Meeting old and new friends

“Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold.”  Does that ring a bell for anyone?  That line from a song from childhood keeps going through my head, but I don’t remember where I learned it.

One of the best parts of living in Uganda has been meeting up with old friends and making new friends.  The past couple of weeks have been packed with friend meetings.

One night, we went to dinner with Bob Goff and his group of friends, visiting from America.  We like to say that it’s all Bob’s fault that we moved to Uganda!  Bob has encouraged many to visit Uganda for their first time, which leads to their second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. time.  We enjoyed visiting with our old friend Bob and making new friends.  It turns out we are all FOB (Friends of Bob).

Another night, we went to dinner with the Fitzpatrick family (an American family we just met a couple of weeks ago, who is here to get custody of their new son Job).  We celebrated their oldest daughter’s birthday and their three kids got to hang out with our three kids and the Gregstons’ three kids.  When we said goodbye that night, we hoped not to see them again in Uganda (because we are praying the process will finish quickly and they will get to go home).  They just flew home last night.  We do plan on seeing them back in southern California (it turns out we only live about 20 minutes from each other).

Fitzpatrick, Gash, & Gregston kids

A week ago Saturday, we got to see Henry again at his new school for Sports Day (like our Field Day with lots of sports competitions between the students).  It was good to support Henry and his “house” (think Harry Potter).  He is doing well in his pre-med courses and he continues to make new friends of his own at school.

Jessica & Henry

Last Sunday after church, we went to the food court at the mall in Kampala to meet with a young man named Ahamed, who is sponsored by Jim’s aunt and uncle (Don and Kay Koontz).  They had asked if we could meet with him and take him shopping with the money they sent with us for him.  As we talked, we found out that Ahamed is the same age as Joshua (14), he loves studying history, and hopes to be a lawyer.  He is living in a very poor area of the city with his mother Elizabeth (who is HIV positive) and his six-year-old sister Phoebe (who does not attend school because the family does not have money for school fees, and she doesn’t have a sponsor).  He has another sister named Irene who is eleven and is sponsored, so she can go to a boarding school.  Ahamed has to walk one hour each way to go to church at the Kampala Church of Christ and two hours each way to go to school.  So he was really happy to get a new pair of shoes (in addition to a soccer ball, dictionary, and a bunch of food items for him and his family).

Ahamed with new shoes and ball

Gash kids with Ahamed

Ahamed with mother and sister

As we visited with Ahamed and Isaac (the church administrator who accompanied him to the mall), some other members from their church came to the food court for lunch.  As it turns out, we had many friends in common with them.  Here is a photo of our kids with them.  Do you recognize any of them?  Maybe you are a link between us and these new friends.

Gash kids with Kampala Church of Christ members (past & present)

Some people would not bother trying to make new friends, knowing you would only be living in a new place for six months.  But in Uganda, making new friends is a part of daily life.  We are glad to be part of this life.  Our lives are richer because of our old and new friends.