This
Christmas people all over the world will be re-reading the Old Testament prophecies
that foretold the coming of Christ the Messiah, as a baby. In Isaiah 9.2-7, we read that “the people who
walked in darkness have seen a great light;…For to us a child is born, to us a
son is given;… and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
The theme of
light continues throughout Isaiah (esp 49.6 & 58.6-10), and is echoed in
the Sermon on the Mount, with Jesus telling us to “let your light shine before
others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is
in heaven” (Matthew, 5.16).
It was a
real privilege therefore during this Advent to be able to physically bring
light to a community that lacked it. Some
of you have heard about Kahokya Baptist Church before, a small building on a
steep slope in a remote village in the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains which
is only accessible by a narrow and steep dirt track. Its Pastor, Baluku Mbalizwa is a man of
vision and real passion who established the church after he left the DR Congo
in 1997 and has also set up, at his own expense, a small health clinic to serve
his community. The people of Kahokya
walk for an hour down a steep hill to get water from a tap in the valley, struggling
back up with heavy jerry-cans on their heads, and even walk for an hour
round-trip to charge their mobile phones at the nearest trading centre. Their children return from school after
sunset and struggle to do their homework with kerosene lamps which are
expensive, dim, unhealthy, and dangerous – or don’t do their homework at all
for lack of lighting.
Thanks to a
generous private donation from the UK; and to some training, advice and
equipment from an English NGO (www.guguplextech.com,
Bury St Edmonds); I returned to Uganda in October hoping to establish a solar
project at Kahokya B.C. However, as many
people know, physics was my worst subject at school and whilst I’m game for
most forms of DIY I have a fear of most things electrical, coupled with a low
competency! Thankfully, Alfonse
introduced me to Amisi Katalaliko, from our church (KCBC) who is a qualified
electrician employed by Kilembe Investments on rural electrification projects. Amisi generously agreed to offer his time and
expertise and we did a planning visit to Kahokya along with my Dad back in
October. Fitting around Amisi’s working
hours we spent much of the next 7 weeks purchasing a large folding ladder, U-bolts,
a Gel-battery, wiring, switches etc; commissioning a carpenter to make a
bespoke lockable wooden equipment cabinet with multiple phone charging sections
on the top; and getting a special secure frame welded for the solar panel –
which was done by Eric from KCBC, who is a good metal worker, and the best male
singer in our church choir! The plan was
that by mid-December the rainy season would have finished, and so the road
would be dry.
Meanwhile in
Kahokya the church constructed a little guardhouse so someone can sleep there
each night to protect the equipment, and made doors for the church’s two rooms.
Last
Saturday Amisi and I loaded up the car and drove to Kahokya, excited about the
project, relieved that the track was dry, and slightly bemused by the unusually
low cloud base we drove through as we climbed our way up to Kahokya, arriving
just before 10am. We then worked hard all
day until about 9.30pm. By getting the
lighting working first, we were then able to work on through the evening under
the impressively bright glare of 5w/12v LED light-bulbs. The activity of any
mzungu in an African village is usually
a spectator sport, so it was no surprise that our every move was being watched
by crowds of largely silent children and adults of all ages. Word had spread that electricity was somehow
arriving at the church, so leaders from other churches and local politicians
also turned up to greet us, thank us, or see what the fuss was about! It was only as the sun dropped behind the
mountains over neighbouring DR Congo and the sky turned from a brief but beautiful
pink to an intense blackness that I started to realise just how significant
this light could be. People who would
otherwise have dispersed at sunset stayed in the church chatting, listening to
Newcastle play Man City on a battery-powered radio (yes there really is no
escaping Premiership football!), or just watching what was happening and
enjoying the light.
By bed time
we’d also managed to connect up all the 12v car-socket phone chargers so that
six mobile phones can be charged simultaneously, and fitted switches so that the
battery load can effectively be controlled from within the lockable box. I say
we, Amisi was the star of the electrical work, I mostly drilled holes, drove
screws, stripped wire and passed him the right tools when he was balanced on
the ladder! Nonetheless by the time I
collapsed into my military-issue popup mosquito net and sheet-sleeping bag I
was exhausted and slept quite soundly, despite the inevitable digestive
implications of having eaten large amounts of African food. I woke up shivering cold at about 5.30am to
the almighty drumming of an African rainstorm pounding onto the church’s
corrugated roof, punctuated only by the raindrops that didn’t bounce off the
roof but worked their way through to drip on us below. We have the luxury of a tiled roof on our
house in Kasese, but for millions of Africans the incessant din of rain on a
metal roof, and the ensuing drips and dampness is a daily experience. As it continued to pour for the next few
hours it was clear that church was not going to start at 10am so I got on with
teaching the Pastor’s son about how to manage the project with regard to saving
money for battery replacement, managing daily battery-load, recording income
from phone charging etc.
Indeed,
after over a year in Uganda I’m slowly realising why time is such an elastic,
if not dispensable, concept here. No-one
in their right mind goes out in an African rainstorm, so clearly church would
just start after it finished. As there’s
little else to do in a Ugandan village on a Sunday it doesn’t really matter
what the clock says. Sure enough the
rain stopped soon after 11 and church started at around 12 and finished around
2.30pm. As parents of a toddler this
often drive us bananas, but as I was on my own this time, it was much easier to
go with the flow! Although much of it
was in Lukhongo, of which I am woefully ignorant (we’ve been learning Swahili),
the service clearly had a celebratory feel.
I preached using Isaiah 58.6-10 to explain how the church should best
use its new light and power, and Amisi translated. The two main aims of the project are that the
church should use its lights to host children doing homework in the evenings,
and bible-studies or other community events; and that it should use the income
from charging mobile phones (at 10p a time) to support its ministry and save
for future projects, such as fitting guttering and building a rainwater collection
tank so that those who are least able don’t have to keep trekking the hills
with jerry-cans. In both aspects it
should use the extra attention/new visitors as opportunities to expand its Christian
outreach.
If Kahokya
B.C. can succeed in these aims, we hope to get funding for similar projects in other
rural off-grid Baptist Churches around Kasese District.
The Pastor
gave us a good send-off with a delicious chicken-pulao lunch and the ubiquitous
prayer for “journey-mercies”. In this
case, they were much needed as the torrential rains had washed away sections of
the track, flooded others and turned parts of it into slippery mud. When driving in such conditions less is
more. If you fight with the steering
wheel you lose. If you brake you slide,
and if you stop you get stuck. The only
solution is to keep a steady, but low speed and a loose-grip on the steering wheel
allowing the car to follow the ruts and rivets where it can find the best
grip. The resulting bumps, shakes, and
occasional forays into the edges of fields are pretty terrifying, but by the
grace of God and the strength of Toyota we made it home. A return visit for monitoring is planned in
February, by which time it really will be dry season!
Prayer
Requests:
1. Give thanks for the private donation,
the support of Guguplex and the time and skill of Amisi which made it possible
to install this project in Kahokya B.C.
2. Pray that the solar-equipment will
not be stolen, vandalised or damaged, and that it can be used effectively to
serve the community and glorify God.
3. Pray for all those for whom this
Christmas may be a time of darkness – in any sense of the word – that they may
know the love and light of Christ.
Happy
Christmas!
