Road Trip - Day 1 (Fort Portal)

We left early for Western Uganda. It is a five hour trip to Tooro High School. The roads are not bad and the traffic is fairly light. All in all, the drive was not too bad. We have a good group and JJ is better than a radio station.

We arrive in Fort Portal and take our bags to the hotel. From there we go to Tooro High School. The students greet us enthusiastically and we are introduced to the administration. Our hosts treat us to several songs and dances (which we join in). It was quite a lively time.



We take a tour of the school. The majority of the students are girls. 80% of the students are orphans – mainly due to AIDS. They are boarded at the high school for various reasons. They have so many students that they have had to convert the lecture hall into a dormitory. They have a SEVERE space problem. 17 of the girls have HIV. They require a special diet (high amounts of fruits, vegetables and protein) that is not covered by the normal boarding fees. It works out to about $70/month (another need).



We tour the computer lab. When the school administrator was telling us about the school, all the students laughed. Now I know why – the room is empty (another need). They have many plans for the school – all they need is MONEY!
After lunch, we present a couple of short puppet shows and sing a couple of songs for the students. We are scheduled to play a football (soccer) game later that afternoon. I just hope that I don’t die!

Our church (First Baptist) has 4 families in the Fort Portal area. Three are sponsored by a family in our church and one by our church. We have built houses for each of the families and I am anxious to see them. We have special gifts for the families from our church.

Our first stop is Silas. Silas is 75 years old. He is immensely proud of his house. He lives on a small area of land and takes care of banana trees for the land owner. He has bought pigs with part of his sponsor money. He plans to start raising pigs as his business plan so that he can be independent at the end of his sponsorship. The grandchildren were in school. His wife and his children all died of AIDS.



Silas is VERY happy

Can you guess what this is?
It is what is left of the house Silas USED to live in. He tore it down so that it would not make his new house ugly.

One of Silas' pigs.

Our next stop was Edreda. She had 18 children and now has 10 children that she cares for. She lives in a community where everyone pitches in and shares in the responsibilities. These children are all relatives. All of the relatives have died from AIDS.
Some of the children are in school and others are camera shy. Notice the left-over bricks being used for a path near the front of the house.

Edreda had gifts for everyone on the team. She makes these as part of her business.

Luke was an instant celebrity. He traded the home made soccer ball (in Luke's hand) for a larger model.

The children are all suffering from the white stick disease. This was a disease that followed team two everywhere we went. There is no known cure.

The beds are always made and the houses are very neat.

Polina was the third stop. She is 90 years old – WOW!! Her grandchildren were in school. She makes mats as her business. Her spirit is amazing. You would never guess that she is as old as she is.

To say that she is happy is an understatement - her expression is priceless.

Polina does not have much land but she is very pleased with her new house.

Gifts are placed in the front room in a place of prominence.

Polina showed us a sample of the mats that she makes. They are very colorful and take two to four weeks to make, depending on how bad the arthritis is in her hands.


Mastula was our last stop. Her children are both in secondary school (Tooro High School). Her husband was Muslim and died of Aids. Matsula is also infected. Her husband's family rejected her because she was not Muslim. Her own family would accept her back but not her children (because they were half Muslim). She was at a point where she was ready to kill her children to spare them from starving to death and to commit of suicide but was talked out of it. Since her sponsorship, she has started a business. With the money, she has begun to plaster the inside walls of her house. She and a group of widows have a business making baskets and necklaces. When we walked up, the front of her house has flowers all along the front. She wants the house
to be beautiful.

Pure joy - women be shopping (even in Africa)!!!!

Michelle brought Mastula beads and supplies for her business.

Notice the flowers in the background near the front of the house. This was the only house (that I remember) that had flowers adorning the house.

This is Pastor Godfrey. He has the same first name as my father. Pastor Godfrey was instumental in talking Mastula out of suicide.

We are joined by Pastor Godfrey at Mastula’s house. He is the Pastor of the Christian Centre in Fort Portal. He invites us to his church. We drive up and are greeted by several members of the congregation. They have been waiting for us ALL DAY (it is now late afternoon). The church reminds me of a pole barn. It is entirely open, including about half of the roof. They have sheets draped from the edge of the roof that are the walls of the church. The pulpit is in the center of the church and benches are located under the finished part of the roof. We are welcomed and invited to pray with the congregation. Pastor Godfrey gives us a history of the church. He came to the area several years ago. A Muslim gave him a place to hold services until people started accepting Christ and going to the church. Pastor Godfrey was told to leave. One of the tragedies of the region that we learned about was the presence of witchdoctors and voodoo. There are so many orphans in the area that it is very easy for the witch doctors to use the children as sacrifices.

