Doing the spiritual warfare training (resources here) with the World Venture missionaries (here) was an event I’d been looking forward to. We had met many of them already, enjoying the interactions with fascinating people. As I expected the session got deep fast with lots of interaction and immediate application. Of course tea and conversations followed with individuals asking very personal questions.

Sherry and I went to find Florence, the lady who is the care taker of the Hope Alive! Africa country office (in the background of the picture). We had enjoyed talking with her, seeing her delight in serving and making sure everything was clean and ready for use. As we shared stories of our children I was struck with the vast difference in lifestyle between rich Americans and a lady who lives in a slum. But we have a common love for children and Jesus.

We gave her a book mark, explaining that the wooden piece was the outline of our state of Oregon and the heart cut out in the middle was our commitment to love and pray for her. You would think we had given her the crown jewels! Then she knelt down in front of me and then in front of Sherry to express her gratitude. Fortunately I’d been warned so I didn’t reach to lift her up to alleviate my discomfort.

We went to a home visit to see Shamila and her family. We were welcomed into her house warmly. I was taken  aback to see a very drunk man laying in the front part of the tiny slum home. Then I remembered that her mother supported the family by being the dispenser of “home brew” for the people in the slum. There is a VERY strong pressure for young women to grant sexual favors to

men and to get pregnant. The narrative is “No man will accept you as a wife until you prove you can bear children.” It is a formula for abuse. Since her whole life is spent in the immediate vicinity of drunk men, it is no surprise that Shamila got pregnant. That means she has to leave school. But unlike many others, Shamila had the resources of Hope Alive! to help and redemption work kicked in. She went to live with Carol, the site supervisor and her husband as she delivered. There she saw first hand what marriage and family can be. Revolutionary. She is taking a year to raise Nimungu Emanuel (Emma) and her sister’s 2 year old, Rebekah, while she is in police training for a year.

Shamila woke Emma up from his nap and of course I soon had him in my lap. He just stared at me as if to say “what is this strange creature holding me?” Even as I smiled and talked with him, I felt very much the mzungu (Swahili for someone who wanders without purpose / someone constantly on the move. Now it is the general word for white person, people without family, village, or tribe.) I just felt the outsider trying to understand how one lives successfully. Emma got some lunch from Shamila and soon was smiling and enjoying us playing with him.

We went to Rose’s home which was back to back with Shamila’s. The difference was striking. Where Shamila’s was literally and metaphorically dark, Rose’s was filled with light. The results of a gospel life in the extreme economic poverty of the slum was overshadowed with the hope of Jesus. Her son, Stephen, a Hope Alive! project graduate is working in a high tech job and supporting his family. Rose bubbled with joy as we talked. This is where Shamila can find good support as she raises the children and her Mother tries to make money selling mangos in the street so she can stop serving local brew.

We had supper with Jay and Kait. She did a a short term as a nurse with Hope Alive! and decided to give her life to serving in Uganda. Then she met Jay, a godly fun physician who wanted to marry her. “Only if you come to Uganda,” she said. God overcame his initial lack of interest and they were married. Now his Indian ethnicity has given them wide open doors to work in this largely unreached powerful East African sub-community of professional and merchants. Listening to their story against the earlier time with Shamila highlighted the power of the gospel in the lowest and the highest strata’s of society.

We began our our trip to the top of Murchison Falls with a ferry crossing of the Victoria Nile. What we had seen from below was far more dramatic from the top as the whole river goes through a slot in the cliff that is just a six meters wide. Still pictures can’t do justice to the scene at all, so I took videos. This one is from the level of the bridge that was built in 1960. It lasted two years before the river rose up and destroyed it. If you look closely you will see the river reaching up toward me as well as Pious and Sherry at the “wet spot.” Then I walked to the top of the falls and took this one. Then I walked down river to over look the most intense part of the falls and took this one. I zoomed to see the little island I’d climbed onto on yesterday’s boat trip, where I looked up rive to the falls and shot this one. Finally I went up to the “wet spot” where the spray drenches one quickly and took this one.

