Uganda: Day 11

Friday morning at Minhingo Lodge began with a beautiful sunrise, yet another image of the Creator's perfection in this beautiful place. 

 

Molly and I met the MacGregor family for our 7am horseback ride safari and we walked to the stables. It was probably the most peaceful horseback ride I've ever experienced. We got to see the sun coming up, and saw lots of warthogs, baboons, and mongooses (mongeese? No one knows). 

 

 

 

We walked back to the restaurant from the stables for breakfast then it was time to get our stuff out of our rooms to prepare for check out. I showered and went back up to the lounge above the restaurant where I fell asleep for a blissful nap with an incredible breeze blowing through the open hut. The two groups who rode horses after us got rained on a little, so I was perfectly content to sit under the thatched roof to journal and spend some time in the Word rather than braving the rain showers. 

Everyone finished their activities of choice by 12:30 and it was time to pack up our lunches to go and hit the road. Pro tip: curry does not travel well. We had a looooong drive back to Kampala filled with lots of traffic and little sleep on my part, but Fred pulled through and we made it back a little before 7pm. 

Tonight was a night of much celebrating with our team and the PDN staff--celebrating each other, the work we'd seen God do these past 10 days, good food, the future of the relationship between our organizations. We just had barbecue at the hotel while we spent our last few conversations together for now. Whenn we finished dinner, Dr. MacGregor gave us a brief history of how far this trip has come over the course of 8 years, and Richmond reviewed all that we had seen and heard and done since we had arrived the prior Tuesday. Rosette had made sure there was cake to cut, and Dr. MacGregor ensured that everyone had a water bottle before Richmond led us in communion. This was the most perfect way to evening that there could have been. We got to celebrate our Savior and our redemption, and it didn't matter that it wasn't communion wafers and Welch's grape juice (we're a Baptist university, after all). Arthur and Kelly led us in worship, our voices proclaiming Jesus' love as loudly as possible. 

This semester, I've had several moments where I've just been hit by the thought of eternity. These moments usually come at times when I'm experiencing overwhelming joy--scream-singing worship songs in the car with my best encouragers, sharing life updates and thoughts and a glass of wine with my best friend, dance parties and made up games with the women I get to call my sisters, giving graduation hugs that don't mean goodbye. Because in those moments I just can't help but think that eternity is going to be these moments and then some, and that just brings my heart to the point of bursting. This night of celebrating the PDN staff was one such moment. I have no idea if I will ever get to have a conversation with Rose Mugabi in person again, but goodness gracious what a sweet reunion will happen in Heaven someday. Every single one of these staff members loves without limits, and I am humbled to have been allowed the privilege of intertwining stories with each of them, even if it was only for 10 short days. 

I am sitting in the Dubai airport now, still 18 hours away from Texas soil, but I won't bore you with every travel detail. Let me take this opportunity to thank those of you who provided the funding and the prayers to make this trip a reality. You played a huge role in this journey, and I cannot thank you enough for allowing God to use you in those ways. If anything you've read has made you want to be a part of the PDN's story, I would love to connect you with the right person. Thank you thank you thank you a thousand times over for your prayers and support--you are a blessing!

Uganda: Day 10

Thursday morning was the beginning of our final celebration. We woke up at 5 in order to be ready to depart at 6 for Minhingo Lodge, a 6 hour drive. Fred was running late, but we were finally on the road by 6:45. Our first stop was about 2 hours in at the Equator. I ate breakfast straddling the hemispheres--pretty cool. 

 

 

 

I did my last bit of shopping for my family in the surrounding shops, had some African French toast, then we took this lovely group picture at our very best, and boarded the bus for the last stretch to the lodge. 

We drove into Lake Mburo National Park past warthogs and zebras and babboons, just strolling down the road. The MacGregors stayed here during their vacation last year and had talked it up big time, but we quickly saw that all their talk was more than justified. It was beautiful and refreshing and wonderful.

  

 

 

 

The bus pulled up in the parking lot behind those who had disembarked a few meters early to sprint to the bathroom. We followed the Dutch (eek!) manager up the stairs to the restaurant for a late lunch at 2:30. But man, was this lunch worth waiting for. We looked out over the beautiful grounds while we sipped pineapple juice like you wouldn't belive. Also please look at this dessert. I didn't know anything without chocolate could actually taste good at all, much less this good. 

