Author: rhondajwelch

God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

On Friday before Donny left we went out to dinner and on the way home (actually turning onto the road leading to the village) we were hit by an 18-wheeler. The road that travels past our village is a highway that goes from Kampala to Kenya and is very dangerous because the trucks go very very fast on our stretch. Since moving here there have been three people killed at our intersection. Christian is always very careful when stopping to turn onto our road. If there is traffic behind us he will pull to the shoulder and wait for them to pass. This truck was way up the hill behind us but apparently was doing at least 80 MPH or over. He never hit the brakes and it took him a good bit before he got pulled over to the shoulder. He was so far we could barely make out his tail lights.

We were so stunned, didn’t know what had happened but Christian pulled onto our road and stopped. In a matter of seconds there were at least fifty people that came out of nowhere surrounding our car. In minutes the crowd had to be over one hundred. Ms Betty doesn’t live far from the road so she was there and determined to pull me out of the car! Christian says she was hyperventilating. I kept our doors locked while Chris and Donny were outside. None of us were hurt, pretty shook up.  The truck driver sat on the side of the road for a good bit but we suspect someone told him he had hit mazungus so he ran.

When we got home I was trying to close the gates and people were flooding in. I have to say here, I think all the crowds affected me more than the accident at the time. I get anxiety when there are many people. I definitely have a problem with people touching me and everyone else was panicked and trying to grab me and hug me. Everyone but us was freaking out! So when all the people flooded in the gates I ran to hide! Christian saw all the people and found me to get me inside. He knows me and knew the crowd would freak me out. This is the way of the culture here in our village – everyone wanted to tell us sorry for what happened. (I’m sure some just wanted to know what was going on!) Later we were told that someone went to the center where at that time of night many people are eating, socializing and started telling people we were killed. So I assume that’s why there was so much panic. We were also told that when they see a car smashed like that most of the time someone is killed. I didn’t see the door until all the crowds had dispersed and I cried knowing how close we had come to one of us not making it out alive. If Christian had turned just a hair more he definitely wouldn’t have made it. We just got the car back from the police and seeing the damage in the daylight really brings it home how God had His hands on us.

It was an opportunity to tell of God’s protection, how He sheltered us from that truck. We are all healthy, the car not so much! But a car can be replaced.  There have been people still coming to tell us sorry and to see for themselves we are alive.

We are alive, and very very thankful. Life can change in an instant so make the most of yours and know where you are going when you leave this life.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Saturday night we sent Donny back to the States. We were sad to see him go but happy to know he will be back – with new friends – in August. We had such a great time visiting with him and Christian had a good helper on constructing the birthing boxes for the rabbits and got a good start on our outdoor table. He was so encouraging to us just by listening and offering his wisdom and advice. It is comforting to hear from someone that has experience in the field, and to find that we aren’t the only ones that struggle from time to time! We are looking forward to him coming back and the others that are coming with him.

Thank you Donny for all you do and just for who you are! We love you.

While we were away we had thirty-two babies born! Five of our eight we bred a month ago had litters, big litters! Seven or nine babies in each. We are thrilled at the success of our first official breeding! We have ten possible pregnancies that will be due at the end of this week. Babies R Us!

We have had some new additions the past couple months and are feeling like Noah! We have too many twos – two bulls, two dogs, two female goats, two male goats, one female goat with child, two cats and two hundred rabbits! And then there is Ted the Turtle. (Had to give him two T’s to go along with our two theme we have going on!) Next on our list is ONE camel but I’m not holding my breath. We do see them around though.

The goats started because Raelee and I think baby goats are so cute but then they grow up so we came up with a plan. One female and one male to have babies and we will give the babies to widows when they are weaned from their mamas. That way we can enjoy watching the little babies and help someone! So we prayed about the money to purchase one and God sent a man wanting to trade grass for a goat. We got a little male, Papaya. Then someone needed help with their kids school fees and asked if we would buy her goat for $40. We did and got a female. The school across the street was so appreciative of the extra room and some desks that Mandate built for them that they gave us a female goat. Then a lady who needed money to help her sick mother with treatments came and asked if we would buy a baby goat for about $15. So, now we have two females and two males and we are thinking that is more than enough goats. The little goat house is now full with the extra goat and baby that have been boarding here. And Papaya has been bullied by all the females so we now have him and the new male who is about the same age together in the bull barn!

