Coincidence?

Yesterday we spent the day in the office (in our apartment) trying to understand the multiple water projects we have going on.  The Glenns, our predecessors created many incredible water projects and we are struggling to get our arms around them - they are so numerous.  It's a matter of knowing where they are, what ones have been done and which are pending, where we are in the finances of each project and on and on. 

Last week we had emailed our vision champion in the DR Congo, Dr Kalangalanga, asking him for a reference to some one in Uganda who would be a good vision contact for us here.  We don't have a vision project approved in Uganda but we are getting ready for next year hoping they would allow us to do one.  Dr. Kalangalanga gave us the name of  Dr Kenneth Kagame who works in Mbarara in the southern part of Uganda.

Last night just before closing up our work we sent an email to Dr. Kagame asking him for an introduction to discuss his vision program and how we might offer support.  Within 30 minutes Dr. Kagame called us and asked if we would meet him at the Kamira Country Club.  He was in town on business and thought we might as well meet now if we were available.  The coincidence of this is that Dr. Kagame was in Kampala and that the place he wanted to meet us was just 10 minutes from our apartment and a place we knew since we had been there for dinner the night before.  We really don't know our way around this city yet but the Kamira we know.  We had a great visit and he had another appointment so we were getting ready to leave .  His appointment arrived and it was the Director of Medical Services and current acting Director General and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr Nathan Kenya Mugisha.  We were introduced and he asked us what we were doing in Uganda.  We quickly explained some of the things we were involved in and then he invited us to submit a resume to his office requesting a meeting regarding our service in Uganda.

Three weeks in the country - two wonderful contacts all in one night after we thought we were done for the day - Coincidence?  The Lord moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.

Water, water everywhere - but not a drop to drink!

I think I said that phrase before but it holds true here in Uganda. The rainfall is heavy and there is lots of water running everywhere. One of the largest lakes in the world, Lake Victoria, is just a few miles from Kampala but everywhere we go outside the city people are struggling for clean water.
We have inherited many ongoing water projects that include over one hundred of springs and several boreholes. Included in the projects are new latrines for several schools along with rainwater catchment and hygiene sanitation training for all the communities. This is what we have spent our last two weeks on trying to wrap our heads around these many projects.


Saturday we went to a turnover ceremony that represented 8 boreholes, one is for the school where the ceremony was to be held.

We took off in the morning for our first trek outside of Kampala heading towards Jinja and out to a district called IGANGA. Elder Rothey, the finance office of the mission, lives next door to us and he came over first thing in the morning and said he was going with us and would drive. What a relief as Farrell has driven very little yet and is finding driving on the WRONG side of the road rather difficult. What a beautiful ride. Pres. Richard Okello, the branch president in Seeta, met us at our apartment to act as our guide and to be the church representative at the ceremony. We didn’t know he lived in Seeta or we could have picked him up on the way as we went through Seeta on our way to the project. The roads were paved out to Jinja so the ride was very comfortable. Along the road side were fields of sugar cane and fields of tea. Pres. Okello told us the Indians had come to Uganda and were running these big tea plantations. Everywhere you looked was a beautiful landscape. The weather was beautiful and I got to ride in the front seat so I could see everything.

Just before we reached Jinja we crossed the Nile River. This is the headwaters of the Nile and the bridge was guarded by many soldiers. Elder Rothey said he stopped once and asked the soldiers what they were guarding and they said they didn’t know but they were standing guard anyway.

Jinja is a main city in Uganda and has lots of businesses but Pres. told us it is a very poor town with a big hospital with very little equipment. Sure would love to do another hospital project. We arrived in Jinja right on time to meet the site monitor, Hannington. We waited and waited and waited and finally Pres. called him.  He assured us he was on his way. He came tooling into town on a bodaboda.  In uganda motorcycles are called bodaboda because motorcycles were used during the war to monitor the borders, from border to border hence bodaboda. There are tons of bodabodas running around Uganda and they feel free to squeeze in any place they can fit (or not) even in dense fast moving traffic.


Hannington said he needed to get a clean shirt so he would have to run home for a minute so we waited some more. He returned wearing his suit and a clean shirt.


Our trek out to IGANGA was a bit different than our ride to Jinja - no paved roads from here – we were in the bush now and things started looking like the Africa we know and love.

