'Send me back'

As I come to write this last blog, words evade me – for how could I adequately describe or neatly summarise such an incredibly influential season of my life?

It was not simply a ‘trip’ for us, instead it was our LIFE for 5 weeks. It really felt like such a short time to stay in those closing days, yet we had invested so much and learnt a great deal.

     We kept going till the minute we boarded the plane, so our final week was packed full of joys, frustrations and important lessons just as the other weeks were. Whilst Emily was travelling in a group with Chris (her brother, my cousin), I remained at the Smile house and helped to write up the stories of sponsored children and widows, in addition to the weekly visits to Nabulagala community. One day, I was also given the opportunity to meet four girls at a Crisis Pregnancy Centre. These young girls, all teenagers, had been disowned by their families as a result of finding out that they were pregnant. Each girl shared their story and it was heart-breaking to hear. One girl had been with her boyfriend for two years and on telling him she was pregnant with his child, he said he already had a family she did not know about - a wife and children. He could not afford to help and support her, so left her to be cast aside by her distraught mother and father. Fortunately her uncle brought her here. She is just one of many girls in similar situations and I hate to think that she might be living on the streets or worse if she was not taken to this centre. There, they are taught basic skills and taught that they and their baby are deeply loved by their heavenly Father. By the time the baby is born, the families are persuaded to take the girls home though I’m sure life is not easy afterwards. If you are a person of prayer, please pause now to lift up girls in this situation to our heavenly Father who longs for them to know his love, protection and sovereignty.

     Aside from serving with Smile during the day, we spent most evenings at Kampala Baptist Church where we have made many good friends. I could never fully express how grateful I am for my brothers and sisters there and how wonderful they are; how they welcomed us with acceptance, how they could always make us laugh at the end of a hard day, how they were genuinely interested in getting to know us, how they took time to listen and to talk, how they love Jesus and how they love so deeply. God surely blessed us with meeting not just friends but family in Uganda and that is a bond that can never be broken. I pray that they will be blessed abundantly for their kindness, care and friendship and I long, like Paul does in his many letters, to some day return. And that is in God’s hands completely. I desire to be with the beautiful children and inspirational teachers, my joyful, strong friends and family in Uganada. Whilst some days I wish I could hop on a plane right away, I know God’s timing is perfect and his ways are far higher than mine; I trust his promise that his will is good. And if not on earth, I know we will be together again in heaven – rejoicing, laughing and singing praise to our wonderful Saviour for eternity.

Joanne, a beautiful strong girl who we had the pleasure of getting to know

Reagan, one of my closest friends in Uganda

Me and Lawrence

The wonderful youth of KBC

Em, Reagan and Priest!

Em, Hudson and Georgie!

Me and Daphyne at church.

Viola and Em in the Smile van on the way to the airport.

"And I beg you even more earnestly to pray that God will send me back to you soon." (Hebrews 13:19)

Mama Penze's Secret

In Nabulagala Slums, I would imagine everyone is tired. Tired of living in poverty, filth and need. Hungry for more. Is there more to life? Yet Mama Penze knows a secret, the beautiful mystery of life. She sees it, feels it, breathes it.

    Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:12-13)

    What a bold statement! I know this is true as I have seen in lived out in many of the lives of my new friends. Mama Penze was a refugee who now lives in Nabulagala Slum Community. She lives in a house (two very small rooms divided by a curtain) with nine others and longs for her children to go to school. When we see or hear of situations like this, we may initially think it a very bleak and hopeless situation, and maybe even cry out to God in confusion. But there is something striking about Mama Penze’s life. It is not her troubled past, nor the challenges she presently faces. No! It is the hope that she has for an eternal future. Through trusting in Jesus, who lived, died and was raised to life, anyone can be saved from the deserved punishment and receive forgiveness and eternal life. That is hope. And that is an offer of the most intimate, satisfying and fulfilling relationship there has ever been. And that is an invite to the biggest party ever. “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” (Hebrews 6v19). If this is false hope, there is no hope. But if it is true and firm as the Bible says, it is something that we each need to consider, because it is of huge significance.