The cats came along because of the rat population around here. They are Macy and Leopold. They are great rat catchers so we rotate keeping them in the house and in the barn. They are slowly getting used to the dogs.

Ted the turtle has been here about a month. He is a Leopard Tortoise indigenous to Africa. He is tiny, but we have seen at least one other on our property and it is pretty big. They can grow to weigh about eighty pounds so Ted has a ways to go! I went to check on him one night about 2 am and noticed he was not in his basket. The cats were in the house that night so I started searching all over for Ted. We don’t have a lot of things to look under but I couldn’t find him anywhere. Frantic (I know, it’s just a turtle), I woke Christian up…”Ted is missing”. He got up – he has been married to me enough years to know he would have to help or not go back to sleep! We finally found Ted under a chair, he was up against the leg of the chair and is so tiny I missed him the first time I looked. We now make sure his basket is locked up at night!

I think we are up to thirty-six baby rabbits with many on the way, praying that eight or nine will be having babies this weekend! Lala is hopefully going to be a mama this weekend also so that is exciting! I already have my eye on a cute bunny that looks kinda like a bulldog to bring inside. One mama had her first litter and we’ve read that inexperience can cause them to clean their newborns too aggressively. Apparently she was a little too aggressive, she has one baby with no ears and one baby that has two legs missing. They both are healthy otherwise and get around fine!

One thing I am thankful for the most is all the help we have in caring for all these animals!

We have had our special friend with us since late Wednesday night (actually he’s become family to us!). Donny Lee is visiting us from the States and we have been so blessed to have him to talk to, vent to and encourage us! He helped Christian build birthing boxes for our mama rabbits, we are hoping all nine that we bred a month ago will give birth. If they do we will have a lot more babies. As of today we have thirty-six babies from two months down to one day!

This morning we had Sunday School and Donny put on a magic show and lesson. The kids love it but we also had some of the adults come and they always love it as much as the little kids! We will probably have hundreds show up next Sunday thinking he will be here again but sadly he won’t. He will leave Saturday so we are going to enjoy every minute we have with him. I have a list of things for him to help Christian accomplish while he is here!

Bunny’s are growing so fast! The one’s we got in January have gone from fitting in our hand to having to hold in our arms! Some weighed less than a half-pound and are now close to six pounds – huge growth in a matter of a few months. We are now praying that twelve (or at least most of them) are pregnant and we will have more babies in about a month. Those will be ready to sell in about five months. The fifteen babies have successfully been weaned from their mothers and they will not be sold. They are so cute!

A few pictures from this week…

I realized I hadn’t posted about Easter Sunday when I was getting ready  to post about yesterday Sunday School! So here they are together!

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” Mark 9:37

Easter Sunday we were prepared for three hundred or more kids but I think there ended up being around two hundred, which was great – more manageable! There were twenty-two that gave their lives to Christ which was very encouraging! Some were our regular kids but there were some that don’t come regularly and we are praying they will come back. There were two from Easter that came back yesterday. We gave out bracelets and the kids were so excited!

Nursery worker Raelee!

She realized she may have too many!

Everyone had to pull together!

Very thankful the girls were on easter break!

After Sunday School Daddy hid eggs for Raelee to find. After she found them she told him that he wasn’t a very good “hider”! Ha, I told her she better watch out next year! It was a good day!

Yesterday we had about twice as many under five children, so many to handle! We also had more older children than usual. We had a scary moment when a little one that was sick stopped breathing because he was choked from mucus, he was like a limp doll and had fever. Christian got him breathing again and we had to force the parents to get him and take him home. They didn’t want to take him to the Dr. but this morning his father told us they had to take him in the night and he is currently in the hospital. I knew if Dr. Nelson saw him they would immediately put him in. I wanted to take him straight to the hospital but the parents acted like they really didn’t care so that really tied our hands, doing what we could by giving them the medical card and transport money. We have learned that we can’t change everyone, can’t save everyone and realize that in many situations we could hurt more than help if we took control and did what we felt was right. We prayed last night that God would watch over the boy, we would have been devastated if he had died. Everyone thought we had over-reacted and that it was “just the flu” and “lots of kids do that” but I don’t think they realize the danger of taking sickness here too lightly. Plus what would have happened if he had died here, I can’t imagine but I’m sure we would be held responsible in some way. Our prayers are for him and all the other children here that are sick, that don’t get the medical care they need until it is at a critical point or in many cases too late.

