The End (For Now)

The big event for Sunday July 15 was the church services at St. James Church in Marare.  The first was in English (their “youth service”, although it was actually a fairly broad range of ages that attended) and the second was in Lugisu (their “traditional service” which also seemed to have a lot of young kids.)

We had been told that we were expected to contribute a lot to the service … certainly the sermon.  In the end Ralph from our team did this (for those who don’t know him, Ralph is a former Northgate pastor and is now the Dean at Taylor Seminary.)   We also decided to do a couple of testimonies from team members and a song.

For the song, I’ve heard the congregation and the choir at St James before and we knew we needed professional help.   Fortunately we had just that, in the form of Manjeri, one of the sponsored kids in the FH program.   Manjeri, who is 17, is an excellent singer and also actually writes her own songs.   So we brought in the heavy hitter  We practiced one of her songs (“Sometimes I pray” … we will teach it to Northgate when we get back) and were ready to be her backup group.  (we had Manjeri with us for the whole day, actually, which was really nice as we got to know her better)

Overall the services were a great experience.  Ralph gave a really good sermon on “Loving people even when we don’t actually like them”.   In the first service he gave it straight in English … in second he did it in English again but then David, one of the FH team, translated it line by line as it went along. After that Joshua, the Lay Reader, did what sounded like an extended recap in Lugisu … Joshua is a very passionate speaker, quite good to listen to even when you don’t understand a word.

(an explanation of “Lay Reader”.  There are far more church congregations than ordained ministers in the Church Of Uganda … for example there are five churches and one minister, the recently joined Rev. Alex,  in Marare Parish.  So the minister is in a different church each Sunday, and on the other Sundays a Lay Reader in each church leads the service)

For our testimonies first Tim shared how he came to follow Jesus … Ralph played a big role in that, with the two becoming friends through the friendship of their children.   Naomi shared hers, talking about the fact that she had been born with a number of physical challenges.  She then talked about how she has overcome them though God’s help to be the person she is today.   What she wanted was to encourage them to know that they too could overcome their difficulties; after the service one of the members came up to her to express how much this had encouraged her because they too have a child with physical challenges.

At the end of both services we sang Manjeri’s song with her.   Well, actually Majeri sang her song with us.  The congregation responded enthusiastically.   At the end of the first service they invited her to sing it again.  At the end of the second service many of the FH staff joined us.  It was great … a brilliant plan to have her with us!

A few words on the building … this is the new St. James Church that was still under construction when we visited in 2015.   It’s now done, and it’s really nice.   It’s about twice the size of the original church. And it has electricity!   We actually had microphones and everything!  I almost forgot I was in Africa …

… well, until I heard the congregation singing.   I distinctly remember the first moment, when we were sitting at the front with our back to them, and the congregation suddenly joined into a song in full voice.  I got goosebumps.  It is amazing to hear!

The two services ran from before 8 (when we arrived) to about 1:30, with only a short break in between them.  The last part of the second service is one of my favorite bits.   Keep in mind we are in an agricultural community with limited cash, so many people give their offering in produce.   When that happens they have an auction selling off that day’s produce to raise cash.  One of the congregation members brought a whole 7’ sugar cane and then gave it to us as a gift … we ate it with lunch, and it was delicious.

One other little aside that Naomi  observed.   The  soil in this area, like much of Uganda, is very red.  While wearing her white church shirt she discovered just how ubiquitous and invasive that red soil of Marare is.  Even though she didn’t actually touch it, her entire shirt is covered in a dusting of red.   You don’t need to go looking for the red soil; the red soil finds you.  (I can attest to this myself; I still have shoes with soles stained red from our last trip in 2015.)

After lunch we were able to visit Sharif, Tim’s sponsored child.  This is one of the 11 visits that we completed on this trip.

