Tag Archives: Missions

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I got comfortable going for lessons every weekday and little in between. I fix myself a breakfast, usually an egg sandwich, but sometimes I experiment with millet porridge. It is pretty good with lemon and sugar. I report for Acholi Luo lessons with Beatrice at 9am, we break at around 1:30, and Teddy, Beatrice’s helper, serves us a lunch so big I rarely need to eat supper. We wrap up lessons around 5:30, but often I hang around just being family until just before dark. 

We have had interruptions to our study schedule off and on. During this trip I gained a daughter, Janet, who started nursing school, and two other dependents, one in Senior 4 (10th grade), and another, Janet’s cousin Dorcas, in tailoring training. I am helping an American couple support another girl in Senior 5 (11th Grade), and our supplements to her tuition, room, and board tempt me to claim her as another dependent, though she is not really. In Uganda, most students are in boarding schools, and the custom is that, on visiting day, the families and their students meet, usually in their Sunday best, and do their best to impress one another, the students with their report cards, and the parents with all the goodies they can carry. I have missed a few visiting days, but when I finally made it to one, recognized what an error it is to omit. The unvisited student sits neglected as her classmates enjoy treats and sodas from home for the next few weeks. 

In addition to these dependents, we have made student loans to several healthcare personnel, one nurse midwife seeking her diploma, one clinical officer (the Ugandan equivalent to a Physician’s Assistant) seeking ultrasound training, and one former nurse studying to become a clinical officer. These student loans are in keeping with our commitment to give a hand up, not a hand-out, so these precious Ugandan health workers can advance their credentials and continue ministering God’s abundant life here in Uganda. 

In addition to student loans, we have found a few others in need who were helped with micro-loans, one a single mother of two, abandoned by their father, and left to break rocks for the means to survive. We gave her a small loan which enabled her to open a small produce market stall near her daughter’s school. Another loan was to a truck driver who had to hire a Boda-boda (motorcycle taxi) every day to get to work. His family asked and we provided a loan for him to get his own motorcycle. 

With so many counting on us, I have had to take the occasional break from Acholi lessons to take the odd student to a clinic or go shopping at the open air market for necessities. Usually we make the most of even the sick days we get to spend together, and I take my little group to a buffet restaurant with local food just to see they get enough. I have gotten to like local food, though I do splurge on the occasional dinner of Indian cuisine.

I took a trip to see the “100-acre” lot in Minakulu. It was nowhere near 100 acres but more like thirty. Thirty would be good but this one had no real vehicle access, and was too ridiculously far from the main road to be practical. It was brought up that those in remote villages need care too, but I think that means TLCU may do healthcare outreach trips, but not set up permanent shop that deep in the villages. 

I have toured several health centers here in Northern Uganda, some impressive, others not so much. When I walked into one my mouth dropped open because it was just like the one I dream about. It had everything — emergency department, maternity, out-patient department (OPD), dental clinic, women’s independent living training center, guest house, and even (though I never dream of this part) a vulnerable children’s home and primary school. This place even had a similar color scheme to the one in my dreams, except mine is a Ugandan Red and yellow with black trim, and theirs is brown and orange with black trim. This place was founded by a German woman I am eager to meet someday, and maybe share design plans. 

Everywhere I go, my ability to speak at least some Acholi has increased my welcome. Everyone seems so excited to find a white traveler willing to learn the language. That is what this trip is about, and so far it has been a success.  Beatrice, my teacher, administered a series of exams to measure my progress. I managed to impress even her, though I know she is a lenient grader. She has done a great job with the time we have had, and I am going to miss being with her family after I “graduate” back to Florida.

I made some friends in the various villages I visited. Some even presented me with livestock. As of this writing, I have a kitten, a chick, a rooster, and a goat. Technically I gave the rooster to Beatrice since she is the one who gave me Chicken Little, a brown male chick. The goat, which I named “Sky” because of the cloudy white patches in her brown coat, will remain with her mother and sister until I return and get some land on which to keep livestock myself. 

