This post is going to be a cornucopia (Happy Thanksgiving!) of information. I had a very busy week last week. On Monday I moved into my new house with nothing but a mattress, fridge and stove with no gas. Nothing really changed during the week. I was the victim of Canadian banking rules which state I can only withdraw a certain amount of money from my account in a week; since I had to pay $2400 US for my 6 months rent as well as $775 US for my fridge and stove I hit that weekly limit very quickly. In fact I was unable to pay the entire six months rent and had to wait 5 days before I was able to get another Ugandan shilling from the bank. But I am blessed to say that I have amazing friends here in Kampala who all offered to lend me money. I borrowed a little to pay my house help and to get a gas tank and hose, but managed with only 100,000 shillings for the week. That's actually quite a bit here in Uganda.
The other big thing that took up most of my week was preparing to train about 15 field staff on how to navigate through the new Microsoft Vista operating system and the basics on how to use Microsoft Excel. You see Food for the Hungry International has moved from a dos based Sun Systems platform to a new Windows based Sun Systems housed on the server in Phoenix, AZ. What this means is that all our files will now be entered into Excel and directly uploaded to the server in Phoenix. No more manual entry of each transactions. To give you an idea, I worked all day Monday manually entering 2 of about 20 journals. And I mean all day!!!! This new system will cut down on the amount of accounting work that is done, both in the field and here in Kampala. But there is a huge learning curve for the field staff, most of whom are entirely unfamiliar with technology and are now expected to use laptops, Excel and scanners. I am directly responsible for all the CDP (Child Development Program) centers as well as the HIV/Aids program and the GO-Ed program. I have an even bigger learning curve than the field staff as I have to learn the old way as well as the new way. Not to mention that there are a lot of zeros in Ugandan shillings (1000, 5000, 10000, 50000, 100000 notes) and the way Ugandans write zeros, sixes and eights can be very hard to decipher. Let's just say it is an adventure in accounting.
The best thing about last week was that it was my birthday on Saturday. I had probably one of my best birthdays ever. This is because people I have only known for 3 weeks went out of their way to throw a party for me, with cake, candles and presents. Sonya and Bruce and their children hosted and Luke and his mom came too. It was truly special; a birthday I won't forget in a long time. Then on Sunday after church, Luke, his mom and Brooke (Sonya and Bruce's daughter) went to Speke Resort. It is a very large resort right beside Lake Victoria. We swam in the biggest pool I have ever been in and went horseback riding. Then back to Bruce and Sonya's for waffles. It was a wonderful weekend.
The start of my week, yesterday, was of course Thanksgiving. I was very blessed to have been invited to attend a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. There were around 30 people there, mostly Canadian, but with a few token Brits. There was turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie. It was amazing.
On the church front, I am loving Kampala International Church. The worship is fantastic although there are lots of songs I don't know. (But it is fun learning the new ones) The head pastor, John is awesome. He has such character. Very different from Mike and Paddy at Cap Church. I have thoroughly enjoyed his sermons. I even found a home group to attend starting in November; it is only two gates down from the FH office and only an 8 minute walk from my house. God has been guiding and blessing me through this entire journey and He continues to amaze me with his steadfast love.
The other big thing that took up most of my week was preparing to train about 15 field staff on how to navigate through the new Microsoft Vista operating system and the basics on how to use Microsoft Excel. You see Food for the Hungry International has moved from a dos based Sun Systems platform to a new Windows based Sun Systems housed on the server in Phoenix, AZ. What this means is that all our files will now be entered into Excel and directly uploaded to the server in Phoenix. No more manual entry of each transactions. To give you an idea, I worked all day Monday manually entering 2 of about 20 journals. And I mean all day!!!! This new system will cut down on the amount of accounting work that is done, both in the field and here in Kampala. But there is a huge learning curve for the field staff, most of whom are entirely unfamiliar with technology and are now expected to use laptops, Excel and scanners. I am directly responsible for all the CDP (Child Development Program) centers as well as the HIV/Aids program and the GO-Ed program. I have an even bigger learning curve than the field staff as I have to learn the old way as well as the new way. Not to mention that there are a lot of zeros in Ugandan shillings (1000, 5000, 10000, 50000, 100000 notes) and the way Ugandans write zeros, sixes and eights can be very hard to decipher. Let's just say it is an adventure in accounting.
The best thing about last week was that it was my birthday on Saturday. I had probably one of my best birthdays ever. This is because people I have only known for 3 weeks went out of their way to throw a party for me, with cake, candles and presents. Sonya and Bruce and their children hosted and Luke and his mom came too. It was truly special; a birthday I won't forget in a long time. Then on Sunday after church, Luke, his mom and Brooke (Sonya and Bruce's daughter) went to Speke Resort. It is a very large resort right beside Lake Victoria. We swam in the biggest pool I have ever been in and went horseback riding. Then back to Bruce and Sonya's for waffles. It was a wonderful weekend.
The start of my week, yesterday, was of course Thanksgiving. I was very blessed to have been invited to attend a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. There were around 30 people there, mostly Canadian, but with a few token Brits. There was turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie. It was amazing.
On the church front, I am loving Kampala International Church. The worship is fantastic although there are lots of songs I don't know. (But it is fun learning the new ones) The head pastor, John is awesome. He has such character. Very different from Mike and Paddy at Cap Church. I have thoroughly enjoyed his sermons. I even found a home group to attend starting in November; it is only two gates down from the FH office and only an 8 minute walk from my house. God has been guiding and blessing me through this entire journey and He continues to amaze me with his steadfast love.
1 comment:
Yay yay yay!! I'm so glad you had a proper birthday celebration!
Sounds like it was full of good people and good fun.
I'm so glad they took good care of you. Best wishes for the best year yet.
Anita
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