Yup...TIA

So I think in a lot of ways, I am very comfortable with my life in Uganda. I'm used to how life is here. I'm much more adjusted to the culture now. I know how things are and don't get to surprised by many of the things that happen here.

But then something happens just to remind me that I'm in Uganda. Last week I had my car in for service when a friend called to see if I wanted to grab lunch. Of course, I agreed knowing that I had to take a taxi or boda (motorcycle) down the road. What I forgot was that the university down on Gaba Road was having graduations. Being the cheap guy I am, I opted for a taxi versus a boda knowing that the taxi could drop me just steps from where I was meeting my friend. As the taxi began our adventure down Gaba Road, I realized my mistake. The traffic jam was ridiculous. I contemplated exiting the taxi and grabbing a boda, but I decided to be patient. We were seriously creeping down the road when the taxi decided to take a different route because of the jam. I again had another opportunity to jump out, but again decided against it. What I didn't think about at the time was that the road the taxi was going down was really only meant for one way travel at a time. So we eventually ran into taxis and cars coming in the opposite direction and were stuck. After a long delay, I finally arrived at the coffee shop where my friends had already bought my sandwich though they were finished with theirs...a 10 min. drive down the road became an hour adventure.

TIA (This is Africa) Just one of the things you have to get used to in this culture.

Too many funerals

Being in Uganda, you see people go through many challenges; you begin to see life from a very different perspective. When I was a child, I thought of my parents as invincible. Parents just don't die. They will always be there. Well, at least we don't think of their lives in an urgent manner. We know that they'll live to be 70 or 80 years old, and by that time we will be grown up and can at least take care of ourselves.

When I was teaching in the U.S., I don't think I knew of one parent who passed away and only a handful of grandparents. Such is not the case in Uganda. It seems like at least a few times in a month that I hear of a close relative of our children here at God Cares has passed. It is all too common out here. I guess it's one of the reasons that people here always give their testimony of "thanking God because I am still alive."

I guess I've never thought of thanking God because I'm still alive. That doesn't click for me. My parents are still alive. I still have one grandparent alive who is now 93. My brother is still alive. I guess I just don't see death straight in the face the way the people of Uganda do.

But in the face of so many deaths of people related to our children, I do thank God for allowing me to continue to serve Him. It's only because of Him that I continue to be on this earth to show others the love of Christ. (However, I won't complain if tomorrow He decides to take me home to heaven.)

Rebuked!

Have you ever had been in a place of uncertainty? Not really sure what God has for you in the present or the future? I recently found myself in this place. I was burnt out from planning the camp. Burnt out and frustrated with the "Uganda way" of doing things. I really began thinking about my future in Uganda.

As a result, I wanted to take some time away from the city for prayer in seeking God's plan for the next year and beyond. I wanted to get an answer from God regarding how long I would be in Uganda, who I would work with in the next year and what He might want me to do. I went to the YWAM base in Jinja where a good friend works and lives. He told me I could stay with him and I looked forward to time in prayer alone and with him.

The first morning I was there, I began to walk out to the prayer garden, but instead found myself in the ropes course area. I began to pray and seek answers to my questions. However, God had a different plan. He told me that I had sin in my life that needed to be dealt with and until I did, He was not going to show me the plan for the present nor the future. It was clear. It only took about 5 minutes to get this answer. So since that time, I've spent a lot of time identifying sins that had crept into my life. I've been humbled and prayed for forgiveness and deliverance from these struggles. I was rebuked by the Lord, but it was the best gift He could have given me as He begins a process of freeing me from that bondage and making me useful again for His glory.

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Children's Camp 2010

So the 2010 Buyamba Children's Camp has come and gone. This year was especially crazy for me as Pastor Dongo decided to have me head the organizing committee. In a nutshell, I was not really able to enjoy much of the camp because of the work I was called to do.

However, the children were blessed. We had two teams visit this year in support of our camp. One was from Cross Timbers in Dallas, TX and the other from Bethel Christian Church in Bristol, CT. Each brought the hearts of servants as they ministered to our children here in Uganda. Members of each team served as teachers. They brought the Word of God to our children through our theme verse of Luke 2:51-52. They helped to run the games. They served food. But most of all, they loved our children, and we are better off because of it.

We also were blessed with the largest number of facilitators (what we might call youth leaders in the US) that have ever attended the camp. This allowed for smaller numbers of children per facilitator and more time to minister directly to these children. Many of our facilitators developed deep relationships with the children through the week and hopefully will continue to encourage and disciple our children to be more like Christ.

All in all, our children enjoyed a week away from their reality at home. They were blessed with the Word of God, times of fun, new friendships, and of course, good food. Thank you for all who were praying for our camp and to those who contributed financially to help make it a success. Please continue to pray for our children that the Word that was given to them sinks deep into their being and that they draw closer to Christ day by day.

Uganda bombings - a look back

I'm sure most of you heard about the terrorist bombings in Kampala, Uganda about a month ago. I delayed in telling this story as I didn't want anyone to panic back home. Let's just say that we were closer to the bombings than most people knew about.

The night of the World Cup final was also the same day that visitors from Calvary Community Church arrived to stay at my house. The four girls were sound asleep when I arrived home from my friends house, but the two boys were up because they were more adjusted to the time difference being in the UK for 5 days before arriving in Uganda. They asked if there was some place we could go to watch the World Cup final. My friend was leaving the next day for the U.S. so there was a small get together at another friend's house. I told them we could first go there then find out if any of them were going to watch the match somewhere.

We arrived at my friend's house and talked for a while. I found out my one friend was going to someone's house to watch the match. I just didn't think it would be right to show up uninvited with two extra people so I decided that was not a good option for us. As I asked my friends where we could watch the match almost all of them suggested Ethiopian Village. I had never been to the place, but one of my friends had just watched the semi-final match there a few days earlier and told me of the big screen and crowd that was there. Something in my spirit just told me, "No, don't go there."

So as we left I pondered where we could go to watch the match. I decided to follow my gut and not go to Ethiopian Village. Instead as we passed the road to my house, I saw in the corner of my eye the match projected on a wall. We stopped and decided to watch the match from there. About halfway through the match, we decided that we had seen enough and the boys were getting tired. We went home and went to sleep.

At a little after midnight, my phone began ringing. My friend had called to see if I was alright. I was a little out of it seeing as I was asleep a few minutes ago. He kept asking if I was alright and if I had gone to the Ethiopian Village. He knew that was one place we were considering. I assured him that I was alright. I didn't understand much of what he said, but I heard "bomb" in there somewhere. So the next morning when I woke I looked at the news to find out that Ethiopian Village had been bombed and there were a number of casualties.

As I looked back, I just saw the Spirit of God leading me and protecting me from that tragic event. I can't imagine what I would have said to the parents of those boys had anything happened to them. We are blessed to have been spared from all of that. So when you hear that still small voice leading and guiding you...you might want to heed what the Spirit is telling you.

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.