Uganda Travel Log: Day 9 – Really busy but really good

Posted on May 30, 2017 by Jeff Block

Location: Mbale, Uganda
Thursday, May 25, 2017

Kids Running Around

Prologue to the Day

I gotta admit, I was pretty grumpy today. Sadly. I got somewhat frustrated yesterday with the way we organized the hike to the waterfall, and I didn’t handle it the way I should have. So, instead of directly engaging the people involved and getting over it (you know, actually handling it in a biblical way), I let grumpiness fester, and it made today a lot harder than it needed to be. Sigh.

Grumpy DwarfOne of the casualties of my bad mood is that I also don’t have any pictures for today. The truth is, though, that the opportunity for pictures today was limited anyway. My grumpiness just didn’t help, though. So sorry, friends.

At any rate, we started the day with breakfast at the house, as usual. But I realize that I have never described what that really means, so here goes… Typical breakfast this week, including this morning, has been: hard-boiled eggs (with white yokes — which I guess is a byproduct of what they feed their chickens here), pineapple and mango (amazing pineapple and mango), sweet white bread, wheat bread, peanut butter, strawberry jam, butter, coffee, tea, and mango juice. YUM!

Playing with the Kids at Namatala

playing soccer

After breakfast, we left early for the Namatala slums. This is where half of us attended church (and some preached) on Sunday. Today, we played games with a couple hundred kids while their moms worshipped together at one of the local churches. These women are primarily involved in the brewing industry — which we talked about yesterday. That means that they are in fact somewhat shunned by “proper” Ugandan society, because brewing is generally a disrespected profession. The way people talked about it, it seemed like it might carry a stigma similar even to something like prostitution. Very interesting, and very sad.

At any rate, we played and played with the kids. It was really hot – probably the hottest day of the whole trip – and the sun was beating down on us. And of course we had to dress “appropriately,” which means jeans for guys and skirts for girls; proper Bazungu (that’s us white folk) do not show leg in public in Uganda. But, even given all that, we had a blast.

As a result of the sun, attire and kids, we got pretty dirty and extremely sweaty – especially Mike, who was tackled repeatedly by friendly, fun-loving kids. Children came up to me in droves, wanting to jump on me or hang on me or rub the hair on my arms (which was clearly very foreign / strange to them) or make my watch beep. It was a ton of fun, and I felt like we really served the kids. Another of our team members, Rebecca, led us in a skit of the story of David and Goliath (see 1 Samuel 17), which was super fun. Four kids played David and his 3 sheep. Mike played Goliath. Zack played God. And I played a terrified Israelite, cowering in a corner with Taylor, my fellow soldier. And the rest of the team played Philistines. After the skit, we taught them a song, then they taught us a song. And then, it was games, games, games out in the courtyard … including an epic game of Duck-Duck-Goose.

While we were outside playing, a number of the women from our team were inside the church with local JENGA volunteers, praying and worshipping with the moms from Namatala. I don’t know much about what went on inside, except that women who feel doubly-outcast — both by the society at large because of their professions and by Christians who think they are cursed because of their circumstances — were able to come together to worship the Lord without judgment or fear. That is awesome.

But whatever was happening inside, our playtime outside was truly wonderful. We had so much fun, and I think we made the kids feel loved. A couple of children in particular really touched my heart, including a tiny little guy who was just wondering around among other kids – to slow to catch the bubbles older kids were blowing and popping (we brought a case of bubble bottles, which the kids loved). So, I flew him around a bit like superman to catch the bubbles, and ended up spending time just holding him, and then one child after another on my lap or in my arms. I was naturally drawn to the ones who weren’t either able or willing to run around crazy playing sports with the Americans (most of the American team are athletes at TIU).

Sustainable Coffee Ministry

coffeeNext on the agenda, the team planned to travel back up the mountain to tour a church involved with JENGA in growing and selling coffee. Part of their development ministry is to focus on sustainability. They have intentionally designed their business practices to generate revenue in the hands of the local farmers. Typically in the past most of the profit from growing coffee (or other crops) was eaten up by greedy 3rd party middle-men. As a result, the farmers largely gave up growing many of the crops that could be profitable. JENGA is a very fair “middle-man,” paying top wages and setting strict limits on what they are willing to make in the process (especially since they exist to serve the people here, so whatever they made would just go back into them anyway). As a result, small farming businesses have begun to flourish again, and increasing wealth is flowing into the communities here on the outskirts of Mbale.

