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1 it local family sells house to improve life for ugandans lois neely correspondent five months ago greg and elaine olson sold their modern home put their furnishings and winter clothes in storage and with daughters brittany 3 i and jenessa 20 months boarded a plane for africa to help establish homes for the 148 million children who have been orphaned by fighting or aids mostly aids in midjanuary 1993 i was privi leged to visit the olsons and help cele brate brittanys third birthday along with some 35 of their new african friends both ugandans and muzun- gus expatriate white people elaine and her ugandan cook pre pared a magnificent african feast including the favorite matooke steamed bananas with peanut sauce and delicious pastries wrapped around spicy meat and a huge teddy bear cake with three birthday sparklers the mexican piriyata elaine made was a great novelty for the african chil dren spilling out candies and small toys brought from canada the next day greg took me out to the building site he is overseeing what a ride down the wrong side of the road zipping between speeding smatu- tas jampacked minibus taxis and swaying overloaded lorries dodging bicycles weighed down with two or three metrelong fish fresh from lake victoria straddling the rear wheel we turned off the main road to negoti ate a deeply rutted lane slowing down to avoid numerous goats and ducks mostly tied to a stake by a long leg rope i dont know the first thing about con struction but im learning fast greg admitted that day the workers were plastering the tank for the latrine that will be shared by the two homes presently under construction for childcare plus the work crew numbered 14 mostly young men volunteers from the church plus two young women who cooked the traditional lunch of poco boiled maize peas and cabbage gary picks them up each morning and drives them home at 5 pm that day he set a new record 18 bodies in the 4x4 isuzu including greg and me it was a merry squash with the group chanting and clapping to the accompaniment of the bongo drum as we lurched around the love safely use a condom was too soft a defence against aids so one local family teaches using the motto love faithfully one partner for life ruts and potholes greg and elaine made the decision to resign from his management job at ibms head office when they got to know gary and marilyn skinner who had come to live just around the corner in unionville for a years sabbatical from pastoring a large 7000 member church in downtown kampala garys brother dean is pastor of markham pentecostal church where the olsons were members skinners shared their plans for next year to provide care for 100 orphans by renting or building ten ordinary neigh bourhood houses with no more than ten children in each rather than building a large institutional orphanage could you use our help for a year olson volunteered as well as supervis ing construction of the two houses greg helps with administration for the 26 children they now have in their care six of them live in a rented house the others stay with extended family were experimenting with all three routes skinner explains were not sure which will work best the government of uganda has just put a freeze on large institutions in an attempt to keep its many orphaned chil dren in as normal a setting as possible each day on the radio there are announcements so and so has died will relatives please come and collect the children skinner has calls almost daily from parishioners pastor my sister has died her husband died two months ago id like to take the children but i live in one room and i dont have money to care for them what shall i do every family has been touched by this tragedy ugandans tell me the aver age ugandan has to choose which funeral to go to there are so many we cant possibly attend them all uganda has just classified aids as an std sexually transmittable disease so that public health workers can imple ment the normal controls for infectious diseases the vice president during the first week of january made the statement on tv that uganda must include chris tian teaching in our school curriculum if we are to see any change in the moral behaviour of our youths we have to change the way were liv ing or well soon all be dead he warned the chief of contagious dis ease control and aids told me we used to say love safely use a condom but we know that was the wrong mes sage that was too soft you wont see those posters anymore in uganda now we are saying love faithfully one partner for life with so much death and dying the problems could be overwhelming skin ner and olson agree but we can care for 10 children 20 children 100 chil dren perhaps 1000 and that is worthwhile olson adds its wonderful to be in a part of the world where in spite of the aids heartbreak god is very evidently at work weve just started a third sun day morning service for a total atten dance of well over 8000 will the olsons stay on beyond their one year committment we havent decided yet we know well never be the same theres so much more to life than a secure job and a comfortable lifestyle by our standards many ugandans have so little but theyre hard working and innova tive and theyre so happy and friendly their young people arent having epi demic suicides its a privilege to be here greg and elaine olson pose with daugh ters brittany and jennessa above and below greg holds a ugandan orphan r- ik i nr hp mjfjf y bbk hl fasl fe peii i rkbii ips qbtyjgsj bjyl a church anglican 19 parkway avenue 2943184 parkway runs east from hwy 48 3 stoplights north of hwy 7 sunday worship sunday may 2 800 am 1000 am scoutguide church parade all welcome i church directory johklloo urn the markham corps of the salvation army is your community church with heart to god and hand to man sunday services 930 am christian education for all ages 1100 am- family worship 630 pm- evening praise everyone is welcome 9285 mccowan road ne comer of mccowan rd at 16th ave corps officers pastors lieutenant and mrs philip franco 47 or 4711625 markham missionary church major mackenzie half mile east of mccowan winston thurton senior pastor john hamilton associate pastor sunday may 2nd 945 am family christian education hour 1055 am communion celebration pastor thurton speaking 630 pm evening service gods home on earth pastor thurton speaking wednesdays 700 pm youth adult prayer bible study for details please contact the church 2945081 home of the north markham nursery school i unionville presbyterian church the presbyterian church in canada 600 village parkway unionville sunday morning service 1100 am caring nursery provided church school minister rev j wesley denyer ba m div 4756233 come join us this sunday be a winner receive a free meal this week central united church 1 31 main st unionville invites you to its 153rd anniversary services sunday may 2nd 1993 930 am 1100 am guest speaker rev dr bob rumball i evangelical church of the deaf a everyone welcome the lobo sv no oupo nec ssakv are yourjepriving yourself of needed spiritual food at markham baptist church tomorrow at 1 1 am we will celebrate communion or the lords supper it is truly amazing how much nourishment you will receive from a bit of bread and juice join us markham baptist church j 10 church street 2945830 l west ofwooten way opposite markham high a canadian baptist federation church