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.