Friday, January 23, 2009
Rain
It is Saturday morning at 10:15 in Mityana and we have been having rain for the past few hours. It is amazing how my perspective has changed about rain since living here. Instead of thinking negatively about it cancelling a golf game, an outing, ballgames or yardwork, all I think about is Glorious Rain---that is filling the water tanks in order to be used for cooking, bathing, and washing!! It truly is the simple things that matter here!
Ruth gathering banana fibers
Ruth is one of I AM's disciples who will do village ministry with I AM. She has just completed her high school years and is hoping to attend the university in August. She is cutting banana leaves to strip the fibers in order to make baskets. She cuts the banana leaves, strips to the fiber, strips the fiber into pieces and then dries them until they are ready. Each basket will be made by hand by Ruth and will take approximately one week to complete. She hopes to sell the baskets to raise money for her needs--rent and food. We will be sending baskets to America as visitors come in hopes of selling them in US to help Ruth earn money.
loading mattresses
Henry Lutaya and Tonny, two of I AM's Uganda workers, loading mattresses. Tonny has supervised all work at the orphanage these two weeks. Lutaya just got his driver's license and he is an excellent driver.
New Mattresses
Henry Lutaya driving the truck with 56 new mattresses headed for the orphanage. All new bedsheets and blankets were purchased and some girls from the church and I will go Monday and Tuesday to make beds and get the hostels organized for the return of the children.
Group in village of Gema
More people gathered after this picture was taken. All seats were full with some standing.
January 23,2009
We visited the villages of Gema and Railway on Wednesday and Thursday. We had a good group in Gema, about 30, and a large group at Railway. We taught the Creation book at both places and had good discussion and teaching. I think we will be having good groups in both of those places. The group at Gema wants to start a new church. The leaders from Mityana Baptist will discuss the possibility of their sponsoring a church there until a leader comes forward. In the meantime we will continue to drive there on Wed. afternoon at 4:30.
Monday, January 19, 2009
hostels/chicken coop
Girls' hostel to the left; chicken coop to the right.Akimu and Eric painting the many beds. From blue to black.
Orphanage Work
After traveling the first of last week with I AM's book ministry, the latter part of the week was full of work at the Mityana Orphanage. On Thursday, all three water tanks(cisterns) were repaired; God sent the first rain on Thursday night and by Friday morning when I arrived at the orphanage, water was once again flowing from the tanks! What a precious sight that was! The girls began washing their clothes outside in the basins, and the guys began to wipe down all of the beds and walls in the hostels prior to painting. There was a good work crew from the Baptist Church who worked all day Friday and Saturday painting beds, hostels, and hallways. I purchased beans and rice to be cooked for them each day. Today, Monday, the 19th, they are back working again. Hopefully, the painting will be complete today,and we can begin organizing the rooms, purchasing new mattresses, sets of sheets and blankets. I am hoping to secure a contractor who can build some shelving for storage. Our goal is to have everything complete and new when the children return next week!!
Akimu has been busy preparing the chicken coop for the 300 day-old chicks which will arrive on Thursday. Getting the chicken coop equipped and up and going is a very large, and costly project, but Akimu has been working day and night and also doing most of the bed-painting.
Tonny has headed up the work crew each day and has done a great job managing the workers.
Once we have purchased the new mattresses, we will donate the used ones you see in the pictures to our workers and their friends and families who don't own mattresses,, but sleep on mats on the dirt or concrete floor.
We did outreach on Wednesday in Gema trying to get a Bible study going there; Thursday, we were in Central Mityana meeting with a large group--all women and children whom we will begin meeting with each Thursday at 4pm. Saturday and Sunday we returned to the villages of Nama and Kiraku. School ministries will resume once school begins.
Last week was a very busy and productive week, and this one will probably be the same.
We are in need of four bicycles for some of our disciples who travel long distances to meet with their groups. I can probably purchase used bikes in Kampala for about $125.00. If anyone feels led to contribute one bike, please let me know at bmiller43@gmail.com. Thanks for considering
helping.
