Six members from our church went out to Uganda recently (please read their contributions below). At our Nexus evening service they all showed us one photo each and told us what it meant to them...
One of the team that recently visited Uganda with the Advisory board was Sue Richardson. Sue is a retired teacher and has been keen to become involved with Love Africa from the beginning. here are some of her thoughts and reflections....
Having just returned from
I remember the day when we left Soroti in
We were on our way to visit UWCM (Ugandan Women Concern Ministry) and Edith Wakumire who has a passion and a strong Christian belief to help the poor and needy. This ministry cares for women with HIV/AIDs and their children. They work within the community helping the vulnerable women by reconstructing housing, giving the necessary seed for planting and making them self sufficient where possible.
Edith, a larger than life Ugandan lady with an infectious smile, met us. After initial introductions we were ushered into vans for our trip to Bulaago, a village high up in the mountains and close to
Eventually we reached Bulaago to be greeted by local women singing and dancing happy to hug and shake hands with us. Children stroked our skins – we were the first “white” people they had seen.
UWCM work through Community Mobilisation Teams (CMTs) and use volunteers mobilised through local churches to reach those in need in the community. A group of us went to see a grandmother and her five grandchildren. She had been widowed; her daughter had recently died from HIV/AIDs leaving her to care for the children. Her modest hut had burnt down but with UWCMs help the community had provided her with a new shelter. She was now able to care for the family. She had been given encouragement, hope and love to continue.
This truly was God’s Love in Action. It reminded me of James 2 v.5, ....has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him.
Edith was keen to show us the valley in which she had grown up, and once again children followed us. The view was spectacular and so beautiful. Our next stop was to view the new school building, which UWCM had funded. We stopped a football match to drive across the pitch!! Currently UWCM are working with five schools in the area, helping more children in villages by improving the rural schools. They focus on addressing health issues; training for teachers, improving the living conditions for teachers, and providing furniture and improved buildings.
Edith’s energy is limitless. The slogan on the back of the CMTs tee shirts is “Empower a woman and you empower a nation.” May the work of UWCM continue to help those women, children and people living with HIV and AIDs to live a dignified life, and may I never forget the wonderful work through Jesus Christ that they are doing.
During May 6 members of the St James Church family made a visit to the Love Africa Projects in Uganda. The team included three members of the recently formed Love Africa Advisory Board. The Board is there to give dispassionate advice to the Love Africa Steering Group as they develop relationships with our projects in a range of areas. The team also included one member of the Love Africa Steering Group, Debbbie Perrera who has been serving Love Africa with a very willing heart for some time but had never visited the projecst herself. Debbie was able to fund her visit with the help of neighbours and friends ....
REFLECTIONS OF A FIRST-TIMER
I have just come back from 9 days in Uganda visiting the 5 projects which Love Africa is currently supporting. This was my first experience of Africa; in fact, it was my first ever trip to a Developing Country.
The sights and smells were intoxicating – the countryside more beautiful than I had imagined - I had never been anywhere like it and the people so friendly – children would wave whenever we passed them in our van.
The first place we visited was the Pentecostal Assemblies of God in Soroti (about half way up on the eastern side) which runs a programme called PEP bringing church & community together. Communities take an active role in identifying their needs and being part of the solution, leading to a marked increase in self-worth and future capabilities.
We visited a community which had undergone the PEP Program and were working very hard to become self-sustaining. Their pride in what they had achieved (hand-dug wells, mosquito nets, latrines, kitchen gardens, AIDS training etc) was palpable and I felt that ‘the sky’s the limit’ for this community. I began to realise how important it is for the local church to act as the catalyst to empower communities to drive their own development.
Later we visited a Drinking Club in Nakibuyi where ACET volunteers were making a huge difference with life-skills training and I could see again that these people felt empowered and had pulled together to set up a small fund for the most needy in their village even though, to me, they all looked needy.
The lady pictured here, described how she took her one blue dress off at night and used it as a blanket to cover her children and then put it back on the next day.
I thought about my over-stuffed wardrobe at home. These were the poorest of the poor – even the adults had no shoes, yet they presented us with ten beautiful avocados when we left. I was reminded of the incident in Luke where Jesus saw a widow putting two small copper coins into the temple treasury…………’”I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”’ I was truly humbled to see this in action.