I was already grumpy and considering sitting our the trip up the mountain, but when the team transferred out of the bus into two smaller jeeps, I knew for sure I should stay behind. I thought I could use the opportunity to give myself a time out, but I also remembered the trip up the mountain in one of those jeeps the day before. I had a vision of spending 90 min getting up the mountain, bouncing violently the entire time, then being at the church for an hour, then spending a bunch of time driving back down … accompanied of course by more bouncing. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Plus, like I said, I needed some downtime. So, I journaled and read, got a shower, played some cards with our tour guide, etc. And as it turns out, my predictions were pretty accurate, and by the time the team returned, I was feeling much better … so I was glad I didn’t go.

Hospital Ministry

When the team returned, they freshened up quickly, and we all headed back into town to visit a local government hospital. Once there, we broke into teams, each led by a local JENGA volunteers. We fanned out into the various wards of the hospital simply praying with people there. My team consisted of Zack (one of our team from America who just graduated from TIU with a Christian Ministries degree) and Joel (the local JENGA team leader). Joel led us into the general ward, on the men’s side, and we talked with patient after patient, praying for them and offering words of encouragement. More than once, God brought specific verses to my mind for individual people that seemed to be “out of nowhere,” which blessed me, and hopefully them as well. One thing about the situation that was a little new / strange / unfamiliar to me was that we were specifically praying for healing. There is definitely a pervasive dependence here on God to meet the needs of the people, which I think is really great, and something we in America desperately need to cultivate. But that can also quickly become an expectation that God will give us what we want Him to give us. Yes, sometimes He does, but that does not constitute “faithfulness.” And God is in no way obligated by anything outside Himself — His own character and qualities. It’s a misnomer, and bad theology, to say that God is faithful because he gave me what I asked for. God is faithful because He said He would always provide what we need (what He wants us to have), and never fails to give exactly what He said He would. So, I’m all about healing prayer, and I’m all about expecting great things … being open to great things from God. But that’s not the same as demanding that God bless me on my terms or respond to my desires the way I want Him to.

Many I’ve met in Uganda are probably in danger of the pitfalls on the opposite end of the spectrum from many of us in America (and I am just as susceptible to either end of this spectrum, depending on the day, as anyone else), but we shouldn’t forget there are dangers on both ends. We must be discerning. We must be grounded in the Word. We must listen to the voice of the Church and the Tradition. And we must listen to the Spirit of God who dwells in us. As we pray, as we ask, we validate in God’s Word, verify with God’s people, and listen closely to God’s Spirit. And then, we can ask whatever we will in His name, and it will be given to us (Matthew 18:19 and 21:22; Mark 11:24; John 14:13 and 15:7; etc.).

At any rate, visiting the hospital was such a great thing. Our team leader, Joel, was fantastic! I loved his style. We met so many wonderful people and prayed for them, including one Muslim and one pagan, who don’t believe in Jesus but were willing to let us pray. It was wonderful!

Dinner Out at a New Place

And after we left the hospital, we had dinner in town. We were originally planning to go back to the resort where we ate on Sunday, but there was another event there, so we decided to head to a different resort. It was a beautiful place, and the weather was perfect — a nice cool breeze and the bugs weren’t too bad. I definitely imagined 120 degree blazing heat when this trip first came up, but boy was I wrong. In fact, the weather has bounced between 70 and 80 pretty much every day, maybe dipping down as low as the low 60’s at night. Gorgeous! For dinner, I had some really tasty tropical chicken kabobs (with pineapple and veggies, and some fantastic sauce, over rice). And we ended up talking about theology and the fundamental nature of the universe at our table, so it was the best night ever. It was really nice.

And I guess that about sums it up for day 9. Tomorrow we leave Mbale, and begin our transition home, through Kampala, where we’ll do some touristy stuff. See you tomorrow.

Image credit:
1) Kids running around – WebMD
2) Grumpy dwarf – Tophdimgs.com
3) Playing soccer (I used this explicitly because I didn’t take the picture) – Pintrest
4) Coffee – Bright and Early Coffee
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Uganda Travel Log: Day 8 – Water, Water Everywhere

Posted on May 29, 2017 by Jeff Block

Location: Mbale and Kapchorwa, Uganda
Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Waterfall 1

Living Water

We started the day (after our classic breakfast at the guest house, of course) at the JENGA office, next door to the guest house, in prayer and praise. It was such an amazing experience, with some pronounced differences between the way a prayer meeting would work in my church or many others I’ve been to in the US. First, they opened in worship, and African worship is definitely not the same as Western European / Caucasian worship. Drums led, plus one guitar, and very repetitive lyrics proclaiming God’s greatness in general and sufficiency in our lives particularly.

