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Dear
Friends Rather than a letter this month I thought I would let you know about our trip in the summer to Uganda. It is our hope to return to Uganda in 2010 with our own team to work specifically on projects with Wilberforce’s church in Jinja and the surrounding areas. If you think this is something you would be interested in we would love to hear from you. Jane VERY BRIEF HISTORY The Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East
Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
on the southwest by Rwanda,
and on the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a
substantial portion of Lake Victoria, within which it shares borders
with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda takes its name from the Buganda
kingdom, which encompassed a portion of the south of the country including the
capital Kampala. Uganda became an independent nation in 1962,
with Milton
Obote as Executive Prime Minister. Idi
Amin took power in 1971, ruling the country with
the military for the coming decade. Idi Amin's rule cost an estimated 300,000
Ugandans' lives. He forcibly removed the entrepreneurial Indian minority from
Uganda, decimating the economy. His reign was ended after the Uganda-Tanzania War in 1979 in which Tanzanian
forces aided by Ugandan exiles invaded Uganda. Museveni has been in power since 1986. In
the mid to late 1990s, he was lauded by the West as part of a new generation of African leaders.
His presidency has included involvement in the civil
war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and other conflicts in
the Great Lakes region, as well as the civil
war against the Lord's Resistance Army. In 2007, Uganda
deployed soldiers to the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia. Religions: Major Industries: HIV/AIDS It is estimated that AIDS has orphaned 2
million children. Life
expectancy has declined to an estimated average of 44 years. OUR TRIP Saturday 2nd August we
flew overnight from Cairo down to Entebbe, in Uganda. Our flight was delayed and we arrived in
Uganda about 5 a.m. (on 3rd August) where we were met
by our driver who took us to our hotel in Kampala. We arrived at our hotel at
about 6 a.m. and were due to be collected by Pastor Wilberforce at 6.30 a.m. So
after a quick shower and a hasty breakfast we set off to Jinja where
Wilberforce’s home and church are (about a two hour drive from Kampala). When
we arrived the congregation had already been worshipping for about 2 hours! The
music group was leading the congregation in singing and dancing – very
up-tempo and exuberant praise. There was a mixture of English and Luganda (their
local dialect) used for songs, prayers and readings. The thing we noticed straight off was the
age of the congregation, which was made up of mainly young people and children.
There were not many people of our age there. Wilberforce then led a Bible study on the
letter of Paul to the Romans. This was in the form of a lecture with questions
asked occasionally to the congregation. At the end there was an opportunity for
questions from the congregation about the study. After the Bible study the Junior Church
children came and performed a couple of dances and so did the young people from
the local senior school (many of whom are orphans supported by the church (see
below). They all seemed to be really enjoying themselves! I
had the opportunity to preach, which was a very interesting experience as my
sermon was translated from English to Luganda. What would normally have been a
20 minute sermon took 45 minutes! The sermon was interspersed with clapping and
‘Amens’ – it was very encouraging and humbling. After this there was more singing and then
Mark had an opportunity to bring greetings from both our home Church – St.