Throughout our time in Uganda I felt an immense love for our brothers and sisters there. I was only just beginning to realise the sacrifices they themselves were making in order to serve the poor as Jesus did. One might be forgiven for thinking that Africa’s problems are too complex to find a solution when one looks at the poverty, disease, corruption and the legacy of colonialism but the fact that we truly are brothers and sisters in Christ makes all the difference. It just cuts through the other stuff and bonds us together in Jesus’ love. This has to be the answer.
One highlight was going to Kampala Baptist Church on Sunday morning and worshipping in spirit and in truth as one family who will be spending eternity together. It was marvellous!
God broke my heart (again!) in Uganda and I pray that he will continue to break all of our hearts until we feel the pain of our brothers and sisters in Africa as our Heavenly Father does.
Martin and Eve Williams spent time with Love Africa Projects in October 2008 and the impact on them and us continues...
Why did you go to Uganda with your dad?
The reason I wanted to go to Uganda is because I had heard so much about it and as it is such a major part of the church life I wanted to see it for myself. Nobody really knows how tragic and corrupted the lives of many people are there, until they see it through their own eyes. My Dad was always talking about it and the pictures shown to me before my visit were only just a fragment of what you could imagine it to be like. St. James church has raised so much money for this inspiring and amazing Love Africa project, and I wanted to see what it had done to make a difference.
What were you expecting and how did reality compare?
The reality was completely different to what I thought. It was like I had entered a different world. The first night I had such a culture shock mixed with tiredness from travelling, and I remember crying myself to sleep. I couldn’t believe what I had seen in one afternoon and this was before I had properly visited any project. I think the thing that made me most upset was the fact that the people around me treated me as if I was royalty, by cooking what was their best, expensive food and making me feel so welcome. My Dad’s arrival and mine made their faces light up and you could see their hope and faith restoring inside of them. Watching people who had so little but making the most of what they did have made me realize how much I take for granted, especially the small things like clean running water from taps, heating and a sturdy roof over my head.
Where did you visit and where did you stay?
I stayed in various places, all very different and new experiences. The first two nights I stayed in Pastor Paul’s bungalow. For someone that lives in Uganda I would think it is a pretty good place to live in but very different to what we think of as standard English house! I slept under mosquito nets in a room off the kitchen and had a blanket to cover me. He lived in a village with many children that followed me at every opportunity possible as they were so amazed by the ‘mizungu’ (a white person) as some had never seen one before. The cockerel and the nature sounds that surrounded our room woke us. The next night I stayed in the Madhvani guest house which was luxury! This was when we were at the Tumaine Children’s home. It was the equivalent of our B&B’s and here I got served chicken and chips with a substitute ketchup (I have it on everything) but I must admit I lived without it for the week as let’s just say it was fluorescent orange. After my stay here I slept the night at Edith Wakumire’s house, one of the most amazing women you will ever meet, the leader of the Uganda Women’s Concern Ministry. Her house was one to remember, my dad and I slept in the back yard in a small room with a noisy roof that scared me as it rattled due to various animals walking on it and avocado pears dropping from the huge tree above us. We were woken by Esther, Edith’s adopted child, with her beautiful singing.
Could you see if Love Africa was making any difference to the lives of the people you met?
Love Africa has made so much difference to the people in Uganda, providing them with concrete things and giving them strength to carry on. A family of 5 previously living under a banana tree now go to sleep with a small roof over their head. Abandoned and needy children now not only have a place to live but a family, education and happiness in the Tumaine children’s home. A lot of people we met now have clothes, clean water supplies nearby and some have medication for the killer disease HIV Aids.
What would you say is the most important thing we can do to make a difference?
Although giving money is the main source of making a difference, I think such an important key to the whole of this organisation is to build relationships with some of the people out there. It’s great just sending off money to charities, but when you know what the money is going towards it makes the whole thing so much more rewarding for both the people donating and the people receiving. To be someone living out there and know that you have all these brilliant people sending money and help, and actually knowing a bit about the church makes it real. Until you go out there you have no idea how thankful the people of Uganda are for your prayers and support, believe me you are doing such a fantastic job.
Is there memory that will always stay with you?