As I mentioned earlier, I'm reading Shauna Niequist's "Bread and Wine" right now, and it has made me think about mealtimes in a different light. We were all hungry and ready to devour whatever was put in front of us by the time we sat down for lunch. But more than that, this was a time of friendship with people who had spent every waking minute together for two weeks, time to reflect on what the Lord had done, time to continue sharing stories and moments, time to soak in God's gorgeous creation together. You could argue that the best part of that table was the pineapple juice or the drinkable water for the first time in two weeks or the avocado soup or the world's most perfect mangoes, but I would have to say that I'm learning more and more that the most memorable part of any table is the people around it and the conversations that unfold. *Aaaand end scene. Done with the sentimentality (that was for you, Claire Allen and Julie Wieters). 

 

After lunch we had 10 whole minutes to be led to our "tents" (I think this lodge would make a list of top 10 locations for glamping) and drop off our luggage before meeting back at the bus to head to Lake Mburo for our water safari. I don't know if we were delirious or relaxed, but the whole team was just in great spirits and enjoyed each others' company throughout the evening, especially this once-in-a-lifetime adventure with the hippos. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got back in the bus after the boat safari and drove back to the entrance of the park. Here we picked up our guide for the night game drive, then drove back up to the hotel to drop off those who chose not to participate in more bus time on the night time safari. Not a lot to report on this safari. When asked the likelihood of seeing anything, the guide was a bit shady on the actuals, and seemed as surprised as we were when we actually saw a leopard by the light of his little spotlight shining through the bus window. 

We dropped the guide back off and returned to the restaurant at the lodge for dinner. This was again delicious, by far the best food we've eaten in Africa. We all had early morning activities scheduled for Friday, so after some chat time in the lounge above the restaurant, we returned to our cute tents for bed (below is a picture from our porch the next morning). 

Today was a lot of car time, but well worth it. We've been going and going and going, so it was nice to have this reprieve built into the end of the trip before we return to more busyness with summer school beginning on Monday. Very thankful for rest and restoration! 

Uganda: Day 9

Wednesday morning began with a visit to African Renewal University. The university is relatively new, founded in 2013 by a friend of Peter Mugabi. Julian Alum, the woman from Richmond's congregation who did her Masters in Social Work at Baylor and lived with the MacGregors, is the head of the social work department at the university, so she met us upon our arrival for a tour. 

The university supplies students their meals from its own livestock and garden. We got to see the ducks, goats, rabbits, and chickens wandering this BEAUTIFUL property.

 

 

 

 

 

The university is growing quickly, so Julian showed us the areas where new buildings will be built. They are in the process of adding a business program, though they have many degrees already offered. Dr. MacGregor met with leaders of the university to discuss partnership with Baylor in the future while we interacted with many of the expats from the UK, US, and Australia who play a part in ARU's operations. 

We had a delicious snack of African tea and the BEST chipati (bread, but a cross between a tortilla and the dough of a crepe) before assembling for the students' first chapel of the summer term. Dan, the seminary student on our team, gave the sermon after some worship led by Julian and her colleagues.

 

After chapel the university graciously provided us lunch made up of more traditional Ugandan dishes--lots of matooke and peanuts and rice. Dr. MacGregor, Richmond, and Arthur finished up their meetings before we got on the bus to go see where Sseko shoes are made. 

This company was begun by a woman and her husband from Seattle. Their mission is to provide women with both an income and an education. Local women from Uganda make the shoes, and most of them are part of a scholarship program in which half of their earnings are distributed to them and the other half are saved for six months in a fund for their education. At the end of that six months, the company will match the amount saved for the woman to attend university and pursue a degree. 

We were met by Emily, a fellow American, who gave us a tour of the small warehouse where the women make the shoes. Due to copyright issues and yet unreleased shoes, picture opportunities were limited, but I loved the environment they had created within the factory.

After our tour, Emily had a few samples set up that we could purchase. The girls were all quick to jump on that, and the guys even made several purchases for family members and girlfriends. I just loved the mission of this organization, the way they are seeking to make a lasting, real impact on the community and the economy in Uganda. Their other products, handbags and accessories, are made on the same principle out of other African nations. 

