Love Africa

Letter From ACET in Mbale Mudslide region

2010-03-06T13:01:00.004Z

Frank,

Good to hear from you and pray for a safe journey back to the UK.

The situation continues to be grim. It has been very difficult to access the area and they are still using rudimentary tools to dig up those are now believed to be dead. The News paper have also painted a picture of despair.

We have finally been in contact with Stephen who had moved deeper into the communities to support who his people. He is fine and is yet to ascertain how the church family is. People are still scattered and not sure whether their relatives are dead or displaced.

Achilles was able to go to the general area abut 13km from the community that was had hit and limited by the roads. It is boda bodas that can get closer.

The prayer concerns are

That the weather holds and the limited access is not cut off completely
God comforts those who lost their loved ones and shows them brighter days.
That disease outbreaks do not occur seeing that the wet conditions have accelerated decomposition of the dead and everything finally ends up in the Manafwa river which also serves Mbale town.
The Church will find wisdom and courage as it supports those that have lost all the people that they ever knew (relatives).
Pray for the children who were not able to get home and survived but have lost all their family
The politicians have also used the opportunity to mudsling which could derail the government on focusing on helping the communities
The rains are still expected to come down in torrents ans so the communities are traumatised by the whole situation with exoduses of communities to new areas- pray for comfort
We are thankful to God for those that survived and especially those we know and work with-Stephen and those that are involved with Edith's ministry

The people who survived lost everything they ever owned. Displaced people's camps are now the new phenomenon. This will definitely have its own challenges since it requires skills for handling emergencies.

Achilles has started collecting clothes s for the people who are wearing the only asset that they now posses when they survived death.

Achilles sent me some pictures of a truckful of coffins driving through a heavy down pour in the village. He says these people had an opportunity to give their loved ones a dignified burial!! It has been emotional draining to imagine what is going on. Have had many thought s attaching it

Paul

Mudslides In Mabale

2010-03-05T13:45:00.008Z

Frank Armstrong; Chair of the Love Africa Steering group writes...

News reached the 2 St James from ACET Uganda on Thursday 3rd March of the disaster in Mbale. Love Africa has two major projects in the region, one with ACET Uganda who run community mobilisation projects and the second with Uganda Womens Concern Ministry led by Edith Wakamere who run a number of Church mobilisation projects.

Views of the region recently taken by a St James team

We spoke to Paul Kabunga of ACET Uganda who briefed us on the situation as follows,

Following heavy rains there were mud slides in the Bududa region on the slopes of Mt Elgon These mud slides covered many villages. The death toll has been estimated at over 300 people, though the numbers may never be known, families have been separated and many people have lost their homes and possessions. Reports from local papers are attached

The reporting of the disaster has been low key in the UK with a couple of items on the BBC web site http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8545005.stm

One oF Edith Wakumire's Community Mobilisation teams in the Mt Elgon region

Many people from the 2 St James have visited the projects in Mbale with ACET and UWCM and have travelled up to the mountain villages, e.g. Bulago.

Paul has reported that none of the communities that Love Africa has been involved with have been directly affected and he will keep us up to date with news and requests for support.

The family of the two St James will clearly want to support the victims of the Mbale disaster – what can we do?

1. Pray for the victims – we have asked Paul to provide specific prayer request but meanwhile we should pray for the needs of the victims and the aid workers.

On the 3rd March the Psalm reading from the Bible in a Year programme was Psalm 46, verses 1-6 which can provide a focus for our prayers

1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
11The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress

2. Participate – we have asked Paul and Edith to suggest to Love Africa any specific financial support we can offer, or other practical support and we are waiting for a response. E.g. Many people have lost all their homes and possessions and still more people will want to move from their villages which are in areas at risk of further mudslides

3. Give – If you want to give directly to Tearfund to help them support ACET as they assist in the relief work you can send a cheque to them c/o Tim Raby made out to Tearfund. Their address is Tearfund 100 Church Road Teddington TW11 8QE their website iswww.tearfund.org

Our hearts go out to these people who are generous and joyous in their faith

Rwandan Surprises Martin Williams

2010-03-04T20:16:00.004Z

As part of my month away break in East Africa I found myself in Rwanda. I met with the head of Tearfund Rwanda - Emmanuel - who kindly took me out to supper. As we spopke about the healing of his country still in process after the 1994 Genocides he told me about the spread of HIV/AIDS in Rwanda and especially in Burundi. He began to tell me all about the PEP (Participatory Evaluation Programme) that uses biblical material to help churches become the catalysts of transfoprmation and chaneg for AIDS stricken communities. He told me how powerful it is. He told me that in Burundi now that so much international aid is cut of due to corrupt government the churches running PEP was the only hope the country had of stifling the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The Rwanda Genocide Memorial at Nyamata near Kigali. The rebels were there slaughtering Tutsis for 3 days!

What he did not know until I told him later was that St James was helping Tearfund to fund the development through Love Africa and roll-out of PEP which originated in a PAG church in Soroti on Uganda. It was a huge affirmation and encouragement to hear how much faith and hope he had in the PEP prgramme. PEP really is an extraordinary move of God; and we are involved in supporting it.

John Monaghan reflects on a highlight of the GAT trip: Leading Worship

2010-02-20T09:36:00.001Z

As vain as it sounds - a worship leader's highlight being the worship – I was truly honoured to be swept along with a tide of some of the most exuberant, expressive and heart felt corporate worship that I have ever encountered. It was most certainly ticking the all boxes of loving and praising God with ‘heart, soul, mind and strength (Luke 12)’.

One of my concerns going on this trip was that I would not have any time to exercise. However, little did we realise that corporate sung worship in Uganda involves more than just moving one’s jaw bone.

Picture the scene – it’s Sunday morning 10.30am. The GAT team arrive at a church - the congregation are already in full swing and we’re expected…

It’s Pastor Paul’s church and as his honoured guests we have been given pride of place at the front with our very own table decorated with flowers (I was hoping to sneak in the back unnoticed).

Just before we prepare to sit at the table, I am cornered (metaphorically) by Pastor Paul and kindly requested to return to the van to get my guitar and I graciously walk back to the van to carry said instrument back into the church (no time for band rehearsals here!).

We join with the rest of the congregation and are led by the worship group in singing and praise and adoration. I’m also intrigued by the ‘tag-team’ worship that’s going on… the musicians are to the left of the stage, the ‘worship-leaders’ are all female singers, beautifully dressed along the centre of the stage. I stress the fact that there were ‘worship-leaders’ because they would take it in turns to lead a few songs each and then pass the baton (the ‘microphone’) and continue in seamless worship. No music, no sheets, no projectors and yet 100% participation!