Missionaries, village chief and Pres. Okello

Hannington took us to 4 boreholes showing us how they were constructed and meeting the people who were to benefit from the clean water. We finally ended up at St. Mathias Mawagala Secondary School. Many students and community members were waiting for us.

Women at the Well

Elder Barlow and Hannington (site monitor)

Elder Rothy teaching the Hoky Poky

We were invited to sit in front of the students and community members along with the dignitaries.

There were many speeches and then Pres. Okello got up and turned the borehole over to the school and community admonishing them to take care of it and guard it from damage. We were given a warm soda or water to drink and then the music started. The whole audience got up and started dancing. I pulled our my video camera and started filming the dancing and then I noticed that Elder Barlow was right in the middle of the students dancing away. It wasn’t long before Hannington jumped in and Pres. Okello wasn’t going to be out done so he jumped in too. (shouldn’t be publishing this we might get sent home.)  Dancing African Style

We all congregated out at the borehole and they asked me to pump some water so I pumped away while Elder Barlow snapped pics.

As we were being interviewed by the press that had come for the ceremony we noticed dark clouds gathering overhead and realized we needed to get out of there fast as a rain can turn the roads into lakes. As we climbed in the car some mommas came up and started singing and dancing showing their thanks for bringing clean water to their village.

We beat the rain but could see the clouds and the downpour as we left the area.

 Water, water everywhere -  and now there's some to drink

What a great day. Clean water - the gift of life.

WHO LET THE DOGS OUT!!!

Having a hard time sleeping here in Kampala.  We have a great apartment, no airconditioning but we just leave the windows open and enjoy the breeze that comes in.  Only problem is the dogs.  I mean really.  The dogs start barking about 10:00 PM and don't stop for anything.  It goes on and on with more dogs joining in as the night rolls on.  Bark bark bark, yap yap, bark bark, on and on and on - what starts as a solo soon turns in to a mighty chorus  - you can hear dogs joining in the howling from far distances .  Finally about 4:00 AM the dogs settle down just in time for the roosters to start crowing.  Now this is a residential area but everyone has a few chickens and of course you have to have a rooster so 4 AM the roosters start competing for airtime.  They crow every minute on the minute and sometimes in between.  Sleep? whats that? haven't had much since we got her.  Ah we're in Africa and this is the real life.  Just something we will have to get use to - meantime my Itouch sure comes in handy when you want to drowned our the night life.

All orphanages in Africa are not hopeless . . .

A visit to the New Hope Orphanage

All orphanages in Africa are not hopeless. The Glenns found a way to help this amazing orphanage called New Hope.
The orphanage has 345 children, 325 orphaned by the war and 120 from parents who have died of AIDS. Just 200 of the children are boarding at the orphanage and the rest spend the night with relatives or caregivers.


The problems:
• Classroom walls of bamboo were in need of support and were collapsing.
• Latrines were overflowing into the yard.
• Old brick pig barn with dirt floor was being used for classroom.
• There was not enough food to feed the children.

The Glenns project was very creative.

Through LDS Charities the Glenns arranged for :

• Cement pillars and footings to be built to support the bamboo walls of the classrooms

Cement posts and footings

• The pig barn got a cement floor and the walls were plastered.

pig barn now classrooms

• !0,000 liter water cachement system to catch the abundant rainfall allowing the monies saved from purchasing city water to be used for small animal farming to supplement the food needs.

• New latrines

• Mosquito nets large enough to cover bunk beds to protect the children from malaria and 225 blankets for the children who were boarding at the school.

Garden

• Seeds shovels and hoes for veg and herb garden and training of students in gardening and the establishment of a garden to supplement food needs.

• Wood stain for refinishing the desks in the classrooms

All the contracted work was done by returned missionaries giving them income to pay back their PEF loans.

 

The Orphanage was transformed and the children and staff landscaped the yard so that it looked like a very prosperous community. Elder Holland visited the orphanage and was able to see all the changes that had taken place.

This little girl followed me all over as we toured the orphanage and then wanted to sit on my lap during the program.  All the children looked healthy and well cared for.
The Glenns took us to see the transformation and we were very impressed with the clean compound and the feeling of Hope that was coming from the staff and children. The children sang to the Glenns as a farewell gesture.
We learned a lot from studying this project. It was a great project meeting many needs.

