So I'm not much for New Year's resolutions, but it seems like every time I have something cool to blog about, I just forget or make excuses such as wanting to get some pictures to post with the blog. So I looked at the date of my last blog and realized it's been almost 3 months. Truthfully, not much has happened since that last blog. School has been out since Dec. 3 and just began again this morning, and I was in the U.S. for much of their holiday break. (Sorry if I didn't get to see you when I was in the States.)
So I'm back in Uganda as of Friday night and I'm not sure I remember it ever being this humid. Though it hadn't been too cold in California for much of the last month I was there, it was still a rude awakening from getting off planes in Detroit and Amsterdam where it was freezing to getting off the plane here in Entebbe at night.
So many things have changed since I was last here. The high school has officially opened as of today, and thus our high school is no longer walking distance. This hit me just a few minutes ago as I thought of my meeting with Pastor Dongo tomorrow. Previously when I had meetings at the church, I would go early to talk to teachers and students. What was I going to do tomorrow. It just seems weird.
Yesterday (Sunday), it hit me that the high school students would not be boarding here at the primary school anymore. Most of my relationships that involve good conversation were with the high school students. It feels a little empty around here without them.
With the vacancies left by the high school students, new students are boarding at the school. I've already met 4 new Sudanese boys and have seen at least 10 other students that I don't know, and we're not even half full yet!
So 2011 is going to be a lot different than 2010, but it's going to be an amazing year!
Showing posts with label darren yui god cares school uganda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label darren yui god cares school uganda. Show all posts
Monday, January 31, 2011
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Children in REAL need
So I've been working in Uganda for over 2 years now. I love working with the children here, trying to help them attain a good education and teaching them the Word of God. One of the things I have been so blessed to be a part of during the last year has been going to do social worker visits to the homes of these children. It really gives you an idea of what kind of life these children have outside of God Cares schools.
Some children's parents have homes built when they had good jobs, but now cannot find consistent work to pay for things such as school fees. Most live in 1 or 2 rooms places that they rent. Keep in mind that when I say 1 or 2 rooms, I don't mean 1 or 2 bedroom apartments such as most people have in the U.S. I mean 1 or 2 rooms where each room would be 10' x 10' with no running water or bathroom facilities. Within the 1 room apartments, the family might consist of up to 7 people staying there. I think you get the point. Most of our children come from difficult circumstances.
While visiting some of these families, I really wondered in my mind, "If these people have such a nice place, why do they need sponsorship?" "Is it really helping them for the long term or are we just solving a short term problem?"
Then two days ago, I met some people who had brought two children to our ministry. In fact, these children were in our boarding section. However, I had only known one of them somewhat well...basically because he's one of the most difficult children to handle here, but at the same time, a student that many of the visitors we have had this summer have grown to love in part because he would do some things to entertain them. Joseph and Douglas began to tell me a short version of these kids' background. So while talking to them, I suggested that we visit the home since that is our requirement to add any child to our ministry.
Yesterday, Douglas picked us up and took us to their father's home in Nateete. As I looked around, I didn't see an area much different than the places I had previously visited. Small apartment buildings were everywhere, but I remembered that they told me the father rented a place for just 10,000 shillings (~$5) per month. I couldn't imagine such a place since most of the places I had visited were usually at lowest 50,000 shillings for a single room. Finally, we stopped and he 
pointed out the house to me. At first, I was looking at a different place, but finally, I saw it. It was just a house made of a stick frame and mud used to fill in the gaps between the sticks. I was deeply moved by the horrible conditions in which these children were formerly living. Then I remembered that Douglas told me that the father often could not even afford to pay his rent. That is truly how bad off they were. Their father, Ssali, was a gracious and humble man. He never asked for anything, and you could tell that he was very grateful for everything that Douglas and his ministry had done to help him. After chatting with him for a short time, we thanked him for his time and bid him farewell.
Douglas suggested that we talk to a neighbor of theirs to find out more about the story of Ssali and his children, Ivan and Frank. She told us of a father whose wife ran out on him when Frank the younger of the two children was only 2. Ssali struggled to provide for his family and the children resorted to doing some things to get some money for food. Frank has some tricks that he knows how to do. It's difficult to describe what he does, but it is pretty cool to watch. Some people collecting scrap metal in their neighborhood saw them and the tricks they could do and decided to exploit them. Think of something similar to the movie Slumdog Millionaire except that these kids were just picked up each day and taken to town to do these tricks on the streets to get some money. For that, they might be given 500 shillings for the day (equivalent to about 25 cents) when the people were taking in much more.
The neighbor thanked us for taking these children into our ministry and pleaded with us to not send them back to this area for the term break because they would again be exploited. We are trying to find a way to keep them with us at the school.
These are the kids that really need our help. I feel blessed to be a part of being able to give these children an opportunity to have the education that would have literally been impossible had this other ministry not brought them to us, and I look forward to partnering with this other ministry to help the really needy as well as orphaned children.
Some children's parents have homes built when they had good jobs, but now cannot find consistent work to pay for things such as school fees. Most live in 1 or 2 rooms places that they rent. Keep in mind that when I say 1 or 2 rooms, I don't mean 1 or 2 bedroom apartments such as most people have in the U.S. I mean 1 or 2 rooms where each room would be 10' x 10' with no running water or bathroom facilities. Within the 1 room apartments, the family might consist of up to 7 people staying there. I think you get the point. Most of our children come from difficult circumstances.
While visiting some of these families, I really wondered in my mind, "If these people have such a nice place, why do they need sponsorship?" "Is it really helping them for the long term or are we just solving a short term problem?"