But the other difference that stands out is the way they pray… First, they cry out to the Lord. So much prayer in my experience is perfunctory and half-hearted, but you could never say that about the prayer circles I’ve experienced here. Second, a group of people all prays at the same time. So, everyone talks over each other calling out individually to God, but in a concofiny of community. That may sound weird, and it was very difficult for me to focus in that environment at first, but as the week went on, it got easier. And there really is beauty to it! Third, they blend their prayer and their worship. It’s hard to separate where worship ends and prayer begins. You’re singing and chanting and the drums are going, and you suddenly realize that everyone’s praying. And then when some point everyone just seems to know prayer is ended, and the group transitions back to singing. It is such an interesting experience.

After a couple hours at JENGA, we headed into town, dropped off orders for lunch, and went to visit the Musoto slums (the 2nd largest slum in E. Uganda).

Drinking Water

One occupation which is prolific throughout the poorest areas of Uganda is brewing. Especially among women (many single mothers), what essentially boils down to distilling moonshine is a means of generating at least a small amount of income and feeding their children, even if mostly in a black/gray market context. Technically, much of the brewing that goes on is illegal, but the government looks the other way in light of how devastating it would be to truly crack down on it. Even still, there exists a constant threat of being suddenly invaded and shut down … a point which was emphatically made to us as we toured one of the brewing areas in Musoto.

One of the horrific byproducts of the brewing industry is the waste it produces – a horribly-smelling black sludge that is essentially burn’t carbon goo. Because the locals don’t know what to do with it and have no means to properly dispose of it, the typical approach to it is to dig a really big hole in the middle of the village and just keep dumping it in there. They use a little of it to fertilize crops, but the majority becomes a foul-smelling lake. Over time, it represents a significant contaminant to everything there (food, water, etc.), and the smell certainly reinforces the impression of severe poverty to anyone walking in from the outside.

One extremely fascinating thing about our visit… The two Ugandan students with us from UCU are both environmental engineers and had a half-dozen ideas on how to better dispose of this waste, even to the point of making it an exportable resource. They talked about making charcoal brickets out of it to be used for fire, so that the Ugandans could stop cutting down trees. They talked about starting a shipping business that could put it in barrels and ship it all over the region to be used as fertilizer, or even disposed of in a central less-populated area. In fact, they stayed behind while we toured and talked to some of the village elders about it. I absolutely loved seeing that. After we left Musoto, we also talked about whether God might be calling them to Mbale to come and work on / provide leadership for such projects. Wouldn’t that be amazing!?

And that brings us to one of the main reasons we visited — to see one of the bore holes JENGA has helped to build throughout the most impoverished regions of Mbale. I believe they said they’ve provided about 25 such water pumps. Basically, they partner with the locals to provide money and equipment, then work together to dig down about 100 feet to the fresh water table, and build a well and pump. The bore hole we visited in this particular part of Musoto provides fresh drinking water every day to about 300 people.

Before these pumps were built or when they are broken, the locals (who don’t know this is a really bad idea) get their drinking water from the local streams and rivers — the same ones where the sewage goes, where people dump their garbage, where cows and other animals do their business, etc. Therefore, the overall level of disease has plummeted in these areas as a result of the installation of these bore holes. And they are owned and operated by locals. Praise the Lord!

boreholeBTW, we were strictly forbidden from taking pictures in the slums. That totally makes sense, because we didn’t want to treat these people like spectacles. They’re people, just like you and me. And I wouldn’t want some foreigner coming into my home and taking pictures of me in positions that perhaps I wouldn’t want to share with the whole world. So I totally agree, but the net effect is that I don’t have any pictures to share. Here’s a picture of a similar bore hole and pump, though.

Falling Water

After Musoto, we went back into town, where lunch was waiting for us. We then snarfed lunch on the bus, en route up the mountain to see Sipi Falls in Kapchorwa on Mount Elbon.

After a very bumpy hour-or-so drive up, we arrived at a resort / lodge which the launching place for hikes of various levels of difficulty up into the mountains to see the waterfalls. We chose to be driven up to the top, and hike back down past three falls. We hiked for about 2 hours, through mountainside farms. It was extremely beautiful and very interesting.

Here are the falls we saw, and a few pictures of each other and of a number of scenic vistas. It’s so beautiful here.