By the time all our shillings were spent and we had entirely worn the boys out of shopping, it was time to load up the bus for Kireka. This is the area where New Life Baptist is, Richmond's church which we had attended on Sunday. Our event for the evening was an all-out movie night called "We Love Kireka." 

We arrived at the church and unloaded drinks and Skittles to be distributed later. Richmond sent out teams of Baylor students and Go Fellowship students (the church's youth who we met at our game night earlier in the week) to pass out flyers in the community and invite the residents to the event. I stayed behind and chatted with a man who wanted to start a money lending business. Once again I was a little caught off guard when asked for business advice because hello I have a whopping 3 months of real world corporate experience, but our prayer for this evening was that we would be humbled and used by God, just by showing up. So we showed up and we let Him speak. 

As the sun set, people emerged from their surrounding homes and filled the plastic lawn chairs set up in front of the projector and screen. There was worship music playing over the speakers while we distributed glow sticks to the children. Side story: when I was 4, my parents took me to Disney World and, traumatized by fireworks at a night time parade, I chewed a hole through the glow stick around my neck. The inside exploded in my mouth and all over my own clothes and those of my parents. So prior to Wednesday night, probably wouldn't have referred to glow sticks as a blessing, per se. But tonight I had to laugh at the realization that we serve a Father and Creator who brings about enormous grins and squeals of joy even through something as ridiculous as glowing plastic. 

I saw one precious little guy, probably 18 months old, standing to the side of the chair set-up, looking a little overwhelmed but curious. I danced with him until Richmond turned the music off to begin speaking, then scooped him up and held him for a while. If I'm being honest, my attitude for most of the day had been on the sucky side. I was tired and cranky, letting my diva creep in a little more than I should have. But holding that sweet baby was a complete shift in perspective and purpose. As Richmond shared the Gospel and encouraged the crowd to explore a relationship with Christ, all I could do was pray that God would protect and preserve his little life, that he would know the Savior someday, some how, some way. I felt some of the sadness I had felt in the slums, knowing that this baby was going to experience suffering in entirely different ways than my team or me or the baby boy who came into our forever family eight and a half years ago. I've been reading Job this week, along with the Watermark devotional "Join the Journey" which offers perspective on the suffering that Job experienced. So often we believe that suffering is a result of our actions, and it's true that there are naturlal consequences as a result of sin that occur. But if that were the only type of suffering, that would put us entirely in control of mending our circumstances. There is such a thing as suffering that God allows. We can try to make sense of it, but the Bible reminds us that His ways and His thoughts are far higher than ours. The families, the children in these slums experience suffering beyond what I can even imagine, but they serve the same Protector and Provider that I do, and He has a purpose even for that little life that I got to hold for just a short time. Not to ruin the sentimentality, but I do have to note that after about an hour and a half of sleeping on my shoulder, Baby Martin just had to pee. So he did. On me. Luckily I was wearing a hideous Baylor Missions shirt that was required for the whole team that day, so I was grateful for the opportunity to put on an extra shirt someone had on the bus. My skirt, however, had to just remain as was through the last hour of the movie. All for the Kingdom, you know? 

Dr. MacGregor had talked Richmond down from Bravehart or Saving Private Ryan and we settled on The End of the Spear to show for the evening. People trickled out throughout the movie, shuffling kiddos off to bed once they came down off their sugar high from Skittles and Fanta. Arthur translated the entire movie live, which, in Lugandan, also involves interpreting plot points in addition to translating dialogue. When the movie ended and chairs were picked up, Richmond gathered us to tell us that 18 people had stood up to proclaim their commitment to Christ for the first time that night, and each had received a Bible from NLBC, as well as information about church services in the same location on Sunday. He promised to keep us posted on their stories in the weeks to come. 

I think that night might have been a highlight of the trip for me, and, ironically, it came when I was exhausted, hungry, and covered in baby pee. When we are weak, He is strong. Indeed. 

Uganda: Day 8

Tuesday was a much-needed catch-up-on-sleep morning. We had the option to go across the street to the hotel's pool, but it was our first day of rain in Uganda, so I spent a little longer under my mosquito net instead. We left around 10:30 for the Catholic martyr shrine in the city. Richmond was running late due to traffic, so he abandoned his car on the street where he was sitting at a stand-still, called his wife to come get it, and took a boda boda to the hotel. Kampala traffic puts a whole new perspective on how horrid I thought Houston traffic was. 

