Before we left we were asked to write something for the blog about why were going on the Uganda mission trip. At that time we weren’t able to put our thoughts into words. We had very little time and too much that needed to be done before we were to leave, so writing has waited until now.

We felt that we were being called to go, but we weren’t sure why. Now I know why. The letters from our kids in Uganda are not very informative as too what their lives are like. They are more like form letters and leave many questions unanswered. Their letters don’t let us get to know them like they are family members, and we desired to know them and their families better. There was only one way to get to know them, go as we were being called.

We sponsor 4 children in Uganda, 3 in Kachungwa and 1 who attends Alex and Faith’s church in Luzira. I want to tell you about them and what we experienced.

 Starting with those in Kachungwa:

 Apolo, he is in primary school level 6 and has now finished his final exams. He lives on a little knoll about 200 meters from the church. His home is in a traditional family circle cluster, it is made of sticks and mud with a sheet metal roof. The first view I had of it was like I have seen in a movie.  I was awe struck! It was such a beautiful setting. Down in a little draw on the other side of the knoll was some tall grass with his family’s goats happily eating. We went into his home where they had woven straw mats on the floor and they had us sit on one of the benches they had. All of the family members that were there came to us one at a time and shook our hands, the girls all bowed or kneeled in front of us, it was a very humbling thing to sit there and receive this honor from them. His father died several years ago. They are so very grateful for our sponsoring Apolo because they don’t have a cash income to pay for his schooling. They live off of the land. Apolo’s standing at his school is near the top of his class, he has a dream of becoming a doctor. We hope that he is able to archive his goal. Some of the Christmas and birthday gift money we have sent to him he has used to buy goats, and other items of need.

The goats provide meat and milk, and when his herd becomes big enough he will be able to sell a few for a little cash income. This picture is a part of his extended family.

 

 

 Elinah, Lives a few miles away near the heart of the community in the valley and walks to school daily, she lives with a brother and sister-in-law her parents are both dead. She is in P7 at school and has missed a lot of school this year because of Malaria, because of that her grades are lower than she would like. Without our sponsorship she wouldn’t be able to go to

school. I wish that our schedule hadn’t been overfilled this year and had allowed us to visit with her family at their home and to learn more about them and see her recently purchased goat; I deeply regret that we just ran out of time. She is a shy sweet girl that I wish we knew better. We will just have to go again in Feb of 2015 and spend more time with our families, especially hers.

 

 Peninah is the youngest of the 4  we sponsor. She is in kindergarten. We have recently learned that 2 of her older siblings are sponsored by the Harvey’s.  Christian Lycan with us sponsored a family business for them several years ago. Now we have seen the results of sponsoring the family business it allowed her father to go back and finish high school. The business money was used to purchase 4 acres of land, pay some community members to help clear the brush that was on most of it and plant multiple inter-planted crops of Irish potatoes, “ground nuts,” a form of peanut, and casaba. The potatoes have now been harvested with part of them feeding the family, part has been used for the 2^nd crop that has been planted this year and most of the potatoes were sold. The money from the potatoes was enough for her father to buy more land from his brother. Her father is known to many of us as Pastor Paul, a volunteer pastor at Kachungwa’s out-reach church at Milembe. The ground nuts have been harvested and were stored in their home ready to sell, and the casaba will be harvested in a few more months. The business is self sustaining and growing. It not only supports their family but helps others in the community as well.

 

 

Our 4^th child is located in Luzira which is on the outskirts of Kampala her name is Linda. Her name is the only one that we can pronounce correctly, the other 3 are pronounced with a Uganda pronunciation with an accent on the first syllable.

