[the africa diaries] day fifteen: headed home

Waking up this morning I couldn’t wait to get home! While I tried to enjoy my last few hours with the team, my mind was already wandering home.

At breakfast we all talked about how wonderful this experience was, while I (as the team chaplain) challenged them to not let it end here. What would we do when we got home to continue making a difference for the people and the mission that we were just on.

For me it’s been continuing to share the images and stories of what God has stirred in me throughout this trip. For others on the team it’s sharing their experiences with churches back home. Regardless of what we did, we all certainly felt responsible for telling the story about what we did and what we saw.

I knew that my life would never be the same. I also knew that it would be difficult returning home to the abundance to which I’ve become accustomed. Even the ordinary task of walking into a grocery store would prove to be difficult.

But I also knew that I needed to get back to my most important ministry of all… my wife and my son.

What if my greatest impact on a trip like this is not just in the work that I did while I was there? What if I could continue to have an even greater impact in the life of my son by showing him that I’m serious about making the world a better place, and that he can too? What if this whole thing sets off a chain reaction (even if it is just in my family) to make a difference not only half-way around the world, but even in our own backyard?

This is one of the reasons that I couldn’t wait to get home.

Sure, I missed my family. But I couldn’t wait to get back to some of the most important ministry work that God has entrusted me with.

Thank you to Jim Oakes, John Hutchins, Bob Larson, Cavin Philbin, Jean Ann Feneis, and the staff of Five Talents International for letting a crazy blogger like me tag along on an amazing trip like this! You have all touched my life in a way that I’ll never forget.

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[the africa diaries] day fourteen: back to kampala

Mission accomplished.

Our work is done, and we now begin our journeys home. First the long drive across Uganda from Kasese to Kampala. Then after our last night our team flies together from Kampala to Nairobi to London where we part ways and I board my flight from London to Miami then on to Tampa.

So the long drive back to Kampala became our last opportunity to really soak in the experience.

Part of me can’t shaking the idea of getting back to the comforts of home. This makes me think again about the differences in our lives. I think about the people that cart huge jugs of water around because they don’t have plumbing and public water systems.

One of the first things that I’m going to do when I get home is to take a shower. I’ll probably use the equivalent of one of those jugs of water in my shower.

I wonder if I’d use as much of it to bathe if I had to cart it a couple of miles from the river to my home.

I think about the homes that we drive by and how they’re made. As we arrive in Kampala I see new construction that confirms that even larger scale construction projects lack the building quality that make these safe places to live and work.

I’m heading home to a place that was built to withstand a category 4 or 5 hurricane. A virtual fortress.

In fact, as I write this, we’ve seen the effects that natural disasters can have on similar construction. The January 12th earthquake in Haiti resulted in such widespread damage because the building standards weren’t at a level reuired to handle such an event.

The construction that I’ve seen throughout the parts of Africa that I’ve just visited are of similar standards. I cringe at the thought of a similar disaster happening in a place like Kampala.

Our worlds are very different.

But this isn’t a night to be sad. It’s a night to celebrate! We’ve just finished an important work, and it’s something that we should be proud of!

Certainly we didn’t fix the world’s problems in a two week trip. But we did plant a seed.

A seed that we pray will bear great fruit in the months and years to come. They are seeds of hope and a future. It is a hope that can only come through love and nurturing. We stood beside them, sowed our minds and hearts into them, and let them know how much we believe in them.

We leave behind hundreds of people whose lives will never be the same because of the work that we’ve just done! And THAT my friend, was cause to celebrate!

I thank God every day that I’m able to impact other people’s lives in a positive way, and I pray that I continue to have opportunities to deliver Hope to many others…

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Check out more from this series in the africa diaries.

[the africa diaries] day thirteen: our last classes

Our last day of teaching ended up being one of the hardest days for me on this trip for several reasons. Some of it was related to the obvious realization that our time was nearly up on this incredible journey. While I was anxious to get home to my family, there was part of me that didn’t want to leave.

But the hardest part of this day was related to some of the things that I saw.

In some aspects, there was this amazing beauty everywhere I looked. The land was beautiful, and so were the people. At times it’s easy to overlook the tragic lives that the people here are forced to live.

It wasn’t until our second day at this location that I really started talking with Rev. Joseph Bwambale. He was the pastor of the church that we were in, and he was my translator that morning as I taught.

I knew that I liked the guy when I would say three words, and his translation sounded like about five sentences followed a great deal of laughter from our audience. Considering that I wasn’t telling a joke, I knew that he had a style that the people connected with, and he did what was needed to communicate my basic message into something that his people really wanted to hear.

He knew his people well, and I liked that about him.

After I finished teaching I had the opportunity to talk more with him about the roles that he filled. I was blown away by what he told me and showed me.

First of all, he didn’t have any fancy tools. His office was simple and lacked the amenities of even the most meager workplaces here in the States. No computer. No desk phone. Only a small wooden desk with a few papers stacked on it.

