Rainy Season In Uganda

Good morning from South Central Uganda, so many apologies again for being such slackers in the blog updating department. From what we hear life is more bizarre at home than it is here, if I am not mistaken the Broncos are now 6-0 and Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize. I didn’t think the day would ever come when I would know more about World Cup soccer than the NFL, I also never expected to see blue jeans for sale with the Presidents face on them – how weird life is.

I want to somehow convey how wonderful it has been to come face to face with God here, I know everyone reading this is not Christian so I am going to try my best to not write in Christanese, but I have to be honest and give credit where credit is due.

Uganda is an incredible place, filled with incredible people and incredible stories. We tried to come here with few expectations of what we would be doing and who we would meet, attempting to be open to whatever might be thrown our way. As mentioned before we are here working with an organization named “Come Let’s Dance” or CLD for short. I think the best way I can sum up CLD is: a group of people faithfully stumbling through life in a foreign place with the goal of making long-term lasting impact. They have taken a unique approach to reaching out to a community here, attempting to connect with people and humbly teaming up with them to create positive impact. In the midst of all of this understanding that they don’t have all the answers and that solid impact takes a long time to see manifested. We are so blessed to be invited into their world of relationships, hard work, perseverance, and prayers. Currently there are about 4 main projects we are working on:

* Mercy Childcare Ministries – A few years ago a group of Ugandan men (none of which were over the age of 21) had recognized a need for so many of the children in this community. They began to work with the local authorities and other groups to start what we would call an orphanage. However, these men did not want to create another orphanage. As a result of the poverty situation in Uganda so many parents that cannot afford to raise their children find ways to get them into an orphanage in hopes that long term it will be better for their child. As a result the family structure in Uganda has taken a huge hit. Wilfred (one of the founders of Mercy Childcare) has a strict philosophy of family empowerment; he is dedicated to finding the families of every child who is currently under their care and working with them to eventually re-establish these children into the family they came from. As you can imagine the system is not perfect, some of the children have lost their parents to AIDS or some other kind of tragedy, but Wilfred still tries to locate grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Currently out of the 70 children under the care of Mercy Childcare they have contacted and are working with the families of 60????? of the children. The children that they cannot find families for are usually the youngest ones because they are not old enough to know what their parent’s names were or where they used to live. For these children adoption is the best option. Wilfred works with many people both local and abroad to find solid families them. CLD has partnered with Mercy Childcare to help them with all sorts of projects, in SPRING 2008???? A compound was purchased -- the word compound sounds odd but it basically means a house with a wall of protection around it and also some extra rooms on the property that are not connected to the main house. We are working now on establishing an after school program 2 days a week, futbol on Wednesdays, and a big activity day on Saturdays (yesterday we did the Slip’n’slide). The children are amazing: life for them is much different than the childhood that I knew but they are still full of joy and a ton of fun to be around. The majority of them are at school 5 days a week from 8-4pm studying all the basics. The school system doesn’t have the greatest teaching structure but the kids are learning. One of the biggest needs is school fees because all of the schools here are private. However, through tons of provision most of them have sponsors (local or abroad) that help pay their way through high school.

* The Farm – We are still working on a name for it, but as you probably figured out it is a farm. About 2 years ago?????? CLD purchased 20 acres of land about 2 hours away from Kampala with dreams of turning it into a farm that could do three things: 1. Provide work for locals – i.e. hiring a farm manager to run the farm, someone who understands the local agriculture and have him hire men as needed for various projects. (Quick Fact: A high day wage here for a laborer on a farm is 8000 schillings, approximately $4 USD) 2. Provide the food needed at Mercy Childcare Ministries. 3. When the farm has grown and become sustainable, it will be used as a vocational training center to teach people the skills they need to farm in their villages. The farm is a huge project that takes a lot of resources and a lot of time, but it is progressing quickly. Currently 5 acres of the land is in the process of being cultivated and planted, and we are working on planting 1.5 kilometers of live fencing around the property line (We have about 1500 out of 5000 trees planted). The American in me wants to hire out some big machinery and get this done quick but that is not how they do it here -- we have a shed full of machetes and hoes and every day there are people out in the fields working hard.

* Thread of Life (TOL) – A man named Solomon runs a shop where they employ women in need with jobs making beaded necklaces and purses. The women go through a 6 week training course where they learn about how to make the necklaces and how to sew. They also learn the basic business skills they will need to run their own outfit. After the course the women have the opportunity to work for TOL and perfect their skills, and then they either go and start their own shop or stay on as teachers for the training course. The startup cost is very low because the beads are made from tightly rolled shreds of magazine paper, and all the fabric is purchased at local markets. Solomon is working on getting a website going where they can sell the beads worldwide.

* Enkoko Kulwe Suubi (Chickens for Hope) – A woman here named Shakira had a vision of owning a chicken business, and that this business could sustain her family and also provide enough money to fund the slum ministry. Shakira has had a long journey, she was working as a prostitute in Kampala and through a variety of connections and people she was ministered to and got involved in a program at a church that tried to help women get away from that life. Through that she became a Christian and she met a man named Joseph who she is now married to. They have 2 children of their own and an adopted child. Until 1 month ago they were living in the Katanga slums working with CLD to continue to develop the chicken business. A small plot of land was purchased and with the help of volunteers they recently completed a small house for them to live in and the chicken coop is currently finished and they are on a waiting list to get the chickens to fill it.

That is the short version of everything that is going on here. If you are interested in learning more about a specific project just let me know and I can give you more information, they are always looking for people that can being praying or helping in any way.

On a day to day basis we are working with people on all the different projects, each day brings a new set of surprises and problems, but with them comes a new set of victories and joy. We have seen some amazing things here that have opened up our eyes to understand how God is working around the world and not just in Denver, Colorado. It is also cool to see the different ways that God connects people across cultures, to see the ways that we can exchange love back and forth. We are learning a lot about who we are, about what defines us, and about what is important to us. We are missing everyone at home, and we are so thankful to Al Gore for inventing the internet so we can stay connected (did he win a Nobel Prize for that?) We love you all, please keep us posted with stories of home and our big requests are these:

1. Please pray for the people here, that God would continue to work in amazing ways.
2. Please eat a big Chipotle burrito (with an Arnold Palmer), and also if you could eat some Spicy Garlic wings dipped in ranch dressing for us that would be greatly appreciated.

BYE MZUNGUS!