Time to leave - until we meet again

The last couple of days we great but also bittersweet that our time is coming to an end.

Saturday we slept in a bit and met at FH to practice some songs for Sunday service. We went shopping downtown with the FH staff. It was nice having some down time.

After that we went to Moses place where his wife Grace prepared a great meal. It was nice to see the whole family minus the 2 older children who were at boarding school. Moses is building a new house that is much bigger than his current home. This will become his retirement home.
 

After that we went to a funeral for one of the teachers mother, Grace is her name, It was an honor to join the celebration of life. The funeral was not in Marare but there were so many people from Marare that joined us.

On the way home Moses took the team for supper at a Mzungu café. It's the place where a lot of white people go. The atmosphere was very Canadian Café like. Almost like a large café.
Since we had some extra time Allan and Moses decided to go for a shave and haircut. Too funny.

Sunday was a difficult day we got up early and then we were off to church where we went to 2 services. Brian, Rita, Allan and Diniz gave a bit of a sermon. Vanessa, Marisa and Ajoo spent time with the children in Sunday school.

We walked to Susan's to pick up our shirts that she made. She is extremely talented. We went back to the main hall for tea afterwards where the ladies group had some crafts for sale. After tea we took a walk to visit the art group. Henry and his team are so talented. We made a few purchases.

We then came back to the main hall for lunch and singing from the children's choir. There wasn't a dry eye on the team. They sang, well will cry cry cry brother Diniz never forget us. They sang that to each team member. They also sang a classic of "for everything that you did for ST James School we will never for get you. Lots and lots of tears were had by all including the children themselves.
 

 

 

Then began the process of saying our goodbye's. You don't realize how much of an impact that you have until people come up to you and thank you and cry with you. There are so many people that I became friends with that impacted me as well as them. It was so hard to say goodbye.

We then went to Mbale Resort for supper with all the FH staff, we said our goodbyes to these amazing people there as well. My heart is full

The people of Marare and the FH staff thank you for all the ears of support and for sending 10 teams.
What a journey, without our support and love none of this would be possible.
By the way so many people were so grateful for the glasses that we gave them including some of the FH staff.
 

There may be more blogging yet to come but that will happen once we return home as a team.

Day 6 & 7

My name is Ajoo and I am part of the 2019 team.  These are my impressions of the day:

This trip has been amazing for me so far, I got to see so many children and communicate with them. The other day we went to the ladies’ group and learned what they do in the village… these women teach other women many things like basic hygiene, breast feeding, and female hygiene. This was very interesting to me because I learned that all the women help each other and to me this is called teamwork.

Today was also so much fun because we visited a dairy farmer and saw firsthand how they milk cows; we also saw a baby cow which in my opinion was very scary.

I bought a very nice purse from Suzan’s shop and two bracelets. The purse was blue and white and for my aunt back in Canada. Although it was very awkward for me, we talked to girls from age 10 and above about their bodies and how to say “no” to a man. We also discussed how to respect themselves and that they are beautiful and made in God’s image.

But overall, I met the sweetest girl in the whole world! Her name is Beyta, but she goes by B. She is funny, has the biggest smile, and a laugh that can bring a smile to anyone’s face. I really enjoyed the trip and I don’t want to leave! By coming here, I really heard God talk to me.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My name is Rita I’m one of the members of the 2019 Marare team, it’s my pleasure and I’m honored to be in Marare… this is what I’m blessed to say about my trip over the last 2 days.

I’m glad to be one of 5 people (Allan, Rita, Diniz, Naomi and Brian) who went and met with a group of women from the Village Savings and Loan Association. Brian and Diniz expressed their joy at seeing these women and how they have progressed. Looking back at the last time they came to Marare in 2010 and throughout the years that they visited. They also expressed that back then the women and children looked unhealthy and really suffering from poverty. Moussa, one of the VSLA members, also shared that this program has helped to reduce family violence!

4 to 6 years later, Diniz and Brian said looking at these women is a pleasure and a joy to see them healthy. They have become self-reliant, enjoying the fruits of their labor and this is a big gift that one can ask for from God.  In addition to that, the women said they were able to send their children to school and pay for their fees without any difficulties. When I asked them, “Where do they want to see yourselves in the next 8 years?’’  they said their dreams are to have a big house and even to have their own car and this is possible!