For many of these what we do is go to the sponsored child’s home at an arranged time (Molex, one the veteran FH staffers, does a bang-up job arranging these).  Going to the home is best, as typically we can meet with the rest of the family.   In this case we were greeted by Sharif’s grandmother, whom he is living with.  (that’s her on the left, with Molex on the right)

The sponsored child visits tend to be fairly short and informal.  The whole purpose is to convey our love and interest in the child and his family and to generally encourage them all.  Typically we sit down with them, conveying wishes from their sponsor (for sponsors not on the trip we brought videoed greetings to show the sponsored kids), pass them some small gifts and then make some conversation with them, finding more about them and their interests and lives. 

One thing about sponsored child visits is that they tend to be a spectator sport.   Almost every time we go into a home a group of small children gather and watch the proceedings.   In Sharif’s case this was particularly so, as he lives with a lot of children … his biological siblings and also a large (didn’t actually succeed in counting) number of cousins whom grandmother is caring for (at least two of their mothers, her daughters, appear to live there as well).

Of course we get a group picture....

And then at the end of this we then have a time to pray a blessing on the child and their family and home.  Often the children and almost always their caregivers express a lot of appreciation of us coming to visit; there is little question that the appreciation is genuine, sometimes very obviously so from the emotions expressed.  Sometimes they express this by giving us gifts, often of produce ... Sharif's grandmother gave us a whole bag of corn and large avocados!

The other big event was a thank-you dinner that we were able to have with the FH staff.   We really do appreciate the hard work that they do and wanted to make sure we expressed this as strongly as we could.   We ended up doing a bit of a recitation using candies we gave them (“You are real Lifesavers!  You are a real bunch of Smarties!  Etc, etc …. You get the idea).   We really hope we left them encouraged.

And now briefly on to Monday … I’m getting tired here, so I will leave most of this for sharing night, or perhaps a subsequent post.   The biggest event today was the formal goodbye.   

This is a very emotional and powerful event, but it has been described in some detail in previous year’s blogs so I won’t hit it much here.   We of course were dressed up in traditional garb….

… the school choir sang ….

… and the Adult Functional Literacy group did a song and skit describing the characteristics of each of us.  

After lunch (huge!), which was provided by parents from the community, we had a couple of hours just playing games and generally interacting with the children and others.   It was low key and quite enjoyable.   One highlight was watching Jennifer (see July 12), who is 62 years old, playing netball, and playing it well--making sure to block Tim.

Anyways, that’s all for now.   It was a great trip and journey, with still a lot to process.   Very thankful for good health for the team.  Thank you to all who were praying for us.  I am looking forward to sharing night, which will be September 23, 7 pm.  Join us if you can.  

God is good.   All the time.  And all the time.  He is good.  For that is His nature.

Makhai

We visited the village of Makhai yesterday.   (see https://www.google.com/maps/place/0%C2%B057'04.3%22N+34%C2%B009'56.0%22E/@0.951191,34.1644678,357m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d0.951191!4d34.1655556 , although I think it has expanded somewhat beyond the current Google Maps satellite view I am seeing).   Makhai was the first village around Mbale that FH worked with, and they graduated out of the program 8 years ago.   With Marare's graduation coming closer and closer we really wanted to see this, to see that it was indeed possible for a place to continue strong even after FH formally left them … in other words, that the work was sustainable.

It is more than sustainable.   We saw that Makhai has not only continued what they had 8 years ago, but has gone well beyond.

(this next part is written with Naomi’s assistance….)

One thing they started 4 years ago for children with challenges, largely deafness but also some with mental and developmental challenges.  It was really great to see the deaf and developmentally challenged kids thriving and even interacting well and positively with the “normal” children at the school. 

Many in the program are from further away, as far as Northern Uganda, and some of the kids board at the school.   When we met the group they were eager to communicate with us, telling us their names in sign language.

There was one teen-aged deaf student, Rebecca, who particularly hit it off with Naomi on our team, who has some hearing difficulties and has learned to use sign language well.    Rebecca diligently taught Naomi Ugandan Sign Language (USL, which is partially different from the American Sign Language or ASL that Naomi knows).  (Rebecca clearly has great natural abilities as a teacher … may she be able to exercise these gifts in the future).