Linda, is 13 years old and is a very bright and talented young lady, she attends Alex and Faiths church and has lunch at their house on some Sundays. Her parents have both died and she lives with step or is it step-step parents in one of the slum areas outside of Kampala. Her step mother recently had a baby of her own and had been away from home for a long time to take care of her own mother at a village that is a long distance away.  Linda is in grade P5 at Murchsion Bay primary school and is dreaming of becoming a doctor. From what I saw at church I would call her a socialite. Without our sponsorship she would not be in school and I’m not sure where she would be living. Faith took us to Linda’s home, before getting there we purchased some rice, beans, sugar, salt and soap as a gift, as we did for the other families. When we arrived at Linda’s home no one was there, she didn’t know we were coming we waited awhile and talked to one of her friends, as we were leaving we met her as she came down the path carrying a neighbors baby. We left there to go to Alex’s revival meeting together. We observed that 10 meters from where she lived was an African version of a “Bar” and 30 meters up the path was another one. We also noticed that several of the men that hung out around there showed a little bit too much interest in her she just ignored them, but we don’t like it!!! It’s little wonder why she doesn’t stay there a lot of the time. Later in the afternoon at the revival we got word that her step mother had arrived at the church which was a few blocks away. We walked with Linda to the church and walked back together to the revival with her mother, we had a chance to talk and take some pictures, and she stayed for around an hour before catching a “Taxi” for the 2 mile trip to home. About an hour later Linda showed a “book” that she had made with an old piece of newspaper for a cover. Isaac Williams and I looked at it in wonder and awe. When we got toward the back of book she put her hand over the page that we had started to look at, so we closed it up and handed it back to her and thanked her for letting us see it. Later she gave it to Geri, who thought it was just a piece of newspaper and folded it in half to look at later. When I found out that she hadn’t opened it and read it I showed Geri what was in it. You will get a chance to read it for yourself in an attached PDF file. I encourage you to do so! Grab your tissues first. Part way through the book you will notice where we started to sponsor her. You will notice a change. What she writes about in the start of the book is what she sees around her all the time.

 After we returned home Alex sent us a message saying that that day that we spent with her was probably the best day of her life. We haven’t stopped thinking about the kids and families there, and how we have had such an effect on their lives and others around them. By going to Uganda we now have a personal knowledge of these people; they are very much like family now. They are no longer just a picture of one of their children, we are family. We have contacted Faith and with Linda’s help they are going to help us pick another child to help.

Before leaving home we were told about some of our sponsors that haven’t received a letter in over a year. I talked to the folks at ARM while we were there about this. The answer is: During the rainy seasons the roads are not passable because of the mud. Sometimes they don’t have contact with the community for several months at a time because of the distance, roads and conditions. Some of the families are considered mobile that is they will move away for several months and then they will move back. When ARM finds out that a family has been gone for 3 months then they will try to find out where they went for the next 3 months. Letters are written 3 to 4 times a year and with one of these mobile families it is possible to go a year without getting a letter. At the present  from the time a letter is written to when we receive it 4 months may have lapsed. ARM is aware of this problem and is trying to make changes to the processes. If you are in the situation of not receiving a letter for this long of a time, please don’t just stop sponsoring the child, go to Renee and ask her to contact ARM to find out why. I think the number of children that are supported is around 8000, it’s a big job for just a few people to track.

Gary and Geri Dunfee

 

 

 

 

Last Day

8-6-13

After breakfast, we got our passports back from ARM, and squeaked in a tiny bit of shopping. We got food to go from the Java Café again and headed to the airport in Entebbe, which is an hour drive in good traffic. It's a very small airport with a duty free store, a craft store, one café, and one coffee shop.

It was about 4 hours to Dubai. Because of the closure of all Middle Eastern US Embassies, half the group opted to stay the night at the airport, but the rest went to the hotel. It was the Arabian Park Hotel this time, so we got to see slightly more of the city than on the way there. We got about 5 hours of sleep before we went back to the airport. Then another 13 hours to Seattle, 4 hour layover, then 1 hour to Portland. We figure the hotel sleepers were awake for 26 hours before we go to our homes. Needless to say we were all exhausted and satisfied with the whole trip.

PS. We heard back from Martin at ARM and they are going to Board Scovia at Grace Christian School, in Kachungwa, starting in Sept. Praise God for them helping her get out of her aunts home! So happy about this.

Sunday Again

8-4-13

Mukama akwe Omukisa!(God bless you)

This morning we all went to The City Church and most people stayed to help with Sunday School, except Ken, who was preaching. Brandon went to preach at a different church.
I went to preach at a church called "Hope for Kingdom Glory", which was near Alex's home. God gave me a message Friday night about a saying I heard in Melembe "water is life". I tried to get across that Jesus is life instead. The pastors name there is Maade Fred (M-ah-day) and his wife leads worship. The church is very humble; wooden poles wrapped in tarp with a corrugated metal roof that leaked. Their praises to God were beautiful. They are just starting a 15 day fast. Pray for them.
It rained really hard while there, which went with the message and cooled it down. God gave me so much peace there! I'm NOT a public speaker, but the only time I shook was during the parenting class.