The songs we sing are beautifully simple and meaningfully repetitive, in part because it’s much easier to remember the words that way, but also I think they speak straight from the heart. One song comes to mind ‘Things (are) already better when the Lord is on the throne…’. I get a sense as we sing these simple words that people are reminding themselves that they are a part of God’s salvation story and growing in the living hope that they have in their personal faith with Jesus. ‘Things (are) already better…’ , Jesus is making a difference to these people in their everyday lives and they are joining together on a Sunday to say thank you. I sense their warm welcome, I already feel a connection with these people, I want to call them my brothers and sisters. There is a strong feeling of deep fellowship here. I sense I’m in the midst of an ‘Acts 2’ community whose members depend on each other for physical, emotional and spiritual health. I feel moved by God’s love in the room and suddenly I look down and my feet are moving to the tune of Michael Jackson’s ‘Blame it on the boogie’ (I just can’t control my feet…). I don’t want this to end.

The moment comes and I’m asked to come and lead the church in a few songs. No time to tune up. A member of the congregation comes up and acts as my mic-stand. My mind is racing to remember the few Luganda songs (their native dialect) that I learned from a CD given to me by Pastor Paul previously. Quick silent prayer. I glance at the exits of the church in case I’m mobbed by angry parishioners. I mouth over to the musicians (looking at me in a kind and sympathetic way) that I’m playing in the key of ‘G’.

Off we go!

I’ve never led worship in another language. First line of first verse over and I see the expressions of the congregations faces light up – ‘jackpot’! - the place erupts and I’m feeling so glad that I drove my wife half-mad by listening to these Luganda songs over and over in our kitchen. I start to appreciate the benefits of having a moving mic-stand (I think his name was Andrew) as I’m able to dance and feel a little like King David dancing before the Lord (although more modestly dressed than a single linen ephod). We all enjoy a taste of the royal banquet that is yet to come. More of that back home Lord!

Gill Headington writes about her Highlights

2010-02-20T08:59:00.001Z

One of my highlights was connecting with the people that we met, especially the women. Di and I spent a lot of time with several lovely ladies at the Alpha training and they were all very warm gracious people who are very faithful in spite of their difficult lives.

I was quite apprehensive on the visits to the “Center for Evangelism” (CFE) because I had expected to see much suffering. We met many women who were widowed with four or five children, and many of them were HIV positive.

They had been helped by CFE in many ways, and what I saw were empowered, confident women who were now able to feed their children and who were part of a close community, and part of God’s family.

Global Alpha Training Visit to Iganga in January 2010

2010-02-06T20:58:00.001Z

Who Went?

Di Rowlandson, John Monaghan, Simon Dust ( Vicar from St Andrews, High Wycombe ) Gill Headington, Tony Robinson and Paul Sillett.

Why did we go?

To help train seventy six church leaders from the region of Iganga on how to run an Alpha course. This was a challenge as they had not yet attended an Alpha course.
To visit some of the Love Africa projects from the Centre for Evangelism in Iganga that some of these leaders are working with.

What did we do?

We were hosted by Pastor Paul Lubale the leader of the Centre for Evangelism who organised the training conference with the Alpha Uganda team. He visited St James in November when he came to our three Alpha courses to understand better how Alpha works.

It was a joy to worship in his church and the congregation loved the songs John had learnt to sing in their language Lucanda.

The three day conference was attended by church leaders from the Centre for Evangelism and many different denominations in the region of Iganga. It covered practical subjects such as What is Alpha ? How to lead a small group, How to give the talks on Alpha but also five demonstration sessions from the Alpha course so that the delegates could experience Alpha. Each of the team helped to coach a small group of delegates over the conference on how to facilitate the small groups. It was encouraging to see them grow in confidence with this new skill. Towards the end of the conference the Alpha Uganda team helped the delegates begin to think through an action plan for how they were going to start running Alpha in their area. They are running a follow up training event in March to continue to develop this.

We pray that God will continue to water the seeds that were sown and trust that they will continue to bear fruit.

We spent two days visiting some of the projects supported by Love Africa in this area. It was encouraging to hear some of the ways that this help is making a difference. We heard from widows who had been trained to grow their own food and given seeds so that now they had enough food for their communities and could begin to sell some of their produce and start putting money in the bank.

It was moving to hear from young men in the child-headed household projects who had looked after their younger siblings from the age of twelve and were now in secondary education and hoping to become teachers. We thank God for the privilege of working in partnership with these brothers and sisters in Christ from the Centre for Evangelism to help bring the Good News of Jesus to these communities in Iganga.

The Gillespie family’s Uganda trip report

2009-11-21T12:35:00.001Z

Gordon Gillespie describes the family’s recent trip to Uganda…

Why did we go?

“An immensely humbling and challenging experience”

“hugely inspiring people”

“incredible welcomes and hospitality”

“amazing Christian faith and love in action”

“loving and reaching the poorest of the poor”

“hope and joy amidst huge desperation”

…just a few quotes from Sue Gillespie’s previous trips to Rwanda and Uganda.

It sounded like an adventure of a lifetime and the Gillespie boys (all three) did not want to miss out.

We had a lot of prayer and debate about whether spending money on such a journey was appropriate. It sounds trite but we wanted to make a difference in some way and not just be tourists or get in the way. We remembered how Patrick Dixon, the head of ACET, had spoken so clearly to St James about weighing up the cost of flights versus the amount of direct aid that could be bought with that same money.

Sue and I went along to a meeting back in February with other St James families who were contemplating a trip. We thought we might join a group going out and suddenly found we were the only ones going. We later found out that our good friends, the Allens, were planning to go and were persuaded that visiting and supporting some of the projects would be an encouragement to those projects. So, in February, we took the plunge and booked the flights while we prayed that other arrangements would fall into place.

What did we do?

Our trip started in Kiswa School, which has a link with the Church primary school in Gerrards Cross. Kiswa is in a very run down area of Kampala,

We had an amazingly warm welcome. The whole school stopped for our visit. They sang and danced for us and gave us Coca Cola and samosas that they could barely afford. I embarrassed my sons by demonstrating a lack of keepy upy football skills in front of the whole school. We danced and played with the children all afternoon. A truly unforgettable experience. The picture shows us bringing T-shirts from our CofE school and footballs from St James FC to the teachers.

We then went on to Iganga, one of the poorest areas in Uganda, to visit some children we sponsor, who are also part of the Love Africa Centre for Evangelism (CFE) project. The CFE project is headed by Pastor Paul, who works with a number of different partners to show Christ’s love to the poorest of the poor through the 72 churches he leads in the area. Pastor Paul kindly, and unexpectedly, joined us in visiting the homes of a number of sponsored children that he and his team care for. It was wonderful to see our sons, Ewan and Rhys, playing with the children and making friendships and experiencing at first hand the great work that Pastor Paul and his team do in supporting a very poor and vulnerable community.

Our next visit was to meet the legendary Edith Wakumire. This lovely lady runs another Love Africa supported project – Uganda Women’s Concern Ministry. She has developed a network of churches and volunteers who go out and help the most needy and vulnerable.