On the other hand, meeting Suzan at her shop was a blessing, knowing how she started her business and now she owns a shop and has become a very successful entrepreneur!

Her story affirmed to me that Northgate and FH staff were disciples that God sent to Marare to show them that with God that ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE, and that he has not forgotten the people of Marare.  The team supported her by buying some items (clothing, jewelry, toys, etc) made by Suzan and her team with more items to be made before we leave.

The FH staff divided the Northgate team into two groups women and men to discuss sex education with the children in grade 4 to 7. This is a very challenging and sensitive subject that the parents find difficult to discuss with their children. The discussion went very well, and the children were eager to know more by asking question that they have being wondering whether is true or not. Our team helped them to understand what is right and wrong and how to take care of themselves without being trapped in a situation that might force them to do dangerous things.

It was hard to hear some girls being afraid of being pushed by parents to get marriage at this young age, so their question is “What can we do to convince our parents that I don’t want to get married to a man, I’m still young? If they refuse, they will be kicked out of the house.

How can we help the community to understand that this is wrong by pushing a child to get married because of the poverty?

This trip has given me a chance to be part of these children’s life story, and they will for ever be in my heart knowing that we planted a seed in their hearts and minds.

Love Rita 

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Day 5 of trip (day 3 in village)

This is Vanessa writing... 

At the FH office we met some new faces that are working with FH. Jean works with FH in Burundi and was here for a brief visit so see the current projects in Mbale communities. Patricia is a student at Uganda Christian University and is doing her practicum with FH. We were also welcomed with a familiar face, Edith, who is a community administrator in Nashisa.

After introductions Stephen led a devotion from Psalm 23. This was just what was needed to start the day. The reminder that God is our Shepherd who is walking with us for guidance and provisions through this journey He has called us to.

While we waited to go into the village Livingstone went ahead to find Manjeri, Diniz and Marisa’s sponsor child, to arrange the visit for today. We visited with each other with tea and boiled eggs that Justine graciously prepared. Marisa, Ajoo, Rita and I strolled around the lush grounds where Julius showed us the giant snails that live among the banana trees.

 

 

Then we were off again to the village!

 

 

We were given a warm welcome from the excited primary students and had the morning to bring out the bubble gun and play. It was a grand time that filled the school field with laughter and soapy ‘balloons’ as the kids call them. Some of use stayed at the school to continue playing and go into the classrooms to teach the kids about Canada. Vicki, Rita, Naomi and Mandy left with the FH staff to do some home visits with sponsor children.

The first visit was to the home of Porssy and her younger brother. They are living with their grandparents who have been dedicated workers on the projects in Marare. It brought the grandparents a lot of excitement and pride to show the progress in the construction of their new house. Making the bricks themselves and buying the concrete mix, Porssy’s grandparents are slowing building a much bigger house for the family so they can move out of their mud hut. This brought A LOT of encouragement to the team to see that the people of Marare truly are self sufficient.

 

 

While walking to another house, they ran into Abdu, Natasha Korner’s sponsor child, whom we had tried to see yesterday but wasn’t at home. This was perfect because Mandy was able to show Abdu the video that Natasha had recorded for him. Her message was incredibly encouraging for him and touched the team members as well.

Back at the school I was pulled (literally) into the primary 3 class to be their teacher. Diniz joined me with their actually teacher, Justine. The kids asked lots of questions about food, like if we grow maize, bananas and sugar cane. Diniz explained our short growing season and cold temperatures that are more suitable for other fruits and vegetables like apples, potatoes, and cabbage. Ajoo and Marisa visited the primary 4 class who decided to quiz them on their science and math knowledge. They passed the test in the end!

In the afternoon we had the privilege to visit Manjeri and her sisters at their home in Mbale. She was elated to have us there and especially to be reunited with Diniz and Marisa. A highlight of the visit was hearing Manjeri sing. She shared her original music which Diniz and Marisa sang along to as well. The visit was much too short as always but the time there was won't be forgotten.

 

 

 

 Back at the school the kids were excited for more play time. We played several “circle” games, net ball and sang a lot of songs. The one that always seems to gets suck in our heads…

    “Jesus, Jesus my savior. I love you Jesus because I do do do!”