It seemed that the “guards” were not going to allow us to leave as we headed for the south gate and into Masindi and continued back to Kampala for Connie Jarlsberg’s birthday party at the Italian Restaurant.

We began our full day in the park early taking our breakfast as soon as the restaurant was open. Sitting on the veranda overlooking the forest down to the Victoria Nile is a fabulous way to get a day going.

I had asked Henry to join us since he had done so well on Tuesday. It was a good decision. As we drove through the savannah, seeing all sorts of animals, we discovered he was a bird expert too. That delighted Catharine, who is also a birder. There some others in the Lodge, and more stereotypical birders: dress in odd clothing, totally earnest, carrying telescopes and large lens cameras. Not a smile in the group.

The White Nile came into view as we crossed the high ridge, but our interest was else where: the antelope were running for no apparent reason. That signals lions on the move. Henry and George, our driver, lead us in searching through our binoculars. We drove further. At one point George climbed up on top of the Range Rover peering intently up the hill.

“There they are!” he cried excitedly. They were far away, but there was no doubt about it. Henry directed George to drive up that way. As a senior ranger he could over rule the “do not drive off the road” rule. We went up the hill through trees and savannah, toward the spot they thought the lions might come out.

 

And they did! A lioness emerged from the trees moving purposefully. We watched intently only to see her look back and call her cubs. First there were three and then another larger one came. Henry explained the last one was probably not her cub, but one that had joined for some reason.

Even through it was getting big enough to be really dangerous, I could not but think, “how cute!”

They kept moving behind a tree and then into view again for a bit. Finally they were out of sight, looking for lunch. Who cannot marvel at such things – well I guess antelope don’t!

Our three hour game drive turned into more than five hours. There was so much to see there’s no way to get it all into a journal entry. There are more pictures here if you want to take a look. I will put videos into the final travel blog when I get to cheaper internet.

After lunch, we went down to the boat to journey up the Victoria Nile the see the bottom of Murchison Falls. The day was beautiful made even better by the fact that there were not many people so we got to take the new smaller plush boat with soft seats.

The hippos were everywhere, their distinctive snort rolling across the water. This was just one of the many hippo families we watched feeding in the afternoon sun.

The crocodiles were large but quickly slid into the water as the boat approached. It wasn’t until nearing the end of the trip that I was able to catch one on video.

The elephants are always fun to watch. Catharine caught the picture of the day when this big one decided the sun was a bit hot and he needed to cool down – or maybe to wash up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I loved seeing all the exotic birds. The two that were most fascinating to me were the Fish Eagle – related to the American Bald Eagle – and the Malakite King Fisher. Both are super colorful and a complete delight to watch.

As we continued up the river the foam thickened, indicating that the falls were near. We pulled up to a small island near the trail that  you can hike up to get to the top of the falls (next time?). The captain maneuvered the boat carefully and finally he allowed us to step off and climb up a rock to get the best view of the falls.

Of course I climbed up to the top – and not just because of the view which was spectacular. What a wonder to think that the huge volume of the Victoria Nile comes through that tiny split in the rocks.

Sherry decided to a massage and discovered that the masseuse was a fervent Christian so they had a great conversation. Catharine and I jumped into the pool and fulfilled a smile as we sat on underwater stools and sipped our juice. Then it was dinner on the veranda with Pious joining us.

Most of the day Saturday focused on teaching spiritual warfare to the fifteen or so Hope Alive Country staff at the country office. I don’t have to try to get them to believe in the reality of the demonic. Most have had personal experience with it. Most have been taught that you have to go to a gifted pastor to deal with the demon, so my approach to get the person who has been attacked to do their own spiritual work – usually with help from your friends – is very different.

This picture of the group is “African style” with everyone as stiff and serious as possible. They laughed at the “required” pose so hard we almost never got the picture taken. “American style” (below) felt much better for this fun loving group.