   Mama Penze knows the secret. She believes that whatever trials she may face now it is God who gives her strength and hope. She takes refuge in the knowledge that her Saviour says “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16v33).

   She was the first and last woman I visited on community outreach. Her eagerness to read the Bible with us and her sure faith inspire and encourage me greatly. Another encouragement was the answer to prayer that the pain in her back has subsided. God is able. He can do all things and he is not absent.

   God is in Nabulagala Slums. He is in Kampala. He is in Hayes, Lincoln, Aberystwyth and the whole world. And he is Sovereign.

King Of Wonders

After a week of interviews, we set off on the long bumpy road to discover a place called Musana Camp. Its description pretty much sounded like paradise so I told myself it sounded too good to be true…

We arrived exhausted and looked up to have our breaths taken away by millions of stars in the ebony night sky and immediately the theme of our weekend emerged beautifully in a song that we couldn’t help but sing – “King of wonders, we stand amazed! There’s no other, other than you. King of wonders, you know the way to our hearts. And, the more we see, the more we love you.”

I awoke early the next day, desperate for a wee. Not really wanting to get out of my mozzie net and find the long drop, I tried to hold it in and go back to sleep. No good. I needed to go. So I got out of my sleeping bag, crawled under my mozzie net, unzipped the tent door… And stood with my jaw wide open.

This is the view of Musana. Its beauty is too much to take in. A spacious green field, bursting with trees and crazily cool birds, overlooks Lake Victoria, which stretches as far as the eye can see with islands in full view too. I was so thankful then to be awake. I was far too excited to go back to sleep, simply wanting to absorb as much time as possible in this stunning place. Musana truly is a beautiful spiritual retreat where we had the opportunity think about and chat through what God has been teaching us here and importantly how that is going to impact the way we live.

Walking through an African forest is something I have always wanted to do and it was not something I had expected to experience during this mission trip. It was an incredible surprise and a real treat for me to hike through the amazing equatorial forest to Mutunyu Falls. We walked and skipped and ran very fast (to avoid the biting ants which cause much pain) along paths, over streams and logs to eventually end up at this gem of a waterfall – WOW. Isn’t God’s glory revealed so wonderfully through creation? We so enjoyed our time there standing under the cool waters singing and shouting for joy in praise.

 Later, we played football by the lakeside after canoeing on the lake to some small islands. Our God is a good Father and he knows how to give good gifts, he loves to bless us even though we are so undeserving.

‘Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.’ – 1 Timothy 6:17.

 On the Sunday, we had the golden opportunity to experience their church, which is booming with children from local villages. God’s presence was so tangible there as we worshiped in the midst of God’s breath-taking nature. Quite incredible…
 

Life Changing Sponsorship

Last week (Tues - Fri), we spent our time visiting different children and widows who have been sponsored by Smile. It was touching to be welcomed into so many homes and get an insight into the everyday life of these humble people. We interviewed the sponsored individuals and some family members to evaluate the impact Smile has had. Many of these families only spoke Luganda so it was often difficult knowing how to be of use. We practiced the little Luganda we have learnt and listened to their stories. It is amazing to hear how radically lives have been changed through the sponsorship programme.

This week, I am helping to write up these interviews whilst Emily is travelling with Chris (her brother, my cousin). As follows is my write up of one story which held particular significance to me:

Smile Charity Uganda is a Non-Governmental Organisation created to support individuals and families in need. This is carried out through its feeding, education, empowering and development programmes.

Victoria is a 20 year old girl who lives with her sister and widowed mother. Her step father used to pay her school fees, but when he died in 2001, her mother struggled to find the money to fund her education. Therefore, Victoria was often sent home from school because she had not paid her fees in full. Four years later, her mother’s friend connected her family to Smile through a pastor, enabling Victoria to be sponsored.

