Spinal Injury Unit Handover

Ron and Sandra at the Nile River

African Dancers

Looking at Water Projects

Handover at the Spinal Injury Unit

Dear Family and Friends:

We are very busy looking at projects and trying to decide if they are worthy projects to use our budget. Two of the top people from Salt Lake and our area director from South Africa will be coming the second week in August and we will be concentrating on major initiatives, which will be clean water, wheel chairs and other initiatives. We have already been out in the villages and the country side looking at all kinds of wells and bore holes and springs. It is pretty awful what kind of water that people are drinking here. Their latrines, cattle, goats and such are all around the water that they are drinking and use for cooking and hygiene. The statistics are that one out of every six people in the world do not have clean water . I guess a lot of kids and adults die of typhoid ,dysentery and all kinds of awful things because of this. The Church is really putting a lot of emphasis on this problem and also we have a big budget to help, at least with some of the water issues.

Last week we visited an organization called “CHILD” it was way out in a village and a young muzungu came out to talk with us. His name is Justin Knox and his father is a temple worker in the Seattle Temple and he is best friends with the son of President Bob Miller of the Snohomish Stake. He is helping this organization to determine what there greatest needs are. They are working to help the HIV people in this village, among other things. He is very nice and very smart and we may be able to work with that organization in helping at least distribute literature and other things.

Last week we had two senior missionaries arrive. They are potato farmers from Rexburg, Idaho. Very nice people. We took them to Church with us on Sunday and included them in our Sunday afternoon family home evening get together. This next Thursday, we are getting another couple. They are all proselyte missionaries. It is nice to have a few more couples here. They are really needed.

Last Friday we did another hand over. We acquired blankets, pillows, mosquito nets, sheets, and pillow cases for the Spinal Injury Unit at the Mulago hospital. At This hospital there are a lot of patients who are very poor and have to bring their own blankets, pillows, towels, sheets, whatever and most of the people cannot afford to do that, so these contributions from the Church were most appreciated. We met at the Spinal Injury Association to distribute these items. There were a group of people in wheelchairs and the doctor that performs the spinal injury surgery attended and also spoke. They also asked both of us to speak and we told them about the Church’s humanitarian program. The people who were there in wheel chairs said their wheelchairs were also contributed by the Church a few years ago.

The lease is up on our compound in September and the landlord is going to raise the rent by $400.00 a month. So we are going to be leaving this nice residence with the wonderful avocado tree and pretty yard and will be moving to a brand new apartment house. We will be living on the top floor with a nice view, but it doesn’t have the yard, nor the nice walking area that we are use to. We try to go for a walk each evening and have really enjoyed the beautiful palm trees, flowers, etc in the neighborhood we are leaving. We will be moving the end of August, but no one here can justify paying that kind of rent.

Love to all,

Ron and Sandra

Beans in Church News

Here's a short article that appeared in the recent Church News:

Helping The Elderly in Uganda

JINJA, UGANDA

Some 52 senior and widowed members of the village of Mawoito now have blankets and mosquito nets thanks to the Church's welfare and mission leadership in this nation. During a "handover" ceremony in May, villagers welcomed Uganda Kampala Mission interim President LaVal J. Call and his wife, Sister LaBerta R. Call, along with Elder Ronald Bean and Sister Sandra Bean, country welfare and humanitarian directors for Uganda. The village members surrounded their truck with dancing, singing and drum playing.

The missionaries, including other senior missionaries serving in the area, were led to a special platform where decorated benches were set up and a program had been prepared, which consisted of many speeches of thanks to the Church for the blankets and nets, and traditional singing and dancing. A muffin made of corn and a drink of soda was provided as a show of their hospitality. There were many children watching the proceedings, and the missionaries invited them to come forward to have a corn muffin.

Also in this same issue was the announcement of the New Mission President, The Christensens, for the Uganda Kampala Mission. Here is the info:

Edward Christensen, 63, Uganda Kampala Mission, Rancho Bernardo Ward, Poway California Stake, former bishop, high councilor, counselor in a stake Young Men presidency, High priest group leader and missionary in the New Zealand South Mission. Engineering manager, Hewlett Packard. Born in Colorado Springs, Colo. to Ted and Lenna Newell Christensen. Married Erin Marie Moore, seven children.

