Augustine, Joel, and I sat in the back row of the church and just as worship began a tiny tot slowly approached. Typically all they want is to shake my hand, which is just fine with me (even considering where these hands of often been). I got the sense that her bigger sister or pack of friends was teasing her thinking she would be too afraid to approach. Instead, this little one with her big eyes...
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Jane's Demons
Augustine inquired of Simon about a woman who was recently saved and then became demon possessed. Her family demanded she take a goat to a witch doctor to be cured…so she did. Women in villages are not as empowered to do their own will as they ought to be. Augustine and Simon determined to visit her soon and not to write her off because of having lost faith. Just then Jane arrived.
Jane said that she was demon possessed and that her family cursed her and told her to take a goat to the witch...
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Two Dollies in Paidha
I caught a glimpse of a very unhappy toddler who was forcibly having her teeth brushed and face washed. I knew just the solution. I slowly approached with a dolly believing this would make things all better. Ha. When she saw me she screamed even louder. I think the scream was more like a high pitched squeal. Well, at least she wasn’t crying because of having her teeth brushed anymore.
During...
Women's Ministry in Paidha
The church floor was sloped so that an amphitheater-type experience enabled everyone to see the preacher well. Women trickled into the building on Africa time. Three times as many filled the church shortly after we began. Praise and worship rang through the tiny town before beginning the ministry program. Women on the drums…awesome! My hope was to use the film NOOMA She as a starter to ministry but,...
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The Lord is My Shepherd
While waiting for dinner, typically very delicious meals prepared by Amen, the lady in whose house I stayed in Paidha, the original 20 children plus a few extras gathered around to stare at this freak show again. Not long after, the children began demanding… “sing.” Once again, we went through the songs until I pulled Augustine in to sing a new song with me. He quickly learned the song from Psalm...
Children's Worship
The number of children following me around Paidha multiplies. Where I stay, about 20 children rough and tumbled around me. When I sat under the shade tree, they came closer and eventually I shook the hands of each one, some two or three times. Not wanting to waste the opportunity but also wondering about the language barrier, I began to sing songs that had motions that went with the words.
If...
Monday, July 25, 2011
Market Day in Paidha
Joel snuck up behind me as I was singing with the children. What a wonderful surprise. He and Augustine are nearly inseparable but this is the first time I’ve seen Joel in Paidha and it’s been at least two months since seeing him at all. After some time of catching up – particularly because Joel has found a woman he wishes to marry and I needed to hear the details – we set out to begin our program...
Arriving in Paidha
Mine was the second door from the left.
The seven hour ride to Paidha was uneventful. The roads were good, the driving speed was fast, the bus clean, comfortable, and half full…nothing like the ride to Karamoja. The conductor’s departing prayers and general kindness made the trip enjoyable, although I could have done without the very bad kung fu movie with Luganda voice-overs.
My...
A Man Got the Tar Beaten Out of Him
Augustine sent me ahead to get on the bus. While he waited patiently to get my bag loaded a tussle ensued outside my window, about 20 feet from my seat. A man was bloody in the face and mouth and sank to the ground where other men proceeded to kick and stomp on him. I prayed. The man rose up again with his blood stained face and the argument resumed.
Given that my wallet was just stolen and that I was feeling very unsafe, I wished like crazy that Augustine would hurry up and get on the bus...
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Stolen Wallet
“I’m waiting for you outside ShopRite next to GapCo,” I told
Augustine as he made his way to find me. I first
met Augustine when he and Gabriel took me for a long training walk as I
prepared for The 3-Day 60 mile Susan G. Komen walk. I last saw this friend at
Lauren and Andy’s wedding and seeing his smiling face through the crowd was a
joy.
He took the burden of dragging my suitcase, laden with gifts
for the people of Paidha, through the dirty, rocky roads of Kampala while I
shouldered my backpack....
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Smunched Car
A knock at the door and Ronnie says, “Gabriel has been knocked, can you come now?” Flashbacks. I grab my bag leaving my phone behind and run out the door with my head swirling. I finally have the presence of mind to ask if Gabriel is okay. Ronnie thinks he is okay as he leads me on foot to the boda stand at the top of my hill on the main road (Entebbe Road).
A boda takes the two of us to the...