He also showed me his study. This was the place where he went to read and learn. Most of the texts were well worn and several years old. But there I found the resources for the things that he was passionate about… theology and medical care. I imagine that every book he owned was difficult to come across. I didn’t see many Barnes and Nobles stores around, even in the more rural areas.

Reverend Joseph seemed to treasure his books in a way that few people do back home.

But what really got me was realizing exactly what he did for the community there. Not only did he run the church, but he also was responsible for a school and a medical center.

While the school was something along the lines of what I expected to see there, I don’t know that I was ready to witness the conditions of the medical center.

As Reverend Joseph showed me around, he explained to me that they did not have electricity in the buildings. In fact he told me about how they had gotten a grant from the government to build a new medical theater, but it was useless to them because they had neither electricity to power it or the doctors to staff it.

The reception area of the main building was dark, and obviously worn down. It was hardly the kind of place that would make you think that this is where one would go to get better from an illness.

I saw an injection room where the conditions not only seemed unsanitary, but also under-equipped. One can only wonder how many times needles must be used there before they became medical waste. Re-using needles wouldn’t be considered a reckless act here, it would be a necessity.

The conditions simply were not acceptable. I could see that it broke Reverend Joseph’s heart to know that he was not able to adequately meet the medical needs of the people. He told me about how the nearest (fully equipped) hospital was over an hour drive from there (through unpaved mountain roads).

He told me that if a woman was having a baby and there were complications, they would have to transport her in the back of a (nearly broken down) pick-up truck to the hospital. The journey alone would often make a bad situation worse.

Being the father of a child with Type 1 Diabetes, I couldn’t help but to wonder what life would be like for my son in a place like this. I wonder how many die because they simply are not able to correctly diagnose or properly treat those types of conditions.

Needless to say, this day was one that I will not soon forget.

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Check out more from this series in the africa diaries.

[the africa diaries] day twelve: teaching in uganda

You’ve probably never heard of Rwesande.

In fact, you won’t even find it on a Google Map. It’s in the area of Kasese up in the Rwenzori Mountains. Based on the roads that we took to get out there, I’m not surprised that I can’t find this place on a Google Map.

But after a very bumpy (and sometimes scary) drive far up into the mountains we discovered this amazing community of people. From a distance, you never would have believed that there was this much life running around out there, but as we got closer to our destination the people started buzzing around seemingly out of nowhere.

I had heard that people would walk several miles to come see us, and now I was seeing it. No cars. No bicycles. Nothing but their feet. I can’t imagine that it was an easy walk either.

Jim and I were the only ones from our team at this site. That meant that I would have the opportunity to teach for half of the day on both days. And with a little rain in the forecast, I was just happy to see that the church building we were in was fairly sound.

We arrived a little later than expected, and were surprised to find that none of our participants were there when we arrived. When we asked where everyone was we were told that it was the one day that week that the market was open. If the people wanted to buy food for the week they would have to go that morning.

whoa.

This was yet another event that made me realize how different our lives are. I can go to the grocery store any time. Not only that… this is also where people would have gone to sell goods to others, making this one of few money making opportunities that many would have that week.

oh snap.

We were there to teach business skills,  so we waited patiently for them to arrive from the market before we started. The late start would certainly impact our timing and schedule, but it just seemed better to respect their way of life.

Then as we got started, they wanted to get it started with a little singing. You’ve got to understand something here… This building we were in was NOT one of those acoustically engineered buildings that was made for sound. It is a structure of mud walls with a tin roof on top of it. 

And the video that I’m sharing here doesn’t do the experience justice. But as they sang, their worship FILLED the place! I didn’t understand a SINGLE WORD, but I did know that we were WORSHIPPING…

It was easy to see the sense of community that these people have. Forget all of the fancy bells and whistles… they didn’t need that. They could just come together and sing beautiful music to the Lord! AND… they didn’t need an overhead projector to show everyone the words!

As we worked through the day, our teaching had them breaking off into small groups for various projects. I was impressed by how well the people worked together through these projects. The people were innovative and developed amazing ideas that they could work out collaboratively.

Their sense of unity was special. There wasn’t anyone running around saying, “I’m going to take this idea myself and go get rich!” The people tended to think much more about how each of them could have a part in the overall plan. There seemed (to me) this sense that each person knew that the one sitting next to them needed the opportunity just as much as they did, and it would be unthinkable to leave them out of the chance at achieving a better life.

This is a sense of community that I think many of us miss sometimes here in the States. We’ve become so isolated from the rest of the world around us.

I mean, seriously… when was the last time that you looked at the person next to you and though, “man, I know that he/she is probably struggling just as much as I am… what can I do to work with them to improve both of our lives?”

That kind of community can be a pretty powerful (and beautiful) thing. 

Check out more from this series in the africa diaries.

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