4th November
The Kampala group was now down to Frank and
Jill, a big change. The morning was spent preparing for meetings with ACET.
There is a meeting of the Friends of ACET Uganda on the 11th November. Frank
has been asked to speak and report on discussions with the ACET team. All the
interested groups, ACET UK, TearFund, Friends of ACET and Patrick Dixon the
founder of ACET had sent through questions and in addition to the Love Africa
questions it was quite an agenda to prepare.
Paul, Emma and Amos the new accountant met
Frank at the Sheraton. We reviewed the trip and each site with Paul as a
de-brief. He was very interested in the PAG Soroti projects and said that the
government is also strongly backing local savings and loan schemes and the
entire area is very political. He had heard about our visit to ACET Mbale
(Naomi has still not had her baby) and how well the visits to the mountain
communities had been received. We reported on the discussions with Pastor
Nicholas. Paul felt that the Kakira community was putting pressure on PN, as
one of the main sources of funding, to take a group of orphans into the home.
We then got into the agenda. Amos the new
accountant introduced himself. He comes from the Church of Uganda in Soroti and
seems to be a qualified accountant who understands charity governance. Paul
says he has had an immediate impact at ACET and Emma commented to me what a
good start he had made. He seems like a really good recruit. The 3 of us met
for 2-3 hours to review all sorts of stuff on ACET and Love Africa/ACET. Emma
and Amos left us and then Paul and Frank had another hour into the evening
talking about the leadership of ACET. I won’t bore you with all the details.
Paul is a very gracious and Godly man who is quite isolated in his leadership
of ACET so he does genuinely welcome people spending time with him.
Paul is also very well regarded in the
faith community in Uganda. He mentioned that he is facilitating a meeting of
church leaders tomorrow on the church's response to HIV. These leaders include
the Church of Uganda Archbishop, Archbishop Simon Peter (who is stopping at
lunch time to meet me!), and the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Uganda
among others. Love Africa is very fortunate to have Paul as a partner.
We heard from the party in Apac by text and
look forward to seeing them tomorrow
Please remember in your prayers;
Safe travel for the group in Apac and that
they will be a huge encouragement for the people they meet in PAG and in the
communities
For the work of ACET Uganda, their role and
influence politically among the leadership of the Church in Uganda
For Paul, Emma and Amos as they serve God
at ACET
