Family News

Laurence:  Hi. My past few months have been quite hectic with exams. I'm very glad to say they are all done. I am currently looking for work in August to cover missions/holiday travel  expenses that my parents have helped cover.

     In a week’s time I will be heading of to Western Ukraine to a city called Ternopil on an outreach mission which I will be leading for the first time. We will be working with orphans, gypsy children and the youth of local churches as well as joining in with planting of three new churches in villages in the surrounding area. I am looking forward to it, especially now that someone in a life group in my church has covered my outstanding accommodation costs.   

     If you would like to hear any more about it, or partner me in finance and/ or prayer,  please contact my Dad. It would be a huge blessing to my team and I. After Ukraine I will be going to visit my friend in Korea, (after having found, tickets for a fantastic price back in March) where we will also be working in orphanages (South Korea has the lowest adoption rates in the world) as well as enjoying the culture. Traveling/mission work is something I would love to do full-time way in future..

Jerome: Hi There! There isn’t much to say as recently I have been busy revising for exams. However, I have now just finished my second year of University and it’s a great feeling to have a short break from education. After exams I went on a field course visiting producers and growers of field crops around the UK for a week. I got to see; Sugar Beet, Field Beans, Vining Peas and even rhubarb production. I also went to the Lake District for a friend’s birthday for a bit of walking and socialising. 

    I am now in Uganda with my Girlfriend, Fiona, catching up with my parents and mucking in where I can. Shortly my friend Zak will also be coming to visit and we plan to climb Mt Elgon.

Maria: A few weeks ago a friend and I went on a short break to Madrid; we had a fantastic time! We enjoyed a walking city tour, rowing on the Parque del Retiro' lake, watching a Flamenco show, eating tapas,drinking sangria, dancing and meeting other travellers from all over the world! It's become my favourite european city so far! 

   In Hull I have been working for the same social enterprise as before and will be finishing with them at the end of this week. 

   Then I start a 5 week intensive TESOL course (Teaching English as a Second Language) near Oxford. Half of the course will be in Hungary so I'm really looking forward to that! My hope is to teach abroad in Spain whilst becoming fluent in Spanish in preparation for the rest of my international career! Watch this space...

UK Assemblies of God Conference, Marriage Enrichment Course

Adam: We enjoyed and were encouraged  by both of the above. The AoG conference included some really honest and personal presentations on topics such as the male mid-life crisis, and leading with transparency and integrity amidst the sickness or moral failure of a loved one or colleague.  Examples  & benefits of working together with other groups Christian & non Christian to address pressing  community needs were also given. On our marriage weekend for church leaders and missionaries, we received teaching on the biblical  meaning of oneness  ie the emotional, intellectual, spiritual and physical implications. A refreshing time 

May 2015 Update

Dear Friends & Partners, 

We trust this update covering March and Aprilcontinues to encourage you. Shalom. Ad/Helen

Increased sign fluency, literacy/numeracy levels

Increased sign fluency, literacy/numeracy levelsare now a strong shared priority amongst many of our local partners. Following lengthy consultations and trials we have drafted the six-step plan overleaf with the above partners. Steps two and three of the plan overleaf are shown above too.  We are increasingly convinced that this plan can benefit both deaf and  hearing students,  teachers  & family members  more than any of our other partnerships so far- both individually & collectively.

How we hope to unite deaf and hearing members at Eruba Primary School

Children’s Ministry - Parent Child United Village Reading Programme

This has gone so well. Three villages are involved  with the programme. After assessing the reading  levels as we did some group reading and small

 family group readings according to ability.

 We discovered very low literacy and two dominant local languages Lugbara and Alur. Parents and children did not want to develop  local language but they  chose to learn English instead. 

   It soon became apparent that parents and children were confused about how to pronounce vocabulary and we realised that we needed to develop the reading by teaching phonics and the break down of words into sounds.    By using the big book bible stories i.e. Joseph, Noah and David we started to break down the words into segments for  easier reading. ‘J’, ‘o, ‘s’,

 ‘e’,’ph’ ’’Joseph! This is easy” exclaimed one mum as she started reading for the first time. It’s so exciting.