There are so many fascinating stories here. William, in the sport jacket at the back of the left picture, is a Hope Alive! Africa graduate who is now moving into a mentor role. He is getting 10 students assigned to him so he can mentor the student and also whatever family the student lives with. Where death is so common, it is some times a biological parent, but often an aunt or even an older sibling. Keeping students in family arrangement  is crucial to success in life in Africa. He will do Bible study, teach life skills, help with homework in order to help the student learn spiritual and earthly life.

Sunday was Lugogo Baptist Church (http://www.lugogobaptist.org/).  We already at the building both Tuesday and Wednesday for HA! sessions, so there were many familiar faces. But I had not met Abby yet. Neither did I get to hold her. She had a very good place with Catharine. The worship was African which means whole person worship which feels a bit weird to this American fellow, but one does get into it. A little girl in front of us was really going until I turned the camera on (of course). You can see her here.

Later a fellow from Congo did a song – full of energetic praise. The congregation joined in. About half way through a group formed spontaneously (I was told – and it’s typical) and danced to the front to express their praise. You can see them here. Sherry thinks this would be good for Grace, my church back in Gresham.

Friday I noticed that I had a sore spot on my right leg above the ankle but didn’t pay much attention. Just a bump. It didn’t improve on Saturday. It was a little hard to sleep since it was painful if I laid on it. I showed it to Sherry and Catharine Sunday morning. Both were concerned. Sherry thought it looked like the cellulitis I had four hers ago, but that spread rapidly and caused both fever and great pain, which were not present. Catharine thought it looked like a bite, which made sense to  me. She recommended using a cortisone crème which had worked for her. It made the red much deeper and felt good but did not change the pain or the knot.

Catharine knows a physician who is part the World Venture team. He and his wife had arrived on the Saturday midnight flight. I was planning to chat with him Monday – don’t want to cause problems – but both ladies wanted to advance the agenda. Catharine called his wife, knowing she would be going to Dorothy’s shower. Jay was still sleeping but called back later. Catharine sent him a photo and he asked lots of questions before arriving at the cellulitis diagnosis and prescribing an antibiotic. We drove to the pharmacy and  bought them over the counter (how different from USA!). I followed doctor’s orders and  started taking them immediately.

As we pulled out of Hotel Zebra I was struck by the fellow closest to us in the picture. As you look closely you’ll see the local way of dealing with paraplegia: No wheel chairs or motorized scooters, but this hand cycle. In this case he has help from his children as he heads up the hill. The other traffic is quite common. The motorcycles are “Boda Boda,” the most common form of public transportation. There are walkers on the side of the road everywhere. This woman with a large bag of something was in a rural area, with no houses anywhere in sight. Just before I snapped the picture, she raised her arms so that her forearms were relieving the burden on her head and neck. I asked Bosco how far she might be walking with this heavy load: “15 or 20 kilometers,” he said. My heart went out to her and many others with such loads. If is a blessing to have a bicycle to be your cart especially if you are transporting water containers.

We had to stop at the Equator, of course. If nothing else they have public toilets, a rare thing here. I was more interested  in the local people than in shopping so I wandered down the road a bit to find Rachel and her Mom playing and hoping to make a sale. My reaction was to stay on the other side of the road and not interfere. She saw my camera and invited me to take pictures. So I came over and quickly made a new friend. She invited me to look at her wares but I had no money with me. “Looking is free,” she laughed. I stayed to play with Rachel. If you look, their shop is a shipping container. As we left, I playfully asked Rachel if she wanted to go with me. She took my hand and was ready to get in the car!

Bosco stopped at one of the many small stands along the way to pick up some tomatoes. I stepped out to do a picture and also made a new friend.

As we entered Kampala, Catharine stopped at the Post Office to check mail. The clerk was her friend (not surprisingly she has many friends in this very relational culture) so they chatted happily. Notice the thing here you would never see in a post office in the USA?

