Heritage International Annual Christmas Banquet

The banquet took place on Dec. 12th at Lotus Mexicana, a new restaurant in Kampala. The food was delicious and we all had a nice time together. In this first photo, we've got the adults who went- from left to right...

Christina, from the Chicago area (a WGM Volunteer In Action- VIA- here through May teaching at HIS), Francis from Uganda (more on him later, but the teens really connect with him!), me, from Indiana and all over, Nick (more on him, later, too), and Jean, from New Jersey and also a WGM VIA teaching 1st grade till June 2010.

The next several photos are all from the banquet. The HIS teens enjoyed getting dressed up and having some nice pictures taken, plus we all enjoyed the fajitas and other Mexican fare. I promised I'd put the pictures on my blog, which many of the youth like to see (hi guys!- nice pics, eh?). This is not all the kids who went, but I had to glean out the fuzzy or poorly lit photos. :)

Lovely Heritage girls...

Ruth, Lebo, Vuyo and Meki enjoy a chocolate milk shake. Only about 3 restaurants in all of Uganda know how to make these. Otherwise, when you order a milk shake, it is literally shaken and foamy milk, and not very cold! Bummer!
From left to right are sisters Lebo (8th grade), Penny (10th grade) and Vuyo (8th grade). They come from South Africa but have lived in a number of other nations, including the USA.

In this photo: Francis (on left) is our Music teacher and from Uganda. Evgeni (Eugene), from Russia, is in the middle and in grade 7. Nick is on the right. He is a Missionary Kid (MK) from Bolivia through WGM, serving as a volunteer here till June or so.

Able, from Ethiopia, is on the left. Jesse, from the USA is in the middle. Logan was born in Zambia, is an MK, has lived in Uganda most of his life, except when his missionary parents have furloughs in their home nation of Canada. Talk about international families!

Christmas Banquet, continued...

Pictured from left to right in the back row are Kezza (from Uganda and the USA), Lebo (South Africa), Carlotta (Italy). In the front row are Ruth (Ethiopia), Meki (Kenya) and Donatella (USA and Italy). All of these young ladies' parents work in Uganda in the international business or aid-organization community.

The first photo of this set is of Kaleb, an MK from the USA. His parents are in WGM and are wonderful friends and coworkers. Caleb, on the right, is from the USA and Korea and is also an MK. Both guys are in 8th grade. Caleb is moving back to the USA as his parents begin other ministries there after Christmas. Such is the life of international families and missionaries. Goodbyes (and hellos) are par for the course.

Mischa and Yang are in the second photo. Both guys are seniors. We've been praying for Mischa as he went through some very serious health problems but God has healed him and we are so thankful! Mischa is from Holland and is a Missionary Kid (MK). Yang is from Uganda and his father is an economist working with the government here.