The dynamo behind this evidently successful program was Headmistress Lydia, who clearly works very hard and with much skill in this particular area.   She does everything from the overall organization down to cleaning up their messes.   She also evidently has taken in at least a few of the kids in the program who were desperately poor or had other significant family issues even if they did not have funding for them, essentially trusting that God would provide for them as they did what they thing He is calling them to do.

Another program that has taken root at Makhai since graduation has been their secondary vocational school (secondary is what we would call part of Junior High and then High School – essentially grades 8 on)   We saw the classrooms … they are offering tailoring, computer studies and hairdressing.     Something particularly interesting was them cutting up cement bags to give a cheap material to then practice making clothes with!

And finally we saw the normal secondary school.   In fact we ended up crashing a Secondary 2 (equivalent of 9^th grade) class.   We greeted them, introduced ourselves and sang them a verse of “O Canada!”   They replied with a rendition of the Ugandan National anthem, sung in thunderous fashion with the all the vigor the song deserves.  

I should mention that I did not actually count the students, but the class was BIG.   There is a lot of demand for secondary school in Uganda as many many children graduate from the primary schools that have been their emphasis until now, and they try to take as many as they can despite limited resources.   I have great respect for an Ugandan secondary teacher; the marking alone would take a lot of time.

We also met a number of members of the community.   One chap I walked with for a while was an older farmer who obviously was becoming reasonably prosperous and certainly was a leader in the area.   We were able to talk about their crops … one advantage I have, being a farm boy as I am, is having the universal thing to discuss with farmers here, who make up a huge part of the population.   Yup, you can always talk about rain and crops, and instantly have something in common.

The Makhai visit took up much of the day.  We were able to get in more home visiting yesterday … I’ll talk more about all this in my next posting.   We dragged our way home and passed out, exhausted but happy.

The mzungus who liked going up a mountain so much that they did it twice!

I'm posting this the morning after the Friday when all of these events occurred, but it is  still Friday for at least some of you reading this anyways so it's kind of like time travel.   

Anyways, yesterday (today for those of you still in the past) was a day of marvels  

The big event was going to see some of the new villages FH hopes to enter 10 year partnerships with when Marare is finished next year.  After morning devotions and coffee we piled into our van (us five and FH staff Moses, Molex, Joshua,  and Julius) at 10 am.  At first we went down the paved highway north of Mbale for a ways.  We then turned onto a pretty wide road under construction (likely Chinese financed … Ugandan workers but at least some of the supervisors visibly Chinese)  - dusty but very passable.  But then we turned down a narrow side road and the fun began!

We were now on a narrow, often deeply rutted dirt road that much of the time was climbing.    

It was so bumpy and we bounced so much in the vehicle that my fitness tracker  was convinced I was walking.   I did 17000 steps today largely sitting in a van seat!

At one point we started up what looked to be about a 30 degree long slope, and we offered to get out and walk up so that it would be easier on the van. That was no hardship for us; we were high up in a lush area with beautiful view of the high hills we were in. 

So we forged ahead … but soon we realized that the van, after going a little ways, was not getting to the top!   It had overheated and stalled and refused to start.   So here it was, halfway up a long steep slope, blocking the very narrow road.

A taxi van full of singing women (we could hear them even as they approached) was blocked from continuing; they eventually continued their journey on foot.   A motorcycle carrying water jugs narrowly squeezed by.   

Still we waited.  Meanwhile the local people starting coming out, watching the scene, offering advice on what should be done, and from time to time discussing whether they had enough people there that we could all together push the van up the slope.   It was quite the scene … people all around watching and talking, the taxi waiting below at the base of the blocked slope, another truck that had appeared waiting above, the occasional motorcycle inching past then grinding its way up the rest of the slope … all very African I would say, and in keeping with with the spirit of that we were pretty relaxed.

