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

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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:
Christianity (85%); Muslim (11%), some Hindu, Jewish and Tribal animist faiths.

Major Industries:
Agriculture is the basis of livelihood for about 80% of the population (including coffee, tea, fish, fresh flowers, tobacco); there is also some mining, construction, manufacturing and textiles.

HIV/AIDS
Uganda has seen one of the most effective national responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic on the African continent. Following the end to the civil war in 1986, the new government created and implemented comprehensive policies that dramatically slowed the rate of new infections. It has been estimated that the HIV prevalence stood at 18.5% in the early 1990s while it declined to 5% in 2002. The latest figures show, however, that the prevalence has increased somewhat to some 7%.

It is estimated that AIDS has orphaned 2 million children.

Life expectancy has declined to an estimated average of 44 years.

OUR TRIP

Saturday 2^nd 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 3^rd 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: -

• They would like to find a market for their ladies’ handicraft work.

• They would like to set up other cash generating projects to help support the widows and orphans within the congregation.

• They would like to set up a short-wave Christian radio station, to enable those living in rural areas who have no TVs and electricity, but do have battery powered radio to hear the ‘Good News of the Gospel’

• To increase the ‘Pig Ministry’ - the gift of a pregnant pig to help generate cash for a needy family or community.

• To set up a DVD editing suite as a cash generating project e.g. filming weddings etc.

• Several of the elders are currently involved in basic theological/Bible training along with some of the pastors from the rural area. Currently only Wilberforce has had any official theological training. They would like to see this continued and increased.

• They are currently in the process of building an extension to their church building. They have been able to put down the ‘slab’ and some of the sidewalls but are waiting to raise funds to continue with the work.

Monday (4^th) 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 (5^th) 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 (6^th) 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 (7^th) 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 (8^th) & Saturday (9^th) 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.