UGANDA M&Ms

Phil was the teacher for Jay and Vicki Dangers kids at New Hope Uganda when Dave and I were there for our first visit back in late January, 1991.  Lots to adjust to in our visualness, believe me!  Loved it there, though.


One of our first get-together times for the whole family, including Phil and his daughter, was lunch time.  We were sharing about a number of different things we miss, and suddenly Phil said that he missed M&Ms more than anything and if he ever had a bag of them he would just put his face up, hold the bag over his mouth, and pour them down his throat.

Dave had a big smile.  He popped up from the table, went to our visitor cabin on the other side of the Dangers' front garden, and dug through our suitcases. 

We had brought a large number of eating bits -- candies, boxes of nut and fruit bars, and some small juice drinks -- with us from the States, both to give away to Ugandan kids  AND to live on if we didn't have more eatable food in Uganda or at airports.

Dave came back in about 5 minutes, walked up to the table, and handed Phil a medium-sized M&M bag with hundreds of those colorful chocolates in it.  Phil's eyes got big.  He grinned.  He grabbed.  And, just as he had indicated he would, he poured!!

What did we all do?  We laughed.  A few M&Ms bounced off his face and down his neck and hit the floor.  The laughing continued.

Did I understand then?  Not much.  But later?  Oh, yes!  When we were in Uganda in our '94 to '96 16-month stretch, and sometimes too far from anywhere to have much of anything, we sometimes would lay on our bed after church, with the warmed air flowing down from the tin roof, and ask each other, "If we were home, where would we be heading for a quick lunch?"  Well, it was usually Burger King or Taco Bell.

Dave and I had some nice talking and sharing times with Phil during those days there.  I'll never forget especially as we discussed the Bible. I happened to have with me one of my extra Reese Chronological Bibles, and I gave it to him.  He was a happy guy.

He was a gymnastic-oriented person. I sometimes saw him and a local Ugandan teacher running on the paths, rough roads.  He was an exerciser.  And a biker.  Now, the bikes we saw in Uganda back then were pretty tough to deal with; not nearly as simply and easily as ours were here. 

One day we were standing on the Dangers' house driveway.  Phil was teaching.  Then, he was riding back to his house on his daughter's bike [brought with them from California] that she had ridden to the classroom/school.  He had walked earlier.  As we learned later, when he had forgotten papers at his house, and needed them for the class, he had grabbed his daughter's bike, rushed home, grabbed the papers, and rushed back.

We couldn't NOT take the photos of him passing us. Are they  clear photos?  No.  But did it make us laugh then?  Yes.  And now?  Why not?  Grinning can be a good thing.
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About 3-1/2 years later we were the teachers.  Dave had started a year earlier with piano, music theory, and computers.  Several months later, when their present teacher had to return to Canada, we both taught, although Dave did a number more classes than I did.  I did a couple, but had mostly secretarial and other jobs.  

 Same school, same kids.  A blessing.

[Oh, and the homes, schools, an administration building, church, and so many other aspects there have just exploded in size and beauty.  Amazing gifts from God and His people.]