One of the people that UWCM helps is Aida. Her husband died of AIDS and she too is infected. Aida lives in a tiny fragile mud hut with her five children. She has a small area of scorched earth, about the same area as the St James crèche, where she has to grow crops to feed her family. As this is nowhere near sufficient, she works as a labourer for others when she is well enough. Aida rarely has enough food and relies on the Edith’s volunteers for help. Apart from meeting Aida, one other lasting memory of this visit was when Gordon was asked to address the Ugandan Women's Concern conference, despite admitting to a very poor understanding of women let alone their concerns, they seemed to gain immense encouragement from the thought that other people many miles away were praying for and supporting the hard work of these amazingly loving volunteers. They thanked St James so much for their support.

Our final visit was to the Tumaini Orphanage. On a dark clammy night on a red dirt track through the middle of the workers’ shanty town inside several fences and traffic barriers to mark the boundary of the sprawling Kakira sugar plantation, we suddenly saw the welcome beaming smile of Tim Allen looking out of another dusty Toyota minibus! That was the start of a memorable three days with Pastor Nicholas and his dedicated team who are running a church and orphanage in very challenging conditions. We had a great time leading some PromiseLand and other children's activities with children from the orphanage, the local church and the surrounding area. Our most memorable moment was probably when we were surprisingly introduced as children's work experts to a group of 80 very expectant children. With all our props and ideas already used up that morning or packed away in our guest house ready for the following day, we had four hours of improvised fun and games!

What did we take away?

Here are just some of the many things we took away from the experience:

New friendships and relationships that we hope to build and grow over many years
Huge admiration for the dedication and faithfulness of the Ugandan churches and volunteers who work so tirelessly and cheerfully with so little
Realisation that our support and prayers are just as valuable to the projects and children we support as any money
Lessons on hospitality!
A personal challenge to think how we could re-apply what we had seen to be Christ’s hands and feet to the most needy and vulnerable around us.
A resolution never again follow in the footsteps of the Drewetts – who had done a brilliant job and set a very high standard of PromiseLand leading the year before!

A St James Family reflect on their recent trip to Uganda

2009-11-10T18:23:00.002Z

As 2009 was Janet’s 50^th birthday we wanted to do something special as a family to mark the year. We’d been fascinated by the stories brought back from previous Love Africa trips. In particular the idea that the visits were very much a two-way exchange was intriguing. The chance to come alongside fellow Christians in the Love Africa projects putting their faith into action seemed too good an opportunity to miss. When we heard about the Drewett family going to Uganda we were particularly inspired to give our children the opportunity to see life from a different perspective; outside of the cosy Gerrards Cross bubble.

The plan for our trip involved visiting the Tumaine orphanage at Kakira; Mubarak (our sponsored child in Mawagala); Kiswa school in Kampala which is twinned with the Gerrards Cross CE School; and a number of ACET/Tearfund/Love Africa projects in the North of Uganda. We also participated in a build project with the Watoto church. In all, a very full, exhausting but fantastic three week schedule.

The highlights of the trip were undoubtedly the children we met; they were so full of life, joy, fun and music. The whole family was captivated. Spending a few days with the Gillespie family at Tumaine running a PromiseLand style activity day was just wonderful. All of our family have been involved in PromiseLand in various ways, so for us to come together as a family to share that experience with the children at Tumaine was deeply satisfying and moving.

We also felt very moved and privileged to experience the love and affection that is felt towards the whole of the St James congregation for the support that the Love Africa mission has given and the difference it has made. To witness first hand the encouragement this gives to the community at Tumaine was a real blessing. The welcome that the children sang for us on our arrival was so beautiful it took our breath away.

We were amazed by Watoto and the scale of their work in Uganda. With a congregation of more than 20,000, their mission to look after widows and orphans is on an unprecedented scale. It is incredible to see what God can do if we will only trust in Him. For us and our children to come alongside Christians making this sort of a difference in their community was awe inspiring. So too though were the ACET projects in war torn Gulu, where small communities are

Gulu, Uganda

putting lives back together. These projects are at the other end of the scale from Watoto; a few small, poor churches working together for the first time to look after the poorest of the poor in their own community. A real inspiration again for making Christianity relevant to our own community.

Prior to the trip our teenage daughters frequently asked, “Why don’t we just send the money, do we really have to go to Africa?” (In truth a couple of weeks in a nice villa with a pool would have been more their idea of a good holiday!)

Before we went that was a difficult question to answer convincingly. After our return, it was no longer an issue. To connect face to face was encouraging for the people we met and a privilege for us. A step that allowed God to work deeper in the hearts of both sides. To steal a lovely phrase from Sue Gillespie: “we came back with empty suitcases but very full hearts”. All in all it was a wonderful way to mark Janet’s birthday.

Love Africa Skills Sharing Trip – September 2009

2009-09-26T21:32:00.001+01:00

In mid-September three members of St James went to Uganda for a week for the first Love Africa skills sharing trip.

Jacky Hughes, Nigel Young, and Andrew Laughland spent most of the week in the ACET Uganda head office, in Kampala, meeting with staff members and discussing aims and objectives, vision and strategy.

The purpose of the trip was two-fold: to use skills and experience that the visiting team could offer (in coaching and organisation, in finance and in information and communication technology) and to find out from the ACET team what skills they and the HIV projects need which members of St James could share in future trips.

Andrew takes up the story…

I had visited Uganda before in 2008 and had had the opportunity, at short notice, to do a day’s IT work and training in the ACET office. This time I was keen to plan ahead and I was able to take tools and equipment out with me and also to pre-arrange meetings with some of ACET’s technology providers with a view to improving service and reducing costs.

We spent much of the time in a meeting room filling whiteboards with information and ideas but we also had individual sessions with various members of the ACET team. Additionally I was able to service and upgrade a number of the computers in the office.

One of the exciting things for me was going as part of a multi-disciplinary team so, for example, when Nigel shared his findings on their frustrations with aspects of the finance systems, I was able to locate and install some accounting software which should help overcome those frustrations. If only one of us had been there that probably would not have happened.

We did take a little time out from the office and one of the highlights for me was visiting the Kiswa school in the suburbs of Kampala. This school is partnered with our own Gerrards Cross C of E School and it was very special to be able to take out gifts of pens, paints and paper for them, and to build on the relationship with them. Visits to schools in Uganda usually involve much handshaking and singing and Kiswa school was no exception.

I think what has struck me the most this trip is the powerful difference cost savings and efficiency improvements in the office make for ACET and the HIV projects. I have worked for many years in business using IT to make improvements but it is a privilege in this relationship with ACET Uganda to help direct more of the money and resources to projects which change, and save, people’s lives.

Six short impressions from the recent Uganda trip

2009-05-30T13:12:00.002+01:00

Six members from our church went out to Uganda recently (please read their contributions below). At our Nexus evening service they all showed us one photo each and told us what it meant to them...

(NB: If you click on "HQ" the photos will actually show in a pretty decent quality!)

Sue Richardson's reflections

2009-05-27T10:55:00.011+01:00

One of the team that recently visited Uganda with the Advisory board was Sue Richardson. Sue is a retired teacher and has been keen to become involved with Love Africa from the beginning. here are some of her thoughts and reflections....

Having just returned from Uganda, visiting the Love Africa projects, I cannot help but reflect on the wonderful people and children I met. People who had so little but so much. It has changed my perspective on life.