That is not a skylight - just an unfinished roof.

The walls are not transparent - just cloth.

The people of the community bought the land and have constructed the present church. This could be a great opportunity to partner with this Church and help them finish the building.

From there, we headed back to Tooro High school for our soccer match. By this time we were about 2 hours late and all the boys had left for the day. I’m sure they were disappointed but I felt relieved! We headed for the hotel and supper. The end of a LONG day (but a good day).


My apologies JJ - I just couldn't pass up this opportunity. JJ NEVER meets a stranger.

Namyoya

Today is Sunday and we attended church in Namyoya. Namyoya is north of Kampala and takes between 1 to 2 hours to get there. The road (if you can call it that) leading to Namyoya is very washed out and was slow going. The children of the area were waiting for us and shouts of MZUNGU filled the air. Their faces were so excited and they ran along the side of the bus waving branches in the air. As we approached the church, the road got worse so we got out a walked. Children grabbed our hand and walked with us. As we rounded the corner, the women of the village came out to greet us. We all got hugs and shouts of WELCOME filled the air.

This is a picture of a bore hole that has recently been repaired. Idah (The Ugandan National Director of GFR) is at the controls.



Pastor David (ironically, the same name as our pastor in Liberal), came out of the church to greet us. He welcomed us and invited us in. The church had much more completed than I had thought – a surprise since the last pictures I had seen showed the roof still going on. We walked through the house the people are building for him. Currently he has to commute 20 kilometers to the church. We will be returning to Namyoya on Wednesday and Thursday to work on the parsonage.

Many of the women were decked out in traditional Ugandan dresses. Several of our team members (Melanie, Jamie, JJ, Taylor and Debbie) volunteered to wear some of the traditional dresses. They looked quite remarkable (as you can see).



It was a packed house - people were outside looking in.


The service was very lively. Pastor David (white robe and blue collar) is very animated as is the rest of the congregation. They read from the Book of Job and translated for the MZUNGU guests. They made quite a point to include us in the service. They had several children’s choirs sing (they were excellent). Our team sang Amazing Grace and I’ve Got the Love of Jesus Down In My Heart. By American standards, we would have all been looking at our watches and wondering when the service would be over and how dare the pastor cut into the lunch hour. If that is your mind set, you would never make it in an Ugandan church (or at least this one). You could tell they had a real heart for the Lord and loved to worship.

We had a lunch of sugar cane, pineapple, corn, carrots, jack fruit, bananas and watermelon. Leaving is always difficult. Everyone wants to get one more picture or one more hug or one more whatever. We got on the bus and headed out to visit families. The children chase the bus as we drive off. One girl is particularly dedicated and follows us all the way to our first stop.

Debbie and I were especially looking forward to this. We got to see our family today. We are very anxious to meet them and see the gifts we sent for Christmas. We did something a little different for Christmas last year. We bought gifts for our family and gave them in the names of our children and grandchild. We were trying to teach giving and caring for others in lieu of receiving gifts. Jack Jack gave a cow, Denita and Bret gave mattresses, blankets and mosquito nets, Devin gave goats, Matt gave chickens, Ashley gave pigs and Mom and Dad paid for it all.

As we get out, we were expecting to see Gene’s family but it quickly dawned on us that we were visiting the families in the reverse order on the schedule. This was our family. We hurriedly retrieved the gifts were we going to present. As we walked up, we heard a celebration. The female goat we had given them for Christmas had given birth to twins while we were at church.

Natume is the caretaker for her 5 grandchildren. These children (two boys and three girls – two of which are twins) belong to her children. She had four children, all of who have died from HIV.
We listened through an interpreter as he told her story. Natume had become ill last year and had gone into a coma. She came out of the coma at the same time that she had started to receive her sponsorship and has been doing well ever since.




One thing we did not need an interpreter for was the thankfulness to us and the praise to God that she repeated over and over. We got to see all the animals. The cow was not too excited to see me. Perhaps it knew where I worked (National Beef – a meat packing company)?

Look at that smile!

We presented the family with gifts and saw the excitement in their eyes. Natume continued to thank us over and over. Before we left, Natume gave us a basket and a mat that she had hand weaved. This is the business that she has started to help supplement the sponsorship. In the basket were 5 eggs from the chickens. We prayed with Natume and her grandchildren and then we had to leave. It was another memorable experience.