Waterfall 4 Waterfall 5 Waterfall 3 Waterfall 2
Scenic Uganda 1 Scenic Uganda 2

I also learned some interesting facts about the farming in this region. For example, Ugandans in the mountain overcrop, planting potatoes or banana trees with the coffee trees. The banana tree leaves shade the smaller coffee trees in dry season, and the potatoes don’t need much sun so they can cover the ground around the base of the trees. Fascinating! Also, our guide talked about how the coffee is organic. Instead of pesticides, the local chameleon eats the insects that would normally threaten the coffee beans. I love that. I also saw my first unroasted coffee bean. The beans themselves are light green. They have to be removed from a red husk which looks from the outside like some kind of berry. They are then washed for a day, dried and roasted, and that’s what creates the black, hard beans we’re used to. Here’s a picture I found online (I didn’t take one myself, sadly).

Raw Coffee Beans

It was such a good day; I feel like we experienced so much. Amazingly, tomorrow is our last full day in Mbale. See you then.

Image credit:
1) Bore hole – Kimbuta Development
2) Raw coffee beans – Yukiba
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Uganda Travel Log: Day 7 – Soccer and Prison Ministry

Posted on May 28, 2017 by Jeff Block

Location: Mbale, Uganda
Tuesday, May 23, 2017

football-in-uganda1

After breakfast together at the guest house, which has become our regular practice, we put on play-in-public clothes — long pants and T-shirts, whether guys or girls — and headed out to a local government owned field. The field is essentially a very large “common area,” equivalent to something an American park district would provide, which can be reserved by local organizations or even individuals (for weddings, etc). In this case, JENGA reserves this field on a weekly basis for their local Child Rehabilitation Outreach (CRO) program. These are kids whom their helping to get off drugs or out of abusive situations. They reserve the field, meet the kids there, and just play. Mostly football (what we’d call “soccer” and various other circle games). In addition to the CRO kids, they literally walk through the main part of town on the way to the field rallying up street kids, all of whom now know that the program is in place and eagerly wait to be summoned by JENGA volunteers to a day of play.

We spent our morning joining local JENGA volunteers in just playing with the kids. We played soccer, I learned a bunch of games involving running around in circles with kids, played duck-duck-goose, let kids climb on us, etc. One of the favorite activities of many of the children was to feel my furry arms and beard. I was quite the spectacle, large furry white man that I am.

We were not permitted to take pictures of the kids, so I have none to post. But our time with the CRO kids was SO rich and SO fun, and we came home very dirty and very tired.

rolexBecause we didn’t have enough time to go out to eat for lunch — our original plan —, one of the JENGA volunteers picked up Rolex from a local street vendor, and we had that for a quick hot lunch. Rolex is a common street food consisting of fried eggs rolled in chapati, often with any variety of other ingredients cooked into the eggs or rolled into the role. The locals call it “rolex,” because if you say “rolled eggs” often enough, it turns (at least in Uganda) into “rolex.” So, we had some greasy street food to keep us running, and then headed out for prison ministry.

We planned to visit three prisons this afternoon: a men’s prison, a women’s prison, and a children’s prison. So, we broke into three teams, and dove in. I chose the men’s prison, which turned out to be way up in the mountains. We piled 7 of us into one of the JENGA off-roading jeeps and headed up the mountain. The further we went the worse the roads got, and there were some inclines involved that I didn’t think the jeep was going to be able to navigate. It took an hour and 45 minutes to reach the prison, and by the time we got there, I felt like a tossed salad, and pretty much everything hurt. I have never experienced … never imagined … anything like these roads. Many dirt roads, and where the roads were paved, they were literally stretches of road with a dozen potholes every 10 feet. There were times it was like driving on the moon. But we made it, and after a little stretching, headed into the prison.

prision ministry

As we left the guest house, I was under the impression that we would each have to share a 2-3 minute brief word of encouragement from Scripture. No problem. I wanted to encourage them to think about true freedom — a man is not free because he is not in a cell, he’s free because he is found in Christ. But about 1/3 of the way up the mountain, the JENGA volunteer looks at us and asks, “Who’s preaching?”

Jeff: *blank stare*

JENGA guy: Yes, we’d like one of you to bring the word in a 30 min message, or longer if you want.

Rest of team: *blank stare*

JENGA guy: What’s wrong? Do you want to preach for longer than that? That’s fine. We have up to an hour.

Now see, in a situation like this, it doesn’t pay to be the old guy / experienced preacher / seminary student among a group of college students, because it’s impossible for me to pawn this exciting new responsibility off onto someone else. So I volunteered.

So very interesting and exciting to be pushed this far out of my comfort zone. It’s the second time this week that I had the opportunity to preach a complete sermon essentially extemporaneously. This time I felt led to 2 Corinthians 3:17-18:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)

There were probably about 75 men and 5 women in attendance. I guess it wasn’t just a male prison after all. But the women were separated from the men by a fence topped with barbed wire, so obviously not much interaction there. We preached to both sides of the fence. We arrived 30 minutes late, and they were praising God loudly and excitedly in a courtyard when we arrived. The guards greeted us in the name of the Lord, so that was cool, and they ushered us to a bench up on a raised platform / porch, which was covered by a roof. But the inmates sat in the courtyard.