I remember the day when we left Soroti in Eastern Uganda to travel to Mbale the country’s second largest town. It was early morning many people were up and about walking or on bicycles, the red earth creating a cloud of dust every time a heavily laden truck roared past. The countryside with fertile rich soil was well cultivated with beans, maize, potatoes and cassava.

We were on our way to visit UWCM (Ugandan Women Concern Ministry) and Edith Wakumire who has a passion and a strong Christian belief to help the poor and needy. This ministry cares for women with HIV/AIDs and their children. They work within the community helping the vulnerable women by reconstructing housing, giving the necessary seed for planting and making them self sufficient where possible.

Edith, a larger than life Ugandan lady with an infectious smile, met us. After initial introductions we were ushered into vans for our trip to Bulaago, a village high up in the mountains and close to Mount Elgon. The road was narrow deeply rutted and up!

Eventually we reached Bulaago to be greeted by local women singing and dancing happy to hug and shake hands with us. Children stroked our skins – we were the first “white” people they had seen.

UWCM work through Community Mobilisation Teams (CMTs) and use volunteers mobilised through local churches to reach those in need in the community. A group of us went to see a grandmother and her five grandchildren. She had been widowed; her daughter had recently died from HIV/AIDs leaving her to care for the children. Her modest hut had burnt down but with UWCMs help the community had provided her with a new shelter. She was now able to care for the family. She had been given encouragement, hope and love to continue.

This truly was God’s Love in Action. It reminded me of James 2 v.5, ....has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him.

Edith was keen to show us the valley in which she had grown up, and once again children followed us. The view was spectacular and so beautiful. Our next stop was to view the new school building, which UWCM had funded. We stopped a football match to drive across the pitch!! Currently UWCM are working with five schools in the area, helping more children in villages by improving the rural schools. They focus on addressing health issues; training for teachers, improving the living conditions for teachers, and providing furniture and improved buildings.

Edith’s energy is limitless. The slogan on the back of the CMTs tee shirts is “Empower a woman and you empower a nation.” May the work of UWCM continue to help those women, children and people living with HIV and AIDs to live a dignified life, and may I never forget the wonderful work through Jesus Christ that they are doing.

Debbie Perrera has just returned from a recent Love Africa Projects visit...

2009-05-23T14:24:00.015+01:00

During May 6 members of the St James Church family made a visit to the Love Africa Projects in Uganda. The team included three members of the recently formed Love Africa Advisory Board. The Board is there to give dispassionate advice to the Love Africa Steering Group as they develop relationships with our projects in a range of areas. The team also included one member of the Love Africa Steering Group, Debbbie Perrera who has been serving Love Africa with a very willing heart for some time but had never visited the projecst herself. Debbie was able to fund her visit with the help of neighbours and friends ....

REFLECTIONS OF A FIRST-TIMER

I have just come back from 9 days in Uganda visiting the 5 projects which Love Africa is currently supporting. This was my first experience of Africa; in fact, it was my first ever trip to a Developing Country.

The sights and smells were intoxicating – the countryside more beautiful than I had imagined - I had never been anywhere like it and the people so friendly – children would wave whenever we passed them in our van.

The first place we visited was the Pentecostal Assemblies of God in Soroti (about half way up on the eastern side) which runs a programme called PEP bringing church & community together. Communities take an active role in identifying their needs and being part of the solution, leading to a marked increase in self-worth and future capabilities.

We visited a community which had undergone the PEP Program and were working very hard to become self-sustaining. Their pride in what they had achieved (hand-dug wells, mosquito nets, latrines, kitchen gardens, AIDS training etc) was palpable and I felt that ‘the sky’s the limit’ for this community. I began to realise how important it is for the local church to act as the catalyst to empower communities to drive their own development.

Later we visited a Drinking Club in Nakibuyi where ACET volunteers were making a huge difference with life-skills training and I could see again that these people felt empowered and had pulled together to set up a small fund for the most needy in their village even though, to me, they all looked needy.

The lady pictured here, described how she took her one blue dress off at night and used it as a blanket to cover her children and then put it back on the next day.

I thought about my over-stuffed wardrobe at home. These were the poorest of the poor – even the adults had no shoes, yet they presented us with ten beautiful avocados when we left. I was reminded of the incident in Luke where Jesus saw a widow putting two small copper coins into the temple treasury…………’”I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”’ I was truly humbled to see this in action.

Throughout our time in Uganda I felt an immense love for our brothers and sisters there. I was only just beginning to realise the sacrifices they themselves were making in order to serve the poor as Jesus did. One might be forgiven for thinking that Africa’s problems are too complex to find a solution when one looks at the poverty, disease, corruption and the legacy of colonialism but the fact that we truly are brothers and sisters in Christ makes all the difference. It just cuts through the other stuff and bonds us together in Jesus’ love. This has to be the answer.
One highlight was going to Kampala Baptist Church on Sunday morning and worshipping in spirit and in truth as one family who will be spending eternity together. It was marvellous!

God broke my heart (again!) in Uganda and I pray that he will continue to break all of our hearts until we feel the pain of our brothers and sisters in Africa as our Heavenly Father does.

Father and daughter visit Uganda

2009-03-18T13:46:00.007Z

Martin and Eve Williams spent time with Love Africa Projects in October 2008 and the impact on them and us continues...

Why did you go to Uganda with your dad?
The reason I wanted to go to Uganda is because I had heard so much about it and as it is such a major part of the church life I wanted to see it for myself. Nobody really knows how tragic and corrupted the lives of many people are there, until they see it through their own eyes. My Dad was always talking about it and the pictures shown to me before my visit were only just a fragment of what you could imagine it to be like. St. James church has raised so much money for this inspiring and amazing Love Africa project, and I wanted to see what it had done to make a difference.

What were you expecting and how did reality compare?
The reality was completely different to what I thought. It was like I had entered a different world. The first night I had such a culture shock mixed with tiredness from travelling, and I remember crying myself to sleep. I couldn’t believe what I had seen in one afternoon and this was before I had properly visited any project. I think the thing that made me most upset was the fact that the people around me treated me as if I was royalty, by cooking what was their best, expensive food and making me feel so welcome. My Dad’s arrival and mine made their faces light up and you could see their hope and faith restoring inside of them. Watching people who had so little but making the most of what they did have made me realize how much I take for granted, especially the small things like clean running water from taps, heating and a sturdy roof over my head.

Where did you visit and where did you stay?
I stayed in various places, all very different and new experiences. The first two nights I stayed in Pastor Paul’s bungalow. For someone that lives in Uganda I would think it is a pretty good place to live in but very different to what we think of as standard English house! I slept under mosquito nets in a room off the kitchen and had a blanket to cover me. He lived in a village with many children that followed me at every opportunity possible as they were so amazed by the ‘mizungu’ (a white person) as some had never seen one before. The cockerel and the nature sounds that surrounded our room woke us. The next night I stayed in the Madhvani guest house which was luxury! This was when we were at the Tumaine Children’s home. It was the equivalent of our B&B’s and here I got served chicken and chips with a substitute ketchup (I have it on everything) but I must admit I lived without it for the week as let’s just say it was fluorescent orange. After my stay here I slept the night at Edith Wakumire’s house, one of the most amazing women you will ever meet, the leader of the Uganda Women’s Concern Ministry. Her house was one to remember, my dad and I slept in the back yard in a small room with a noisy roof that scared me as it rattled due to various animals walking on it and avocado pears dropping from the huge tree above us. We were woken by Esther, Edith’s adopted child, with her beautiful singing.