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Tithing
The women of Konoweka were enthralled with the teaching about tithing. We first examined Scripture to learn that God created everything (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-2; Job 41:11; and Psalm 50:9-12) and likened that with making bread or a cake. We thought about the idea that the grain of flour has no more ownership over the other elements in the cake as we do over the material things we own.
To understand why the tithe was instituted we studied the Old Testament (Genesis 4:1-26; Exodus 25:1-2; Exodus...
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
A Dolly on Bubembe Island
While visiting Bubembe Island in January, one of the 84 Ssese Islands, Vickie and I registered 10 children for the VKids Trust Uganda child sponsorship program. One of those children was a young girl who was caught by surprise and began whaling when she saw me. A dolly ought to have made it all better. After some reassurances from her momma, this girl quieted but she was not to be willingly nearby...
Stuck Truck
Sewer systems to manage rainwater are absent in Uganda. In their place are deep trenches, however unhelpful they are, alongside only some of the roads. Occasionally, given the propensity to drive four or five cars wide on a two-lane road, we’ll come across a truck or car tipped sideways with both tires inside that trench. Unfortunately we’re not always able to get a photos of that...
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
TTATCC Way Forward
Well organized is not an adjective used often to describe small businesses or ministries in Africa. Yet The Teachers Association to Cater to Children was exactly that. Alone was meticulous in detailing the Association’s mission and objectives, past successes, and future plans. While there is always room for improvement, I was impressed with his articulation of these plans.
Yet given that the association...
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Bujagali Falls and Bujagali Dam
Bujagali Falls is soon to be home of the Bujagali Dam. The newly constructed dam is supposed to meet the energy needs of the country, or at least improve them. Several groups are speaking out against the flooding of the Falls, particularly given that 95% of the population in Uganda doesn’t even have access to electricity.
http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/africa/bujagali-dam-uganda
http://www.uganda.co.ug/bujagali/
On...
TTATCC Projects
Each community member is using his or her gifts and skills to contribute to the wellbeing of the children enrolled in school. As a result, a variety of projects speckle the beautiful landscape. Rearing goats, chickens, cows, and dogs begins with just one pregnant female. Can you imagine rearing dogs specifically for security purposes? Further, can you imagine returning to the times where...
Saturday, July 16, 2011
TTATCC School
Clapboard siding covers the small four “room” school in Buwenge. Makeshift seats for the children cover the ground in orderly rows. Blackboards are cracked and holey…but they work. The school and its contents are the result of the community working together to provide some meager place to gather the children for learning every day. Although class sizes are small given the small village they’re in,...
Friday, July 15, 2011
The Teachers Association to Cater to Children
The Teachers Association to Cater to Children (TTATCC) was founded by Mukaya Alone, forever known as “the man who followed me home,” in 2006 and registered as an NGO in 2007. Alone is a teacher at Kennedy Primary School in Namulanda and uses his earnings to fund projects in Buwenge, his home village. During our most recent meeting at Fishing Village (a restaurant near his school and my home), Alone...
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Buwenge Township
Mukaya Alone followed this mzungu home one day, and through his dogged persistence I agreed to visit him and his Board in a small village outside Jinja. Buwenge Township is a subcounty of Jinja, the second largest city in Uganda (and home of Bujagali Falls). The township resides about 45 minutes outside Jinja (3 hours from Namulanda) to the East along some very holey dirt roads.
Brand new storefronts...
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Neighbor Samuel
Little Samuel is one of my many neighbor children. Samuel is a little different though, perhaps because he’s younger. Whenever I’m home I find him watching from my doorway. He waits patiently until I acknowledge him, although he doesn’t understand a word I say. Today I sat with Samuel out on the porch for some time. He sat some far distance away from me, but willingly scotched closer when invited.
Samuel’s...
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Andarita Beach
Lake Victoria provides a number of beachfront opportunities with its many coves and bays. Andarita Beach is just one of those many nearby beachfronts along Entebbe Road. The far southern part of the beach was quieter and as a result the birds were content to do their fishing from there. I cannot begin to name those long- and short-legged creatures, but the colors are marvelous. We crept as close...
Monday, July 11, 2011
Children's Ministry
As the children straggled in, Ronnie and I introduced ourselves and made conversation with the kids. I told one 9-year-old guy, Maxwell, that he and my son share the same name. Vivian was dressed in bright pink stripes, and I did really well remembering their names until they numbered more than ten and I was really sunk when those ten mixed themselves with the multitude that followed.
The children...
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