I had that when going on major, inspirational and life changing trips there is always something you take away from it and things that you will never forget. Although what I will never forget is the smiley, joyful faces of all the orphans that now have something to live for, there is one story of from one of the women that I met that has stuck with me ever since. She is a young woman of about 30 years old; she lives high up in the mountains near all the slippery mud and far from any shops or sources. She lives in the smallest tin roofed ‘house’ with her 3 children. She is suffering from Aids, and a few years ago her husband told her he was going to fetch some water. In the early evening he still hadn’t returned and he had been gone the whole day. Next morning he still wasn’t there. It was discovered later that day that he had jumped off a nearby cliff, he had had enough of his life and decided suicide was his last resort. She is being helped by UWCM. The woman could have left her children and done the same, but think of her courage and her living conditions. She has nothing yet she was such a calm, gentle woman that sat in the shade trying to make the best of what she had. There was something so special about that woman and her bravery. If she can carry on, so can you.
One of the least talked about but most exciting of our 5 Love Africa Projects is PAG Soroti. They work with a programme called PEP which mobilises whole communities towards sustainable transformation. Most of the communities they work with are deeply impacted by HIV/AIDS. Tim Raby from Tearfund has recently completed a review with PAG Sroti and he has sent us this fascinating report.
Tim writes..
Spending time in Uganda visiting the projects run by Tearfund’s partners means that I encounter many different manifestations of poverty. Poverty includes a lack of material possessions, a lack of access to decision-making and, perhaps most importantly, a lack of opportunities. This can result in the mindset that people are helpless and can only survive on the charity of others.
Projects such as the PEP (Participatory Evaluation Process) project operated by PAG Soroti, in eastern Uganda, can start to change this mentality – which not only exists in the minds of the poor, but also in the attitudes of many relief and development charities. Driven by a sense of compassion, and confronted by the massive needs that are apparent in many countries, the desire to offer aid is natural. Yet because such generosity does not always last forever and can create dependency, it can end up being harmful. As one man in one of the villages we visited said, “Depending on relief is like leaning on rotten wood”.
PEP starts by leading the church through a series of bible studies, which can be quite a novelty themselves, and drawing out principles relevant for development. For example, by studying the “Feeding of the 5,000”, the church can understand the relevance of Jesus feeding the crowd using the food that they themselves had; or by studying the parable of the Good Samaritan, the church can understand the importance of reaching out to the whole community, again using the resources it has. As relationships between the church and the community develop, an Information Gathering Team is appointed, which gathers and then analyses information about the community, such as the levels of education, water sources and the type and frequency of disease.
Equipped with this information and the mentality that their own resources are able to solve some of their problems, the community is then able to make remarkable progress. We heard dozens of individual stories of change, such as Robert’s, where people’s health, income, self esteem, leadership skills and spiritual growth had all improved.
The process also brings the whole community closer, so that unity and interdependence increase and relationships (particularly between men and women) improve. We heard many examples of where communities had set up nursery schools – even building houses for the teachers – and established “self-help groups” (such as the Etaritoi Group, right) where people’s savings were put into a central pot and used to improve agriculture or loaned out to help people set up small businesses.
Because the process is led by, but not restricted to, the church, we heard many stories of spiritual growth. Relationships between different denominations had improved, people could now see the relevance of church and the bible and many people had become Christians.
The role of the NGO (such as PAG Soroti) is now less a provider of aid, but more a supporter of community action. Their technical skills (such as how to improve agricultural yields or prevent disease) are still required, but PEP is no longer seen as a project “done to” a community by an NGO, but a way of life owned by the community itself. As another person we met said, “Now we think deeply about things. There will be no going back. Something very fundamental has happened here.”
Robert Etoku's Testimony....JPG)
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“My name is Robert Etoku and I am leading the PEP project in Otuboi. In 2003, the LRA attacked my home area. All my belongings were stolen and I had to run to the bush and then to Lira - a town about 40 miles away
When it was safe to return, I came back, but I had nothing and had to stay with my parents. After PEP I put some of the teaching into action by planting tomatoes, which improved my family’s diet and gave me money to be used for medical treatment. Last year, I sold the tomatoes for 450,000 USh - about £150 and used this to buy a heifer, which has given birth to a calf. My family now drinks milk, and all of my 6 school-age children are at school.