We introduced ourselves quickly, and then I was up to preach. I spoke through a translator for about 25 minutes, but they weren’t terribly responsive. Neither this group nor the congregation at House of Prayer (where I taught on Sunday) were as boisterous or responsive as I expected them to be as I envisioned preaching to an African audience. Maybe that means I wasn’t very good or they didn’t like my style. Not sure. Could also just have been misaligned expectations. Who knows. But I feel like I said what God wanted me to say, so that’s the important thing.

After me, another member of our team, Zack gave a brief 15 min message as well, which actually followed up my message perfectly. That was worshipful. I called for people to give their lives to Christ, Zack, reinforced it, and then the chaplain got up and took it all the way to altar call. In the middle, a third teammate, Taylor read Psalm 139. And then the service closed. Amanda, our team leader, who went with our group to the men’s prison, felt that it had all come off well, so … woohoo.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any pictures at the prison, so I can’t share any with you. I do have a few pictures of the gorgeous high-altitude mountain vistas, but I’ll pick the best of those from the whole trip and share them toward the end.

We got down the mountain a lot quicker than we got up it. Once back to the house, we rushed into town for dinner at a local Indian restaurant. It was really good. We each ordered something, but ended up doing a lot of sharing. It was also fun explaining various foods and cultural realities to the team, many of whom were unfamiliar with them.

Uganda Indian Dinner 1 Uganda Indian Dinner 2 Uganda Indian Dinner 3

After dinner, we came back to the guest house and played cards late into the evening. We had been playing a card game called “President” the prior few nights, which Taylor had introduced to the group. It is an adaptation (simplified version) of a game I learned in college, which we called “toe jam” … along with a few other less-family-friendly names in my BC (Before Christ) days. So, just for something different, I tried to teach the team this more complicated version. I definitely felt my age doing that, because there was a tone of pushback and whining from the younger members of the team… “I can’t do it” and “It’s too hard,” etc. Sigh. Kids these days. But they eventually learned, and we had fun playing. But I seriously doubt they’ll want to stick to the “advanced” version of the game.

And with that, there was evening and there was morning, the seventh day. See you tomorrow.

Image credit:
1) Kids playing football – Pintrest
2) Rolex – Papyrus Guest House
3) Prison Ministry – The Message Church
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Uganda Travel Log: Day 6 – A Day of Rest

Posted on May 27, 2017 by Jeff Block

Location: Mbale, Uganda
Monday, May 22, 2017

Rest

Dodged a Mountain Climbing Bullet

The team went hiking up the mountain today. It’s the 17th largest mountain range in Africa, the 2nd largest in Uganda. One of our local friends swore it would be a “leisurely stroll,” but he’s British so I was skeptical. In any event, we’ve been going like crazy and I wanted a little bit of a break, so I chose not to go on the hike. That means that I missed out on a) beautiful mountain vistas, b) walking among the villages and villagers, and c) a history lesson from the guides. But in exchange, I purchased a) the most luxurious hot shower so far in Uganda, b) a trip to the local pharmacy to buy cold meds for me and two other team members, and c) a very significant block of time to journal, pray, read, listen to my novel, etc. It has been glorious!

When the team got back in the early afternoon, they were sore and bruised and covered in dirt … and I learned that my local British friend had failed to complete his sentence when describing the walk. It was a leisurely stroll … for a mountain goat.Mountain Goat There was evidently rock climbing and mud path sliding and jungle traversing … and all manner of other things that OTHER people do in the bush in the mountains of Uganda (there was evidently no trail; a guide just took them on climb-about up the mountain). So, totally dodged the bullet on that one. So glad I stayed home!

Visited CURE Hospital

After everyone had showered, we ate lunch at the guest house and then headed into town to tour the local CURE hospital, which has pioneered a life-saving pediatric brain surgery to treat hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus is far more common here than in the west, because it is common that infection can go untreated and result in cerebral meningitis, which can then damage the parts of the brain which produce and regulate CSF (cerebrospinal fluid), which can then result in hydrocephalus. 1 out of every ~1,000 children suffers from this condition here at birth, and another 3-4 are diagnosed later in childhood, brought on by untreated infection. All toll, the hospital we visited conducts 100 surgeries a month to treat hydrocephalus, and trains physicians from all over the world (from 25 countries so far, including in Western Europe and AsiaPac) in new procedures to address it. They specialize in a procedure which doesn’t require a shunt, and therefore has a far greater success rate — because the shunts need to be replaced often, especially under conditions here, where it’s very difficult to properly maintain them.