As we walked to the bus, it seemed like most of the village had arrived and we got to say good-bye all over again. It was truly a blessing.

Our last stop of the day was to visit Gene and Luke Weaver’s family. Robert cares for his 5 children (4 girls and 1 boy). His wife died of HIV and Robert also has it. He is in desperate need of medical attention. We took up a collection to make sure that he got the medical help he needs. It was enjoyable to stand back and watch while Gene and Luke shared with Robert and his family. It made me think back to just a short time ago when we had just shared with Natume and her family.

From there it was back to Kampala. We drove through a short rain shower. The air smelled so fresh and clean. It masked the normal smell of burning garbage (for a short time).

Tomorrow, we leave for Fort Portal. This is on the western edge of Uganda. It is a 5 hour journey and this will be an overnight stay. We are scheduled to play a soccer match against the Fort Portal High School team. Please pray for me – I will need it.

Busia - Day 2

We stayed overnight at a hotel on the shores of Lake Victoria. We had breakfast on the lake. In the background, you can see the mountains of Kenya.

The local fishermen were out on the lake.

This is Humphrey. Last summer, he had just buried both of his parents. At 15, he was the man of the house and it was his responsibility to care for his 5 brothers and 1 sister. Ben and Melody promised that they would find him a sponsor. Since the sponsorship, all the brothers and the sister are in school (except for the youngest) and they eat two meals a day instead of one. We were privileged to be a part of the return visit. I had met Humphrey yesterday at the GFR office. What struck me about him then was how serious he was and the lack of smile he had. Using an interpreter, Melody interviewed Humphrey. This interview will be posted in the next few weeks. I would encourage you to watch it. While we were at the compound, the brothers started playing football (soccer to Americans) with an old taped up ball. We returned to the bus and retrieved one of the balls we had with us and the game was on. Even Humphrey joined in. It was good to see him laughing and smiling. For just a few moments, he could forget about his responsibility and be a kid.

This is JJ holding Humphrey’s youngest brother. He is sick and it is suspected that he was born with HIV. Both the parents died of HIV.


All the monkeys aren’t in the zoo, every day you see quite a few. Luke and one of the brothers climbing a tree.

This is a daily reminder about the harsh life in Uganda. This is the grave of Humphrey’s father. His mother is buried next to him. The graves are part of the family compound.

Two more of the brothers giving Luke and Mike a ride.

Another one of my highlights - Debbie, Taylor and I received our African names and clan. This is Julius Onyango. He is the local pastor for this area. He bestowed our names upon us. My name is Egesa which means Harvest or bringer of the Harvest. My clan is the Omukomolo. Julis is of the same clan and since I am older, this makes him my son. Mom – now you have the preacher in the family you always wanted.

Debbie’s name is Buheeri which means Beloved. She is of the clan Natabona. This is the ruling clan of the area so she is now a princess. Katherine (our local representative) is also of the same clan so she and Debbie are sisters. Taylor’s name is Erumbi which means Season after the Harvest or the Season of Celebration. I wasn’t sure about her clan so I will have to post that later.

Our last stop of the day was to meet two extremely needy families that do not yet have a sponsor. This family had just recently had their house burn down. Their situation is one of desperation.

This family is also in distress. Both parents have died. The Grandfather and Grandmother are trying to care for the children ranging from age 20 to less than one (see next picture). This family needs two sponsorships because it is so large.

We took up a collection to try and meet the immediate need and give them hope until sponsors could be found. We gave 50,000 schillings to the first family and 90,000 schillings to the second family. We prayed with the mother and the grandparents. Both families praised God and gave glory to Him. We told them that this money was from us because God provided for us and He commands us to care for the poor and needy. As Christ loves us, so we love them. It was both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. It was a fitting end to our first village trip.

We started the long bus ride home. As I started reflecting on the events of the last two days, I had mixed emotions. I was so glad I came but saddened by the thought that no matter what we do, there is always more that can be done. I thought of Humphrey and his brothers and sister. I started thinking about what it cost to send them to school. I asked Katherine about the costs and she told me it costs about $80/year for primary school and $200/year for secondary school ($300/year if you cannot commute daily). You have to buy a uniform, books, paper and pencils. You also get a lunch with the fee. When you consider that a monthly sponsorship is $768/yr that does not leave much for food and medicine. Four are in primary and one in secondary. That is $520/year or almost two thirds of the sponsorship for school.

So much need – can you help? If you can – please contact Global Family Rescue (info@globalfamilyrescue.org) or http://www.globalfamilyrescue.org/ and go to CONTACT.