Katale: Thursday July 29

July 29

Our team came “home” tonight and every one of us felt fatigued. It has been an incredible week but we are dragging today. We still had a great day!! Our day was great but it was tonight that blew me(us) away. Tonight I couldn't help but know that we had a divine appointment.

Back in 2007 I was at the Amahoro Conference and met some really great people. I’ve been meeting up with people on this trip from that conference. Tonight I met up with Kennedy Kurui who works with Kampala International University as a pastor. He is an alumni of the University and he is Kenyan. Since before he graduated he has been working with the students. First he started a fellowship of Kenyans. It then turned into a fellowship of students from many countries all over the Great Lakes Region. Now this "fellowship" is a church and the University consults Kennedy on issues pertaining to student life. Officially he doesn't work for the University but he pastors a University student church and the church meets on campus 3 times a week. I visited his church and hung out in the dorms with some of his students back in 2007. I was really hoping to reconnect with him. I was hoping to introduce our team to him because he has a great story and is doing wonderful ministry.

I introduced the team to Kennedy and we were having the kind of conversation that you’d expect. Where are you from….. What do you do…. How did you start doing what you are doing…. I had told Kennedy that we were working with a Pastor in Katale. Yet as we talked with him as a team he asked us, “How is the pastor you are working with?” We said, “Pastor Wilson”. He said, “Is that Pastor Wilson who works at the African Gospel Church?” “It is,” we replied. We talked more and it also came out that Kennedy knows Swanee and Karen Schwanz too. (Swanee and Karen were missionaries in Kenya and Uganda and they are the ones who have connected all of us to GAP and to Wilson). Kennedy talked about being invited into the Swanee and Karen’s home. I think all of us were floored by the serendipity. Can I hear a round of “It is a small world afterall”? Crazy good!

One of the things the team has been talking with Wilson about is a future project which would support orphans in Katale. Kennedy had mentioned that he was working to develop a community home for 40 orphans currently. As we talked about this he told us about a ministry that is out on an island on Lake Victoria. It is called, “Africa Renewal Ministry”. They have some 117 orphans that live in community. They have a school and a health clinic. Kennedy is good friends with the director of the organization. As it turns out that director was in my small group at the 2007 Amahoro Conference and I’ve been to this ministry he spoke of. Kennedy said that this is the ministry that is the one to pattern after. Many smaller organizations are looking to this ministry for help. Unfortunately we do not have time to go out and see it this trip. However, because Kennedy knows Wilson we are hoping that he will take Wilson out to meet the director and see how they are organized. This could be a really significant connection for Wilson and GAP. Tonight I'm smiliing wide at God's very cool oversight in tonights meeting.

We were all very encouraged by Kennedy. He doesn’t know us well but he wanted us to know how important it was that we were here and that we were building relationships.

The rest of the day today we hung out at the school. Trevor and Grant continued to work with individual students to assess their developmental needs. Carrie and I again joined the classrooms and took turns “teaching”. It was so much fun. The kids have really warmed up to us. The teachers commented today how much the kids are enjoying our presence. They have really enjoyed us sharing about our families, our lives, and about how the USA is the same and different to their home here in Uganda. Today Carrie and I were in the classes that the head mistress overseas. The head mistress had so many questions about the USA. I laughed too because as we taught in English she would then “translate” what we said to the kids in her English. They heard our lessons in American English and in Ugandan English. : )

I was in the oldest kids classroom today. There are only 6 kids in "P5". I showed each of them how to use my camera. They each took turns taking pictures of mostly Carrie and their teacher. It was fun to watch them and I could tell this was something very special for them to do. Later during the break FLourence, the tallest girl in the class asked if she could take a photo of her class outside with me. I agreed (hoping this wouldn't cause a problem...all the kids begging, etc). She did a great job. And several of the other P5 girls came up to ask. Yes, the other little kids asked too but I decided to make it just an older kid priveledge.

Carrie and I got into interesting conversations today with the teachers. It seems that they too are warming up. They were never “cold” with us to begin with. However, their questions are getting more personal. Today we had a whole conversation about family planning in the USA. They have wondered how it is that in the USA we have so few kids or even no kids. Here they are expected “to produce”. They use the term “produce” to have kids and I guess since there isn’t much family planning and families are huge having babies is “producing”.

We got into a very difficult conversation today. The teachers wanted to know how much it costs for a flight to come to Uganda. We told them and their reactions were disbelief. After our many conversations this week I understand how far that amount of money could take someone here. It is crazy! The teachers were amazed by the cost. Grant was over hearing our conversation and was able to interject something that was really important for the teachers to hear. He mentioned that about 100 people helped our team come to Uganda. I think it was really helpful for the teachers to realize that we have not come by our own means. It was good for them to hear that others made it possible for us to be here. So if you happen to be reading this and you are someone who is praying or if you are someone who has supported financially, I can’t tell you how important you were for us today! You possible helped us to build some integrity with the teachers. So thanks! It is important for the school to know that we are not here without a huge community that is supporting us. And it is good for them to know that there is a huge community behind them supporting them.

At the break times I had a great time with the kids. The boys played soccer. The girls were playing a game in the dirt. They were singing a song and each of the girls in the game had a rock. They would move their rock around the circle passing it to the girl next to them. Of course I didn’t know what they were singing about. However, there was one word I’ve come to know very well. “Muzungu” They were singing about a Muzungu. I wanted to know what the song meant. I just wanted for a while. I asked one of the teachers, “Can you tell me what they are singing?” She listened and then said, “The song is about the Muzungus’ who came all over Uganda to telling people about the Gospel.” As the girls moved the rocks around the circle it was like they were moving the Muzungu’s all around Uganda. What an interesting game they were playing.

Tomorrow the team is going to be involved in the school chapel. We are also going to be taught how to make chapatti. I LOVE chapatti. I’m so excited to see how it is made. I hope to take good notes so that I can make it at home.