Here are a few pictures of the hospital. It is interesting to see such a fusion of modern equipment in a space that feels very different from a US hospital. And I love that they are pioneering new techniques. The more Uganda can establish knowledge and goods that the world needs them to export, the better off their people’s economic condition will be. And when it’s the health and welfare of children — more than 50% of Uganda is under the age of 18 — it’s exceptionally beneficial to the society as a whole.

Cure Hospital Uganda 1 Cure Hospital Uganda 2 Cure Hospital Uganda 3 Cure Hospital Uganda 4 Cure Hospital Uganda 6

One of the most heartbreaking things about the medical conditions people face here is that they carry stigmas with them, resulting in the local people being discouraged to seek treatment. For example, if a child has hydrocephalus, he really needs to receive treatment within a matter of days. However, because parents are afraid of the claim that their sin (among Christian or Muslim neighbors) or the curse of witchcraft (among pagan neighbors) is responsible for their child’s condition. Therefore, they have a tendency to hide the fact that the child is sick and pray that God heals them behind closed doors. And then, if the child dies, the stigma grows even worse, because this tends to confirm that either God or demonic forces are punishing the family.

So, much education is required, in addition to the increasing ability of medical treatments.

Team Discussion

That night we rallied up as a team to talk about our experiences that day. Our team leader Amanda asked me to do a devotional. I felt let to Matthew 25:31ff:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31ff)

Here Jesus is commanding a lifestyle, not a particular experience. In other words, we do not obey Jesus’ command here by attending a hospital in Mbale. We obey it by a lifestyle of caring about those who are sick and weak and struggling, especially in ways that we are not. As a team, we talked about a lot of things, and ended up focusing on a topic that I know from experience Amanda feels very strongly about: that we really see people as people, not as projects or missions. Good discussion. Toward the end, Ubontu (one of our friends from UCU) commented at length about how people in Uganda are satisfied with their lives, and how we shouldn’t see them as people who are poor and need help. I sortof agree, but I also think the point also needs to be made that just because a person is satisfied doesn’t mean that they should be. Some satisfaction is quite godly, and the affluent-and-often-self-absorbed West could learn a lot about being satisfied. We’re terrible at it. But on the other hand, some satisfaction is a euphemism for complacency.

For example, it’s a great thing that Ugandan doctors were not satisfied with the higher-than-average rate of hydrocephalus among their children. That led them to do something about it, and now they’re making a difference not just in the lives of Ugandan children, but those all over the world. And when children in the slums of Uganda are malnourished or drinking from rivers (in which garbage has been dumped and cows have done their business), leading to all manner of sickness, because they don’t know any better or have nothing else to drink … They may be satisfied with that, but our role in fulfilling Jesus’ command to love those who are sick or naked or poor or weak means that we should not be. And if we can develop relationships with those people and walk with them and empower them, then I believe they’ll grow dissatisfied with those conditions as well, and together we can do something about it.

I understand what my friend Ubontu is saying — the white man can’t swoop in with all the answers and rescue the poor African. I totally agree. First, they’re people, not projects. Second, we white guys don’t have all the answers. Third, there’s no dignity in that kind of help. Forth, if the Ugandan (he has a heritage he values just like I do) doesn’t lead the charge to get himself out of the slums, then “doing it for him” is NOT really helping him in the long run … any more than the kind of social welfare in the US which allows someone to just sit around and collect a check helps that person.

But all that said, we also can’t confuse “being satisfied” with “being complacent,” on either side of the ocean.

Thank you again for keeping up with me on this journey, and for all your prayers and support. Keep it coming!

Photo credit:
1) Rest – Huffington Post
2) Mountain goat – Madator Network
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Uganda Travel Log: Day 5 – Worship and Community

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Jeff Block

Location: Mbale, Uganda, including the Namatala slums
Sunday, May 21, 2017

worship

Today is the Lord’s day, so we rose early to travel to our assigned churches. Four of us had volunteered to preach, so we broke into four teams, each preacher with one Ugandan (from UCU) and 2-3 members of the American team. Two teams went to mountain churches, and two went to slum churches.