A ward missionary, Sister Christensen is a former stake Young Women president and ward Primary and Relief Society president. Born in Long Beach, Calif. to Edward James and Rhea Robinson Moore.

Letter from Nana

Hi Honey:

Thanks for all you do for us. We love and appreciate you both so very much. This morning I was listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir while getting ready for the day and they sang that darling song, I am trying to be like Jesus, and I had a melt down, because I hear those sweet primary voices sing it and I thought of the boys and that was all it took. Otherwise, I am doing OK. We are having an incredible experience. I can't even explaine it. We just sent a message to Matt for the blog, so you will get to read somethings that we are doing, but everyday is a new experience. Our boss and his wife, Elder and Sister Mills from South Africa have been here all week, so we have been taking him out to meet some of our organizations and people that we are working with on projects. I haven't even had time to do my laundry, so I know I am overdue to write to you. While he was here we had a "hand-over" in Mukono so we invited them to go with us to participate and we also invited the new mission president and elder and sister Moore went also. This is where we officially hand over the things that the Church has provided for a project that we have accepted. We handed over rice seeds, fertilizer, a boda boda (motorcycle), computer and printer, insecticide and many more things for planting upland rice. Sixty farmers were selected to start this project. We met at the Mokono District Farmer's Asso. and they had set up benches and tables on a platform to honor us. They had the news media there and a representative from the King, a representative from the government and a representative from the District. We asked the Mission president and his wife to set on the stand with us They had also invited all the farmers that the church was helping and served refreshments and gave wonderful speeches honoring us and the church. They used the analogy of the church being the Good Samaritan. These things are always humbling and very nice. This humanitarian job is the best in the church. We get to do all kinds of wonderful things that help people and we also get to see their graditude first hand.

Yesterday, we took Elder and Sister Mills to Jinja, a charming city, which is on Lake Victoria and the source of the Nile. We rented a small boat with a tour guide and sailed right to the source. You could see where the the water flowed right from the Lake and into the Nile. We also saw the most wonderful birds, all shapes and sizes and sailed over to the monument erected to John Speck, the explorer who discovered the source. It was so interesting. We could hardly believe we were there. We also saw the falls where the guys were doing white water river rafting. It was incredible. It is supposed to be the best river rafting in the world, but it looked dangerous to me. Two weeks ago we went to the equator and stood on the line - one foot on one side and one on the other. We are so blessed to be having these experiences and being part of the Lord's blessings on these people. We are having people come from SLC in August to show them around and express what we thinkg Uganda needs in the way of humanaitarian assistance. We are going to be asking for 750 wheelchairs and some money to do quite a few clean water projects. I have been hearing about all the wonderful and fun things you guys are doing. Fill me in about the Trek, that really sounds wonderful. I know that Torri is there now and hope you guys are having fun together. I heard that the Rhino made it to Lynnwood and wish I could be there to celebtrate the birthday event with you guys. Thanks again for everything. I miss those darling boys and think about them always. Love and kisses. Nana.

News from the Pearl of Africa

Kampala, Uganda

It is interesting how fast time seems to be going for us over here – and that is in direct opposition to the counsel given by Ssimbwa (our African helper) to just throw away our watches. Time does not seem to matter too much here. They will wait hours, take cab rides for hours, their patience is unbelievable. Muzungus (white people) always want to be on time! At any rate, we have just ended our second month as missionaries and looking at all that we have been involved in it seems much longer.

Sundays are kind of special – we go early and I meet with the Priesthood leaders of the branch, which usually means just me and the branch president for the first 30-45 minutes until the others trickle in. Transportation is such a problem as many have no money for a taxi, so it is a long walk for them, and throw in a downpour for good measure and we are on African time. Sacrament meeting does start on time but people come in throughout the meeting. Sandra is teaching the piano while I am in early meetings, she plays for the Sacrament meeting, and believe it or not I play for the Priesthood meeting (it certainly helps that many of them don’t know better!). We meet as couples in the afternoon for family home evening and it is a good time for us to chat and socialize. I used Luke 15 for the lesson this last week and the three parables therein.