I have plans for a permanent house and I have already bought the timber and iron sheets and will sell this year’s sunflower crop to buy bricks.
I have 10 goats and some chickens and 7 acres on which I grow maize, tomatoes, sunflowers, cassava, beans, sesame. I use bulls for cultivating the land.
I am also the pastor of Anyara Assembly Church, which has 7 branch churches. Before PEP, we had built the church to the ringbeam level - just above the windows and we had asked PAG and others for money to complete it. After PEP, all the members of the Assembly Committee agreed to contribute 30,000 USh - about £10 and church members contributed 25,000 USh - about £8 through selling their own resources like goats and crops. We finished the church in October this year.
As a pastor I have learnt to work with my congregation, and I now have the skills to mobilise both the church and the community, so that they are able to come up with solutions and prioritise using action plans. The main things that I have learnt are that God has given us resources that we can use to meet our needs and that the church needs to be salt and light. We need to be people who can be an example to others, so that they can also change.”
Eve & I took the October half term week to have some "Dad & daughter time" visiting some of our Love Africa Projects in Uganda. Although this was a visit that Eve had been asking to do with me for some time and therefore sort of unofficial we were able to spend quality time with three project partners and get a sense of how our Love Africa financial support is beginning to make a difference already. So here is our report!
Pastor Paul Luballe Centre For Evangelism.
Pastor Paul (2nd from right) and some of his wonderful Pastors
Grandchild number five. The grandmother is sick with Aids and both parents have died.
The other four grandchildren
Eve meets children at a kakira Sugar plantation Camp
This is the environment from which Tumaine children have been saved
Tumaine children were so happy to see us. We had great fun!
Eve makes friends in Iganga
Meet and greet on the mountain at Wanale
View from the mountain to Mbale district below
Some children know how to melt your heart!
Tricia Tennant is a long standing member of the St James Church family and has close links with the WATOTO Choir who have visited St James on a few ocassions over the years. Tricia travelled to Uganda to meet some of the WATOTO children she had hosted and to accompany Pastor Nicholas and his wife Marie from Tumaine Children's home on a WATOTO conference. Pastor Nichiolas & Marie's places were funded by Love Africa. Here is her story...
How it all began
At The WATOTO Homes
On Saturday evening we celebrated the African child in a unique cultural experience of African dance and music. I loved the drums! There was a firework grand finale.
October 29th to September 1st
Such a beautiful country
Pastor Nicholas and his wife Marie with me and his assistant Pastor
The nets brought by the Drewetts are still there!
Work is still in progress at the home. Betty the Matron, and Charlie the Warden were introduced, before lunch was served to the children. This consisted of bowls of mashed potatoes and beans in sauce. The children all line up and wait their turn. It’s amazing to me that all this food is prepared in huge vats on a single charcoal fire, outside, under a makeshift roof.
A water tap has been installed. Part of the St James funding. Ongoing work will provide a pump. The showers and latrines are yet to be completed, and work on the roof has to be finalised. The surrounding land will eventually be developed for a school house and a possible conference centre. Pastor Nicholas has a huge vision.
The Bible donated by St James are firmly established in the Tumaine Children's individual lives
One thing I learnt at the conference, is that it’s not about status, but service. ‘A man goes out on a journey with one staff. Two is a burden’. ‘If you want to be first, go alone; if you want to go far, go together’.
It’s not about the money, it’s about building relationships.
I felt the love these people so warmly gave me. The love and the sharing touched my heart and the glorious smiles and big brown eyes that reached deep within my soul, that I will never forget. We just have to start where we are. In our own little pond, and see how far the ripples will travel.
‘Love never fails’.
October 2008
The new desks were made locally by local carpenters 
Very Smart!!The new school year started on 15 September at Kiswa school and we have been delighted to receive photographs of the children and their staff with new furniture. Through fundraising events at The Gerrards Cross CE School organised by the PTA and by the children themselves, we have been able to support the staff and pupils at Kiswa by funding the provision of 31 new benches with desk tops: the children can now write without the need to kneel on the mud floor.
Our children have written letters to the pupils at Kiswa and we have also sent some of our uniform to them – both staff and pupils at Kiswa can now regularly be seen sporting Gerrards Cross t-shirts and polo shirts.
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