I was picked up after church and taken back to The City Church and we handed out gifts and donated items to the kids. Then lunch at Alex's again. We had bananas steamed in the peel. They don't taste like bananas, but are still sweet.

We had some free time after lunch, so Jeff, Brandon and I went to a store to find something to use for water baptism. We found a blow up pool. Gary, Geri, and Ralph all went to visit their kids.

The crusade tonight started with singing and then Jeff baptized his girls and 8 more people. Shari and Gary gave testimonies and Isaac spoke. Every night of the crusade has ended with people giving their lives to Christ. So blessed by this time.
The power kept going out, but the drummer would take over and people would continue to dance and praise the Lord until we were finished.

Love in Christ, Danelle Chase

VBS

8-3-13

Today Pastor Peter from ARM came to breakfast at Adonai House to see how Canby and Kachungwa are and to update us on Gaba.

After that, we went to The City Church in Luzira (Alex's church) to do VBS with the kids until 4PM. The last number I heard of kids that signed up was 420, but some didn't register. They started with music and drama and choirs. We led them in the largest musical chairs game in history!
We went to Alex's house for lunch, where we had chapatti (a flat bread), and then back to the church for outdoor games. They liked Simon Says and Red Light/Green Light in our group.

We also met a child my mom asked me to sponsor for her, Hiba. She is the last total orphan in the area that needed a sponsor. PTL! She lives with her uncle and is in Alex's clan. She was scared to meet a Mazungu at first, but warmed up quickly and got to eat lunch with us. She's a tease.

I met a boy named Moses who asked me to remember him.
We also met our 5th sponsored child, Kevin. His dad is dead and his mother is Muslim. He has 1 brother and an uncle nearby. He was very shy. He took off to take his gift home and Brandon followed him and took a picture of his mother. They have a tiny shop that sells fruit and dried fish to the neighborhood. Later we bought some food for them and Brandon took me to see the shop.

Ken spoke at the crusade tonight about how God provides the way for us. Julie & Ralph gave testimonies. A number of the kids from the VBS were at the crusade, including Moses. He was telling me about how our home is in heaven and we are just visitors here. He's a funny kid. I don't think he has many friends. He wants to be a Christian, but he says that Lucifer makes him be bad too much. He says his mom doesn't want him to be either. I told him if he wants to be a Christian, then be a Christian and that Jesus beats Lucifer every time. I hope he believes me and gets saved. He asked me for a fingernail so he could remember me.

Love in Christ, Danelle Chase

Mercy Network

8-3-13

After breakfast, we stopped at ARM headquarters to discuss a few issues that arose, and then we went to an area called Kisubi near the Entebbe airport. There was a small church, called Life Transformation Church, who had some volunteer members working with Mercy Network to help hand out food and interpret for us. We weren’t in true slums, but were visiting the very poor and sick, people who were Catholics and hadn’t accepted Christ as their savior, people who needed a helping hand from the body of Christ. Sam, the chairman for the area was also there to thank us for coming.

Mercy Network works this way: they find 25 families in each of 12 locations. They deliver food 2 times a month for up to 1 year and then move on to other families so they don’t create dependance. They also help start pig farms and sewing businesses.

We split up into 4 groups and each group took 5-6 sacks of corn flour, sugar, protein porridge, and beans. We went into peoples homes, prayed for them and gave them the food.

My group was Brandon. Pastor Ken, and Ruth and Dan from the church.
First we went to Margarets’ home. She is 76 and a widow. She has taken in orphans and abandoned children. She has been very sick with Malaria and hasn’t had the strength to help the kids much lately. Please pray for her healing and protection for the kids so they don’t get it.

Next we visited Proscovia Namudu. She is a widow who is HIV+. When her husband died, he left her in a bad place. She came to live with her sister for 3 years, but she had nothing. Her sister died. She has taken in her 5 grandchildren and her sisters children, who’s parents are dead. She watches someone’s pigs for them to get money for rent and school fees. She speaks English pretty well, sings in church, and is believing God for her complete healing. She feels bad because everything she seems to put her hand to fails. She feels a demon may be following her around.

Rose is another widow who is HIV+. She has 2 kids and lives with her sister who has 8 kids. Her sister has a store and helps her when she is sick. She has converted from Catholicism. She has lost her job and needs another one as well as healing.