Akimu has been busy preparing the chicken coop for the 300 day-old chicks which will arrive on Thursday. Getting the chicken coop equipped and up and going is a very large, and costly project, but Akimu has been working day and night and also doing most of the bed-painting.
Tonny has headed up the work crew each day and has done a great job managing the workers.
Once we have purchased the new mattresses, we will donate the used ones you see in the pictures to our workers and their friends and families who don't own mattresses,, but sleep on mats on the dirt or concrete floor.
We did outreach on Wednesday in Gema trying to get a Bible study going there; Thursday, we were in Central Mityana meeting with a large group--all women and children whom we will begin meeting with each Thursday at 4pm. Saturday and Sunday we returned to the villages of Nama and Kiraku. School ministries will resume once school begins.
Last week was a very busy and productive week, and this one will probably be the same.
We are in need of four bicycles for some of our disciples who travel long distances to meet with their groups. I can probably purchase used bikes in Kampala for about $125.00. If anyone feels led to contribute one bike, please let me know at bmiller43@gmail.com. Thanks for considering
helping.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Pastor Godfrey's house in Mukono
From left: Henry, Pastor James from Church of God, Pastor Jackson from northern Uganda, Pastor Godfrey's wife, Godfrey and Tonny. Becky answering questions
Answering questions and receiving feedback on the books. Tonny is up front by blackboardHenry with his fellow pastors
Pastors in the class on the teaching with the Creation Book. Henry Lutwama is second row in the red shirt and is a member of this Diploma Class.
January 15
Monday and Tuesday we were traveling for the book ministry. We departed Mityana at 8:30 Monday morning and met with the artist for the books at Makerere University at 10:30. Books Two and Three are still being illustrated, but we hope to have them to the printer by the end of this month. We are still busy distributing Book One. Leaving Kampala, we then traveled to Mukono where we met with several pastors who want to receive books and training for their churches. We were invited to travel to western Uganda at the end of the month to present books at a pastors' conference. Although we hope to be able to go, we have no definite plans yet. Late afternoon we traveled east to Jinja where the Ugandan Baptist Seminary is located. Lutwama Henry began his three week session on Tuesday and I was able to teach a group of incoming pastors about" training for teaching" using our books on Creation. We had a great response, and all pastors were eager for us to come to their villages and train and work with their churches and leaders. We left about 50 copies of the book with them. Tonny, another I AM worker who was traveling with me, and I left Jinja and traveled farther east to his father's village for a visit. Tonny had not seen his father or other family members there in over a year. It was a special visit for everyone. Tonny took 3 kilos of sugar, 1 kilo of salt, 4 sticks of soap for bathing and clothes washing, and enough kersoene for light to be used for three months. All of those supplies cost less than $10.00 and were so gratefully accepted.
We arrived back in Mityana Tuesday night at 7pm thankful for the long but safe journey.
On Wednesday we returned to the village of Gema continuing to work on gathering a group to meet with there. We taught the book to a group of children. Today we formed a new group in Mityana we will be meeting with on Thursdays.
We are making good progress at the orphanage. All three water tanks have now been repaired, and since we had our first rain today, hopefully we can test them out! We have lined up workers to break the hard ground at the orphanage for the gardens. That work will begin next week and take two days. Tomorrow a group of young guys from the church will begin painting the interior of the hostels. I purchased the paint, the rollers and the brushes today and we will get started about 9Am. We will also put a group of the kids together picking up trash on the grounds. Ugandans have not yet learned about "Do Not Litter."
We placed our order for 300 chicks today and the day-old chicks should arrive next Thursday. In preparation for them, there is much work to be done at the old chicken coop. Some will begin to work on that tomorrow, and we have already purchased many of the supplies and items we will need.
I hope to get some good before and after photos for you. We are busy in Ugandan. Thanks for your support!
We arrived back in Mityana Tuesday night at 7pm thankful for the long but safe journey.