A lovely end to the day came from a surprise meeting with Suzan at the school. With her were two of her children, Joshua and Violet, all wearing beautifully tailored clothes. Right now her third child is ill and with the recent passing of her husband she has a lot to manage on her own. Please pray for God to keep Suzan and her family strong in spirit and in health.

Overall, it was a day full of connecting and reconnecting, with God’s hand in each interaction to guide conversations and keep the energy flowing.

Monday, August 22

Day 4 of trip (Day 2 in the village)

This is Miranda writing…

Started the day at the FH office in Mbale.  So exciting to greet our dear friends - the FH staff!  One of my favorite parts of our (Brian and me) 2 previous visits was sharing devotions with the staff, it is always a rich time of singing and reading God’s word.  “Uncle” Steven shared some wisdom with us from Philippians 2:1-4… I am so inspired by his love for Jesus and the people of the villages around here that FH works with.

Each of the staff introduced themselves and told them a little about themselves.  Most of them are Community Development Facilitators (CDF)

·        David, CDF and Director of Awana.  Married with 1 daughter.

·        Joshua, CDF and a serious rugby player

·        Julius, CDF and guitarist.  Married with 2 children

·        Defastwomba (not sure of spelling), CDF

·        Stephen, CDF.  Being a little older, most of the children call him Uncle Steven.  Married with 3 boys.

·        Livingstone, CDF and electrician.  I think he must have some architecture/draftsman training as he was in charge of the construction of many of the new buildings (classroom blocks, teacher quarters, etc).  He is married to Joy and their little girl is called “Living Joy”.

·        Molex, CDF.  Molex lives in Marare and seems to know all the children. 

·        Justine:  She cooks for us and is a bright light in the office.  She is now married with 2 children.

·        David – not the David mentioned above.  He is on security and opens the gate for us every time the bus approaches.

 

Moses asked that we share his love and appreciation for the support of Northgate over these last nearly 10 years.

 After a bit of fun having the staff try and remember all our Canadian names and Ugandan names,  we then headed out to the village.  I was already surprised by the development along the highway to Marare, but when we arrived at the turn off into Marare, I couldn’t believe it!  The road itself was improved from the last time Brian and I were there (2013), although there are still some of the incredible Ugandan potholes, but the businesses, homes, other schools/colleges and crops along that road were amazing.  It’s like a whole new town.

 Some of the children were in the school yard when we drove up, so we got the wonderful, excited greeting from them.  We were ushered into the community center, already half full of children waiting for us.  Then the choir filed in, singing and dancing.  They proceeded to entertain us with some beautiful, heartfelt singing, telling of their struggles to improve their lives, how happy they are how they love and appreciate their school/teachers/parents and especially God. Their talent is wonderful. There were speeches from a parent, a board member, the Head Teacher and the children themselves.  Moses told us later that the children wrote their speeches themselves.  Allan introduced each of us, and we told them our Ugandan names (the 8 of us who had been before had received our names.  Because Rita and Ajoo had never been to Marare, the children wanted to choose their Ugandan names.  After much discussion in Lugisu, the names were chosen.  😊  I can’t remember their names, but Ajoo’s means “joy.”  It was such a wonderful program. 

After it was over and the children returned to their classes, some of the teachers provided us with a snack.  We didn’t understand that it was a snack and thought it was lunch. (We were surprised later when we were told to get on the bus because we were going back to the FH office for lunch.)

After our snack, there was time for ‘playing’ with the children.  We went out into the field and tried to teach them the “chicken dance.”  It was a bit chaotic, but the children had so much fun… lots of laughter!  For some of us, that much time in the sun was enough, but the younger team members persevered and learned some of their songs/games.  Some of the team visited with Moses, the FH staff and local men.  I was able to chat with one of the women (Ellen) and show her some photos that Edith Sinclair had sent for me to distribute.  It never fails, when you bring out photos, you instantly draw a crowd.  But such a happy crowd.

  

Joshua in center green shirt Violet center right in pink dress are Suzan's children

Some of you remember Suzan… the young mother with the beautiful voice and the biggest smile you have ever seen.  She has become such a leader among the women.  Ellen told me that Suzan’s husband had recently passed away, and she wasn’t in the village today because her youngest child had been admitted to hospital.  Please pray for her!  But what a blessing that because of FH’s work in the village, she will be able to provide for herself and her children!