Rose met us at the shrine and introduced us to our tour guide. It was difficult to hear all that he was telling us, so to be perfectly honest I didn't learn a whole lot about the history of this place. Pretty much my only takeaway was that Uganda celebrates Martyrs' Day on June 3, so there was much preparation happening for that event to take place next week. 

 

 

Pretty different from my posts full of basilicas and the martyrdom at the Colosseum, but still a tragic and interesting piece of history. 

We met the majority of the PDN staff for lunch at Cafe Javas so that Dr. MacGregor, his wife Kelly, Alex, and Doreen could talk about a sponsorship program for the women in the slums that we had met on Sunday. Cafe Javas looks like a Dunkin Donuts and has a little mixture of foods from all over the place, from burritos to curry. We enjoyed the escape from the rain and some chocolate cake before we loaded back up for pastoral visits. Kelly and Becca split off from the group to go back to the slums and teach some of the women the crafts that they had taught at the conference the week before. 

We visited two of the Bear Pit winners from last year's conference to see their businesses and hear about their successes as a result of their Bear Pit funding. Michael, who we had met at dinner the week before, has a chicken business and his wife runs a school out of their spare building. We gathered on his porch out of the red mud and rain and prayed over his growing business. 

We had two extra passengers when we got back on the bus and they were live chickens and I'll be honest, I wasn't terribly pumped about that. Arthur had stuck them in a water bottle box and piled empty water bottles on top of them to hold them down. As if that would keep them from escaping. 

Dr. MacGregor had Rose and Pastor Luke tell their testimonies while we drove to the pastors we were visiting (and gifting with chickens). We got to see their homes and meet their families before visiting the other Bear Pit winner, Eve. She grows mushrooms behind her church, but she plants the seeds in something resembling cotton/fertilizer inside plastic bags and hangs them from poles hung across the room. The mushrooms grow up and out of the bags until she's ready to sell them, and the ones she doesn't sell get dried and packaged to be sold in a different form. It was so neat to visit these pastors and see the way that the Lord had grown the small investments from the year before into real, profitable businesses that bless these pastors, their families, and their congregations more than we can even comprehend. 

That evening Dr. MacGregor and Richmond had another meeting about a potential partnership with the BDC, the students with whom we had eaten dinner the week before. We attended one of their classes while the director met with our faculty and worked out some exciting new partnership opportunities. It was weird to be back in class, but really interesting to realize that they are learning so many of the same concepts that we've been taught in the business school, all the way across the world. 

Dinner was just at the hotel that night, and we all ordered fried chicken and French fries. More of our team shared their testimonies and we just spent the evening getting to know each other a little better. It's such a diverse group of people and personalities, and it's crazy to realize the ways that God has used each individual to contribute to His purposes for this trip across the Atlantic. One of the testimonies shared was Arthur's, which included songs that have impacted his life along the way. He has a phenomenal voice and a beautiful story of declaring dependence on the Lord of love. He has huge dreams for the future of youth ministry in Uganda and in Africa as a whole. Very soon he will begin a campaign to raise funds in order to put on conferences throughout the country to train 500 youth pastors on how to have effective ministry. Arthur is goofy and ridiculous, but he is also talented and ready to act in the name of the Kingdom. Pray for his ministry and willingness to pursue the paths God presents. 

Uganda: Day 7

This morning got off to a late start when Fred was confused about what time to pick us up. We were supposed to leave at 6am, but the bus wasn't there until 6:40. We loaded up bags and bags of shoes and set out for Bukeka.

We began our bus drive by singing "This is the Day that the Lord Has Made," but each person had to choose a word to replace "day". We sang 19 different versions to refocus on the fact that everything we have seen and experienced and everything we'll do today was ordained by the Creator. Doreen's word was "time," and I was reminded of the verse from Galatians, "You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!" (Galatians 4:10). This beautiful sunrise added to the best start to the morning. 

 

A two hour bus ride got us to Suubi Children's Center, the school created and run by Global Hands of Hope. We walked through the gates like a rush party with the children lined up on either side of the entrance forming a tunnel and singing. 

Ronnie, Richmond's brother, and his wife Ritah run the school. They led us into a room to welcome us and teach us about the school and what our day would look like. We split into teams to serve porridge in the classrooms and unload shoes from the bus. After using the newly-installed Western style toilet, we scooped porridge into cups for each child and served it in their classrooms. The next task was to get them to all take their shoes and socks off so that we could get them to line up and have their feet measured. 