Since Smile stepped in, life became easier for Victoria as she no longer faced the embarrassment of having to leave school for not paying her fees but rather she could freely enjoy the education that every child should have the right to. Furthermore, she is a considerate and extremely bright girl who desires to study at university to be a cardiologist. Currently, she is facing the challenge of funding her university studies. It struck me that this beautiful young woman, the same age as me, with hopes and dreams for her future, just like me, does not have the same educational opportunities that I do. Though the unfairness of this weighed heavily on my heart, I join Victoria in giving thanks to God for providing through Smile for her education so far and partner with her in prayer that God will provide a way for her to study at university. She has such a gentle spirit and an eagerness to learn so that she can help those in need using her skills to become a heart surgeon.

Victoria also told us “I wish to start up an orphanage and sponsor kids like Smile has been doing to kids like me!” This highlights the wonderful way in which Smile’s sponsorship programmes can have a big impact in the life of this generation.

We Love Ruth Mother Care.

Coming back home after the village and being re-united with our friends in Kampala was so lovely. It made me realise how quickly we’d formed friendships and how much people here care with such sincerity! Praise God for good friends :)

After spending Sunday evening at church, we rested and recollected ourselves on Monday. Then on Tuesday we had the pleasure of re-joining Ruth Mother Care! The children and teachers are always so full of joy on our arrival (however late we arrive) and it felt so good to be back. Last week the children had exams so we were only in for half days; we supervised exams, led revision lessons to re-cap what they’d learnt previously and managed to fit in some fun stuff too...

I brought in a book called ‘The Selfish Crocodile’ (a much recommended childhood read!) and as we read and acted out this story with the  children in our P2 and P3 classes, their eyes widened and their faces grinned as they smiled and laughed absorbing every colour, animal and word on each page. To say the least the children were absolutely delighted. I hadn’t realised just how much excitement a simple story book would cause… And it hit me again how few resources these children had access to and how often we take our many resources totally for granted. Having studied the literacy development in children at university, I have learnt that reading story books regularly at school and at home, with teachers, peers, parents and siblings, has a largely positive impact. It helps to broaden the child’s vocabulary (both knowledge and understanding of words), improves spelling, grammar and pronunciation. Therefore, having access to story books would have hugely beneficial implications for these children learning English at Ruth Mother Care (and elsewhere). SO… Here’s the best bit… There is something we can do about it. If you have any old story books at home that you no longer use, we could love to collect them and send them to Ruth Mother Care School so that they can build up a library for the children to use. Whether you have one, two, ten or more books, everything will be so gratefully received and will benefit the education of many beautiful children, empowering them with language skills and giving them hope for the future.

We returned to RMC on Friday, after a day of illness on my part, and realised things had not gone according to plan. Sadly there had been confusion due to miscommunication about how long we were helping out at the school, so all the children were prepared to leave and have their last day at school (we were hoping to have an extra day with them all on Monday). Although we felt terrible to start with, our God so full of grace somehow turned our day around enabling us to get everything done that we wanted to. Grace is being given undeserved favour from God, none of us deserve his blessings but he is so gracious in blessing us regardless. I am so thankful for God’s grace, that God is on our side and that he invites us to lean on his strength not our own – because we are so weak! But He is strong.

Enjoying African tea and blowing up balloons in the teachers office!

We started by getting the children to finish drawing some card designs which we are hoping to make and sell back home (there are some fabulous drawers) which they all enjoyed. Then, we carried out a creative craft idea for gardening; Emily helped the children plant onion seedlings in plastic bottles in groups, whilst I taught the rest about what plants need to grow. After break, we told the children the story of Noah’s Ark which was great fun – We read from a children’s picture bible and stopped at various intervals to do activities. First, we played an animal game that was hilarious even though it didn’t go according to plan, then we sung “the animals went in two-by-two, hurrah, hurrah!” whilst marching in pairs. As the flood part of the story came, we surprised then with balloons to represent the waters! Then, Emily face-painted a rainbow on each child to remind us that God is faithful and keeps his promises, whilst I asked questions about the story and gave out animal stickers. After that, we collapsed into little wooden chairs and watched as the children had prepared a wonderful farewell session of incredible dances, amazing singing and a sweet little speech. It was touching watching them rejoice and smile, dance and sing for the last time of our trip. It has been a true privilege to join this school for the time we have, what a huge blessing to teach and play with these wonderful children.

