Friday, November 17

Today’s lesson was taken from an article on Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose Driven Life. The article stated the Rick Warren prefers calling missionary teams “peace teams”. Then it  goes on to say what each letter in peace means. Every now and then Tom likes to measure what Hope4Kids is doing and he will look at someone he admires and respects to see if we are in line with them. So today we took a look at Warren’s Peace.

P= Plant new churches or partner with existing ones. Here in Uganda we have partnered with True Vine Ministries who were meeting in a tumbling down wooden shack and helped them build a new church. 51 churches have been planted since then.

E= Equip leaders. Hope4Kids trains and teaches men and women not only in ministry but have equipped them to start businesses such as funding the women’s ministry to train women who are living in poverty. Tom helped a man living in poverty start a driving school. Now that man has two driving schools and is working toward buying an apartment complex. We can point to many people who had no hope and are now leaders in the community.

A= Assist the poor. We take verses from the Bible and try to live by them such as “do not mock the poor” and in James 2:15 -16 we read:

“If you know someone who doesn’t have any clothes or food, you shouldn’t just say, “I hope all goes well for you. I hope you will be warm and have plenty to eat. What good is it to say this, unless you do something to help?”

And in James 1:27:

“Religion that pleases God the Father must be pure and spotless. You must help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil.”

C= Care for the sick. Hope4KidsInternational is building clinics in Peru and Romania. Here in Uganda we built the clinic and tomorrow we will dedicate our new hospital. Our nursing teams have trained the Uganda nurses in practices such as using gloves when they treat patients and they are now immunizing children.

E= Educate the next generation. This also matches what we are doing. Immediately upon sponsoring an orphan that child receives a uniform so he/she can attend school. We meet their school fees in secondary school. So many have dropped out because they can’t afford the fees. True Vine and the nurses have been educating the children on AIDS, health care and teaching life skills.

After a prayer we were dismissed to serve.
 

Cadija on her new mattress!

Remember Cadija? She was one of the widows Jane and I visited before the team arrived. She’s between 110 and 120 years old. She crawls around looking for firewood in the bush. We found she sleeps on a pile of dirty rags. We brought her sheets and a blanket not knowing she had no mattress. Yesterday a team of us arrived with a mattress. Imagine living that long and never owning a mattress! She was so happy. She didn’t want to come back out of her hut.

Stuck in the mud!

Lolo brought blankets for widows so we visited a couple widows and gifted them with her blankets. The paths in the bush were not made for vehicles and our mini-bus sunk into the fresh mud. We had quite a time!

We also re-visited another widow. Last time Jane and I brought her gifts she said, “I don’t want salvation. I don’t want you coming her to tell me about salvation. And I don’t want the Mzungu to take my picture!” We obliged and told her we had just come by to check on her and to give her some gifts. Yesterday when we returned with a mattress she welcomed us warmly. At the end she said, “I will put on my goma (a dress up dress) and you can take my picture.” She also asked that we pray for her and she prayed for us.

Paper Airplanes....

Back at the site the team was busy welcoming new orphans and playing with the kids after school. Laura’s team was swamped with kids who wanted their faces and fingernails painted. They were told Bible stories and played with hula-hoops and the parachutes. Cooper had a little drawing class and Carol and Cheryl showed kids how to make paper airplanes.

Too tired... asleep on the floor!

Tomorrow will be the big celebration and the dedication of the hospital. Many of the Ugandans will work well into the night caring for all the last minute details. Chris and Wendy finished re-upholstering well-worn benches and tables in the clinic. Elizabeth and Darrin welcomed the orphans who came from a distance in trucks, vans, bikes and by foot. They partied in the church with singing, dancing and eating and were joined by Wendy and Chris when they finished their tasks. The girls will sleep at the church and the boys will be at a school house. A truck full of mattresses pulled up to give the children a more comfortable sleep. Some couldn’t wait for a mattress and fell asleep on the floor. Others won’t sleep much in anticipation of tomorrow.

Friday, November 18

Orphans at the big celebration!

The big day has come. We found Ugandans had worked through the night and were still smiling! The site was alive with activity as the distinguished guests began arriving. Pastor Ruth who was the mistress of ceremonies appeared with some of her street boys. The Uganda AIDS representatives were in attendance along with many local government officials and parliament members. We were all in our places when the representative from the president’s office arrived. Hundreds of orphans were under a big tent, pastors and invited guests from the community were directly across from them and the VIP tent was in front.