On Wednesday we returned to the village of Gema continuing to work on gathering a group to meet with there. We taught the book to a group of children. Today we formed a new group in Mityana we will be meeting with on Thursdays.
We are making good progress at the orphanage. All three water tanks have now been repaired, and since we had our first rain today, hopefully we can test them out! We have lined up workers to break the hard ground at the orphanage for the gardens. That work will begin next week and take two days. Tomorrow a group of young guys from the church will begin painting the interior of the hostels. I purchased the paint, the rollers and the brushes today and we will get started about 9Am. We will also put a group of the kids together picking up trash on the grounds. Ugandans have not yet learned about "Do Not Litter."
We placed our order for 300 chicks today and the day-old chicks should arrive next Thursday. In preparation for them, there is much work to be done at the old chicken coop. Some will begin to work on that tomorrow, and we have already purchased many of the supplies and items we will need.
I hope to get some good before and after photos for you. We are busy in Ugandan. Thanks for your support!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Children peeling Matoke
These children were in the village we visited near Nama. They were peeling the matoke while one was preparing the sticks to make a fire for the cooking. Every where you go in the villages, you will see someone sitting peeling matoke or cooking it on an open fire. I have not yet developed a taste for it.
While visiting in the village near Nama on Thursday, I purchased the bunch of matoke which the mother cut from the tree, loaded on the bike and had the children push the bike to my car. Matoke is the staple food of the Baganda people; it grows on a tree like a banana tree and resembles a banana. It is peeled, put in a pot which is lined and covered with banana leaves and cooked over an open fire. It is the texture of waxy mashed potatoes and the Ugandans can eat platefuls of it. It is eaten every day by those who can get it.
photo
This picture was taken in the village of Gema as we walked to someone's house; typical path to a home in Uganda. I am in the picture with Timo and Faridah
January 10
Last week was my first complete week and it was a busy one. We traveled to two villages to organize groups for teaching Imagine Acts Ministry book series. We go to the villages, meet with one or two people we have worked with in the past and have them "mobilize" the other villagers to meet with us on the next visit. We will return next Wed. to the village of Gema and then on Sunday to a village near Nama. Last Sat. and again today, four of us went to the village of Kiraku, where one of the youngest disciples of I AM has had an on-going Bible study.
The group has not stayed together well and we are trying to revive it. We did have a couple more today and 6 children. We had a good study on the first five verses of Ps. 103 and used the book on Creation to supplement and discuss. We had previously taught the book to the JaJa, the grandmother , when I was here in Sept.
We began planning our first tasks we will begin at the orphanage. We had a plumber go out and give an estimate on repairing the water cisterns. We had hoped to have the money to repair at least the one for the hostel(dorm) for the children. We have enough to repair all of the three cisterns at the orphanage and the work will begin next Wed. We should be "catching" water when the rainy season starts in March. Second task is to make new gardens and improve and work existing gardens. We have engaged one of our church members, a Congolese man who is a great gardener to instruct the children, plan the gardens and the planting, and supervise the work. The ground is very hard from neglect and it has been suggested that we hire 10 prisoners to work three days breaking up the ground. We will have to purchase the hoes and the machetes and pay about $55.00 for the three days of work. Planting will begin in mid Feb. in anticipation of March rains. We will be growing potatoes, eggplants, beans, a root plant they eat here and maybe some other vegetables. We will begin work on the old chicken coop which is on the premises. One of our IAM workers will be the supervisor and trainer of that project. Although he is only 20, he is experienced in raising chicks and is a faithful worker. He will have two or three of the orphans to help him. Meanwhile, I will arrange with Tonny, one of I AM workers, to get a work crew together to do general clean up of all the trash on the grounds. It is pretty bad.
Some of the children from the orphanage have gone to relatives homes during the holiday and school break, so there are only a few remaining; however, some university students who are home from school reside there during holiday. School will begin on first or second of Feb.
I am satisfied that we are off to a good start. We will be providing income for at least three and stimulating the Ugandan economy!Thanks to everyone who donated to these causes.