After lunch, we split up.  Brian, Rita and Vicki went into 2 classrooms and shared with the children, telling them about Canada and answering all their questions.

The rest of us went on some home visits. Because of time, and the risk of rain, we were driven around Marare in our bus.  I couldn’t believe the narrow paths our driver, Hussein, could navigate in that bus.

The first visit was to the home of Bruce and Pam Darrington’s girl (can’t remember her name).  She is studying to be a hairdresser and is doing incredibly well.  Her mother was so happy to welcome us into her home and share her appreciation for FH and the partnership with Northgate (this was all interpreted by Julius).

The next home was to show us the biogas system.  The couple first had us come in to their living room and we prayed together.  Then we went out to see the biogas.  Naturally the first animal we encounter is a cow, who seemed very happy to , see us as well.  I know biogas has been explained before, but their may be people reading this who don’t know about it.  First there is a large cement “pot” (above ground), where you deposit the cow dung, mix it up and pull out any straw or any other undigested ingredients.  Water or urine is added and it feeds into a large cistern underground.  There the dung “digests” (ferments)  and the gas rises to the top.  It is syphoned off and fed by pipe to the house.  The remaining sludge feeds into another cement holder and is an incredible fertilizer (we saw evidence of that by the large corn stalks all around us.  We then went into the back of the home and the mother of the home lit the gas light and turned on the stove, all fed by the gas from the cow dung.  There is no waste, the people no longer have to cut down trees for fuel, there is no risk of explosion… it is a great system!

 

The next home was of a boy, Abdu, who is sponsored by Natasha Korner.  Abdu was nowhere to be found, but we met with his mother… who was thrilled to have us there.  We have been assured that we can meet with him tomorrow as he will be at school. 

 

These home visits are so special.  The people are so excited and honored to have us come to their home.  You can’t help but feel their love and appreciation.

Of course, everything takes longer than planned and we had to hurry back to the school to pick up the rest of our team.  After a short stop at the hotel to freshen up, we were given supper at the FH office by our dear Justine.  She brought her 2 children to meet us…  they were very quiet and I think a little overwhelmed by all these Muzunges (white people).

It was a great day, but so tiring.  I am feeling my aches and pains, but so happy to be here.  I wouldn’t miss this for the world!

We are all experiencing jet lag and disturbed nights… there are the sounds of dogs barking like crazy in the night, roosters at 4 a.m. and our bodies are so confused with the time change.  We are weary, but happy.

 

Day 1 – Long Travel Day

Our journey began with great excitement, we all met at the church as at team with friends and family for prayer before we started our long journey. We prayed as a church family for travel mercies and god provided 100% of the time. 

We all went through security without issues and enjoyed a nice supper together in Edmonton. It was great to see to be with Edith and Rob at the airport while they traveled to Vancouver for their holiday.

There is always that fear and uncertainty with regards to connections, especially the short 1-hour connection at Amsterdam. Thank goodness that connection was made without issue and we had just enough time to make it to the gate. We were able to get some sleep on the plane, but it was hard to sleep thinking about meeting all our friends and bringing them greetings from back home. But we did finally get some rest.
Moses greeted us in Entebbe, and we made our journey to the guest house. We arrived around 1:00 am and had a short rest before we left for Mable at 8:30 am. We all were very excited to greet our friend. Moses is the program director for Food for the Hungry, Mbale.

Day 2

Along the way to Mbale we stopped in and saw Christine, Sam and Shalom at their store in Mukono. They fed us some pineapple, watermelon and jack fruit. Yummy!!! Nothing like fresh fruit. For those of you that don’t know, Christine and Shalom lived in Edmonton for a couple of years with Rob and Edith Sinclair.

I could feel the excitement build as we got closer to our destination and every vertebra in my spin, the roads in Uganda are a little bumpy to say the least. We stopped in Jinja at the base of the Nile River for lunch. It seems the rains decided to follow us to Jinja in a crazy downpour. 

We finally made it to our hotel around 7:30 pm and that’s when it hit us that we were home in Uganda. We all had a great night’s rest and then it was off to Marare for church, 4 hours and 2 services later. We couldn’t get over all the new buildings in Marare. Businesses homes it almost was a rag to riches story. Old shacks are gone, and new brick buildings are everywhere.