George’s - and our national Church, the URC. After
the service, which had lasted in total 5 hours, we had an opportunity to meet
the congregation. The ladies’ group (made up from some of widows from the
congregation) showed us the handicrafts they make to generate an income. The
necklaces are made from paper magazines! We then had the opportunity to share lunch
with Wilberforce and his family and the Elders from the Church and spent the
afternoon with them hearing about their hopes and dreams, visions and plans: -
Monday (4th) we had a
quiet day in Kampala as we had both been unwell in Egypt and were still feeling
the effects of our short stay there. Tuesday
(5th) we set off early to meet up with Wilberforce in Jinja at
his farm. The farm helps Wilberforce support his immediate family (his wife and
their 5 children) as well as the orphans they have taken into their home
(currently 4 boys), Wilberforce’s brother, Godfrey, and their sister and her
family (who live at the farm and help manage it). As a
pastor in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Uganda Wilberforce does not get
paid so this is the only source of income he has and we could clearly see it is
quite a struggle for him to juggle oversight of the farm, with the work of a
local pastor, overseer of a group of local churches within the Jinja region and
as General secretary of the RPCU. The
land is very fertile, but ‘seed’ is very expensive so they are not able to
farm the land to its full potential. Wilberforce would like to have an area
where he could grow more vegetables, but the farm is in need of proper fencing
to prevent straying animals from neighbouring farms wandering in and eating the
crops, and/or spreading infections to Wilberforce’s livestock. While
we were at the farm we saw the pigs which members of our Church family had
brought (12 in all) and met some of the people who would be receiving them. We
also had the opportunity to meet the vet who will be providing back up and
support to these new pig farmers as they establish their pig farms. He showed us
the manuals he had produced with guidelines for caring for the pigs and a plan
of how to build a pigpen. This manual, along with medicines (de-worming tablets,
vitamins etc.), and bags of cement where given to the people who would be
receiving the pigs. Mark then named the pigs and handed each one over to their
new owner. After
this we then went into Jinja to find our hotel for the next two nights, which
had a beautiful location right next to the shores of Lake Victoria. As I had
still not fully recovered from the bug I picked up in Egypt I stayed at the
hotel whilst Mark went off to visit a senior school. He was very touched by what
he saw there. Out of a school population of one hundred and seventy, one hundred
and twenty students were orphans who live at the school all year round. They
were thrilled to meet Mark and performed songs, dances and a drama for him. The
school has lots of needs: the dormitories were overcrowded and in bad repair,
the other buildings needed repair works, the young people had no mosquito nets,
the teachers had not been paid for the last three months and the school could
not afford the exam fees to enter the students for their exams. In addition to
this the school has outstanding debts and the owners of the land are threatening
eviction. Even amidst what appeared such a hopeless situation Mark witnessed
hope and joy. He then went on into the more rural area to
visit a couple of churches. It was so dark by the time they got to the last one
they visited they had to use the lights from the car to light up the church –
which was an area with a few benches under a large tree. Wednesday (6th)
Wilberforce picked us up bright and early as we were setting off deep into the
‘rural’ area to see some of the other churches that Wilberforce has
oversight for and to meet the local pastors and congregations there. Most of the
church buildings were simple structures made out of wood with tin roofs, while
other churches have no building, meeting outside under the trees. Wherever we
went, we were met with a warm welcome. Wilberforce
had warned me that I might be offered gifts and I should accept them, as folk
would be offended if I didn’t. By the end of the day we had quite a
collection: two hand made mats, two (live) chickens and an assortment of veg.
and had been offered drinks and food - It is quite humbling to receive gifts
from people who have so little to give. Mark and I were quite a novelty, as some
of the children we met had never seen a ‘Mzungu’ – White person! Again
the things we noticed most was the number of orphans and the real joy of the
Lord that these folk had as we worshipped together. It was also, here in the
rural area down muddy, dusty tracks, miles from the main roads and villages that
we saw the most poverty we were to encounter during our trip. Thursday (7th) we went to
visit a couple more local schools in Jinja. One was a senior school and one was
a primary school. Again the buildings were in disrepair and the accommodation
that the children live in very depressing. We met with the heads of both of the
schools, some of the teachers and met some of the children, many of whom were
due to go home for the summer holidays (the exception being the orphans who have
no family member to return to). Again we found a great joy, faith and hope in
the people we met despite the circumstances they were living in. After visiting the schools we went on to
visit the Romans 1:11 Trust training centre - This training centre was
funded by members of GEAR through the Romans 1:11 Trust and is to
facilitate the training of the local pastors. It is hoped it also may be
developed and used as a retreat centre. On Sunday the local Church uses it. Before returning to Kampala we had the
opportunity to visit the ‘source’ of the Nile and to watch the white water
rafting. We then drove back to Kampala where we
visited Wilberforce’s children at their boarding school, before returning to
our hotel (Cassia Lodge). Friday (8th) & Saturday
(9th) we spent two quiet days at our hotel in Kampala (as I was
still feeling unwell). We left our hotel on Saturday at 5 p.m. to
travel across to The White Crest hotel where we would be meeting up with the
Mission Direct party who would be flying in early Sunday morning. See January/February 2009 Focus to read about the Mission Direct part of our trip. |