After the scare we got to start classes. I am very excited that our teenage helper wants to do the flannel board stories with the small children while Derrick and I teach the older kids. It is a relief for me, to know that I can have a break at times and I don’t have to run around getting everyone organized! She will have to have me helping her for a little while as she learns to change out the scenes in the stories – I started her off with a pretty simple one.  I am thankful she wanted to do this and I think it will be very good for her. She has three older sisters, two are in college and are very outgoing, one in her last year of high school. A younger sister and brother who are always bragged about because they are the smartest. So she is kind of in the middle and this year the only one not away for school. I pray this gives her something of her own and will help her gain self-esteem and also a love and understanding of God’s love for her.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 3:14-15

Another great day with the kids in Sunday School. Raelee hasn’t been so happy to have to leave babies and come to the older kids class but she gets plenty of baby-holding time before and after and even though she hates leaving them, she does like to be included in the lessons. She especially likes to see what kind of experiments I do to help teach, she is always as surprised as the rest of the kids. We had three today that recited the verse we have been talking about for a couple of months. Others know it but are too shy to say it in front of a group, they are working up to it. We are in prayer for next Sunday, we expect anywhere from 300-500 kids will come and our regular class isn’t too happy about it. We are working on accepting the kids even though we know they are just coming because they think they will receive something. I talked to them about the importance of having their own relationship with Jesus and committing their lives to living according to His Word and He says He will take care of the rest. One day all who have heard about Jesus (even if only on Easter and Christmas) will have to stand before God with no excuse. They can’t say they never knew about His Son and it is very important for us to pray for those. We had special prayer before we parted today, praying for the kids that will come. That they will see something different here and want to come back and learn more. That the kids that come just to get something out of it will in fact get more than what they were expecting! Pray for me for next week that I may be able to handle that many kids and have the patience, wisdom and God’s guidance in what to say and how to say it. It is very challenging to teach children from another culture using examples that they can relate to. I have the internet, bible studies for children to use along with the bible but it is all geared towards American children so there are many I can’t use at all, and many that I have to translate in a way they can relate. The longer we are here and I learn more about the culture, it seems a little easier all the time to explain things in terms they can understand. (Besides being a vegetable thief! That is their main go to evidence of a bad person!) Today we spoke about self-control and at the end I asked for examples of times they have shown self-control. The question wasn’t quite understood as I got answers of abusing someone, fighting, hitting. We finally have more girls coming, at first they thought it was just for the boys and feared coming. They are still pretty quiet during class but this morning one very quiet little girl who always seems to be paying close attention to me gave her answer to my question, her eyes sliding to the side. “Pinching someone. Pinching them hard”! It made me laugh because it seemed to me she might have been the pinch-er in that situation! I really do love these kids!

Christian’s namesake came to Sunday School with his older brother (who is 4 or 5). The baby is now a few months old, and was quite beautiful in his yellow frilly dress with frilly rubber pants over a cloth diaper. Confused? Join the club! His mama was so proud of her pretty baby and it caused me to question if he is a he and not a she. I checked with one of Jenifer’s girls and she verified that is a boy, even though there was a very big deal made when the father told everyone he was named after Christian! I told her it confuses me when they are dressed in dresses and I’m afraid she might have told the mama what I said, she wasn’t as friendly when she left. I would never intentionally insult someone’s baby, it is just confusing! I had just told my mother-in-law that babies here don’t wear diapers. Mostly they don’t and definitely never disposable (in rural areas anyway). For some reason they have a definite aversion to disposable for reasons of health to their babies. A few will have one or two clothe diapers that they will use if they have something special to go to (or maybe just if it came with a frilly yellow dress 🙂 Most of the time babies don’t have any bottoms on, up to the age of 3-4. That means no pants whatsoever. The smaller ones may or may not wear a shirt and most times if they do it doesn’t fall much below their belly button. You have to be careful where your hand is when holding them! It’s easier than having to clean them up, having to hand wash cloth diapers. And while they are still this small they keep them pretty swaddled. That’s my best guess anyway!