Monday, I leave to travel to Kampala, the capitol to meet with the artist for the books and the printer. We will then travel north to Mukono where we will meet with the Associational Director of the Baptist churches of Mukono to plan for training, teaching, and distribution of the books. We leave Mukono in the afternoon and head to Jinja where we will drop Henry Lutwama off for his three week session at the Ugandan Baptist Seminary and I will spend the night with the Academic Dean of the UBS and his wife. Tuesday morning, Henry and I will have the opportunity to teach a class of the incoming pastors on our book series, our teaching methods, and training. We will distribute books for the pastors to take back to their churches and villages all over Ugandan and 5 other countries bordering Uganda. We are very excited about this opportunity and hope to return for each rotating class of pastors during the next three months.
I welcome your comments and suggestions. Thanks for your interest in the work of Imagine Acts Ministry in Uganda.
The group has not stayed together well and we are trying to revive it. We did have a couple more today and 6 children. We had a good study on the first five verses of Ps. 103 and used the book on Creation to supplement and discuss. We had previously taught the book to the JaJa, the grandmother , when I was here in Sept.
We began planning our first tasks we will begin at the orphanage. We had a plumber go out and give an estimate on repairing the water cisterns. We had hoped to have the money to repair at least the one for the hostel(dorm) for the children. We have enough to repair all of the three cisterns at the orphanage and the work will begin next Wed. We should be "catching" water when the rainy season starts in March. Second task is to make new gardens and improve and work existing gardens. We have engaged one of our church members, a Congolese man who is a great gardener to instruct the children, plan the gardens and the planting, and supervise the work. The ground is very hard from neglect and it has been suggested that we hire 10 prisoners to work three days breaking up the ground. We will have to purchase the hoes and the machetes and pay about $55.00 for the three days of work. Planting will begin in mid Feb. in anticipation of March rains. We will be growing potatoes, eggplants, beans, a root plant they eat here and maybe some other vegetables. We will begin work on the old chicken coop which is on the premises. One of our IAM workers will be the supervisor and trainer of that project. Although he is only 20, he is experienced in raising chicks and is a faithful worker. He will have two or three of the orphans to help him. Meanwhile, I will arrange with Tonny, one of I AM workers, to get a work crew together to do general clean up of all the trash on the grounds. It is pretty bad.
Some of the children from the orphanage have gone to relatives homes during the holiday and school break, so there are only a few remaining; however, some university students who are home from school reside there during holiday. School will begin on first or second of Feb.
I am satisfied that we are off to a good start. We will be providing income for at least three and stimulating the Ugandan economy!Thanks to everyone who donated to these causes.
Monday, I leave to travel to Kampala, the capitol to meet with the artist for the books and the printer. We will then travel north to Mukono where we will meet with the Associational Director of the Baptist churches of Mukono to plan for training, teaching, and distribution of the books. We leave Mukono in the afternoon and head to Jinja where we will drop Henry Lutwama off for his three week session at the Ugandan Baptist Seminary and I will spend the night with the Academic Dean of the UBS and his wife. Tuesday morning, Henry and I will have the opportunity to teach a class of the incoming pastors on our book series, our teaching methods, and training. We will distribute books for the pastors to take back to their churches and villages all over Ugandan and 5 other countries bordering Uganda. We are very excited about this opportunity and hope to return for each rotating class of pastors during the next three months.
I welcome your comments and suggestions. Thanks for your interest in the work of Imagine Acts Ministry in Uganda.
Monday, January 5, 2009
January 5
On Sunday evening Norah's husband died.
Norah is a 19 year old mother who lives right outside the gates of my compound. Her daughter Catherine is about 2. Norah is very poor and I was able to give her small jobs in Sept-November to assist her. I paid her about $8.00 a month to come and sweep and wash a few clothes. She was always so grateful and loved coming here. She was the first person to come and welcome me on New Year's Day when I arrived. At that time, she told me her husband had just been released from the hospital after 9 days but was no better. The diagnosis was what 90% usually are, malaria and/or typhoid. Saturday he went back into the hospital and died on Sunday.