Could you see if Love Africa was making any difference to the lives of the people you met?
Love Africa has made so much difference to the people in Uganda, providing them with concrete things and giving them strength to carry on. A family of 5 previously living under a banana tree now go to sleep with a small roof over their head. Abandoned and needy children now not only have a place to live but a family, education and happiness in the Tumaine children’s home. A lot of people we met now have clothes, clean water supplies nearby and some have medication for the killer disease HIV Aids.

What would you say is the most important thing we can do to make a difference?
Although giving money is the main source of making a difference, I think such an important key to the whole of this organisation is to build relationships with some of the people out there. It’s great just sending off money to charities, but when you know what the money is going towards it makes the whole thing so much more rewarding for both the people donating and the people receiving. To be someone living out there and know that you have all these brilliant people sending money and help, and actually knowing a bit about the church makes it real. Until you go out there you have no idea how thankful the people of Uganda are for your prayers and support, believe me you are doing such a fantastic job.

Is there memory that will always stay with you?
I had that when going on major, inspirational and life changing trips there is always something you take away from it and things that you will never forget. Although what I will never forget is the smiley, joyful faces of all the orphans that now have something to live for, there is one story of from one of the women that I met that has stuck with me ever since. She is a young woman of about 30 years old; she lives high up in the mountains near all the slippery mud and far from any shops or sources. She lives in the smallest tin roofed ‘house’ with her 3 children. She is suffering from Aids, and a few years ago her husband told her he was going to fetch some water. In the early evening he still hadn’t returned and he had been gone the whole day. Next morning he still wasn’t there. It was discovered later that day that he had jumped off a nearby cliff, he had had enough of his life and decided suicide was his last resort. She is being helped by UWCM. The woman could have left her children and done the same, but think of her courage and her living conditions. She has nothing yet she was such a calm, gentle woman that sat in the shade trying to make the best of what she had. There was something so special about that woman and her bravery. If she can carry on, so can you.

Two PAG Soroti Pastors. Ezra & Patrick

2008-12-18T22:35:00.003Z

Introducing PAG Soroti - A Love Africa Project

2008-12-16T16:54:00.013Z

One of the least talked about but most exciting of our 5 Love Africa Projects is PAG Soroti. They work with a programme called PEP which mobilises whole communities towards sustainable transformation. Most of the communities they work with are deeply impacted by HIV/AIDS. Tim Raby from Tearfund has recently completed a review with PAG Sroti and he has sent us this fascinating report.

Tim writes..

Spending time in Uganda visiting the projects run by Tearfund’s partners means that I encounter many different manifestations of poverty. Poverty includes a lack of material possessions, a lack of access to decision-making and, perhaps most importantly, a lack of opportunities. This can result in the mindset that people are helpless and can only survive on the charity of others.
Projects such as the PEP (Participatory Evaluation Process) project operated by PAG Soroti, in eastern Uganda, can start to change this mentality – which not only exists in the minds of the poor, but also in the attitudes of many relief and development charities. Driven by a sense of compassion, and confronted by the massive needs that are apparent in many countries, the desire to offer aid is natural. Yet because such generosity does not always last forever and can create dependency, it can end up being harmful. As one man in one of the villages we visited said, “Depending on relief is like leaning on rotten wood”.

PEP starts by leading the church through a series of bible studies, which can be quite a novelty themselves, and drawing out principles relevant for development. For example, by studying the “Feeding of the 5,000”, the church can understand the relevance of Jesus feeding the crowd using the food that they themselves had; or by studying the parable of the Good Samaritan, the church can understand the importance of reaching out to the whole community, again using the resources it has. As relationships between the church and the community develop, an Information Gathering Team is appointed, which gathers and then analyses information about the community, such as the levels of education, water sources and the type and frequency of disease.
Equipped with this information and the mentality that their own resources are able to solve some of their problems, the community is then able to make remarkable progress. We heard dozens of individual stories of change, such as Robert’s, where people’s health, income, self esteem, leadership skills and spiritual growth had all improved.
The process also brings the whole community closer, so that unity and interdependence increase and relationships (particularly between men and women) improve. We heard many examples of where communities had set up nursery schools – even building houses for the teachers – and established “self-help groups” (such as the Etaritoi Group, right) where people’s savings were put into a central pot and used to improve agriculture or loaned out to help people set up small businesses.
Because the process is led by, but not restricted to, the church, we heard many stories of spiritual growth. Relationships between different denominations had improved, people could now see the relevance of church and the bible and many people had become Christians.

The role of the NGO (such as PAG Soroti) is now less a provider of aid, but more a supporter of community action. Their technical skills (such as how to improve agricultural yields or prevent disease) are still required, but PEP is no longer seen as a project “done to” a community by an NGO, but a way of life owned by the community itself. As another person we met said, “Now we think deeply about things. There will be no going back. Something very fundamental has happened here.”

Robert Etoku's Testimony...

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“My name is Robert Etoku and I am leading the PEP project in Otuboi. In 2003, the LRA attacked my home area. All my belongings were stolen and I had to run to the bush and then to Lira - a town about 40 miles away
When it was safe to return, I came back, but I had nothing and had to stay with my parents. After PEP I put some of the teaching into action by planting tomatoes, which improved my family’s diet and gave me money to be used for medical treatment. Last year, I sold the tomatoes for 450,000 USh - about £150 and used this to buy a heifer, which has given birth to a calf. My family now drinks milk, and all of my 6 school-age children are at school.
I have plans for a permanent house and I have already bought the timber and iron sheets and will sell this year’s sunflower crop to buy bricks.
I have 10 goats and some chickens and 7 acres on which I grow maize, tomatoes, sunflowers, cassava, beans, sesame. I use bulls for cultivating the land.
I am also the pastor of Anyara Assembly Church, which has 7 branch churches. Before PEP, we had built the church to the ringbeam level - just above the windows and we had asked PAG and others for money to complete it. After PEP, all the members of the Assembly Committee agreed to contribute 30,000 USh - about £10 and church members contributed 25,000 USh - about £8 through selling their own resources like goats and crops. We finished the church in October this year.
As a pastor I have learnt to work with my congregation, and I now have the skills to mobilise both the church and the community, so that they are able to come up with solutions and prioritise using action plans. The main things that I have learnt are that God has given us resources that we can use to meet our needs and that the church needs to be salt and light. We need to be people who can be an example to others, so that they can also change.”