Pray for us! When I return to the U.S. I will need to do some serious fund raising to bring our planned projects to life. Pray for our students. Pray for our organization, that we may get the proper credentials to do what God has called us to do. 

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I wrote the above entry two weeks ago but failed to post it. Now I am struggling with all the sad farewells that come with being a part of so many lives. Wednesday I will leave for the capital city, and Friday will board a plane, making my way back to Florida.

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Be in prayer about this, prayer warriors! We have been offered a piece of land exactly where we are planning to begin that has been measured at 100 acres! I have a local scout checking out that property this weekend. If a westerner showed up, the price would quickly multiply, so a friend will check it first and report back to me. The asking price is 3 million ($857) per acre, but my scout thinks he can get them down to 2 million ($571) per acre. If that was the case we could be looking getting 100 acres for just‘$57,142.

Our mission support does not yet equal that amount, so pray God opens the floodgates of blessing in our direction so we can start with the projects He has called us to do.

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June 6th my car broke down. June 7th I had it towed to Kampala five hours from home for repairs. June 10th I was told my car would be ready the next day, so June 11th I went to Kampala with friend and fellow missionary Nancy Cardoza. My car wouldn’t actually be ready until June 14th, but that gave me a chance to witness something I hadn’t before.

While Nancy drove us through the capital, sweet little children jumped on her car at every intersection, begging for a handout, crying about their hunger. My heart hurting as it does for such children, I reached for my pocket. Nancy stopped me. “Don’t you dare give her money! Those are trafficked children from Karamoja, and whatever you give them goes to their handlers, so if you give into them you support human trafficking.”

I was shocked, torn, furious, and heartbroken at every intersection after that. How could this go on? Police were sitting in the shade at many of these intersections where handlers oversaw their trafficked child slaves. It was appalling!

June 15th I woke up in the wee hours of the morning with the thought of a Karamoja round-up. Alone I could never Pied Piper or Liam Neeson those kids home, but I thought of a few recent news articles that showed me just who to bring the idea to. 

The background is the Karamoja, the primitive tribe of cattle people in the northeast of Uganda, have been notoriously defiant of Ugandan authority and have been stealing cattle from their neighboring tribe, the Acholi. President Yoweri Museveni has tried all manner of talks to get them to stop and to submit to Ugandan authority but recent efforts have turned into threats of violent force.

June 12th the President sent hundreds of goats to the people of Karamoja, as an incentive project to keep cattle rustlers from reoffending (https://theinformerug.com/2022/06/13/president-museveni-donates-goats-to-karamojong-to-curtail-cattle-rustling/). The problem with that is the Karamoja are cattle people, not goat herders. 

It occurred to me that a round-up of Karamoja’s stolen kids and a coordinated reunion would go a long way toward making peace with this outsider tribe of Ugandans. I have sown an idea toward President Museveni on Twitter in the past and soon saw him implement it, so I took a chance on doing it again. I am verbose, so the first draft was not Twitter-friendly. Here are both the draft and the published tweet:

Long version (not sent):

Most honorable President @KagutaMuseveni, I know that you value the lives of your fellow Ugandans. If I may say so, what the Karamoja need more than your generous gift of goats is their stolen children returned from the street corners of Kampala. A joint round-up initiative by your police, army, and social services could accomplish a reunion in mere weeks. The atrocity of human trafficking should be stopped where it can, most honorable one, and you have that power.

Edited for Twitter (sent):

Most honorable President @KagutaMuseveni, a joint round-up initiative by your police, army, and social services could reunite the stolen children of Karamoja on Kampala’s street corners with their families. You have the power to stop this human trafficking and bless the Karamoja.

I pray God gets this message to those who would follow up on it, that no offense is taken, that Karamoja’s children recover from the trauma of being stolen, and that there is peace in the north. My understanding is that many of these kids were promised good homes, food, and jobs, and were surrendered by their families who had no hope of supporting them.

It seems to me that if a nation wants the respect of a tribe, and expects them to obey the national laws, it could use its authority to stop the trafficking of that tribe’s children first. Pray this gets taken the right way and that God’s will is done here in Uganda as it is in Heaven.