Then two days ago, I met some people who had brought two children to our ministry. In fact, these children were in our boarding section. However, I had only known one of them somewhat well...basically because he's one of the most difficult children to handle here, but at the same time, a student that many of the visitors we have had this summer have grown to love in part because he would do some things to entertain them. Joseph and Douglas began to tell me a short version of these kids' background. So while talking to them, I suggested that we visit the home since that is our requirement to add any child to our ministry.
Yesterday, Douglas picked us up and took us to their father's home in Nateete. As I looked around, I didn't see an area much different than the places I had previously visited. Small apartment buildings were everywhere, but I remembered that they told me the father rented a place for just 10,000 shillings (~$5) per month. I couldn't imagine such a place since most of the places I had visited were usually at lowest 50,000 shillings for a single room. Finally, we stopped and he 
pointed out the house to me. At first, I was looking at a different place, but finally, I saw it. It was just a house made of a stick frame and mud used to fill in the gaps between the sticks. I was deeply moved by the horrible conditions in which these children were formerly living. Then I remembered that Douglas told me that the father often could not even afford to pay his rent. That is truly how bad off they were. Their father, Ssali, was a gracious and humble man. He never asked for anything, and you could tell that he was very grateful for everything that Douglas and his ministry had done to help him. After chatting with him for a short time, we thanked him for his time and bid him farewell.Douglas suggested that we talk to a neighbor of theirs to find out more about the story of Ssali and his children, Ivan and Frank. She told us of a father whose wife ran out on him when Frank the younger of the two children was only 2. Ssali struggled to provide for his family and the children resorted to doing some things to get some money for food. Frank has some tricks that he knows how to do. It's difficult to describe what he does, but it is pretty cool to watch. Some people collecting scrap metal in their neighborhood saw them and the tricks they could do and decided to exploit them. Think of something similar to the movie Slumdog Millionaire except that these kids were just picked up each day and taken to town to do these tricks on the streets to get some money. For that, they might be given 500 shillings for the day (equivalent to about 25 cents) when the people were taking in much more.
The neighbor thanked us for taking these children into our ministry and pleaded with us to not send them back to this area for the term break because they would again be exploited. We are trying to find a way to keep them with us at the school.
These are the kids that really need our help. I feel blessed to be a part of being able to give these children an opportunity to have the education that would have literally been impossible had this other ministry not brought them to us, and I look forward to partnering with this other ministry to help the really needy as well as orphaned children.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday School help
I've been frantically working for the last two weeks to keep up with our weekly chapels. One of my main duties here is to write all of the lessons for chapel. Sounds easy right? Did I mention that there are 5 sections of chapel lessons for each week? Take my word, it's not easy stuff. However, I found a pretty cool website recently that has helped me to be more innovative with our lessons.
In Uganda, it pretty much doesn't matter what age you are. You'll have a teacher who just stands in the front and talks. Imagine being a child in such a Sunday School class. Doesn't sound too exciting does it. So I've been trying to help them be more creative. Use demonstrations to help bring a lesson to life. Use activities that are interactive. Unfortunately for us, our resources are limited. We can't afford to give every child a copy of every thing we are doing so we have to be more creative. However, it's been fun to participate with these teachers and show them a different style of teaching. That they can present a simple lesson and really try to nail it down for these kids instead of trying to teach them what most adults struggle to understand.
My request is this. Many of you have worked or are working with children or youth. Do you have any good activities or demonstrations that we can use out here to enhance lessons? Don't worry about the lessons we are teaching, but anything that brings something to life will help us. Thanks and bless you all.
In Uganda, it pretty much doesn't matter what age you are. You'll have a teacher who just stands in the front and talks. Imagine being a child in such a Sunday School class. Doesn't sound too exciting does it. So I've been trying to help them be more creative. Use demonstrations to help bring a lesson to life. Use activities that are interactive. Unfortunately for us, our resources are limited. We can't afford to give every child a copy of every thing we are doing so we have to be more creative. However, it's been fun to participate with these teachers and show them a different style of teaching. That they can present a simple lesson and really try to nail it down for these kids instead of trying to teach them what most adults struggle to understand.
My request is this. Many of you have worked or are working with children or youth. Do you have any good activities or demonstrations that we can use out here to enhance lessons? Don't worry about the lessons we are teaching, but anything that brings something to life will help us. Thanks and bless you all.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Pictures people...PICTURES!
So I've been in Uganda for over a year now. It's been a crazy ride here. I've been challenged in so many different ways in my life. I'm learning and growing in my faith. Things have changed dramatically not only based on where I live, but how I life as well. However, I think the end of summer marks a point where I begin to miss home. Teams have been here pretty much non-stop since middle of May, and now there is no American presence here. I think having people for that long then none is like a culture shock all over again. Anyway, that's not what this short blog is about. Really, I'm begging for some pictures of my lovely friends to put up on my boards so I can remember all the loved ones back home. As you can see...there are lots of blank spots for pictures. Please help!!! Send them to darren@ugandabuyamba.com I have a photo printer here to print them...or even better send me snail mail.
Darren Yui
c/o God Cares School
P.O. Box 26977
Kampala, Uganda
East Africa
Darren Yui
c/o God Cares School
P.O. Box 26977
Kampala, Uganda
East Africa
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Not Online
Sorry to all of you who are always looking to see if I have updated what is going on. There were a certain set of circumstances that kept me from blogging. First my computer broke (sometime in mid-april) then a truck decided to knock over the pole that brought our internet line to the school. Blogging is not easy from cafe's so I just said no like Nancy Reagan. I'm on my way back to Uganda from a trip to the US. I know I wasn't able to see many of you, but it was a super short trip (11 days) Keep in touch.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