Update on 3 Love Africa Projects from Martin & Eve

2008-11-14T12:15:00.014Z

Eve & I took the October half term week to have some "Dad & daughter time" visiting some of our Love Africa Projects in Uganda. Although this was a visit that Eve had been asking to do with me for some time and therefore sort of unofficial we were able to spend quality time with three project partners and get a sense of how our Love Africa financial support is beginning to make a difference already. So here is our report!

Pastor Paul Luballe Centre For Evangelism.

Pastor Paul (2nd from right) and some of his wonderful Pastors

At one of the communities we are supporting near Iganga through the ministry of Pastor Paul Luballe and The Centre For Evangelism; we heard in detail about how Love Africa monies are already making a difference.

Grandchild number five. The grandmother is sick with Aids and both parents have died.

Pastor Paul has invested Love Africa monies strategically in five of his 60 churches to lift people from significant poverty caused by HIV/AIDS. The levels of poverty are extreme and his approach is very systematic:

1. Identify the most vulnerabl people in the community
2. Give them immediate practical help such as blankets and food.
3. Bring them together to become a group that learns to help one another instead of being isolated by poiverty and disease.
4. Educate them about infection, treatment and sustainable living using new income genrating activities
5. Work with them to become secure in food and health management.
6. Encourage them to help the rest of the community to avoid infection and disease.

We heard such powerful testimonies of transformation and hope from two of the five extremely rural communities. That is amazing progress just a few months after receiving the Love Africa Funds.

The other four grandchildren

Messages of gratitude to the St James church family were passed to us over and over again. It was incredibly moving to see how our help is making such a difference already.

Eve meets children at a kakira Sugar plantation Camp

Pastor Nicholas Ong'amo - Tumaine Children's Home Kakira
We have been very focussed with our support of Tumaine to try to get the building project finished before moving to other areas. What has our money ensured?
1. Fresh water supply from new tanks that catch hundreds of litres of rain water.
2. Funding for electricity supplies which should be hooked up before Christmas
3. An underground water storgae tank
4. A repaired and secured roof with no leaks.
5. Uniforms and school fees for 70+ children to ensure they can go to school every day
6, A bible for each child together with Mosquito net and soft toy
7. Clothing for all the children accross the age range
8. Medical support costs for each child.

This is the environment from which Tumaine children have been saved

We spent a lot of time with the children and they are so grateful for all the big improvements they have seen. They talk about and pray for St James every day quite spontaneously. We heard many of the stories behind why some of the children came to be at Tumaine and these were very harrowing and moving. Without this ministry these children would be living in some of the poorest and most dangerous camps in the country.

Tumaine children were so happy to see us. We had great fun!

There is more to do and if we can work effeiciently and closely enough with Pastor Nicholas we hope that we will be able to help with food security programmes at Tumaine in the coming year. ACET have worked extremely hard with Tumaine to help them manage their funds well.

Eve makes friends in Iganga

Uganda Women's Concern Ministry - Mbale
Edith Wakumire and her team work with 15 Community Mobiliastion Teams (CMT's) and we visited one of the most remote teams in the mountains at Wanale. Edith says "where everyone else's work stops, this is where our work begins". She works with the neediest people of all. We have visited this community before and there is such a fine line between exisiting and falling into life-threatening poverty. The CMT's identify the most needy families and children and support them with immediate practical needs then help them to earn money through food, craft and skills programmes as well as educating them about HIV/AIDs and malaria. We were able to meet three families who had been helped by UWCM who would otherwise surely have perished. It was a very moving experience to talk with them about their plight and how they had been helped.

Meet and greet on the mountain at Wanale

The CMT's need some discretionary funds to help needy people right on the spot and we are talking with Edith about how to make those funds available to the CMT's from the monies we will be giving from Love Africa in 2009.

While we were with UWCM we attended their first ever CMT gathering where all the CMT's came together to share best practices and to support one another. This is one of the activities Love Africa has made possible for the first time. They were so professional, dedicated and evangelistic in their approach and more funds will flow into their work to support and grow this ministry in the months ahead.

View from the mountain to Mbale district below

This is a short summary of what was a truly amazing visit. It was very special for me to share this aspect of our ministry with Eve and she has since presented her experiences to resonate at st James and to her school year.

I think our biggest learnings were
1. That relationship makes all the difference and that is why it is good to visit and why Love Africa has relationship at its heart.
2. That the need is very great yet it does not take much to change lives.
3. Love Africa funds, even after 6 months are making a difference and the potential to change whole communities for the long term once and for all is HUGE!
4. The faith of the Pastors we are supporting and their evangelistic zeal is simply breathtaking and very humbling. They live on faith and share the gospel wherever they go.

We were not travelling with Tearfund or ACET and we were not staying in guest houses but in local homes so there were times when Eve & I felt vulnerable and exposed. We FELT the prayer that was being offered up for us and there were times when Eve especially had to dig deep.... But she did and I was very proud of her!

We praise God that we have been able to see and hear the difference that Love Africa is making for oursleves.

Some children know how to melt your heart!

Tricia Tennant is back from WATOTO

2008-10-22T11:21:00.012+01:00

Tricia Tennant is a long standing member of the St James Church family and has close links with the WATOTO Choir who have visited St James on a few ocassions over the years. Tricia travelled to Uganda to meet some of the WATOTO children she had hosted and to accompany Pastor Nicholas and his wife Marie from Tumaine Children's home on a WATOTO conference. Pastor Nichiolas & Marie's places were funded by Love Africa. Here is her story...

How it all began

When I was a little girl, growing up in Ealing, one of my father’s great friends from Mercer’s school, would visit us on leave. He was the District Commissioner for Uganda from 1948 – 1965. Jake would tell my brother and I engaging stories of life in the ‘bush’. It captured my imagination, and yet I never dreamed I would ever visit this wonderful country.

Back in 1996 I was introduced to the Watoto Choir at All Souls Langham Place. I was enchanted, and throughout the years have shown an interest in their development. Last year I was fortunate enough to have one of the choir sing at my retirement party. They were hosted by families in Gerrards Cross and organised a wonderful concert for us all at church on the Sunday 18^th November 2007.

Then in April this year I received an invitation to go to Kampala to attend the 2^nd Watoto ‘Hope for Africa’ conference. It’s amazing how God sows seeds in our lives. It’s like stepping stones to our purpose. ‘The opportunity of a lifetime must be taken within the lifetime of the opportunity’.

September 24th - 28th WATOTO Conference

This was held at Kampala Pentecostal Church. There were 500 delegates from 25 nations. I had travelled out on my own, however, the ‘Love Africa’ team had sponsored Pastor Nicholas and his wife Maria, to attend the conference as well. It was great to spend time with them both, and also for them to learn from the Watoto model.

Our first day involved a visit to the Bulrushes Babies Home. Currently there are 83 babies being cared for. There is a ‘prem’ unit, where babies are nurtured, who have been rescued from rubbish tips and latrines in the city. People can volunteer for a minimum of a month to look after these babies. They are kept in the home until they are three and then transferred to one of the villages, where they attend school. The home had originally been the Officer’s Mess when Idi Amin had been in power, before being purchased by Watoto.

