situations because joy is something that has immense value and cannot be replaced.

Thanks so much for all of your support and we can't wait to see all our family and friends to tell them more about the exciting time we've had!

We have had a great past few days, sorry for the lack of blog, tom used up all of his internet researching about teeth! (For catch up!)

Our second day on safari started with an early morning game drive, we saw loads of zebra's, as well as all of the animals we saw yesterday. We climbed up a very large hill, which had an AMAZING view of the whole park- wow! While at the top we also saw a herd of about 30 buffalo.
We had a fab breakfast of pancakes, then set off for our journey back to Kampala.

We were excited for the next project at Kampala, although energy is running low.

Yesterday- we had a tour of the compound, its very different to Mbale, with a large house and veranda, and not much outdoor space.
There were only 13 girls in the catch up- so a very different feel with no kids around.

The painting team managed to clean the veranda, as well as apply the first coat of paint, it already looked so much better! Today they did the second, third AND forth coat of paint, and martin and gemma began doing what they love doing best- detail!

The catch up team had a slight change of plan, but did a great science and art lesson, as well as a small amount of netball before it rained. Today they taught parts of the tooth and taught an interesting and eye opening sex education class.

The gardeners cleared loads of rubbish from around the compound and began levelling out. Today they did lots and lots of digging and brought lots of flowers.

This morning we had a prayer walk around the community, this involved walking through the neighbouring slums, which was difficult to see, but has shown us the benefit of oasis in this area.

Thank you for all your prayer, all of the illness and brown rain has passed, and the bus is currently very noisy- so people have some energy!

Please pray-
-we can have a great last day tomorrow, and leave the compound looking amazing, and have impacted the girls lives.
-energy for our final day
-that oasis can continue to do their great work in Uganda, and have wisdom in how they can do this best.
-safe travel home
-we will all be able to reflect, learn and grow from this amazing trip.

(Will hopefully post more pictures if Emily finds WiFi somewhere)

Wow- thankyou!

Wow, we have only just seen all your comments on our posts, they are SO encouraging and have really boosted us!

We have been so aware of all your prayers while we have been here, and they have defiantly carried us through!

You guys are so amazing and thank you so so so much!

In response to your question: Lucy's toe is feeling much better, but we are all still very aware she has a broken toe! (She isn't moaning too much!)