Traditional Ugandan Dance!

And as for the teachers… We spend one last day with them on Monday, decorating their office, tying together crafts and cooking them English food. I have learnt so much from these inspirational women, about how to genuinely love and deeply care the children you have been entrusted with. They are incredible women filled with God’s joy, compassion and utter strength. I am amazed by them and the way they are so expectant for God to continue doing great things in this school. 

Please do keep the children and teachers of Ruth Mother Care School in your thoughts and prayers.

Village Life

I don’t know how to start writing up the last week and a half, so much has happened and my words can will never do those experiences the justice they deserve but I will try!

Last week, from Monday to Sunday, me and Emily lived in Kuffu which is a rural village. We stayed in an unfinished guest house in the grounds of Gosham Primary School, where we creatively hung our mozzie nets (thank you Andrea and Tim!) and rested in the evenings. During the days, there were two projects we were involved in.

The first of the projects was the Primary School. I visited various classes across the school reading the children bible stories, teaching them new songs and answering questions about the UK - both teachers and children are fascinated by the concept of snow! It was helpful to build up a picture of what education in another country looks like since it fits well with my degree (Childhood Studies) and possible future plans. I have also been questioning what makes a good teacher as I have been in many different classes this summer, both in Wales and in Uganda. From what I've seen, the happiest children who are eager to learn are motivated and encouraged by enthusiastic and loving teachers. However, those who are in classes where the cane is used, just learn from a place of fear; even though the teacher may be lovely, they can believe that beating children when they are wrong is the best option… Perhaps this is because they have not been taught alternative methods of motivating and disciplining children. After an uncomfortable lesson where the cane was used, I am definitely opposed to hurting children into learning and I left some stickers behind with the teacher to encourage him to reward children when they are doing well. I believe that a good teacher will have a genuine care for the well-being of the children and a deep passion for their learning being successful and enjoyable.

A beautiful photo of Isaac captured by Emily - It sums up Uganda well!

The second project we were involved in was a Creative Learning Centre (CLC) for girls who have dropped out of education (mainly due to pregnancy or cost). There, we spent time getting to know the girls, who mostly spoke Luganda - consequently we did a lot of language learning in the week! We joined in with their bag making, taught them new crafts and painted their nails. Also, we did a life skills lesson on how precious and valuable we are in God’s sight. We looked at Psalm 139 where it talks about how God knows us completely, he loves us dearly no matter what other people say about us or what we have done. God loves us simply because we are his beautiful children and although we regularly mess up, God is prepared to forgive us when we ask every time.

“I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made”
– Psalm 139:14

The crafts that these girls have learnt at CLC empower them to earn money so that they can make a living or gather enough money to return to education. We will be taking some bags, bracelets and other carefully made goodies back to the UK to sell and send money back to these wonderful girls.

Me and Emily with Edith (one of the teachers at CLC) and her daughter Precious

On Saturday, what we thought would be a quiet day in the village soon turned into a crazy day of blessings. In the morning as I was reading my bible, I saw some little black hands holding onto the wall outside our guest house and a little face appeared shouting coyly “Good morning!” As he jumped down another pair of hand appeared on the wall and I ran over to meet them at the wall and surprise them! We had a little chat and they went on their way to collect water. The children here are so full of joy and their little faces are bursting with unique character. A few moments later, a man who cooks at the school appeared, thrilled with the gifts we delivered from Smile Charity Uganda and gave us a massive sugar cane which we later learnt to cut and chew. We then went on a lovely morning walk and played with the local kids at school. After lunch at our house, a wonderful teacher called Tendo arrived telling us that it was time to go (we knew she wanted to take us on a tour of a village so got up to go). When we saw the Boda at the gate, we knew this wasn’t a small trip… After a couple of hours of travelling via Boda and Taxi, we arrived at a town called Amata, which at first sight looked like any other. We soon learned that this was where Tendo’s family lived so we waved and smiled and exchanged names with many lovely people. We went on a walk to see the foundations of a new secondary school being built there by her brother who has seen the need for a school and is making this vision a reality. Seeing their expectancy and complete dependence on God was truly incredible. On our way back we were caught in African rain and were drenched. Upon arrival at Tendo’s brother’s house, his family washed our shoes and cooked for us one of the most delicious meals I have ever had, whilst they had some posho and beans. I felt truly confusingly humbled by their hospitality. How can people who have so little be so eager to give and welcome strangers into their home with no prior warning? On top of this, they searched their sofa for a loose thread to carefully sew Emily’s old broken flip flop back together. We couldn’t thank them enough for their generosity beyond words and felt completely humbled. These people are inspirational and I am learning a lot from the kind-hearted nature of Ugandan culture.