The last house we visited was of Olive and John. He is a boda boda driver and she cooks porridge at a school. They have 2 kids, Jovia and Rudi. She has not accepted Christ and is a Catholic. She asked us to pray for her mother, Specioza, who has a sickness that has caused her to not be able to walk for 2 years.

We saw some Taro plants and a bush the grows tiny berries that are like an eggplant.

We went downtown after that and had burgers/Mexican/fish and milkshakes at Java Café.

We saw Pastor Alex Mutagubyas' church, The City Church, which used to be Luzira Community Church, where they went over our schedule for Saturday. Then it was time for the first night of the crusade.

The crusade was located in an empty field where the community well is. Great location! People were coming and going for water the whole time and a lot stopped to listen. Brandon preached about how Mathew was the lowest of the low and Jesus called him and accepted him. Jeff and Isaac gave testimonies.

De-Nile!

8-1-13

A few people are getting sick, and not just from the water. It looks like the flu or something. Please pray for our health.

Today we split into 2 groups and rode covered boats up the Victoria Nile, because it comes from Lake Victoria before flowing into Lake Albert. We went as close to Murchison Falls as the current would allow. It was beautiful and it was cooler on the water. We saw: a ton of hippos, literally, Cape Buffalo, Water Bucks, Skimmers (a bird), grass heron, gray heron, African Darters called a snake bird, weaver birds, African Kingfishers which can hover, and African Fish Eagles (much like our Bald Eagles in size with more white on their heads).

We drove back to Muyenga and Adonai House immediately after the cruise. We saw so many little butterflies of all colors while driving through the jungle, but they were mostly too fast to take any pictures of. That took the rest of the day.

Love in Christ, Danelle Chase

Safari Day

7-31-13

Today we left the Town View Hotel at 5AM to head out to Safari. We passed through some road construction and some brush crews using machetes on the grass. It rained some more today. I hope these showers are showing up in Kachungwa as well.

Macindi Town is the last town before we enter the protected jungle area. We drove about 1 1/2 hours through jungle and baboons, then took a ferry across the Nile River, and checked into the Paraa Lodge. The Safari was from 4PM until dusk. The game preserve is huge, so it was hard to see some animals.
We saw: Oribi- tiny antelope that the leopards like because they can carry them into the tree to eat. Water Bucks- a small elk sized antelope. Cob- small antelope. Long-Faced-Stupid-Taste-Gooder- another large antelope with a long nose and mushy brains. Cape Buffalo, giraffe, elephants, Colobus Monkeys, Red Throated Bee Eaters
Whistling Acacia- a fuzzy looking, grey, tree with black balls in it. The balls are hollow and when they dry out they get holes and the wind blows through them making them whistle. Another acacia tree that had about 3 inch long, very tough thorns.

It was a fun and bumpy experience. The lodge was very nice with Americanized buffet food and really nice beds/rooms.

Love in Christ, Danelle Chase

Sidenotes

Interesting information I wanted to share.

Concerning food: Matoke is boiled plantain. It is a bland starch that reminds me of poi in flavor, but potatoes in consistency. Yams so far have been white with purple spots. They have a little more flavor than the Matoke. They are good plain or with gravy or peanut paste, which is also purple. Sweet potatoes are the white variety and are a little sweet. I like them. You can also put gravy on them.
Rice is served at every lunch along with chicken, Irish potaotes, cooked chicken livers, a little beef cubes, and fresh pineapple. Meat here is cooked to well done always. Anita didn't like the meat at the resort because it was about medium/ medium well.
Samosas are triangle shaped and deep fried like a wanton. They can be stuffed with meat, beans, or vegetables. Very tasty!
Mendazi is a slightly yeasty, deep fried donut, but not sweet. It's square shaped. Not bad.
At the resort we had Katoogo. It is stewed bananas in mixed vegetables, carrots, cauliflower, peppers, etc. in a tomato based sauce. The banana flavor is gone and tasted like the sauce, which is yummy. The bananas take on a potato consistency.

Birthdays: On Shari's Birthday, they dressed her in traditional clothes and slowly walked her into the church, in front of everyone, to the wedding march song. Todd and her cut the cake together into lots of small pieces and passed it around to as many as they could. She was so embarrased! Alex was the culprit. This is pretty typical of Birthdays.