We arrived back mid afternoon with a couple of hours free, so I accepted Darrie Turner’s offer to talk about things Ugandan, especially traditional religions and spiritual warfare. I really appreciated his kind offer especially since he and Debbie got caught in traffic that delayed them nearly an hour. Their stories and experience of people who have to keep the ancestral spirits and local demons happy made me want to preach the gospel of freedom in Christ to everyone. If you do not feed the spirits by spilling some of your food or drink on the ground or do sacrifices of chickens before building or planting, you will be in big trouble. Stories are common of children sacrificed and buried in the foundations of larger buildings. They live in fear of enemies going to a witch doctor to put a curse on you and ruining your life. Over 85% of Ugandans are Christian though many are nominal. They are very syncretistic combining Christian practices with African traditions. A 2010 Pew study showed that about 27% of Ugandans believe that sacrifices to ancestors or spirits can protect them from harm. One common saying is “you can’t have too many gods here.” The Gospel must be preached and lived here!

The evening ended with Mutungo Outdoor Theater. Catharine invites friends to gather to enjoy a movie on her lawn with popcorn and snacks, of course. This time Frozen was the feature. It was followed by a supper of butternut squash soup with lots of stores and laughter.

The highlight of the day in many ways was the three home visits. We met Rose, the site supervisor, (going up to the door in the picture) and two of the mentors there and went to the three homes. As you can see, the homes are very humble. There is just one small room, a curtain for a door. No indoor plumbing or cooking place with an open trench to carry the water away.

The first home was Godfrey. He is a pastor in a small church caring for his son, Caleb, and Ivan, a foster child, both Senior 4 which is the the equivalent of our high school. That is when everyone takes their exams. everything depends on your score and you only get one chance. If you do very well, there are scholarships to university and the possibility of a life style with such things as indoor plumbing if you graduate. If you pass, you can go to university, but you have to find your own funding. If you do not pass, then you are pretty much consigned to a life of poverty.

Godfrey kept expressing his gratitude for our visit. When he heard that his home was the first we ever visited, his gratitude exploded! From my American perspective, I have done nothing for him other than my contributions to Hope Alive! Africa (yes, you can do that too!). From his perspective I had honored him immensely.

I expressed blessing to him for being a father faithful to his son as well as other men’s sons. I blessed him for working hard as a porter in a factory job that seems like virtual slave labor to me – he was so grateful to have a job (paying perhaps $30 per month) so he could buy some food, charcoal to cook food, drinking water, and pay his rent (perhaps $12 per month). He left his wife in the village with another child so he could get an education for Caleb. Sherry and I told him of our family and he rejoiced with  us. He kept laughing in joy as we talked.

We met Sarah and her daughter, Shamim in the second home. She was a bit embarrassed she had only one “chair” for for Sherry to sit on. I joined the others on the reed mat on the floor. After a bit, her son, Sharif, arrived. As we told stories Rose asked if Sarah was ready to be saved. I was a bit taken aback by the question, but folk here are quite open to say they are not saved when talking with believers. Catharine joined Rose is speaking the gospel to Sarah, but she was not ready yet. I asked if she went to church somewhere and she said she was Catholic. We were a bit surprised since her children have Muslim names. That was from her husband who was gone. When we asked if she worked, she was a bit shamed to say she did not. She just does odd jobs any where she can to get money for rent and food. We prayed for her and departed. I asked if I could do a picture so I could pray for the family and found that she felt very honored that I wanted that.

As we approached Annette’s home, an actual house which she managed to acquire through  hard work and some gifts from others, I saw four grave stones. They were her husband and three of his brothers, all dying of AIDS, the epidemic disease here. Annette had been a widow since 2002 and was HIV positive herself. She brought out two chairs and insisted that I join Sherry there while the others sat on mats on the grass. From the right are Peter, her cousin, Ben, the HA! mentor, Norman and Collins, her sons, Annette, Catharine, and  Rose, the site supervisor.

