Paech Family Australian Permanent Residency Granted!!

After 13 months of waiting, our Ugandan family members' Australian permanent residency visas have finally been granted! We are off to Australia June 13th! Aggie, Ivy and I will stay for one year (on missionary furlough) and will then return to Uganda. The rest of the kids will stay, and Australia will become their new home, and our family's new home-base. Awesome!

This is a video of our kids' reactions when we shared the news with them!

How to Survive in a Slum

More than a billion people live in urban slums around the world. In Kampala, it's estimated that 60% of households live on less than $150/month. With the help of local council leaders, International Missionaries for Christ (IMFC, who Aggie and I volunteer with) identify the neediest of the needy in Kampala's slums, helping them with crisis-relieving food and Christian counseling. This video looks at some of the challenges such people face, and how they manage to eke out a living.

Aggie's Arts - 2012 Highlights

2012 was an excellent year for Aggie's Arts.  We continued to help 17 families through purchases of beautiful hand-crafted bead jewelry and were even able to increase their monthly purchase amount. Aggie's Arts was also registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States.  Very exciting!  We had 2 teams from the U.S. visit us in 2012.  This video captures some of the highlights of those trips, including an eye clinic that the Aggie's Arts ladies facilitated in their own community!

Ugandan Christmas Party

Have you ever wondered what an end-of-year work Christmas party might be like in Africa?  Wonder no more!  This is the one that we hosted this week for IMFC, the organization we volunteer with here in Uganda.
 

The Power of Partnership - Kisoro Kids

It's really amazing to see what is being achieved (and how!) through the partnership of Kisoro Kids and the Kisoro community.  In this video, Pastor George gives us an update of, and some insight into, this unique relationship.

Aggie & The Lifejacket

Another classic from Aggie, filmed on the Victoria Nile boat cruise, Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda.

Sharon's 1st song & video release!

Sharon has just released her first professionally mixed song & music video "Nakupenda Mummy" which means "I Love You Mummy."  The song is a re-mixed version of her song "Mama" which she sang during the Tusker Project Fame 5 singing contest. The artist name that she has chosen is "Sharon Paech" (Simon is honoured!)

Congratulations Sharon! These days Sharon is out most evenings at gigs and has also had exposure on a couple of shows on TV stations here in Kampala. Her new song & music video will be circulated at local radio & TV stations. Very exciting!

 

Aggie & The Elephant

Family Safari, Murchsion Falls National Park, Uganda.  Four hours into the game drive, Simon driving the family vehicle, armed ranger in the passenger seat, family in the back (including 16mo old Ivy).  Ranger has nonchalantly told us stories of an elephant tipping over a car once in the park, a family's vehicle breaking down at dusk & them spending the night in the park, the signs of when an elephant will charge...and then we come across a big elephant right next to the road.  Simon asks Aggie to stand & take video through the sunroof.  Aggie reluctantly does...and the rest is an instant classic!

P.S./Disclaimer: The ranger calmly assured us (with a grin) that the elephant wasn't about to charge, but for Aggie's sake (there were more exclamations after she shut off the camera) we did leave &:-)}  Does anyone remember Aggie and the Rhino at Lake Nakuru National Park a few years ago? Look at http://www.spaech.blogspot.com/2009/09/safari.html *laugh*

Sharon finishes 6th! - her final performance.

Out of thousands of entrants from six East-African countries of naturally musically-gifted people, Sharon finished 6th! Well done Sharon, that's honestly amazing!

This video shows Sharon's final performance and "eviction." It's great that she ended on a high note! In fact although lots of people think Sharon's eviction was unfair & untimely, it "turns out" that it may be an amazing thing: apparently the Top 5 have restrictions on what they are allowed to record for the year following the competition. No such restrictions for Sharon!

We really look forward to what the future holds for Sharon & we are encouraging her to pursue this as a possible career. What an amazing gift she's been given!

She made lots of excellent connections during the competition too - all of the judges (who are either artists or producers) & many of the faculty gave Sharon their contact details. They didn't do that for everyone in the Top 10. Sharon said Judge Ian (the usually negative one) gave her a big hug and said "If I hear from Julianna [Ugandan judge & artist] that you're just sitting there and not pursuing this, I'll be extremely disappointed!" Julianna has been someone Sharon has admired since she was young - Sharon always dreamed of just meeting her. Now Julianna's number is in Sharon's phone!

Sharon in the Top 6 - Singing her own Song

Sharon made it through the cut last Saturday and into the Top 6! On Sunday contestants sang songs that they wrote themselves. Sharon song, called "Mama," is a mix of English, Swahili and Luganda. It speaks about how precious our Mums (or Moms!) are. This is especially significant for Sharon, who's biological father was a violent man who never provided a thing for them. Their Mum, Aggie, took on the entire job of raising the children, while also suffering in extreme poverty. Many other Africans have experienced (and are experiencing) upbringings like this, so this song will resonate with a lot of people.

Translations of some of the Luganda & Swahili lyrics:

"Nakupenda Mama" - I love you Mama.

"Nkwagala nnyo" - I love you so much.

"Osobola okukyusa ebilala, osobola kukyusa mama wo yeka gwolina mugondere" - Many things can be replaced but you can't replace your Mum. She's the only one you have who cares for you, so you need to give her honour & respect.

Aggie and I had goosebumps and tears in our eyes when we heard Sharon performing this! The word that we had to describe her performance was GLORIOUS! Amazing how Sharon's voice can be so gentle, small & sweet one minute, and so big & powerful the next! You can tell this song is truly from her heart.

Unfortunately though, 4 out of 6 contestants had to be chosen for probation, and Sharon was one of them. They'll be up for potential eviction this Saturday night. Hoping so much that Sharon makes it through!