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.