During the conference we learnt how war affected and traumatized children had been rehabilitated, having been recruited as ‘boy’ soldiers at the age of 12 for Joseph Coney’s army in Gulu, northern Uganda. It was heartbreaking to learn of the physical atrocities they had to perform on their own family members, otherwise they would have been shot themselves. Watoto is now building a village in Gulu, to support these youngsters.

The same was true for the ‘Living Hope’ project which seeks to restore the dignity of vulnerable women, by empowering them with the necessary life skills that will enable these women to become productive members of their community, so they can raise their own children and support their families.

There were workshops on Networking/Partnership; Social work; Child development; Fundraising/Financing and Village Management and Projects.

On the Saturday we were taken to the Watoto Villages in Suubi and Bbira. This is where we were able to experience life in an African village, and have lunch with the children. This was a traditional meal prepared by the housemother. It consisted of mashed potatoe, sweet potatoe, yams, goat, rice, noodles, beans, matouki (roasted banana) with peanut sauce, and chicken.

At The WATOTO Homes

Each house consists of six rooms and accommodates, eight children – four girls, four boys;Eight houses are built around a central green play area, which is the traditional way of an African village in the bush. It was a real bonus to actually meet some of the choir members who sang at my party!

On Saturday evening we celebrated the African child in a unique cultural experience of African dance and music. I loved the drums! There was a firework grand finale.

My lasting impression was the degree of excellence that Watoto promotes. This is achieved by the incredible sponsorship programme, and the income raised by the choir tours throughout the world. The children only get to go on tour once, so everyone gets a chance. Their faith in God shows, and the gratitude from being rescued from the streets, lights up in their smiles. All the homes and schools, medical clinics, and facilities, are built by volunteers, who raise the money themselves prior to going to Uganda , so that all materials are purchased and supervised locally. By the end of a two week period the buildings are complete. It was an incredible experience and one I shall always treasure.

October 29th to September 1st

Thirty one delegates were taken on a safari to Murchison Falls. We had a seven hour journey by bus to Paraa Safari Lodge on the edge of the great river Nile. It was wonderful to see the real Uganda, once we left Kampala. The road was not made up and consisted of many pot holes in the red dusty sand. We had a stop in Masindi. We saw many small, scattered villages along the way; colourful markets with brightly coloured vegetables and fruit; children walking to school at 6.30 in the morning , barefoot; women carrying water pots and huge straw bales on their heads; men walking with sugar cane, and carrying chicken ready to be plucked.

Such a beautiful country

The safari was so worthwhile to observe many animals in their natural habitat, and at such close quarters. I loved the trip on the Nile up to the Falls. We even had the added bonus of a rainbow! A reminder of God’s promises to His people.

Then it was back to Kampala where Pastor Nicholas was taking me to Kakira.

October 5th to October 2nd

The afternoon was spent at the counselling centre in Kakira. The women had met for a Bible Study and I was asked to speak and encourage them, through Pastor Patrick who translated. I shared some of my family history and mentioned I had one son. They laughed, and I wondered why! It was because most of them had 8 or 9 children! I warmed to these ladies. They worked hard. They lived in very poor conditions, in makeshift homes, with possibly a mattress on the floor, but little else in the way of furniture. When it rains, it comes down thick and fast, and soon the roads are awash in thick red mud. The children are scantily dressed and most do not own shoes. Cows, goats and chickens wander all over the place, scavenging for food. There’s one central point to collect water. That evening, when I returned to the Madhvani Guest House I was trying desperately to assimilate all I’d seen and heard.

Pastor Nicholas and his wife Marie with me and his assistant Pastor

On the Friday I was taken to the source of the River Nile at Jinja, and then on to Bujagali Falls. That evening Beatrice and Grace helped Maria, and I had the most delicious Supper at the Centre. All the ladies were so generous. Whatever they had they shared with me. It was very humbling. In Swahili I am ‘Mamuke Musungu’, a white woman.

On the Saturday I was taken to the children’s home that St James supports. This is situated on a huge sugar plantation called the Kakira Sugar Works which was established in 1985 by the Madhvani family. It is totally enclosed by Security and there were checkpoints where our permits were inspected. I

On arrival, all the children at the home greeted me with a special song they’d learnt. A lot of the house parents were present as well. Pastor Nicholas spoke and told of his plans for the future. I’m not used to speaking in public, however, it seems a visitor, is expected to bring words of encouragement to the children and adults and it’s something they expect quite naturally!

Touring the home it was good to see the work that Heath and Barbara Drewett had done in the summer, was continuing. All the mosquito nets that Heath had erected were over the beds, and the children had their Promiseland Bibles, either in their little suitcases by their beds, or in the ceiling rafters.

The nets brought by the Drewetts are still there!

Work is still in progress at the home. Betty the Matron, and Charlie the Warden were introduced, before lunch was served to the children. This consisted of bowls of mashed potatoes and beans in sauce. The children all line up and wait their turn. It’s amazing to me that all this food is prepared in huge vats on a single charcoal fire, outside, under a makeshift roof.

Water Tank Funded by Love Africa at St James!

A water tap has been installed. Part of the St James funding. Ongoing work will provide a pump. The showers and latrines are yet to be completed, and work on the roof has to be finalised. The surrounding land will eventually be developed for a school house and a possible conference centre. Pastor Nicholas has a huge vision.

We ended the day at the children’s camp at the Kakira Sugar Works, where some of the older children instructed the younger ones with a Promiseland theme. The Drewetts did a good job. It was good to see the T-shirts being put to good use.

The Bible donated by St James are firmly established in the Tumaine Children's individual lives

I left with a heavy heart. The need is so great. I wondered how on earth we’d ever make any progress in relieving their plight.

One thing I learnt at the conference, is that it’s not about status, but service. ‘A man goes out on a journey with one staff. Two is a burden’. ‘If you want to be first, go alone; if you want to go far, go together’.

I guess that’s what it was all about for me. Yes, I was a woman alone, just one member of a congregation, of a caring Church, that wants to make a difference. Together.

It’s not about the money, it’s about building relationships.

I felt the love these people so warmly gave me. The love and the sharing touched my heart and the glorious smiles and big brown eyes that reached deep within my soul, that I will never forget. We just have to start where we are. In our own little pond, and see how far the ripples will travel.

‘Love never fails’.

Tricia Tennant

October 2008

New Furniture For The Kiswa School

2008-10-06T14:57:00.003+01:00

The new desks were made locally by local carpenters
with money donated from the School in Gerrards Cross

Very Smart!!

Nicola Flower, Head Teacher at Gerrards Cross CE School writes with great news about the way that they have been able to follow through on their link with the Kiswa school in Kampala...

The new school year started on 15 September at Kiswa school and we have been delighted to receive photographs of the children and their staff with new furniture. Through fundraising events at The Gerrards Cross CE School organised by the PTA and by the children themselves, we have been able to support the staff and pupils at Kiswa by funding the provision of 31 new benches with desk tops: the children can now write without the need to kneel on the mud floor.