This is baby Rhonda! She has three other African names but was introduced to me as Rhonda. I’ve never had a baby named after me, Christian has one named after him, also with three traditional names! I met her mother a couple months ago when she came with three woven mats asking if I would buy so she could buy some baby things before her baby was born. Of course I did but with one condition, she had to bring her baby by so I could see. We have helped out a few mothers but they have never brought the babies after. Rhonda was born February 22. The custom here is the baby does not make their appearance in public until the umbilical cord falls off. If the couple are unmarried, he doesn’t see the baby until this point, when the mother gives him the cord to prove he is the father. (This lady is married) At least this is what we are told! So, she is a little over a month old. So tiny! Her mother also brought many outfits to show me what she had purchased with the money from the mats. I gave her a little extra so she could buy a few more things and thanked her so much for bringing the baby so that I could see her! Wonder how many more Christians and Rhondas will populate our village!

Raelee has had a girlfriend for a couple of months now. It’s been a good thing for her because she has only had the boys to play with and they went back to school. The bad thing is this girl should be in school but isn’t. Remember when I told you Kimuli got married? Partly because he felt it was time and partly because that is what is done to prevent family and friends wanting him to support them because he works. Well, he paid what the family requested and got his wife…plus two of her sisters! They were sent with her to live to “help” her with her household. So, he not only paid for his new wife, he also got two more dependents. Not sure that deal worked out as planned! So, this little girl – Favia – lives with Kimuli but he is not able to pay to send her to school. I’m not sure why she doesn’t go to the government school, it is free except for exams but many people say the education is not good so rather than go there they don’t go at all. She’s a good little girl and they play well together. Now she has someone who wants to play with dolls!

The building for the mill is coming along nicely. They are currently plastering the inside, when that is finished they will plaster the outside and all the buildings but ours will be plastered and looking good. When that is finished our building will be plastered it doesn’t look good standing beside all the pretty plastered buildings! There is also a little covered “pavilion” being constructed beside the Church building, it will have a long table with benches for Sunday School and other things. We let the little ones stay inside the building and take the older kids outside. It will be nice to have a table for them to sit at and be able to do more things. So much progress going on. The rabbits are growing, the goats and bulls are happy. The bulls are getting ready to go to work since it is planting season again. The rains teased for a couple of weeks and then disappeared. Makes it hard for the farmers to plant at just the right time, the ground had barely started to soften up and the rains stopped.

Papaya no longer stays tied, he stays pretty close to the females.

Papaya’s wife!

Chris has become a carpenter, his work is getting noticed which brings many requests for doors and door frames! He’s decided he really likes doing the wood work so he is going to look into some of the widows homes and see if they need doors replaced etc. He has already built a door for one widow and is to help fix her outdoor bathroom. They do have inspections on the outdoor bathrooms to make sure the village has sanitary conditions so there are a few people who may need help getting up to “code” on their outhouses! A neighbor brought boards and Christian constructed a really nice door for him so I expect there will be more to come! Everyone was impressed with a table he made me, (not really that impressive!). I decided I wanted a coffee table made out of one of the packing crates for mill equipment. After they unpacked the machine – carefully – he put it back together adding wheels so we can roll it around! (I have been determined to have wheels on something, he has not been so excited about that!)

Our building next to the Church building…see the difference?

My table: It is a little higher than I expected, he may take it apart and make the sides shorter, or leave it just the way it is because it is good for playing games on! The metal corner pieces were what I liked the most but apparently when someone cleaned the barn they threw some away, three have been found! If I can find one more I will be happy! I have added color to the living room so now I’m not sure what color I want to paint the walls, Chris says bright orange would be too much!