Monday we went with the UN in one of their souped up SUV’s with a van of media people following, forty miles past Mubende and then 32 KM into the villages for an official handover of the last of a large shipment that the church had sent for the refugee camps. This camp had 16,651 in it as well as over 3,000 Rwandan Refugees that have been denied asylum and refugee status. They have been placed on the outskirts of the camp, but they have some rights as asylum seekers, The bulk of the refugees are from the Congo, and as such have automatic refugee status. The rest come from Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Somali, and the Sudan. They receive a small plot of land to farm and something to place as a roof (plastic or sheet metal) and they build their own mud hut/home. It is hard to describe the conditions. They live in huts made out of mud and the roofs are either some kind of tin or grass. but I thought they were much better than I had imagined as this is a very fertile country and it is easy for them to grow things. The UN has also been supplying them with some food and brings in water. Sandra and I handed out hygiene kits and school kits at a middle school. These kids are about 12 to 15 years old. Think about being so excited and so grateful just to get soap, toothpaste and brushes, and writing tablets and something to write with, a pencil sharpener and a ruler and a book to read that is your very own. They hugged us and kept saying, thank you, thank you. We went to another part of the camp (it is 81 square KM in size) and handed out clothing to men, women and children. These were the same bundles of clothing that we saw being sorted at welfare square in SLC (good, clean, used). We gave each a pair of pants and a shirt of some kind. They were all lined up and were waiting patiently to get their turn in the building where we were sorting and handing out this clothing. It went on for a long time before and after we were there, but we were representing the church and got a lot of press coverage both in the papers and on TV. I guess we were on the nightly news twice the next evening and once the morning after. We did not see the program, but a lot of our church members saw us and told us about it. They even showed the picture of Sandra handing out balloons to the little kids. That was unbelievable. She had a sack of 100 balloons in her purse and little kids ran from all over and mobbed her, yelling, please madam give me one. All you could see were little arms reaching for a balloon and almost knocking her off balance. We wish people who contribute to the humanitarian fund could see the end results. These people are so grateful for this assistance and need it so badly. We actually stood there with tears in our eyes. We rode back with the press in the van (7or 8 of them) and the rode forty miles out of Kampala is actually very good – but those last miles into town in the dark are something else. Remember no stop lights, no street lights, no car lights on most, no striping on the roads, potholes galore, bikes, boda-bodas, and mass amounts of people (no sidewalks) and you understand why I was happy to have someone else drive. It was a wonderful experience though and we have some nice pictures.

Yesterday we went to the marketplace at the lake in Kampala where they bring the people over from the islands and bring in their fish. A kaleidoscope of color and confusion. I then drove down to the equator where we did some shopping, had a late lunch, and took the obligatory pictures to prove we were actually on the equator. On the way back home, we stopped at a small little shop where they make the African drums. They come in all sizes and are quite unique. They are made of animal hide and each one is unique and has a different sound. They were making them by hand, off the road and down in a gully, under some big trees – an interesting process – and we ordered one to be made. A fairly small one, but it only cost 20,000 shillings (approx. $12.00 US) and we will pick it up in 4-5 weeks when the skin is cured. We bought some fruit on the way back as it is really inexpensive when you get away from the big city. Our breakfast this morning was a huge papaya (with fresh lime juice), fresh pineapple, small sweet bananas, and orange juice to wash down our malaria pills! We don’t like the beef here, but we certainly don’t lack in food.

We are both doing well physically – losing a little weight – actually a good thing and looking ahead to a very busy summer as we have more than enough to keep us busy and I find out more and more coming our way. We have a folder full of potential water projects and we understand we are having some experts come from SLC in August to look over some of these. We are also making arrangements to get at least 500 wheelchairs sent here. We have talked with the organization that will help the church get them into this country and help with the distribution. We celebrated Independence Day with no power at our compound. The two young missionaries that live above the garage (whom we love) came over with marshmallows and cookies and we supplied the chocolate bars and we put a marshmallow on a fork and held it over the candle flame and made “some mores”. It actually was very fun. Elder Monson brought his CD player over (battery powered) and we played a CD of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing America. We ate “Some Mores” by candle light and the missionaries read the scriptures pertaining to America being prepared for the restoration of the gospel. It was fun and a lot more impressive by candle light. We love and miss our family very much and once in a while a “melt down” occurs because we miss you so, but we feel we really are of help here and that makes it worthwhile. Love to you all,

P.S. A few pics: women in camp, Sandra being mobbed for balloons, and clothes handout.