The Adventure Continues...
Dear Friends & Family,
So much has happened since you last heard from us! We got married in Charleston, travelled around the UK visiting Peter’s family and friends, moved to Uganda and started life under the same roof, Peter started a new job at Ekisa, and Avery returned to teaching Red Class at Ekisa Academy.
Days have been flying by, and we feel as though we haven’t been the best at keeping in touch with you all. One of the hardest things about being ‘abroad’ is that we can never have all the people we love in the same place - or even the same time zone - at the same time. While it’s incredible to have friends all over the world, and we feel that God has placed us here for a reason, it’s often overwhelming trying to keep in touch with all the people we love whilst also trying to live full lives here. We want you to know that your friendship and love mean the world to us even when we are far away and slow to reply. You really help to keep us going. Thank you. All that said, we are hoping to turn out a regular monthly update with this being the first installment…so read on below to hear some of our highlights over the last few months, and to hear how you can be praying/supporting us as well.
Highlights
Our Wedding
June 22nd was a very special day for us as family and friends gathered from all over the world. We were very grateful for the generosity and support of all our loved ones as we celebrated our love for each other, and the incredible way God brought us together over the past year. It was fantastic to celebrate with excellent food, in beautiful nature, and with so many of you! It was a magical day full of joy that will always bring us great joy. A very special thank you to Avery’s family for making the day so memorable, and to Peter’s family for travelling many miles to be there. Here are a few of our favourite pictures from the day!
photos by The Happy Bloom
UK Travels
We honeymooned in the Lake District in the UK, where we enjoyed more beautiful scenery, rested from the busy months beforehand, and had surprisingly good weather. Then we were back on the road visiting family and friends that we don’t often get to see and celebrating the wedding of one of Peter’s best friends. Although disappointed that football did not quite ‘come home’, it was lovely to have special quality time with family, and we are really thankful to all of you who hosted us and made us feel welcome in Leicester, Norfolk, and Tunbridge Wells.
Back to Jinja
Packing for the move to Jinja was not fun, so it was a great relief when that part of the transition was over and we were safely moved in to our new apartment. We’ve spent weeks fighting off cockroaches and making it feel homey, but it finally does feel as though it’s our place (Avery has worked miracles). In terms of school it was straight back into it leading school meetings and preparing materials for the term ahead. Avery is teaching Red Class again, and Peter is figuring out his roles as ‘Education Manager’. Ekisa Academy follows a Ugandan style term system and so we are now in the last term of the school year (3 terms per year) which will wrap-up in December, before the new term starts after the long break at the beginning of February. If you would like to know more about Ekisa the Christian organisation we are working for, please do check out the website:(https://www.ekisa.org/).
Ekisa Academy
Avery has been working extremely long days preparing lessons and materials for her class. Red class is made up of 9 children with a variety of disabilities including Spina Bifida, Cerebral Palsy and Hydrocephalus. Although children are grouped into classes based on abilities, they really all need one to one support, and Avery has been working to create a system that enables them to receive some one to one support every day so that they can make the best progress possible. Despite the hard work it has been incredible to see the progress the children in Avery’s class have made. They have been excited to work on skills in word building, sight word recognition, and creating/reading simple sentences.
We had a wonderful moment in class recently where one student was able to independently read a sentence they had never seen before. The student’s face lit up, and the Teaching Assistants gave her a great round of applause!
Avery has also been excited by the communication progress of some of her children with Cerebral Palsy. Using communication boards and alternative pencils, Avery has been able to give the non-verbal children in her class a voice and has also been working to help them build words and sentences of their own.
Photo by Ekisa Ministries
New Job
At the end of May, Peter left his job as a high school Psychology and PE teacher at Rosslyn Academy in Nairobi, Kenya. He is now helping with more of the administration for Ekisa Academy, while also organising school staff meetings, and building healthy relationships through teambuilding activities. Although different to his old job, Peter is enjoying the new challenge.
How to Pray/Support Us
There are lots of things you can be praying for us, but here are few key ones. Thank you for remembering us:
Red Class:
Pray for wisdom planning effective, interactive lessons that meet each child’s needs.
Also pray for strength, energy and patience to be able to do this.
School Improvements:
Please pray that will make good decisions for the future of the school as we seek to expand and improve our program to reach more children with Special Needs in the community.
Teaching Assistants:
Please pray for strong relationships with the teaching assistants as we seek to work together despite cultural differences and teaching styles.
Resettlements for children:
Please pray that our social workers will be diligent, and that God would provide loving Christian families for the children in our residential home so that they can grow up in the best setting possible.
Church and Relationships:
Please pray for us as church here is different to what we are used to.
Pray that we will continue to grow in our faith, and that we will be able to build good relationships with other Christians here in Jinja. We do miss family and friends very much!
Thank you for reading our update! We would love to hear back from you about what’s going on in your life, and how we can also be praying for you.
If you would like to support us financially, just follow these step-by-step instructions below or send us a message!
1. Click the link to the donate section of Ekisa's Website: Give to Ekisa
2. Select the amount you would like to give.
3. Click Submit.
4. If you are wanting to join the team as a monthly donor, select the Recurring Transaction option.
5. Select a volunteer to support.
6. Fill the billing info & press submit. Your support is very much appreciated.
With much love,
Peter & Avery