Our children have written letters to the pupils at Kiswa and we have also sent some of our uniform to them – both staff and pupils at Kiswa can now regularly be seen sporting Gerrards Cross t-shirts and polo shirts.

Drewett trip - day 13

2008-09-02T17:18:00.004+01:00

Our final early morning saw us off to the airport at 6.30am for our return flight to London. We were accompanied on the flight by five of our fellow "builders" - two bound for Los Angeles, two for Toronto and one for Dallas!
We said our final goodbyes at Heathrow's Terminal 4 before returning home.
An amazing trip by all accounts, and one I suspect none of us will ever forget. Our hope is that we will have made a difference, albeit in only some small ways, to the lives of those with whom we had the privilege and pleasure of spending time on our trip.

Drewett trip - day 12

2008-09-02T16:47:00.003+01:00

A very busy agenda for the last day of our trip began with a visit to the Sunday morning service at Kiswa Baptist Church in Kampala. The corrugated-roofed, brick-built church building doubles up as [four/five!] classrooms for Kiswa school during the week. The school is supported by The Gerrards Cross CE School, which has recently provided funding for 31 school desks to replace the simple benches previously used. The service, and preceding Sunday school which we were able to attend, was a great encouragement. Despite a lack of any real resources, the delivery was very child-focused and engaging for the children, and the decoration of the church brought colour and life to the whole proceedings. As is seemingly customary, we were given the opportunity to address the congregation and speak of what we had done on our trip, and the privilege that it was to support the work of the church/school in Kiswa. The Pastor of the church, Pastor Wilson Tumale, seemed very capable and, based on the contents of the service and the announcements, had clearly established a real community within the church.
After the service we met up with David Kabiswa (from ACET) and his family for lunch. It was a great opportunity to discuss the work of ACET and the challenges and opportunities presented by the different projects that we had visited.
Later in the afternoon we made our way out to Bbira, the second of the two Watoto villages. The village was much older than the one where we had been building, and was set-out in a slightly different way in terms of the houses. We were very excited to meet two of the girls who had stayed with us on the last choir tour last November, together with the Palmer family's sponsor child, Sharon. It is rather strange to meet the girls in such different circumstances, and really makes you realise how different the life-style they experience on tour is from their day to day lives in the Watoto villages. It must take them a while to acclimatise - in both directions.
Before heading for bed, we managed to squeeze in a trip to the Ndere Cultural Centre in the evening to see a display of various Ugandan dance and music performers.

Drewett trip - day 11

2008-08-31T06:00:00.001+01:00

A day dominated by our long and bumpy journey back to Kampala along the red soil roads. We came back via the top of the Murchison Falls - where the Albert Nile is forced through a narrow 6m gorge and crashes down to the wide river below. The roadside landscape was very rural with settlements of mud and brick buildings with grass rooves.

Eventually back at the guesthouse by late afternoon, one of the highlights of the day was a visit to an Italian ice-cream cafe after dinner with the team.

Drewett trip - day 10

2008-08-29T19:33:00.003+01:00

This was our second and final day of safari in the National Park. We had a drive in the morning, followed by a boat ride to Murchison Falls in the afternoon. The highlights of our morning drive were a beautiful lioness (spotted by our amazing tracker ranger!) followed by a brief glimpse of a leopard!!!! as it climbed down from the tree. This was such a treat as there are only 11 leopards in the whole park, and our ranger said that she only gets to see one about every three months! The boat trip was also fun, with lots of close-ups of hippos and crocs.
We returned to the hotel for a brief swim with the rest of the team before dinner and bed. We have a long ride back to Kampala tomorrow .... and knowing the road ahead it is not an attractive prospect!

Drewett trip - day 9

2008-08-29T07:43:00.004+01:00

We got up at 3.30 am!!! to travel to a safari lodge in the Murchison Falls National Park. It's a really beautiful place - we're on a hill overlooking the Nile. There are hippos, baboons and lots of geckos and that's just in the hotel grounds!! On our game drive we saw lion, giraffe, warthogs, vultures, antelope, baboons, elephants and buffalo. Africa is a beautiful country in God's creation.

Drewett trip - day 8

2008-08-29T06:39:00.003+01:00

After a 2 hour drive the night before, we set off from the Mount Elgon Hotel in Mbale to meet with Edith Wakumire at the Ugandan Women's Concern Ministry just outside the town. Edith was a familiar name to us as we had heard much about her (and her famous smile!) from Martin Williams.
We spent some time with Edith and her team during their morning devotions, and the team members talked us through each of the three main areas of the UCWM's work - namely, women, children and their fight malaria campaign. It is a huge ministry, covering a wide geographic area and meeting significant need, exacerbated by extreme poverty in the local region. The ministry teams appeared very structured in their work, establishing clear criteria for those who UWCM chooses to support with its relatively limited resources.\
After some time with the team, and an opportunity to walk around the site of the offices, we headed out to the "field". We took the van through narrow paths off road and arrived at the house of two teenage mothers - both with children already, and one pregnant again. This "child-headed" household crossed over two areas supported by the women's ministry section of UWCM - single teenage mothers, and child-headed households. The conditions of the children's home was the poorest we had witnessed close at hand. We spent some time with the girls and their siblings before making our way back to UWCM.
Our afternoon was spent travelling back to Kampala, where we met up with our build team once again!

Drewett trip - days 6 and 7

2008-08-28T19:11:00.005+01:00

These were the two holiday club days at Tumaine.

The children's home, which is situated in the middle of what could best be described as a "township" of small brick/mud dwellings, is a brick building with a central room (for eating/meeting), and five dormitories (2 boys, 3 girls) with sets of 3-bunk beds. The conditions of the building are very basic, with no power, running water or even ceilings. The cooking is all carried out over an open fire in a small bamboo hut outside the building. There are currently 71 children in the home (from ages c. 4 to 15), with slightly more girls than boys.

The holiday club was attended by all the children from Tumaine, together with children from the local Sunday school at Pastor Nicholas' church that meets in Kakira School, just along from the ophanage. We structured the holiday club using the PromiseLand model of activity stations, followed by large group time and then breaking into small groups. We taught from the story of David and Goliath with the memory verse Deut 31.6 on the first day, and then The Parable of the Lost Sheep with the memory verse John 3.16 on day 2. At the end of the first session we put up mosquito nets for every child, and they all received a teddy with memory verse attached and every child made a canvas painting with memory verse which we put up by their beds. This was to support the message of the session that God is with the children and that they can feel safe and secure within his care - taking their strength from God as David had done.
There were over 140 children attending each day, and at times we were overwhelmed by the children's enthusiasm and joy. We probably learned as much as they did.
Piers loved making friends with the boy (Trevor) he prays for with his small group at PromiseLand. Barbara also did some training with the leaders from the Kakira Sunday School.
The two days were exhausting but we all came away feeling encouraged - especially when one little girl told Olivia she had felt safe under her mosquito net.
The visit ended with the children singing two "goodbye" songs to us as we left and waving frantically at us as we drew away in the car. A very emotional end to an amazing two days.