It was great to see the finished school blocks, church and teachers quarters.  
The service was great but a little long we really enjoyed the singing.
After the service we had lunch in one of the school blocks and the rains came down in a torrential down pour again. We thought we left the rains back home in Alberta but they seemed to follow us. They called it a miracle as Marare has been very dry. Yeah us.

Blessing to all of you.

2 Weeks before the team leaves for Marare

Mulembe Friends (Hello)


2 Weeks from today the team will be in Marare for our final trip to Uganda.

 

Back row left to right:

Brian Leeder Diniz Rodrigues Allan Traub Rita Loteka Ajoo Modi
Front Row Left to Right:
Naomi Korner Marisa Rodrigues Vanessa Traub Mandy Leeder Vicki Traub


We are excited to go but as with all teams that have gone before, there is also nervousness and some fear of the unknown. But one thing is for sure that God has provided for every team and he will provide for this team as well. Please pray for us, it's a long flight, around 17 hours, then there is the 5 hour bus ride from Kampala to Mbale and the not so smooth roads. Please pray for safety, health and especially that we make all our connections. I know we will be fine, one thing that I have learned is that we have to trust God with all our worries and cares. Please keep the FH staff in your prayers as they prepare for our arrival.


We can hardly believe that Marare is graduating and has gone from extreme poverty to sustainability in 10 years. It's been fantastic watching the people of Marare become healthy and excited for what the future holds. For those of us that have been there before we are excited to see the changes from when we were there last, and spend time with the people of Marare and our friends at FH

 
It has been an incredible journey over the last 10 years. Thank you for all you prayers, love and support. Thank you for walking alongside the people of Marare. The transformation has been a mutual one.


 


We will continue to post updates both on this blog and on FaceBook throughout our journey.
Wanyala Nabe (Thank you)


Blessings
Diniz on behalf of the 2019 Northgate Baptist Church Marare Team

The End (For Now)

The big event for Sunday July 15 was the church services at St. James Church in Marare.  The first was in English (their “youth service”, although it was actually a fairly broad range of ages that attended) and the second was in Lugisu (their “traditional service” which also seemed to have a lot of young kids.)

We had been told that we were expected to contribute a lot to the service … certainly the sermon.  In the end Ralph from our team did this (for those who don’t know him, Ralph is a former Northgate pastor and is now the Dean at Taylor Seminary.)   We also decided to do a couple of testimonies from team members and a song.

For the song, I’ve heard the congregation and the choir at St James before and we knew we needed professional help.   Fortunately we had just that, in the form of Manjeri, one of the sponsored kids in the FH program.   Manjeri, who is 17, is an excellent singer and also actually writes her own songs.   So we brought in the heavy hitter  We practiced one of her songs (“Sometimes I pray” … we will teach it to Northgate when we get back) and were ready to be her backup group.  (we had Manjeri with us for the whole day, actually, which was really nice as we got to know her better)

Overall the services were a great experience.  Ralph gave a really good sermon on “Loving people even when we don’t actually like them”.   In the first service he gave it straight in English … in second he did it in English again but then David, one of the FH team, translated it line by line as it went along. After that Joshua, the Lay Reader, did what sounded like an extended recap in Lugisu … Joshua is a very passionate speaker, quite good to listen to even when you don’t understand a word.

(an explanation of “Lay Reader”.  There are far more church congregations than ordained ministers in the Church Of Uganda … for example there are five churches and one minister, the recently joined Rev. Alex,  in Marare Parish.  So the minister is in a different church each Sunday, and on the other Sundays a Lay Reader in each church leads the service)

For our testimonies first Tim shared how he came to follow Jesus … Ralph played a big role in that, with the two becoming friends through the friendship of their children.   Naomi shared hers, talking about the fact that she had been born with a number of physical challenges.  She then talked about how she has overcome them though God’s help to be the person she is today.   What she wanted was to encourage them to know that they too could overcome their difficulties; after the service one of the members came up to her to express how much this had encouraged her because they too have a child with physical challenges.

At the end of both services we sang Manjeri’s song with her.   Well, actually Majeri sang her song with us.  The congregation responded enthusiastically.   At the end of the first service they invited her to sing it again.  At the end of the second service many of the FH staff joined us.  It was great … a brilliant plan to have her with us!