Article in Salt Lake Tribune

Here is an interesting article from todays Salt Lake Tribune about the church in Uganda.  Just wanted to share it with those of you who wonder how the church is doing here in our mission, Uganda Kampala Mission, that includes Uganda, Rwanda, Southern Sudan and Ethiopia.
Mission in Africa: Mormons find converts, challenges on very foreign soil.sltrib.com

We've arrived!

Travel to Uganda was long (26 hours) but we had good travel companions with Elder and Sister Nevin who were going to Nairobi to work the employment center and Elder and Sister Andrus who are opening Rwanda to missionary work. They will also run the Humanitarian projects for Rwanda.
We had to go through security 3 times once in Salt Lake, again in Chicago and once again in London. We arrived at the Entebbe airport at 9:30 PM. Only thing we knew about Entebbe was the movie, “Siege at Entebbe” so we had no idea what to expect. Happens they just remodeled the airport and it looked clean and seemed to be well organized. We got through the visa check without any problem and got waved through customs when we told them we were missionaries. There were no police and no soldiers and we wondered if we really were in Africa. It turned out that our airplane was loaded with volunteers coming to Uganda to do good works. One group had brought 4 NFL players to help them build schools and run a health clinic all in 12 days.

We were met by the Pres. and Sis. Christiansen and a driver who whisked us off to the mission home to spend the night. We fell into bed and went right to sleep as we had not been able to sleep on the plane so we were exhausted. The next morning we were picked up by the Glenns the current hum missionaries and after dropping off our luggage we started our tour of projects. No time to rest as the Glenns won't be with us long and we will be on our own.

Our mentors, the Glens, are from Salt Lake City.  She is a special education teacher and he is in malpractice insurance.  They have made a name for them selves in Uganda by planning projects which have resulted in clean water for over 400,000 people.  This is amazing and we have to keep up with that kind of an example?
Today we had a meeting with the Minister of State for Relief and Disaster Prepardness and Refugees, ECWERU MUSA FRANCIS (MP).  This is a very gracious and distinguished man.  The Glenns have worked with him on some relief for refugees in the past . This past year the minister was invited to participate in The Sixteenth Annual International Law and Religion Symposium, "Connecting Communities of Discourse: How the Judiciary, Academia, Government and International Institutions Further the Work of Religious Freedom," 4-6 October 2009, at BYU.  He was well received and was so impressed with BYU he is sending his son there to be educated this next year.

While we were in the area we made a quick visit to the African Craft Market and to a nice MALL.  Yes, I said a mall.  Can't believe that we are going to be living where there is a mall.  It was decorated with African sculptures that were very interesting.

The Glenn leave tomorrow and we will be on our own.  They are leaving some large water projects for us to finish and we realize there is no time to acclimatize we just need to jump in and get to work.  We are ready.  We are about over our jet lag and we didn't fall asleep standing up once today.  Let's go do some good works. 

Going to the Mission Training Center

MTC has been an interesting experience. We have a wonderful group to study with. They are all first time humanitarian but not their first mission. They are going to Cambodia, Marshall Islands, Fiji, Jamaica, and Brazil. All are very nervous but anxious to go to work. It is that fear of the unknown and a question of what you should fill your bags up with when you have such limited space to travel.

We spend one day touring the church welfare system including Welfare Square, LDS Employment and LDS Charities. We had lunch with the managers of humanitarian services and were given a pep talk by Glenn Rudd the father of the welfare program. He just happens to be a good friend of the Barlow family as Grandpa Barlow served with him when he was mission president in Georgia. He is 92 years old and comes to work every day keeping on with his good works.

We had a wonderful devotional on Tuesday with a talk by Elder Haphen counseling us to not expect our testimony to be sure or totally unwavering but to keep the commandments, be obedient and work hard and our testimony will grow on a daily bases and we will be strengthened with all we do.

The Livingstons, our mission president in the DR Congo invited us to dinner to meet our new mission president, Pres Jackson and his wife (they will start their service in July in the Kampala Uganda Mission).  Also at dinner were the Moons, our dear Congo buddies and the Andrus who are opening up Rwanda and will fly with us to Uganda. 

So we are now ready for our new African adventure. Farrell says it sounds a lot better to be going to the “Emerald of Africa” than to the “Heart of Darkness.”

We fly to Uganda on March 15th.