January, the compound guard, came this morning to inform me that as neighbors it is customary for us to attend the burial. He also said it was a custom to write a note and make a donation to the family. We wrote a note from Mityana Baptist Church and I donated the recommended 10,000 shillings, $5.00. January, Henry, and two women neighbors and I left to travel deep into the village for the burial. Since it took us over an hour to get there, the burial had just taken place when we arrived. There were about 200 people there and the women were serving food.
Norah saw us right away and came over. She seemed so pleased that we would come. Her husband had/has two other wives. I am told that he was in the process of divorcing the other two. Regardless, he was not able to provide for Norah and Catherine very well and I don't know what she will do now. Her rent is about $10.00 a month, and some days she and Catherine went without food. I will try to give her work if she wants to continue and some of the girls from the church and I will go to visit and encourage her. Hopefully, we will be able to minister to her and share Christ's love.
The drive was quite interesting; one any young teenage boy with a pickup or Jeep would have loved. An hour's drive of dirt road/path full of holes to dodge, water to drive through and
washboard road conditions. The Rav 4 handled it all and I did a good job myself!! I now might be ready to tackle the highway to Kampala.
We are beginning to make plans for book distribution and ministry work. I will keep you posted.
Norah is a 19 year old mother who lives right outside the gates of my compound. Her daughter Catherine is about 2. Norah is very poor and I was able to give her small jobs in Sept-November to assist her. I paid her about $8.00 a month to come and sweep and wash a few clothes. She was always so grateful and loved coming here. She was the first person to come and welcome me on New Year's Day when I arrived. At that time, she told me her husband had just been released from the hospital after 9 days but was no better. The diagnosis was what 90% usually are, malaria and/or typhoid. Saturday he went back into the hospital and died on Sunday.
January, the compound guard, came this morning to inform me that as neighbors it is customary for us to attend the burial. He also said it was a custom to write a note and make a donation to the family. We wrote a note from Mityana Baptist Church and I donated the recommended 10,000 shillings, $5.00. January, Henry, and two women neighbors and I left to travel deep into the village for the burial. Since it took us over an hour to get there, the burial had just taken place when we arrived. There were about 200 people there and the women were serving food.
Norah saw us right away and came over. She seemed so pleased that we would come. Her husband had/has two other wives. I am told that he was in the process of divorcing the other two. Regardless, he was not able to provide for Norah and Catherine very well and I don't know what she will do now. Her rent is about $10.00 a month, and some days she and Catherine went without food. I will try to give her work if she wants to continue and some of the girls from the church and I will go to visit and encourage her. Hopefully, we will be able to minister to her and share Christ's love.
The drive was quite interesting; one any young teenage boy with a pickup or Jeep would have loved. An hour's drive of dirt road/path full of holes to dodge, water to drive through and
washboard road conditions. The Rav 4 handled it all and I did a good job myself!! I now might be ready to tackle the highway to Kampala.
We are beginning to make plans for book distribution and ministry work. I will keep you posted.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
From Mityana house
Greetings, from Mityana,
Arrived in Entebbe, Uganda, at 10pm on December 31 after a very pleasant and comfortable flight. I spent the night in the Entebbe Guest House, and although the manager, a Dutch man,
had champagne cooling in the drink machine, I declined the offer to sit out with the guests and staff to usher in 2009. I opted for a good shower, an Ambien, and nine hours of sleep.
Ernest, the driver, I have known for several years, met me for breakfast before heading to Kampala. One of the guests staying at the guest house was a Phd professor from Illinois and was going to western Uganda to a national park where she has been conducting research on
chimpanzees. I offfered her a ride as far as Mityana, and she gratefully accepted. She had planned to take a bus or taxi van. We all stopped in Kampala which was unusually quiet b/c of the New Year holiday, did some grocery shopping and exchanged money. When we arrived in Mityana, we spotted the bus to Fort Portal, where the professor was headed; Ernest flagged it down, and she was boarded within minutes. Perfect timing. Ernest can manage anything!