A few words on the building … this is the new St. James Church that was still under construction when we visited in 2015.   It’s now done, and it’s really nice.   It’s about twice the size of the original church. And it has electricity!   We actually had microphones and everything!  I almost forgot I was in Africa …

… well, until I heard the congregation singing.   I distinctly remember the first moment, when we were sitting at the front with our back to them, and the congregation suddenly joined into a song in full voice.  I got goosebumps.  It is amazing to hear!

The two services ran from before 8 (when we arrived) to about 1:30, with only a short break in between them.  The last part of the second service is one of my favorite bits.   Keep in mind we are in an agricultural community with limited cash, so many people give their offering in produce.   When that happens they have an auction selling off that day’s produce to raise cash.  One of the congregation members brought a whole 7’ sugar cane and then gave it to us as a gift … we ate it with lunch, and it was delicious.

One other little aside that Naomi  observed.   The  soil in this area, like much of Uganda, is very red.  While wearing her white church shirt she discovered just how ubiquitous and invasive that red soil of Marare is.  Even though she didn’t actually touch it, her entire shirt is covered in a dusting of red.   You don’t need to go looking for the red soil; the red soil finds you.  (I can attest to this myself; I still have shoes with soles stained red from our last trip in 2015.)

After lunch we were able to visit Sharif, Tim’s sponsored child.  This is one of the 11 visits that we completed on this trip.

For many of these what we do is go to the sponsored child’s home at an arranged time (Molex, one the veteran FH staffers, does a bang-up job arranging these).  Going to the home is best, as typically we can meet with the rest of the family.   In this case we were greeted by Sharif’s grandmother, whom he is living with.  (that’s her on the left, with Molex on the right)

The sponsored child visits tend to be fairly short and informal.  The whole purpose is to convey our love and interest in the child and his family and to generally encourage them all.  Typically we sit down with them, conveying wishes from their sponsor (for sponsors not on the trip we brought videoed greetings to show the sponsored kids), pass them some small gifts and then make some conversation with them, finding more about them and their interests and lives. 

One thing about sponsored child visits is that they tend to be a spectator sport.   Almost every time we go into a home a group of small children gather and watch the proceedings.   In Sharif’s case this was particularly so, as he lives with a lot of children … his biological siblings and also a large (didn’t actually succeed in counting) number of cousins whom grandmother is caring for (at least two of their mothers, her daughters, appear to live there as well).

Of course we get a group picture....

And then at the end of this we then have a time to pray a blessing on the child and their family and home.  Often the children and almost always their caregivers express a lot of appreciation of us coming to visit; there is little question that the appreciation is genuine, sometimes very obviously so from the emotions expressed.  Sometimes they express this by giving us gifts, often of produce ... Sharif's grandmother gave us a whole bag of corn and large avocados!

The other big event was a thank-you dinner that we were able to have with the FH staff.   We really do appreciate the hard work that they do and wanted to make sure we expressed this as strongly as we could.   We ended up doing a bit of a recitation using candies we gave them (“You are real Lifesavers!  You are a real bunch of Smarties!  Etc, etc …. You get the idea).   We really hope we left them encouraged.

And now briefly on to Monday … I’m getting tired here, so I will leave most of this for sharing night, or perhaps a subsequent post.   The biggest event today was the formal goodbye.   

This is a very emotional and powerful event, but it has been described in some detail in previous year’s blogs so I won’t hit it much here.   We of course were dressed up in traditional garb….

… the school choir sang ….

… and the Adult Functional Literacy group did a song and skit describing the characteristics of each of us.  

After lunch (huge!), which was provided by parents from the community, we had a couple of hours just playing games and generally interacting with the children and others.   It was low key and quite enjoyable.   One highlight was watching Jennifer (see July 12), who is 62 years old, playing netball, and playing it well--making sure to block Tim.

Anyways, that’s all for now.   It was a great trip and journey, with still a lot to process.   Very thankful for good health for the team.  Thank you to all who were praying for us.  I am looking forward to sharing night, which will be September 23, 7 pm.  Join us if you can.  

God is good.   All the time.  And all the time.  He is good.  For that is His nature.