The mission to Luwero

Hi everyone from a computer that is actually working quite nicely for once. It has just occurred to me that I only have a week left in Uganda on a trip that I thought would be very long. I remember the day I first walked on the streets of Kampala and was scared to cross the road. Now just like any Ugandan, I try to push the cars out of the way and run through the traffic to the other side. I remember that first disgusting taste of dry rice and beans. Now my mouth begins to water at the expectation of them. I remember feeling embarrassed to dance when a single person may be watching. Now I have danced solo to samba drums in front of countless campfires. I remember my first trip to a babies home and realizing I didn't know how to hold one. Now I have balanced three little kids on my lap at one time. Finally, I remember doubting whether I was really meant to come to Africa at all. Now I have complete assurance that it was in His will.

The huge batch of stories from the previous 3 weeks continues to grow but I'll pick and choose a few from this last week to share: We left on Wednesday at 3pm for Luwero, a region in Central Uganda. It was 5:30pm by the time we got there and we arrived to find our accommodation to be a primary school. The kids that had finished school at 2pm had all decided to stay late to greet their visitors so we were bombarded as we got out of the vans and continued to be until dark that evening. The girls laid out about 5 mattresses on a classroom floor to create a mega bed and the guys were either in tents or in a house which would better be described as a cubicle. Needless to say the quality of sleep didn't prepare us very well for the upcoming work the next day.

The main project of the mission was to build 4 goat sheds for 4 families in the region. The organization I am here with also sponsor children for their school fees, clothes, food etc. so these families each contained a sponsored child. We had no help from professional builders, only the knowledge of a few Ugandan helpers in each group. I found myself in charge of weaving the sticks on the walls of the hut. We used an extremely strong banana fiber to tie the sticks together to create a lattice in the walls. Each person in our 10 person group was made to work extremely hard and we also enlisted the children from the family to help us with certain chores. When I ran out of banana fibers to tie the walls my friend and I would yell out to the kids in our very butchered Ugandan "ekyayi kyibisi" which meant "wet fibers" and which we pronounced as "chi ichybisi." The kids began to laugh at our bad accents and kept saying the phrase over and over. The next day when we came back to work on the house we were greeted by the youngest child with that exact phrase. After yet one more day of yelling and screaming various phrases we ending up naming their new male goat after the shennigans while his female counterpart was called "benange" meaning "oh my goodness." The mother, grandmother, and 5 children were all so grateful for the shed we had built them and when we officially left and prayed for the family the grandmother began to cry with joy as she continually gave her thanks to God. Apparently this was the norm at the other 3 sites our team had built sheds so I think we really touched the village and hopefully for the right reasons.

On the first night of the trip, a very curious schoolteacher had stayed to watch us arrive. He had a habit of grabbing one of us at a time and taking us aside to have a 'word.' I got my turn just before bed on the first night and was quite humored by the end of the conversation. Isaac, as was his name, had been praying for a white woman to be his wife for the past few years. He has a friend who is the product of racially diverse parents and he thinks that his friend is a beautiful person. The night before we arrived he had a dream about white people and he said that when we did eventually arrive his prayers had been answered. While he greeted us all he noticed that one girl was kind enough to introduce herself to him before he got to her. Immediately Isaac found his heart locked onto hers and for the majority of my conversation with him he was trying to get background on this girl and proclaim his love for her. Needless to say that Isaac's prayers weren't answered quite as he had hoped as we left with a full group including one very freaked out girl who apparently is too nice for her own good!

On the final night of the trip, the boys sleeping outside in tents were awoken at the sound of screaming. This screaming continued through to morning and turned to weeping at around 6am. The others of us woke up to the news that a girl from the village had died in the night from a mysterious cause. News was uncovered later during the day that the girl had been seeing a witchdoctor(one who deals in evil spirits and curses) for a few days previous to her death and had been in perfect health beforehand. I have no right or knowledge to comment on the legitimacy of these rumors or practices but it definitely scared us all. As a sign of respect in the culture we all visited and prayed for the family before we left the region. It was a very solemn occasion, most of the village were there yet there wasn't a noise to be heard.

Overall, the trip was very successful. Each day at the primary school kids stuck around as we played with them, the goat sheds were all received well, and the team morale was good despite the difficulties.

We arrived back to Kampala again on Saturday evening on quite a special day, July 4th. We had planned to go to a party at the US embassy but as normal with things in Uganda, no-one knew what time it was and we ended up missing it. To make amends we bought bags full of marshmallows and roasted them over a fire. The Ugandans are all in love with the US so their voices made the national anthem loud enough to wake our side of town.

Since then things have been quite relaxed although we are about to begin our final week of ministry which is jam-packed once again. I hope I can reconnect with some of the kids I have already met and maybe create a few relationships that would continue as I return home. Thanks for all of your prayers, Tommy