A letter from Veronica

I recently received this letter in the mail from one of the older girls at the orphanage. Her name is Veronica and she's getting ready to apply to university next year. I'm going to write her letter out in full to share it with you. It's very sweet!

Hello Karen,

How are you and how is work and your life in Canada? Well, back here in Uganda, I am doing ok. I am at school busy reading my books since I am soon doing my final exams in November that will register me for university.

I really thank God for the time we spent together here in Uganda and I would also like to come and visit you in Canada since we had a good time here. How is Monica? Do you normally visit her and go for coffee together? Send my sincere greetings to her and tell her that we lover her so much.

I have been communicating to Auntie Milly via phone and I have always been informed about what has been taking place at home. I really miss those children at the orphanage. (**fyi, Vero has been doing her final school year at a boarding school in Kampala.)

I have chosen the right courses that I would like to do at the university with the help from my teachers. They have advised me about the courses that best suit my subjects that I am doing here in Senior 6. These are some of the courses-- law as my first choice and accounting as my second course. My results from my final exam will determine the course I will be doing in university.

After my results are back in February 2011, I will be going to university in August 2011.

I will be soon going for my long vacation in November after my exams on the 24th, I will be going back to Kasese and be with the children. I am also going to start my computer studies and I will open up an email where I will be communicating to you.

In my vacation, I will be helping with the work at home, playing with the children and helping Auntie Milly with her work in the office.

Lastly, I would like to send my greetings to all of your friends in Canada and I with you a nice stay and hope to see you again here in Uganda.

Greetings from all of my friends here at school like Rhoda, Martha, Esther and Faith.

With love,

Veronica Nabasinga.

Amazing Race Maps

Did anyone see the Amazing Race last night? They were racing in Ghana and one of their challenges was to correctly identify the Ghana on a map of Africa. (What?! You mean Africa is not a country??)

Just today, I had to dig up some maps of Uganda and Kasese, where the orphanage is, as part of our application for charitable status. And then I had an "Amazing Race moment" and realized that people who read this blog and know about the orphanage may not know where it is.

Here's a map to put things into perspective. It also shows where Gulu is - many of us are aware of the long-standing war in Northern Uganda - and its proximity to the Congo and Sudan.

Look south on the map and you will find Kasese on the Congo border, surrounded by lakes, mountains and forest. Actually, the orphanage borders on the land of a national park and one night that I was there, the elephants came onto the property in search of food and water. I didn't see the elephants, but heard the gun shots of rangers trying to scare them off the land.