I was assigned to the House of Prayer Church in the Namatala slums, the largest slum in Eastern Uganda. Kaylyn, Amanda (from UCU) and Donnie went with me. After having stayed up late and getting up early obsessing over the sermon I had written for Revelation 19:11-21, when we got there, I just didn’t feel like that’s what God wanted me to say. So, literally minutes before I got up to preach, I switched to Colossians 1:15-23. I don’t even really know why. I just felt like that was God’s direction. So, for the first time in my life, I preached 100% extemporaneously, using the passage itself (on my mobile phone) as my notes. Kaylyn videotaped me, and a wonderful friend from the church translated. Here are a few minutes of the video of the message…

Church at House of Prayer was pretty amazing. The service started at 9. We were told it was 9:30, so we showed up at 9:20 or so, so they were already going gangbusters when we got there. A woman (a local) was preaching when we came in. We were ushered to the front, and literally people were displaced from their white plastic yard chairs so we could sit in them. The four of us sat with the pastor and his wife, with his beautiful children running around. They were immediately gracious, and stayed that way the whole time we were there. After the first woman’s message, we sang and prayed, and they gave announcements, and sang and prayed some more. We had been there for about 90 minutes when I was finally up to preach. I preached for about 35-40 minutes, then Donnie gave a testimony for another 15 minutes. After that, Kaylyn and Amanda introduced themselves, and we had the offering. They laid baskets out and people came to the front of the church during worship, and afterwards there was some more rockus worship. The service closed at about noon. But even after we left, they were staying to watch testimonies on a TV, and were being called upon to return to the church that night at 4, and for a week-long fast … no food until dinner and dinner together with prayer at the church each night. I was awestruck.

The pastor and his wife, along with a couple other leaders, escorted us out. They were very gracious, and even asked to exchange contact information. I would love to keep in touch with their church … maybe even develop a relationship between them and our church here in the States. As we were saying our goodbyes in front of the church, I asked the pastor if we could get a picture together. He agreed, so I turned to beckon the team to gather up. But when I turned back around, he was already back inside the church, stopping what was happening, and rallying the whole body to come outside for a picture. Nooo!!! I felt so bad. No way was it my intention to disrupt and inconvenience everyone. But the Baganda are such a gracious and welcoming people. It’s truly remarkable. And at the end of the day, I wound up with this great picture…

House of Prayer Church

After church, we met at a resort near the JENGA office. Don’t remember the name. But it was beautiful there, and the weather was gorgeous. The food was really good too, with a much greater variety on the menu than we’d experienced at UCU. I had a fish curry with grilled vegetables and rice, and it was out of this world. There was the opportunity to go swimming too, but I declined. Instead, we walked back to the guest house, while some swam and others got manicures. I enjoyed just kicking back at the house and journaling.

Here are a few pictures of us at the resort…

Uganda Team at Resort 1 Uganda Team at Resort 2 Uganda Team at Resort 3

The guy to the right praising the Lord for his steak, that’s Robbie King, one of the two founding directors of JENGA. And here’s a couple pictures of the resort itself. So beautiful here…

Uganda Team at Resort 4 Uganda Team at Resort 5 Uganda Team at Resort 6

That evening, we broke up into groups and went to visit the homes of various members of the JENGA staff. Donnie and I and Amanda (from UCU) teamed up with Bex, Ruth and Rhonda (all three are longer term missionaries from the UK) and visited a women named Grace, who is the leader of children’s ministry at JENGA. She’s also one of their worship leaders. We met her children, ate a wonderful dinner, sang songs, prayed, and enjoyed some wonderful fellowship, all of us together. It was fascinating to hear everyones’ stories, and a joy to just be together in such a foreign context.

Dinner with Grace's family

Although there weren’t that many activities today, it was still a long day. So, I was happy to finally be home in bed at the end of the day. Tonight is my third night taking sleeping pills, and I seem to be sleeping much better now. Thank you for all your prayers.

Looking forward to a week of ministry and new experiences, I’ll sign off. Good night, friends.

Photo credit:
All mine, except the title image, which is from First Presbyterian in Allen
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Uganda Travel Log: Day 4 – Journey to Mbale

Posted on May 25, 2017 by Jeff Block

Location: Mukono and Mbale, Uganda
Saturday, May 20, 2017

Journey to Mbale

This morning we had nothing to do at UCU, except get packed up and head for Mbale. It was really nice not to be running to something early in the morning. Instead, we just had to be ready to go by 10am.