New Year's evening was quiet as most of the town people were still celebrating at their
churches and villages. Mityana Baptist Church had a big meal including a goat and pig which they had slaughtered and cooked. I chose not to go, so I could begin to unpack! Celebration of Christmas and New Years in Uganda means an opportunity to eat much meat, which they normally cannot afford; therefore, having meat is one of the things they enjoy most about the
holidays.
I have visited many friends, shopped in the market, and settled in. In some ways it seems that I have not even been away. The house is in good shape. It is dry season now and I am somewhat worried about the possibility of running out of water since my water source is a cistern of rainwater. I am already trying to conserve just in case. ( I will only shower when really necessary and will try to wear clothes more often before washing!!) Now I understand why everyone here is happy for it to be rainy season. It is also warmer and dustier than Sept. and October.
There is a fuel shortage here and many stations have no gas. Those that do have are charging much higher prices. No one seems to know the reason and conditions are expected to change by mid month.
Timo and Peter and I went to Kiraku, a village that is about a 20 minute car drive from my house, to have a Bible study. We will continue to go there on Saturday afternoons and I am hoping the group will grow. We only had two today, but we had a good time of sharing and praying. Timo and Peter had brought some food for the lady because she was alone and had no way to get food. She was so grateful. She gave us several pieces of sugar cane before we left.
I am cooking beans and as soon as they are ready, I will put them in the refrigerator and go to bed. Hopefully, next week, we will begin scheduling what I will be doing while here.
Arrived in Entebbe, Uganda, at 10pm on December 31 after a very pleasant and comfortable flight. I spent the night in the Entebbe Guest House, and although the manager, a Dutch man,
had champagne cooling in the drink machine, I declined the offer to sit out with the guests and staff to usher in 2009. I opted for a good shower, an Ambien, and nine hours of sleep.
Ernest, the driver, I have known for several years, met me for breakfast before heading to Kampala. One of the guests staying at the guest house was a Phd professor from Illinois and was going to western Uganda to a national park where she has been conducting research on
chimpanzees. I offfered her a ride as far as Mityana, and she gratefully accepted. She had planned to take a bus or taxi van. We all stopped in Kampala which was unusually quiet b/c of the New Year holiday, did some grocery shopping and exchanged money. When we arrived in Mityana, we spotted the bus to Fort Portal, where the professor was headed; Ernest flagged it down, and she was boarded within minutes. Perfect timing. Ernest can manage anything!
New Year's evening was quiet as most of the town people were still celebrating at their
churches and villages. Mityana Baptist Church had a big meal including a goat and pig which they had slaughtered and cooked. I chose not to go, so I could begin to unpack! Celebration of Christmas and New Years in Uganda means an opportunity to eat much meat, which they normally cannot afford; therefore, having meat is one of the things they enjoy most about the
holidays.
I have visited many friends, shopped in the market, and settled in. In some ways it seems that I have not even been away. The house is in good shape. It is dry season now and I am somewhat worried about the possibility of running out of water since my water source is a cistern of rainwater. I am already trying to conserve just in case. ( I will only shower when really necessary and will try to wear clothes more often before washing!!) Now I understand why everyone here is happy for it to be rainy season. It is also warmer and dustier than Sept. and October.
There is a fuel shortage here and many stations have no gas. Those that do have are charging much higher prices. No one seems to know the reason and conditions are expected to change by mid month.
Timo and Peter and I went to Kiraku, a village that is about a 20 minute car drive from my house, to have a Bible study. We will continue to go there on Saturday afternoons and I am hoping the group will grow. We only had two today, but we had a good time of sharing and praying. Timo and Peter had brought some food for the lady because she was alone and had no way to get food. She was so grateful. She gave us several pieces of sugar cane before we left.
I am cooking beans and as soon as they are ready, I will put them in the refrigerator and go to bed. Hopefully, next week, we will begin scheduling what I will be doing while here.
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