Motorcycle escort

We all stood when the motorcycle escorting the Toyota SUV pulled in front of us. Pastor Ruth led the delegation to welcome the honorable Dr. Stephen Malinga, the minister of health. After he was seated on a comfortable couch the Pastor Ruth began the ceremony with a prayer and the Uganda National Anthem. She praised the work of True Vine and said, “It is easy to see God is at work here.”

Tom Eggum leads a the group of VIP's on a tour of the grounds.

Touring the new hospital.

Next was the VIP tour of the grounds. Tom and Pastor Wilber gave an overview of what had been accomplished in the past three years as they walked the grounds. With great ceremony the foundation stone was unveiled and the tour through the hospital began. Dr. Stephen was impressed with our wanting a preemie ward. He asked, “Are you sure you want that? It’s very expensive to have a heart monitor, oxygen, incubators and all you need.” He paused and then added, “But then. There isn’t a preemie ward in all of Eastern Uganda. . .”

Back to the ceremony site we were treated to singing and dancing by some of the True Vine children who say, “We are no longer orphans because Jesus is our father so we don’t want to be called the ‘orphan choir’ but ‘African Children with a Mission.’”

Pastor Joseph, Chairman of the board of True Vine spoke, asking the president’s office and local officials for help in reducing the pollution from the cement factory. He also requested help in staffing the hospital.

Pastor Brendon told how we in the United States came to be involved and Pastor Joshua talked of our partnership and how people from every kind of background came together to labor in love for this project. Tom spoke of God’s grace, his love for the Ugandan people and hope for tomorrow. Pastor Wilber addressed the crowd telling of the background of True Vine team ministries; he told of the setbacks, achievements and future goals. He said, “Our services have no boundaries-we treat everyone-as God has no boundaries.” He requested help from the government for a number of things for the hospital such as an ambulance and an access road. He then appealed to Dr Stephen to intervene with a problem we were having with a container filled with medical supplies, electrical and construction goods and clothing, flip flops and blankets for orphans. It was being held up because they wanted to tax us a phenomenal fee.

Dr. Stephen addresses the crowd, "The children are the reason we are here."

After a number of speeches the honorable Dr. Stephen stood to applaud the children whom he said, “are the reason we are here.” He praised our efforts and promised to help with our container and to look into other areas of concern. He passed out five of the 700+ backpacks we were giving to the orphans today. He ended his speech by talking of our Lord Jesus and how we were following Jesus’ example by reaching out to the orphans and the widows.

It was a great day! Everyone agreed the celebration was a great success!

Sunday, November 19

The Fellowship group and Robert went to Pastor Peter’s church where both Pastors Eric and Brad preached. Fellowship is sponsoring the building of a new church.

The rest of us attended True Vine’s main church where Pastor Bill spoke.

At both churches we spent time with our friends taking last minute pictures, and getting hugs from people we won’t see tomorrow.

Pastors Joshua & Iliana and theirorphan from Kenya.

Pastors Joshua and Iliana met their daughter. She’s from Kenya and when True Vine found her she was naked and had no one to care for her. She took the representative to the bush and showed her twelve graves-her parents, grandparents and all other relatives who had succumbed to AIDS. She ate by offering to carry water and doing chores for people in exchange for a little food. At night she slept outside beneath the thatched overhang of someone’s roof. In order to take her picture to register her for the orphan program they had to borrow a dress. A woman from True Vine has offered to take her in but first they have to take her back to Kenya to get permission from the tribal chief. Please be praying for this little girl. Sadly her story is not unique.

The container has arrived.  Praise God!

The sorting of contents begins!

As we loaded the bus to return to the hotel Pastor Wilber boarded and told us “the container has arrived!” We cheered and returned to the hotel to change clothes and eat so we could get that container unloaded! It was like Christmas! The wheel barrows, the ladders, and coils of wire and electrical supplies thrilled Darrin and Robert. We were all excited to see new machines and tons of hospital supplies! Michele couldn’t wait to try out the beautiful new dental chair. There was an air of festivity as we carried and sorted and oooh and aaaahed. The Ugandans were right there with us in our joy. It was dark when we finished but what a relief to know it is all sorted and secure before we leave on Tuesday!

Tomorrow we will finish up projects, say goodbye and pack up to leave Tuesday. We’re all looking forward to some pumpkin pie and pizza!

~  The End  ~