The Reverend Ragtoe & DJ Duncan

Check out Tim's latest video - a tribute to the White Eagle's spectacular performance in this year's football tournament. As an added treat, he's somehow managed to get Pastor Duncan bustin' out some beats in a rasta-wig, whilst he raps "get ready for the skill of the white eagle, the kings of football, their skills are regal".

He's a special one.

Go to the River of Life YouTube Channel, sit back, and, laugh or cry, you'll love it!

Remember that newest member of the Church?

When we first started this blog we wrote about little Mercy, so-called by one of our elders because of the Mercy God had shown on her life. We found abandoned in a saucepan by the side of the road - she was so thin and scrawny and obviously undernourished back then, it was terrible - we have a photo of her but it's too distressing to post it here. Anyway, she joined the big White Eagle family here and she is getting on so well, we just had to write about her. She has everyone wrapped around her little finger, chatters away in English and Luganda and is a really bright little spark.

A total transformation compared to how she was when she came to us, praise God! Here she is with Tim, after a chapatti making session...

Fundraising for River of Life's easy!

Did you know that you can set up a fundraising sponsorship page at the click of a button? Just head over to Justgiving and follow the instructions to set-up a fundraising page, and make sure you link it to "River of Life Uganda". Your friends and family then donate through your webpage... and if you're thinking "I can't do a sponsored event - doesn't that mean running a marathon? or doing a skydive? or sitting in a bath of baked beans for 24 hrs? I'm not doing any of those!" help is at hand! Because a casual browse of the Justgiving "Inspiration for Fundraisers" blog entries shows just how creative you can be in designing a 'sponsored' event. Of course here's your Lands End to John o'Groats bike rides and London Maranathon runners, but there are also men who shave off their beards, a team called the 'Urban Ironing Collective' who will do your ironing for a £15 donation, pancake races, and much more besides. A lot of people are setting up 'In memorium' pages for when a loved one dies, or forsaking birthday gifts and asking people to donate to charity instead. We'll be encouraging everyone to do something later in the year when we hold the first ever International River of Life Gift Day Bonanza - here's hoping for loads of wacky fundraising ideas!

As well as using Justgiving, River of Life is set up with MyCharityPage, another online fundraising page, and our building appeal is listed on theBigGive
webpage - search for projects in Uganda, Eastern Africa under £25,0000. Check us out...

I'll be writing much more about fundraising ideas in the near future, so watch this space if you want to get involved...

In memorium Jjaja Rose

It is with great sadness that we write of the death of Duncan's mother, known to many as Jjaja or Maama Rose (depending on how old you were). Any of you who have visited Duncan & Mary will no doubt have either met her, visited her or eaten great piles of matooke and chicken at her house on the outskirts of Kampala. We have all been knocked sideways by her death, which was a few weeks ago now, on March 8th.

However, we were so overjoyed that Duncan and Mary were able to get back to the UK a few days before and have a great time with her before she died. Thank you all so much for all your prayers, and thank you to those who made this unplanned visit possible.

Having had some time to recover, we'll be much better at updating this blog thing. Honest :)