   Eight adults and forty children turned out last week and there was a village funeral to contend with so numbers will be higher next week. But because we are using an inclusive approach to learning with parents and children working together the programme works with big numbers.

   Songs and games are also a valuable part of this programme and we have committed staff. Both enjoyed being with children/youth and happily helped us encourage Eruba Primary School’s deaf and hearing through sport/drama. 

   Our good friend Walt also enjoyed being a part of our efforts to unite parent and children through the PCU programme Helen is leading. We really enjoyed Walt’s our son Laurence’s visit.

Family News

Maria

   We worked in the project with the school, nursery and social enterprise. I specialised in the business side and led on the sales and marketing strategy. I am pleased to say we smashed every single target - we attained the highest monthly sales record by any team and  got 8 new businesses stocking our products. We recorded a tv interview on the product and secured a free radio advertising space. We also provid-ed enough income to cover all the unexpected extra costs that a new government policy had imposed, so no women were let go.                         As you can imagine I didn't want to leave!  

Jerome: Hey! Well apart from university and all the coursework that comes with it which I'm submerged in at the moment I do have a few interesting things to let you know about! Me and my girlfriend Fiona went on holiday to Ireland for just shy of a week and learnt a lot about the troubles in Belfast + how to make Guiness + that it does'nt always rain in Ireland.

   I also spent two weeks in Scotland helping Ian and June with a bit of milking as they were trying to get to grips with a new milking parlour. I've got exams coming up but quite looking forward to finishing my 2nd year of university and going to Uganda for a dose of sun and to see old friends. I also have a placement year to look forward to and my 21st birthday celebrations :) 

Visits from our son Laurence and friend Walt



Adam: Laurence  enjoyed sharing his passion for football, volley ball. Walt enjoyed sharing his passion for  gardening, helping children laugh and learn. They, Helen, I and several  YWAM youth also really got into chess,  too.  I have adapted the game, re-naming it the Kingdom Game to help our base youth to learn to play it and related to its characters. 

Deaf Hearing United... 

…in local homes, schools, workplaces and the wider community

Sharing language, legacy, life, and opportunity.  Stronger together                   

DHU is the vision & name of a small group of  individuals, churches and local advocates who partner Adam & Helen Fielder, its coordinators. Adam & Helen are on staff  with Youth With a Mission’s, Bridge of Healing base, PO Box 442, Arua, Uganda.    www.facebook.com/pages/Fielders-Deaf-Hearing-United-mission-in-Uganda             www.deafconnections.blogspot.com              E-mail: fielder34@hotmail.co.uk

Dear Friends & Partners,

Happy New Year! We missed being with our family and friends in the UK over Christmas. So I(Adam) enjoyed my brief visit to the UK, as did Helen her visit in Oct/Nov.  Thanks to all we met for your hospitality, feedback etc

   Three of the five projects we left running during our year in UK progressed well.

Partners who ran projects had more autonomy, but were expected to give the same level of accountability. We’ve both  travelled much with our projects too, so please excuse the long wait for this news  We hope this update encourages you too. Shalom. Ad/Helen

Family sign language sessions continue

Eight of Aisha’s friend’s (above), including us, recently volunteered to help teach two family sign-language sessions at our deaf friend Aisha’s home for their neighbours/nearby friends/relatives The first  session was attended by 20+children and the second attended by six adults.  The children were excited & enthusiastic to learn. Aisha’s family made the family sign sheet display in the background, refreshments at the second session. Again, helping local partners to fully self-sustain these sessions is our aim.

 

   

Two more deaf building/carpentry student graduated …recently alongside their hearing peers. Deaf graduates, Samuel and Churchill, (right), are from Kitgum, 7hrs drive from Arua. They were particularly thankful as no such opportunity exists in their home area. The other two deaf students did not reach the new higher national standard  required this year. We’ve now been welcomed to support local efforts to support local literacy and numeracy teachers to meet this development.