About names here: I asked Alex about why people don't have the same last names as their fathers. He said that when a child is born, they are given 2-3 names that are from a list of acceptable names that each tribal clan has. When the child becomes closer to marriageable age, they can change the order of their name, add a name, or take their fathers name. First and last names are interchangeable, so it doesn't matter which name you call your child, in case the letters are unclear about it.

If you have a child like us with a "Ky" combination in their name, it is pronounced as "ch".

I met a man named Mugisha Francis Bekunda at Melembe. He gave me some information about being a chairman. He is the elected chairman LC1 of Melembe. He is the communities link to government activities and is in charge of mobilizing the people for projects like clearing a field, etc. Chairman LC2 is at the Parish level. Chairman LC3 heads the sub-county. Chairman LC4 is at the district level, which Uganda has 69 of. Chairman LC5 is the president.

Love in Christ, Danelle Chase

Home visits

7-31-13

Mukama yebazebwe! (Praise the Lord)

Today is our last day at Kachungwa. It rained heavy a few times, which cools things down usually for the rest of the day. That makes me a happy camper!

We drove out to Kachungwa proper to see the land the medical clinic should be built on. Please pray for that process to speed up. The paperwork should have been done in April. It is in the town behind the main row of stores and a layer of houses and a banana field. There is a well and power lines nearby. It was being used to grow peanuts recently. The town chairmen and people know about the clinic and some followed us up to watch us pray on the property and shook our hands. There is a guava tree on it that shouldn't have fruit, but did. Cool!

We also visited a bank that a member of Kachungwa Community Church has started. It is called Peoples Bank and they do small loans in the community and people are starting to save money there. This is something we want!

We bought some things to give to our kids' families, beans, rice, etc. Jeff bought a 25Kg bag of corn flour ($14) and the shop owner was dancing in the streets afterwards. We were happy to be able to influx some money into the town.

Back at the church, we went to the classrooms and did VBS for each grade. Brandon and I did P-6 where we sang a little and talked about the "who/what/where/why/when/how" method of studying the Bible and using the God separated from man where Jesus is the bridge over the gap illustration to show them a way to witness to others. The teacher said they understood and then we had a question time. They are really interested in our seasons and the teacher helped connect some of the things we said to lessons they have learned, like Fall and transpiration. That was very helpful.

After that, Brandon and I visited our first childs' house. Kayesu Kyalimpa lives really close to the school with her mother and 3 sisters, 2 sisters and brother from her fathers second wife. The father and second wife are dead. The fathers mother lives next door. The mother works at digging to pay for 1 girls schooling and at least two of the others are sponsored. They all go to school except the little boy and girl. The mother sold a pig to buy a fairly big mud wall house for the area. They have 6 pigs. The mother also is involved at helping at the church. Praise the Lord for her hard work and commitment!

After a quick lunch, we visited our other girl named Scovia Muhembisi (sp). Her situation is not so good. She lives about 3km away from the church in a tiny town called Kysinga with 2 aunts, one is crippled and the other has a baby, and her uncle and older sister. Her aunt and uncle drink and either neglect or possibly abuse her. She hardly talks and is very closed off. She found us at the school a few times and will hug us and hold our hands, but she won't speak unless spoken to. She disappears back home if you let go of her. She has a grandmother who lives far away, who she visits occasionally. Her mother ran off and her father is dead. Her mud house was VERY tiny and they have 1 pig. She needs prayer and we need prayer to know what to do for her.

To my nervousness, we had to ride a boda boda (motorcycle) to visit our first boy, John. He's kind of shy and quiet. He lives 6km away in Kachungwa town. His father is dead and his mother , 2 younger sisters and brother live with their grandmother. They lived farther away, but moved here recently so he could go to school. There is also an aunt and cousins that live nearby. He takes care of meat sheep (not the wool type) and have a mixture of other animals as well. He gave us a chicken, which we named George.

We have another child here, Sam Nsynga (sp), but we ran out of time and weren't able to visit his home. That was very disappointing because we learned so much about the others through this process. Sam grabbed on to Brandon and followed him around as much as he could. He seems more outgoing.

I have to give a shout out to my boda boda driver, though. He was slower than normal and he let me hold on to him. Normally and woman rides side saddle behind the driver and doesn't hang on. I, thank the Lord, had shorts on under my skirt and was aloud to ride straddle and wrap my arms around him. I also had George under one arm on the way back, so I was happy and relaxed at his gentleness. We were a big source of humor for everyone who saw us driving. Oh, well.

Love in Christ, Danelle Chase