Annette asked if we would like a soda. I was clueless as to what to say. Knowing her poverty, I was inclined to decline. Suspecting that her generosity was real, and taking some facial clues from Catharine and Rose, I accepted. Of course I wanted to whip out my wallet and pay but that would only despise her hospitality. She was very pleased to give us something. I still marvel how I measure everything in economic terms even though I cognitively know honor-shame, and hospitality. Then we had do figure out which soda to get. No way I was choosing Coke since that would be more expensive. They enjoyed explaining Ugandan sodas and we decided to have Fruitee.

Collins is a top student and also a gifted football player at position 8 (striker in soccer). I said the Portland Timbers needed him. It turns out some from their area are top professionals in Europe, UK, and America. There is real possibility that he could join them. But school is his first priority. Norman is the brilliant student, loving science especially. Annette glowed as we pulled the stories out of her sons. As in the other homes, we asked for prayer requests. I was struck that Annette asked for a very real gift: Life.

The family joined us as we walked to the car. I looked behind me to see this scene. I am very glad she a woman in the most dire straits is saved, marveling that she smiles and blesses everyone. I want to have her attitude of joy, generosity and hospitality in my position of richness and privilege.

We checked into the Hotel Zebra, getting excellent help as you can see.  The video is here. The entrance to the hotel  was not so impressive, but the facility was very nice. Only problem is that there was no electricity in the town so everything was dark. The greeter assured us that the generator would go on soon and be on all night. I will admit I was skeptical, but his word was good. After we got checked in we went to visit some of the homes of the students. I will put that in a different post since it was so moving.

Thursday’s supper and Friday’s breakfast were on the veranda. I find that I am a huge fan on Katogo, a savory mix of . . . well I am not sure what. I’ll have to find out. [Update: it has many variations but always includes matooke, a kind of green banana, and a sauce often with inexpensive meat – it was a poor man’s food which has become very popular]

I was deeply touched by the attitude of the mentors, especially Patrick. He was a student from extreme poverty who enrolled in the Hope Alive! Africa program, graduated last year and is now serving as an intern. I have rarely seen some one so bright and also so committed to humble service. His love for Jesus came out strongly as he took a turn leading in the singing and then prayed. Wish I could have gotten more of his story – but he was too busy serving.

We left early for Masaka which is about 90 miles southwest of Kampala. The town was destroyed in the 1979 war with Tanzania and again in the Ugandan civil war in the early eighties. You would never know it today. It is beautiful, quiet and peaceful. It has a couple of hundred thousand people in the district and perhaps 75,000 people in the town.

We crossed the equator as we neared Masaka. It was our first time to cross into the southern hemisphere (although technically that was true in Nairobi on our way here, we were far too busy getting to our next flight to notice). We took the obligatory picture but did not pay for the hoax to see water go down a drain clockwise a few meters north, counter clockwise a few meters south and straight right on the equator. We did buy some things from the aidchild.org market and enjoyed African tea to refresh us for the remaining drive.

Bosco, our driver for the trip, is a most interesting fellow. He was telling me of some of the tensions with his wife’s Muslim family. They don’t like him since he has no religion. Although he is Christian, he is nothing since he is not Muslim. We talked further about religious relations in Uganda. He said there is no problem here – yet. There are Muslims with a plan to make Uganda an Islamic country though 70% of the population is Christian at least in name. I sure hope not in light of Sudan’s official decision to hang a pregnant woman who married a Christian and converted in the process (story here). She was shown great charity in that she was not executed immediately but given until Thursday to return to Islam.

I taught spiritual warfare to the staff and mentors of Hope Alive Africa (www.hopealiveafrica.org) gathered in their meeting room at Masaka Baptist Church. They were eager students with many questions. We started with a very fun time of singing. You can hear two songs here. See if you can get the message of the second song which starts about 2:30 into the recording.