Go for Growth Youth Camp

Five more deaf youth staffing/joined this camp last month. It was really fruitful, thanks to a great team effort on the part of all the staff and students involved (see below). We were inspired by Colossians 2:19. This passage helped our team see how effective crop and personal / team growth have much in common.
   South Sudan was our field placement where we endeavoured to build trust, unity, confidence and hope through sport, strategy games, music workshops and practical support. Together we created songs, a giant xylophone and dramas. We also cannibalized broken wheelchairs to make one good one to help a man who has had to crawl on his hands for much of life. In the remote mountain village, bush-rat was our Sunday lunch. Very fresh, local, remarkably tasty. But the bush fires used to catch bush meat sometimes spread…

Joint Signed/Spoken Services

These followed several significant meetings with our key local partners where much reconciliation took place.  Now, for the first time, our newly-named Signed Services of our newly-named Signing Fellowship are published alongside all the spoken ones. We are co-leading the other services once every three months. The arrangement is reciprocal. So Lydia, from our Signed Fellowship, was invited to preach Feb 1st  in sign-language, in all three of St Phillips spoken services that morning. She did so through our expanding team of interpreters, led by Jonathan(below last Sunday.

   That memorable experience, (below),  was witnessed for the first time by over 200 people at each. Twelve members of our signed fellowship attended. DHU are supporting Lydia to train as a deaf pastor. She’s progressing  well. The following flow charts show the common approach these developments fit within.

How we are now uniting local deaf and hearing family members:

How we are now uniting deaf and hearing at St. Phillips, Arua:

How we united deaf & hearing youth through the ‘Go for Growth’ Camp:

Families Restored
Helen: Every Tuesday from 5-6pm children and parents have been invited to participate in a creative reading programme with a Christian focus. This programme has run for several years, but is now evolving into a new phase which I’ll explain next time.   

   So in December we celebrated the end of an era, with a Christmas concert and practical activities. More than 100 children (left) attended with some 15 parents from the community. It was great.  

Our Day-after-Boxing Day race had about 20 runners aged 7 to 50+.It was great to see four deaf competing, all finishing in the top six. Next year, one deaf girl has said she’ll compete too.

Finally…  Do contact us if you can financially partner us. Please pray(*) for wisdom/unity for our plans below. (Italicised activities to be confirmed) Shalom. Adam & Helen, Joint Coord DHU

            

Family News

Jerome: Hey! In the last few months I've settled back into university and I've decided to concentrate on uni work more this year which means I've had to drop out of my commitments with the OTC.

   However, I’ve been more involved with the Christian Union. Its great! I help run a weekly event called Globe Café. It’s for international students on campus to come and relax and make friends with each other. Becky and I from the CU come to help. We also invite them along to church and other christian events. This week I invited Dad to talk about his and Mum’s work in Uganda.    I’ve been paintballing and watched Argentina Vs Portugal at Old Trafford with Laurence. Good fun! Thanks

Maria:Hi! I’m enjoying tutoring a Chinese student in English and also working on a marketing and promotions campaign for a local social enterprise, Treasured Steps (see www.treasurek.com for more info). I’m learning a lot of new things! I officially launched our product 'Treasure K' at St Nicholas Primary School Hull! I presented the product to KS1 parents and then to the whole school at the following Christmas Fair. We were joined by local Cllr Steve Wilson, Diana Johnson MP as well as BBC Radio Humberside and KCFM who supported the launch and the donation of sets to the school.

   I am now on an ICS TearFund volunteer placemen10 weeks in Bolivia till early April. While there I will be working with a local social enterprise to help fund a nearby school and provide grants for street children to attend. My fundraised through a sponsored 20 mile run, ‘Live Below the Line’ challenge (living on £1 a day for food for 5 days), jazz night, open mike event, race night. For more information about what I’m up to, and for more regular updates, see www.themakingsofmaria.wordpress.com. To support of for more info about the projects please visit my just giving page at: https://www.justgiving.com/Maria-Fielder/  Thx  

 Laurence: Hi! I’m now staying with one family full-time after three months with two friends of our family on a monthly alternate basis. I’m playing for a local football team called Higham. We enjoyed our first win 3-1 at home in November, with a full team at last. I’m studying hard, taken up English and changed to  Ancient history, from History, B tech Business from Economics. I enjoyed a weekend with Jerome recently, inc. paintballing and am going out more with friends from college. I enjoyed my grandparents 59th wedding anniversary marked by a 16mile bike ride. This year I am visiting my friends/parents in Uganda and S Korea.