Eventually the van was slowly rolled back down the slope to a flat and wider spot so the taxi could pass, and we decided that we could continue on foot to where we were going; Moses assured us it was not far.   So we started hoofing it, and probably would’ve made it there; but soon we heard a sound and turned to see our van coming up the slope behind.  Thank you Lord! 

“Where we were going” turned out to be the village of Burukuru.   There really wasn’t a lot there … a few school buildings and a few others.   Actually, there were sort of 1 ½ school buildings; originally there were three, but a storm sometime recently had completely knocked over one and torn the roof entirely off of another.  There were workers there replacing the roof on the latter.

FH has identified Burukuru as a place where they can work in partnership with the community.  There are significant issues about water supply, environment and food security as well as other physical issues that could be addressed.  But above this there is an overall sense of hopelessness and resignation to nothing good happening, tied at least in part to spiritual beliefs in the area.   It is this kind of community that FH’s holistic development programs work well in, ministering to all the needs of the community be they physical, spiritual or emotional.

One thing that Burukuru is not poor in is scenery.  It is way up on the high hill / small mountain (not sure which) overlooking a valley and other hills.   My picture here does it no justice … just beautiful.  Also it was refreshingly cool; at home we would immediately think, “Set up the trailer!  We’re camping here!”

It was while we were here in this significantly remote spot (probably at least an hour’s drive on those roads from Mbale) that the reality of FH’s “incarnational” model of work hit us.    As Christians we believe that God became a person in the form of Jesus and lived among people, something we call the incarnation; and He did this (among other reasons) as the most effective way to have us relate to Him and in so doing to influence us.     Likewise, FH believes that their workers need to live their lives among the communities they are working with, influencing them not only by their programs but also by their very presence and who they are.   They become, in a sense, like Jesus; indeed, they become visible expressions of Him there.

For Marare and the other nearby villages that FH Mbale has worked this could be done by staff living in and around Mbale and travelling each day to spend a lot of time in the villages; they were not far and they could easily get there every day and return at night.  But to work in Burukuru, given the kind of hours they spend on a typical day, that’s not going to be practical.  They are going to have to move there.  And from what we heard from the staff members, they are willing to do that to accomplish what they think God is calling them to do there.   It’s quite humbling to see that level of commitment.

After a time talking with a few people in Burukuru we loaded up in the van and went back down what we had recently come up.   Soon we hit the under-construction road.   I was getting on in time (~2:00)  and we assumed that we were heading back to the FH office.   Until we turned onto another narrow side road.

We continued up and up and up, on much the same type of road and with much of the same jostling along the way as before (but with less “adventure”).  Eventually our efforts were rewarded by coming to the village of Nabukhoma.  We parked at the school and church there high up, got out, and were rewarded with yet another view.

Tim and I debate about which one was a better view.   I contend that Burukuru’s is the superior, being deeper and somewhat wilder looking.   Tim disagrees, noting the wide expanse of the valley one can see from Nabukhoma.  Whatever.  I’ll take either.

We got some time there to talk with people.   I chatted with a local farmer, who grows beans, maize and millet for his family’s consumption and also is starting to grow pumpkins for sale as income.   He was a fairly young man, married and with one one-year-old daughter.   He did note that he and his wife have to travel significant distances to get water.  In general, and from our brief glimpse at the buildings we saw, this particular area looks quite materially poor.

We have seen two of four villages that FH has identified as potential for their next round of 10 year partnerships.   I believe that they soon will be looking for partners, as Northgate has been for Marare.   

We bounced back down the mountain, had lunch at 3:30, and headed into Marare somewhat behind official schedule but still ready to go.     We got to observe two things:

·         A cascade group.  This is a group of about 10  mothers.  Molex, one of the FH community development people, teaches them various health lessons (today was about the care of pregnant women and the advantages of going to a health clinic for their births) using large format laminated picture books.   The women then each have a group of about 11 women of their own that they go teach the lesson to.  Evidently there are 8 such groups, which would mean that close to 1000 women in the end are being taught.