Dr. MacGregor let his boys, Callum and Alistair, announce to the kids that they were all getting new pairs of shoes since they had done so much to fundraise for them. This could've been an unbelievably chaotic process but it really went very smoothly, all things considered. We used pre-printed shoe size charts to measure their feet and wrote their sizes on their hands. Dr. MacGregor called out shoe sizes while four members of our team pulled the shoes out of the bags and passed them to the children. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids returned to their classrooms with huge smiles to put their new shoes on. 

 

All 160 kids received new socks and shoes, and most got some sunglasses stuffed in their shoes as well. Arthur picked up pizza for us for lunch, which we scarfed down after spending all morning in the sun. After lunch, Ronnie talked to us about the sponsorship program at the school. Baylor helped create the sponsorship program 2 years ago, and now all but 11 students are entirely sponsored for uniforms, two meals at school every day, and general school fees. They ask that sponsors to commit to praying for the child, writing letters, sending gifts, etc. and stick with the child through their time at Suubi. Ronnie's vision is that he will see these children all the way through high school and their sponsors will attend their graduation someday. 

Four of us committed to being sponsors, so they took us into the other room with our four sponsor children. Elizabeth, Jayson, and Debra got to go visit their child's homes (Arthur drove them, and ran over someone's chicken while en route), but Jovia, the four-year-old little girl I will sponsor, has a mom and grandmother who work at the school, so I got to meet them there. The grandma was so excited that Jovia had a sponsor, running around and giving everyone high-fives. The teaching staff gathered around to celebrate Jovia, and one of them started clapping for her, telling her to dance. She started moving her tiny little hips, completely stone-faced--hilarious. 

 

There are still seven children who need sponsorship. If any of you reading this feel led to help out this incredible project in any way, please let me know and I can get you more information. 

We planted and prayed over a tree in the yard of the school as a team, and the members of the team who were here last year prayed over the tree they had planted then. Apparently much has changed about the look of the campus since then, and next Ronnie took us around to show us his plans for the school's development in the future. 

 

This area has been cleared to build a playground for the children. There is a law in Uganda mandating that any school teaching third grade must have a playground. I know the energy of one particular third grader all too well, and this seems like a completely reasonable law. This area will also hold a building to house teachers. 

Above the current school buildings, this hill has been torn down to clear space for a three story building. The bottom two stories will be classrooms for the older children and the top floor will be a dormitory for visitors. Ronnie didn't go into a ton of detail on what that area would look like, but I think it would be valuable to model it after a hostel with separate mens' and womens' bunk rooms so that Suubi can house anyone who wants to come serve the school in one capacity or another. 

Ronnie is an unbelievable visionary. He has huge hopes and dreams for this school and this land, and I am so excited to hear updates on what the Lord does here. 

Arthur replaced the chicken he annihilated and we loaded up the bus to drive to Jinja. We boarded two boats and our guides taught us about some of the wildlife while they paddled us to the source of the Nile River. I guess I'm an idiot, or I'd just never thought about it before, but I didn't realize what "source" meant. I was thinking of it as just the beginning of the river, but the water obviously has to come from somewhere. Duh. So we got to see the springs that spout up from the ground to provide the water, which is at the same spot where Lake Victoria meets the Nile. Seeing this spot and its astounding beauty was surreal. Side note: my camera was dead, so photo credit goes to Rong and her unbelievable camera. 

 

We pulled up on shore just a little ways down from where we had left the dock to see the reptile "park" (aka two cages with snakes in them). Turtles, crocodiles, cobras, and...donkeys. Ecclectic. 

After the cobra attacked the glass where Jayson and Becca were taunting it, we took our leave and returned to the dock. We failed to count heads on the bus, and got halfway up the hill before we noticed Arthur running up the hill behind the bus. Poor guy. Rough day. 

We had a long dinner in Jinja and left with several sick teammates after a long day in the sun, but some Pepto Bismol got them through the two hour drive back to the hotel in Kampala. We got to pray for Ronnie and Ritah at dinner and the work that they're doing in Bukeka. The impact they've made on this community is incredible, and their obedience and adherence to God's callings for their time and talents is such a solid example. Today was a true blessing!