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” – Acts 20:35

Tendo with her brother and niece

Then on Sunday, we experienced a real African village church which is just quite indescribable really! Loud, beautiful, African voices and the rhythmic beating of drums filled the church (and the whole school grounds). We were introduced at the front, speaking the little Luganda we knew and then sung the song we learnt in a few days earlier in Luganda too. It was wonderful to see the kids Sunday Club too, where they sang songs and I told them the story of Joseph! We spent a while chatting with our new found friends as Faith (one of the girls from school) delightedly played with my hair. Before too long, Innocent arrived to drive us back to Nansana and we said our good byes.

It was certainly one of the most challenging weeks of my life, yet God taught me so much though it. I am acknowledging more and more that dependence on God alone is the only way we can stand. At the end of the day, once everything is stripped away, it is just us and God. Yet with the clutter of this world, materialistic comforts can blind us to that reality, which is that our time on earth is so short in comparison to eternity. And even though we all deserve eternal death for turning away from the God who lovingly made us, He chose to send His Son to save us from this punishment – He took our place on the cross. Jesus’ death paid the debt that we owed meaning that forgiveness is ours if only we ask, and by RISING from the dead, Jesus won the victory offering us eternal life with our God who loves us so dearly. It all comes down to this. And that is why some of the children and women we have met are filled with joy – they know their suffering is temporary and that they will one day see their heavenly Father face-to-face, and that in this world there is nothing that satisfies more than depending on the one who created you.

One week in and we are loving Uganda. It is such a beautiful country filled with beautiful people who really do care a lot for those around them. We have been so welcomed into the communities at Kampala Baptist Church, Ruth Mother Care School and Nabulagala.

Ruth Mother Care School, where we have been teaching this last week.

Emily helping in Baby Class at RMC

The church in the slums

Emily with some of the children from the kids club

Face painting!

On Thursday and Friday, we spent time in the slums in Nabulagala. We visited families and played with the children, who were very excited to see us. The children's club run at the church was a great success as all 78 of the children seemed to enjoy the singing, games, story and face painting! The bible story of Daniel and the lion's den was told with fantastic acting by the children and ended with the memory verse being "Daniel's God is a living God... He rescues and saves" (Daniel ch 6 v2). We then painted children's faces as lions which they loved. It was a truly humbling experience; I came away broken hearted and outraged at the injustice that children are being born and brought up in this environment, where they do not have access to the basic needs of life. Please do pray for children and families in these situations, that God will provide, fill them with his love and joy, and that they would be saved.


In a couple of hours, we will be leaving to stay in a rural village where we will be working with girls who are currently not in school. I think there will be workshops and possibly some lessons, thought we are not really sure what to expect! Please pray for confidence as I fear uncertainty, that I remember God has gone before us and has exciting plans for the week ahead and that He never leaves us. Also, prayer for energy, joy and a loving heart as we meet these girls; and patience too with no internet and contact with home. Pray for the people we will meet too, though we don't yet know who they are, that they will be blessed and encouraged.

Thank you for your support and prayers, we will update you in a week!