·         A village savings and loans association.   This particular one had some people that Edith and I already knew (Suzan and Grace).  For a description of these, have a look at the August 18 post in 2016 (http://destinationmarare.blogspot.com/2016/ )

(As an aside we really didn’t see much in new projects in Marare … instead we saw more and more of the existing projects being advanced and taking root.  For example I now call Marare “Land of the Dairy Cow” because of the number of dairy cow project cows I saw.    All this is exactly as it should be as they come to graduation)

Anyways this has been a long post and I will sign off.   Other than I will ask for your prayers for team member Tim, as he has lost his mind.  He has made friends with a snail.  Sad, really.

A Short Update For Today....

We had a marvelous day.   After devotions (in which I read the wrong day's passage, but it worked out OK I think...)  we started with a visit with Ellen (mother of Edward, world’s cutest singer … those who followed our 2015 blog may remember him, or you can look back…)  

She gave us an excellent talk on her biogas system which really was a fantastic primer in the end on the whole FH work here.   There was an enormous amount we saw and learned; I think I will leave it for a talk at our sharing night (hint hint, plan to be there).   I will title it:

“How to go from"

“to”

“in several easy steps”

We spent a significant amount of time today visiting with sponsored children.  Thus far we have met with Ivan, Sarah, Manjer, Aramaz, Grace and Peter.   These are a marvelous time in which we can share with the sponso-rees and their caregivers, bringing them love and encouragement and praying a blessing over them.    

One visit in particular today underscored just how important sponsorship and our visits are.  It was a very emotional event; she was so happy and grateful for the visit.   Do not think that the work we do in sponsoring these young people is a small thing.

We had an impromptu time visiting with Nakonyi and Jennifer who we had met on the 2015 trip.  They are an enormously happy and encouraging couple:   

(see the July 24 2015 post on http://destinationmarare.blogspot.com/2015/ for more on them) .   But do pray for them; they have had a very hard last couple years, having lost two of their three sons.

And finally we had a really nice low key time with the ladies' handicrafts training group and other members of the community, doing … well, really, just hanging out.  

To Marare!

Today we went to the village of Marare!

(actually first a personal update.  We are all well thus far, and seem to be getting over jet lag.  Keep praying especially for the former).

Well, first we went to the FH office and had devotions with the staff.   This is always an enjoyable time, and especially so this morning as we were able the other new staff.   We met Difas who is their new logistics chap and also a accounting intern named Judith (currently a UCU student, the same place Joshua graduated from).  In general we are impressed by the quality and youthful energy of the new recruits.

After this we drove to Marare.

I remember when I went the first time with Alan and Diniz, and them bouncing around in the van on the way like a couple of kids driving up into the Disneyland parking lot. They kept looking out the windows and saying things like, “Hey!  That’s new!   Wow! That wasn’t there before!”   Well, this time it was me and Edith's turn:

“Wow, I don’t remember there being this many shops in area!”

“Hey, that was an open field with one building in it last time!   It’s all buildings now!”

But that’s nothing compared to Tim, having been here last nine years ago, who looked at everything and said,

“Hey!  This ENTIRE AREA was just an open field when I was here last!  Without even a road!”

Progress is very evident in Marare … lots of building, lots of buildings.   More on that later.

Soon we came to the last turn and pulled up into the St. James School (Motto:  “Never Give Up!”)

And of course we were met by the mob of children!  Yay!  That’s always one of the most fun parts!

We then went in for the opening ceremonies and welcoming.   Lots of people smiled …

… we had the school children’s choir sing for us …

… as well as the mother’s group (that’s Susan who some of you may recognize in the front in the yellow dress ….)

And of course speeches.     We also had the traditional naming ceremony … I’ll report on that more tomorrow as I can’t remember everyone’s Lugisu names and their meanings.  It’s all a lot of fun.

