DAY 2 UP IN THE UGANDAN MOUNTAINS
Our second day in Uganda was spent high in the mountains. Pastor Robert had organized to take us to his native village which was about a 4 hour bus trip straight up into the mountains. The drive was beautiful (& a bit treacherous), but gave us a spectacular view of the city below. Uganda was beautiful, so incredibly green & we were definitely headed into almost jungle-type areas. We all joked that any minute now we'd be 'crossing into the Congo,' & to 'watch out for the Gorillaz'!
The poverty in this part of the country was extreme: children in tattered clothes, no running water, no electricity & nothing motor-powered. People were walking w/ huge banana cluster(s) on their heads up & down the mountain, & bicycles, it seemed, were the luxury items here.
We arrived to the mountaintop & the village of Bugenyanya! It was beautiful, & before long we were again swarmed by villagers, mostly children. Bishop Alex later remarked that most of these people had never seen white people & no Western missionaries had ever set foot in Bugenyanya! The village was definitely agriculturally driven - with coffee & bananas being the staples.
We parked our vehicles at a little medical post which had very little medical equipment or medicine - but at the same time had every wal covered w/ literature on HIV/AIDS, a disease which had reached epidemic proportions in Uganda.
OUR 1st STOP in Bugenyanya was the little kindergarden which Pastor Robert not only supported, but started. He donated his plot of land for the project, on which 3 small adobe structures had been built - as classrooms for the children. On our way 'down' to the sloped plot where the kindergarden was located, we passed a larger school & greeted the kids in school there from a far. Children from that school dropped everything to run across the field & greet us - & would follow us for the rest of our time there, in spite of Pastor Robert's attempts to get them to return to class. The children at the kindergarden stole our heart with a presentation they'd prepared for us. The sheer number of kids was astounding for such a small village. The teachers were Christian volunteers who received sporadic 'offerings' as their only compensation. They also provided the kids with porage daily as most kids showed up to school w/ empty stomachs. We gave our presentation, thanked the small staff of teachers for all that they were doing & were all moved by the whole experience - leaving w/ that 'is there nothing more we could do for these little ones?' feeling.
The need was overwhelming.
From the kindergarden we headed back up to the adobe church which had been planted there. The church structure in Bugenyanya was actually in much better shape than the one that Pastor Robert was planting back in the city. We arrived to the church as WORSHIP ROARED from the congregation. As in Kenya everyone was so joyous, happy to see us, & expecting great things from our visit. We gave a short presentation & Larry spoke a brief message.
One cool thing we were able to do sort of symbolically was to unite Bolivia & Uganda, lining up Bolivians shoulder to shoulder in a line & then pairing them, face to face w/ a Ugandan brother or sister. These were 2 PEOPLE GROUPS that probably had NEVER COME INTO CONTACT before & how cool was it that we had the chance to do so in a time of worship of the one, true, living God! After the service they served us a very nice lunch & we were able to talk to some of the locals a bit more.
As soon as lunch finished we were rushed to set up both the medical/dental clinic, that would be held in the church; & the evangelistic presentation which would be held in the middle of the village & take place at the same time as the clinic. Sergio, Susan, & Silenny went with part of the Kenyan team back to the church to administer what few meds. they still had. I know they were frustrated at such insufficient resources in response to such tremendous need. They did the best they could, prayed with patients & nevertheless, were able to bless many folks.
Back in the middle of the village the team gave their presentation, wrapping up w/ the drama & an inspired message & invitation to receive the Lord given by Roberto. Literally right next to where we'd set up the presentation, was the equivalent to the 'local bar'. Several older patrons were drinking locally brewed, corn-based alcohol. It was strong and they drank it out of a kettle. We made friends w/ a couple of the men & invited them to see the drama & hear the message. It was cool to witness to them although they were pretty hardened to the message. There's a pic above of 2 of the men. One of them turned out to be the village chief's brother.
After our presentation we were introduced to the village chief who spoke very good, proper, queen's English, & seemed rather young to be a chief. He had obviously been educated outside of the village & was ever so grateful for our visit. He seemed authentic & genuinely burdened for his village - we affirmed him & encouraged him to live out his dream of furthering his education which might inspire other young people in his village to do the same.
From there we packed up and headed back half way down the mountain to the school where we'd be staying the night. It appeared to be a U.S.AID supported boarding school & was equipped w/ beds, kitchen etc. We were famished, by the time we reached the school & after a few hours, and a time of worship in Spanish amongst the team, we ate a lovely dinner prepared for us by the 2 caretakers there. There was no electricity & it was very dark in the bedrooms so everyone moved around by candlelight. We were all shattered and once again felt a much heavier spiritual atmosphere. Unbeknownst to us this night would bring us our 1st real test/trial/scare.
No comments:
Post a Comment