I came in at about 7:30 to see if breakfast was ready yet, and they had mango juice, hard boiled eggs, mango slices, and muffins laid out. So, I made myself a mostly-fruit breakfast, added a meal bar from my stash, popped my anti-malarial medication, and got ready for the day — devotions, shower, dressed, packed, etc. Around 9, I took my plate back into the breakfast room to drop it off to be washed. But instead, the servers waved me over and wanted me to eat more. And there were two more covered dishes than there had been before, so I had to check it out. First, there were fried egg and meat sticks — I have no idea what they were called, but that describes them; beef and egg, rolled in some kind of crumb batter and fried. I didn’t want to be rude, so I took a small one. Then, the second plate… He’s describing what’s in the various dishes, and coming to this last one, he says, “… and some vegetables.” No kidding, my whole world lit up. I’ve been eating nothing but carbs since I got here — that’s all Ugandans eat — so I was SO excited. Vegetables. For breakfast. How will they prepare them? What will this be like? Anticipation building as he reaches for the lid to the dish. And … vegetables … are … are … veggie samosas … fried pockets of potatoes and spices … oh, yes, and with a few peas thrown in so that they can be called “veggie.” Of course, a potato’s technically a “veggie,” right? LOL

So, after all the hype about veggies, I left with only a fried egg and meat stick. How did things go so horribly wrong?

But I digress. Back to the day…

We left campus pretty much on-time (around 10am) to drive east. The traffic was absolutely crazy, and the roads were very challenging. Mostly unpaved. Potholes everywhere. I took a few pictures to try to give you an idea of what it’s like to drive in Uganda.

Uganda Scenes 5 Uganda Scenes 1 Uganda Scenes 2 Uganda Scenes 6

I also tried to post a few pictures of the scenery and of the people we passed while traveling just to give you a window into their lives as well.

 Uganda Scenes 4 Uganda Scenes 3 Uganda Scenes 8 Uganda Scenes 7

We stopped for lunch at a place Café Java, a smallish restaurant chain in East Africa with a huge menu and fairly modern venue. It was really good. I had my first latte since leaving Chicago, and vegetables! No, real vegetables … the kind that aren’t even fried. Veggies in the wrap, and steamed veggies as a side. It was glorious.

Finally VeggiesAnother interesting thing (besides finding vegetables) that happened on the way to Mbale is that we crossed over the Nile river, which originates in Uganda’s Lake Victoria and flows north to Egypt, in the process separating East and West Uganda. We couldn’t take pictures, because we were driving across a power generating dam and one of only two bridges in the entire country across the Nile, connecting the two halves of the nation. If someone were to blow up one of those dams, it would a) be a huge blow to power generation, and b) cut off half of the country from the other. So, lots of unfriendly-looking armed guards were watching cars go by ready to take your camera or phone. So, sadly, no pictures.

Not withstanding our exemplary behavior at the Nile, we were still stopped like 6 times by heavily armed police and soldiers, who briefly inspected our van, and each time allowed us to continue. Not sure exactly what they were looking for; I guess these were just checks designed to make sure they felt good about us — that they didn’t feel we were up to any trouble.

We arrived in Mbale at about 4:45, and setup shop in Jenga’s guest house (I’m in the monkey room … which is appropriate), and rushed to change because we were already late for meeting the bible club kids in town. We freshened up (quickly), divided into groups, and went to visit the kids and play some games with them. Jenga works with over 20 churches in the area to host “bible clubs” that meet every Saturday. There are something like 3,500 kids in the program. Basically, it’s a VBS-like construct. Not Sunday school, but more of an additional program where kids from all backgrounds — not just Christians — can come to get off the street, play games, sing Jesus songs, hear Bible stories, and generally be loved on. It seems like a really great program.

My group went to Mbale Kingdom Revival Church. We walked in the door and were greeted (quite unexpectedly) by clapping and cheers. There must have been 250 kids in the packed into the single room church. We each introduced ourselves, taught them Father Abraham, complete with crazy dance moves, and learned a song from them … with similar crazy dance moves. When we were getting ready to leave, I asked if I could take a picture, and the kids started pouring out of the church to wave to us. Check this out…

Kids Saying Goodbye

These kids made my heart swell. They were so beautiful, and they were so full of fun and excitement and joy. It was humbling to see how excited they got about our presence there. And that’s really been a theme on this trip… wherever we “Mzunga” go, it has been considered an honor to the locals that we visit them, and they have welcomed us with open arms.

Side thought…

Everywhere we go, the locals here call out “Mzungu.” This word today essentially means “white person.” But it was originally coined in the 18th century when Europeans arrived on the African continent as colonizers. The term actually means “someone who roams around” or “wanderer.” Kids call this out all the time when we’re driving or walking by, and gleefully respond when we wave at them. It’s really heartwarming, and one of the most enjoyable aspects of wandering around the streets of Mbale.

Okay, that’s pretty-much it for Saturday. After kids clubs, we came back to the house and ate dinner, had a little downtime, and then hit the sack. Church comes early tomorrow, and many of us are preaching. So, our downtime was largely devoted to sermon prep.

See you tomorrow!

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