After that we had lunch and then started one of the big works we are here for, which is sponsored child visits.  We think that this is a big part of our ability to encourage people here.   Today we got to three families, bringing them packages, notes and video messages from their sponsors.   In some cases we definitely saw the happiness and appreciation from the kids (in others they were really shy).  But in all cases we had great appreciation expressed by their caregivers (mother, grandmother and relative in this case … AIDS and other issue have still taken a deep toll on parents in Uganda, so there are many children raised by people other than their parents, often at great sacrifice).  The adults really appreciate what is being done, helping their children go to school and getting an education.

To get to the sponsored children’s homes we walked, and were able to observe all the building and other things going one.  I was struck by just how many substantial houses seem to be being built.

They may be small by Canadian standards, but these tend to be multi-room brick structures (largely locally-made brick) of I would say a few hundred square feet with electricity, sturdy tin roofs and other amenities.   This is fantastic.

Another thing we saw …

Yup, that’s a water meter!   The Mbale municipal system has been extended at least partially into Marare!  And finally one more thing (because Edith is saying I need to stop and come to bed) …

Notice the new high tension towers being built beside the existing transmission line, a clear sign that they have needed to bring more electricity into the area to meet the growing demand.   I also saw a new substation … more kilowatts to the people who need it!  Yay!

In Mbale

Very quick ... after a long journey yesterday (certainly longer than I remember) we arrived in Mbale yesterday evening.   We are now with the FH Staff in the Mbale office.  

We are currently working on passing across the Bibles, books and sports equipment we brought with up to help in their work here.

By the way this is Joshua, who is a new staffer in the Mbale office.   A number of the people we met last time are still here, but a couple have moved to different positions in the organization (yesterday we met Miriam again, who was in Mbale when we were here in 2015 but is now in the Kampala office in accounting).  Joshua is a social work graduate from Uganda Christian University (UCU) who previously worked for the Ugandan Wildlife Authority (who run the national parks) in community engagement (very important work in especially those communities that border on the parks ... critical to maintain relationships with them).

We Are Here!

... well, at least we are in Kampala.   We had a close to uneventful trip (the best type)  arriving in Entebbe about 11:00 and getting finally through formalities and luggage pickup and all about 3/4 of an hour later.  We then met Moses and our driver Joseph and got underway about 12:00   After an hour's travel on what were largely new roads (toll roads) with very little traffic (now THAT was a change from before) we arrived at the Adonai Guest House.   We all appear to have slept quite well and are having our breakfast (fresh pineapple!  fresh mango juice!) with a side of malaria drugs, and will be on the road to Mbale after that.

Halfway there

After leaving Edmonton this morning with more luggage than "us" ....

... we have arrived in Amsterdam.   Good flights so far, actually got to Amsterdam 3/4 of an hour ahead of schedule.   Leaving for Entebbe (actually Kigale first) in 2 hours

'Twas The Night Before .....

Well, it’s the night before … and, sort of reminiscent of Christmas, the bags are all packed in the SUV with care, in hopes that that big blue jet will soon take us there ……

I’m kind of wandering around here, sort of in a daze, checking my list once and then twice to make sure I’ve missed nothing, poking at the last few jobs that have to be done, and wondering about what lies ahead.  

Having been before I have some idea of course, but there are plenty of surprises to come I’m sure.  And certainly I’m feeling a bit … perhaps inadequate.  Will I really be effective when I get there?   Am I really up for this?  And so I continue to wander … and wonder …

And my mind goes to the Christmas hymn …. (you know it, hum the tune as you read)

I wonder as I wander out under the sky,

How Jesus the Savior did come for to die.

For poor on'ry people like you and like I...

I wonder as I wander out under the sky.

And I guess that’s really it … it isn’t about me anyways.   The Lord calls us “poor ornery people” whom He died to reconcile to Himself to go do this, and it’s up to Him to use us where we get there…

And so in the morning we go.

God is good.   All the time.   And all the time.  God is good.   For that is His nature.