Discovering Uganda

 We have been in Uganda for 3 days now, after a smooth flight on Saturday (thank you for your prayers) and are thoroughly enjoying learning what our new ‘normal’ will look like.

 We were met at the airport by Gabit and Innocent who are two of the Smile volunteers that we are living with; I am thankful to have been laughing and enjoying fellowship from the moment we landed.

 On Sunday, we went to church. It was fantastic seeing so many people joyfully worshiping and yearning for unity in Christ. We came home to the Smile House where we are staying and had a delicious lunch together, followed by a lot of singing (there is a keyboard in the house) and a church youth event in the evening… I have never heard so many good rappers in my life! It was great to chat to people there and feel so welcomed into their community, and we are slowly learning a little Lugandan too!
 Yesterday started with an encouraging morning devotion where we met Alex (Project Leader who heads up Smile Charity Uganda). We then visited Ruth Mother Care School where we will be teaching English while we are here and were greeted by so many excited and curious children who sang to us beautifully! Then we drove into town to get phones. The evening was spent at Alex’s house meeting his wife and adorable baby daughter who is just 2 weeks old today.

 Today we began teaching at Ruth Mother Care after an exhilarating ride on a Boda (motorcycle taxi) which will be the norm for this week. Ruth has such a wonderful vision for the school and it is exciting to hear already how it has grown. All the children are wonderful and so eager to learn, it was a joy to play with them and teach them what we had prepared and what we had not prepared as well…! We each planned one lesson which we taught first thing in the morning but after that we went into each classroom and were given a subject to teach and some children to teach to, which was a good but hard challenge on our first day – I was grateful to be with Emily so that we could share ideas and learn to think on the spot together. After a boda ride home, we both collapsed on the sofas for a couple of hours, happy, tired and glad to be alive!

Prayer points:
- Praise for safe arrival and how well we are settling in
- Continued safety for everyday things like Boda rides on bumpy roads and protection from illness
- Please pray for the school to be able to buy more land so that they can build a playground for the children and enough money to buy a van so that some of the children can be driven to and from school rather than walking such long distances. If you would like to give, please visit the Smile website - http://www.smileinternational.org/Give.aspx
- Finally, prayer for strength and energy for me and Emily as we continue teaching would be really valued, that we could be useful here and that we would be a blessing to those we meet. Thank you!

2 days to go!

Hello!

Thank you for taking the time to find my blog :) I’ll be giving updates here over the next 5 or so weeks as I travel to Uganda to volunteer with Smile International.

Recently, I’ve been feeling so overwhelmed by the care and support of those around me. God has truly blessed me and surrounded me wonderful friends and family. To know that I am being prayed for by many genuinely loving brothers and sisters in Christ is so uplifting; the thoughts and kind words of many friends is truly valued. In God’s great provision, through your generosity, over £1600 has been raised towards my short-term mission trip - I am honestly stunned and very thankful. So thank you!! Very much.

It seems hard to believe that in 2 days me and Emily, my lovely cousin, will begin our journey to Uganda. I’m experiencing the expected mix of excitement and nerves as I think about it. I feel as though I been thrown out of a wonderful whirlwind of holidaying in Cyprus, enjoying time in Aberystwyth, visiting Sam’s parents in Berkshire and camping in Pembrokeshire with Sam (my boyfriend) – the last month has been fantastic, and suddenly I’m back home! It’s always a little strange coming back home, though I love it here dearly. It makes me realise how much God is changing me through my time at University and I’m getting used to bringing myself as a changed and changing person back home. Having dinner with friends, spending time with family and worshipping at St Johns, my home church, has made me feel so appreciative of those people close to me who I have been fortunate enough to know whilst growing up, and I feel so encouraged by them and their wisdom as I prepare to leave. This week is consisting of packing and buying any last bits and bobs I need to take out, plenty to keep me busy!

PRAYER POINTS:

-          Peace of mind and a steady heart as I prepare emotionally and spiritually (wearing the armour of God!)

-          That practicalities would go smoothly as I fly on Saturday

-          That I would be filled with courage and that I would be useful when I arrive