One challenge for my teaching is that the electricity in Masaka has been out for three weeks or so reportedly because of a transformer failure. Doing things directly from Bible, which I much prefer, is impossible with a variety of translations. Fortunately the nearby Compassion office has solar power, a generous spirit, and long extension chords so we were able to work a shared text projected onto the wall.

Another challenge is that they had a very difficult case with a demonized woman and that dominated their thinking. They were very appreciative for the more widely useful scriptural teaching but things go exciting when it was time to talk about that case. Unfortunately there are not simple answers to difficult cases so we did more sharing of ideas and experiences, which I enjoyed immensely. I was able to bring into questions some common and dangerous practices like interviewing the demon.

We started about an hour later than announced. Hardly unexpected. So after a couple of hours of teaching, they said lunch was ready so I adjourned the session at 1:00. It was 2:00 when the lunch actually arrived from the local restaurant. The Ugandan fare was delicious and the portions HUGE. Despite my pleas for relief my plate was heaping.

[time to head back to Kampala – to be continued]

11:00 May 11 means departure time, so we loaded our suitcases and carryon bags into Jerry Fast’s van and began the long trek. The 10 hour  Portland to Amsterdam leg. We love the A330 with two up seating so Sherry gets her aisle and I get my window to see the barrenness of the far north of Canada, Hudson’s Bay, Greenland and the arrival in Amsterdam, and we can still snuggle.

Amsterdam was a much quicker turn around than we expected with a full scan check in to the travel lounge but then if you look REALLY closely you might notice that the nose tire of our 747 is worn and needs to be replaced. Didn’t see it? Well no one else did at the time. But it delayed our departure by 90 minutes making our turn around  in Nairobi very iffy, which set off my travel paranoia, of course. Sherry is much better at trusting God than I, as you can see.

The flight over the Sahara was fascinating. I tried to take pictures, but alas none really showed the barren beauty. The lake behind the Aswan dam was amazing with irrigation coming out. Sherry and I both slept a bit and enjoyed full meals and snacks. Remember the days? You can see the fellow across the aisle who used his blanket to make a tent. He and the woman between us were athletes from one of the Gulf States going to Kenya to train track and field athletes there. Sadly, she was so soft spoken I could hardly hear her over the roar of the jet engines.

We did make the flight to Entebbe, but it was a great rush. Sherry had requested wheel chair assistance and the fellow earned his keep. We even went through diplomat queues only to be stopped by a locked door to the tarmac. A nice lady finally arrived and we rushed to the plane and completed our journey.

I had hoped to see Entebbe, but the midnight arrival made that impossible. The assistant made our journey through passport control very easy indeed and soon we were greeted by Catharine Coon with warm welcome and our drive to her home. Our beds in her “servant quarters” were most welcome.

Tuesday morning was a chance to join the Hope Alive Africa (www.hopealiveafrica.org) Break Away session. It is school holiday here so they have a time for the students to gather, sing and do creative lessons, a feature notably lacking in the rote memory oriented schools. After a time of singing praise to Jesus, the group was eager to learn and quickly got into Catharine’s “Math and Art” activity. Every classroom was filled, so Jesse, a short termer from Salem (can anyone say “small world”?) took her primary reading class outside for their lesson. The students are from poverty stricken homes and reading a real children’s book is an unknown pleasure.

I asked several for their stories. Ambrose (pictured) and his brother, Dennis, were two of them. Both were orphans who had lost their hope when Hope Alive found them. They both worked really hard in school. Dennis is now in program to study electrical engineering. Ambrose just finished his secondary school and the exams. He passed them
but is not sure his score will qualify him for a government scholarship. There is not as much money available now. I listened to his faith in Jesus, his deep hope to serve, and his wondering what he will do if he does not get a scholarship. Tuition is far out of his ability. . Results will not be announced until after we are gone. So he prays and I join him. Will you?

We stopped by the super market to pick up a few things before heading home. Who would expect a big display of chicken gizzards? And “monkey gland sauce??” Is it real or just a name? I decided not to try it.