My Adventures in Winter Wonderland, by Samuel D. Shrubsole

Yes!  Mummy and Daddy have finally let me have a go on the blog again!

I’ve had lots of adventures since I last wrote on my first Birthday, but the adventure I had this month was quite different.  We left our house in Kasese on a hot, dusty and sunny day and drove the usual long journey to Kampala in the car and on down to Entebbe in a taxi.  Then we got on a big aeroplane in the middle of the night, slept well, and arrived in England early in the morning of the next day.  Granny and Grandpop were there to meet us at the airport and took us to their house in their smooth and quiet car on a fast and flat road with no bumps or potholes.  No-one beeped their horns at us and we didn’t see any cows or goats in the road, which was strange.  After all that time sitting in cars and an aeroplane I wanted to run around in Granny and Grandpop’s garden but first I had to wear a vest, t-shirt and jumper and then a big bulky thing called a coat.  This didn’t impress me much, as I like running around freely in just a vest and some shorts – or usually nothing at all!

The reason we travelled all the way back to England was because I had the Very Important Job of being a page-boy for Uncle Adrian and Aunty Melissa’s wedding.  Mummy also had to play the piano in church for them.  The wedding was quite exciting, everyone looked very smart and I got to wear a special waist-coat and big-boy trousers.  All of Mummy’s family were there and so I got lots of cuddles and had a go at my moves on the dance floor.  It was so cold though that there was ice in the puddles in the carpark, so then I understood why I needed to wear that big bulky coat.  Aunty Vyna, Aunty Lally and Uncle Nigel gave me toy Thomas-the-tank engines and a Great Granny gave me a clockwork James which we played with on the big breakfast table in the hotel the following day, which was fun.  That weekend it snowed and everywhere was covered in beautiful white shiny stuff.  Mummy couldn’t get the English push-chair thingy to work in the snow and we were both wearing so many clothes that she couldn’t carry me like she does at home so she bought a plastic sledge to take me to church on Sunday and dragged me there across the snow. It took a long-time so we thought maybe we’d get there with two or three hours still left of church, but when we got there it had actually finished!  Wow!  I loved staying with Granny and Grandpop and playing on the nice soft rug in their house.  It was so clean and there weren’t any ants anywhere.  We drank water straight from the tap and the electricity was on all the time.  They also had a big screen where I could watch C-Beebies whenever I wanted, which was much nicer than having to see it on a jumpy-disc in Daddy’s computer like we do at home.

For the second week we went to Grandpa and Mamam’s house, which was also covered in snow.  The best thing about Grandpa’s house was that he has trains everywhere – some in the garden, some in the attic, and even some special plastic track for visitors to make up which I could drive my clockwork James on!  I love trains because they say “toot toot!” 

On the final weekend of our winter adventure we went on a little holiday to a place called Centre-Parcs in a big forest with all of Daddy’s family.  I had so much fun playing with all five of my cousins and going in the big swimming pool with swirling rapids.  The forest outside our little villa was covered in snow and there were deer and rabbits and all sorts of ducks outside the window; it looked really beautiful.  The lake was frozen so all the ducks were walking across it which was funny, but I still didn’t see any goats or cows anywhere which was strange.  It was so cold that I had to sleep in Mummy and Daddy’s bed as I kept waking up cold; I’ve never been so cold before.

The aeroplane journey back to Uganda was in the daytime, which seemed a bit silly as there isn’t anywhere for little children to play or run around on an aeroplane and I couldn’t just nap or watch cartoons all day so I got quite annoyed – especially when I had to be strapped to Mummy’s lap in the bumpy bits.  We arrived back in Uganda in the middle of the night but it was still really warm.  We spent the following day in Kampala so Mummy could see the midwife to check that my little brother or sister is still growing well.  I’m not sure yet whether I want a brother or sister so I got annoyed again and made Daddy miss most of the scan by screaming a lot.  We spent so long waiting at the doctor’s and queuing in Kampala traffic to get there and back that the whole day went by.  The following day we drove back to Kasese and I was glad to get home after having been to so many different places.  It’s still very hot, dusty and dry here and I’ve now got a streaming cold, but I don’t know if that’s from the cold in England or from the heat here, it’s all a bit confusing.  But now, thanks to Grandpa, I’ve got new bigger wheels for my toddle-truck (the “Samitruck”) I can push it off-road around the garden!  Time to go now, I need to eat my tea then clean up before the ants get in my pants!

New Year, New Youth, New Hope.

January is the hottest and driest month in Uganda with daytime temperatures usually exceeding 30c and so little rainfall that the grass turns brown and the leaves fall off many of the trees.  It is also the long school holidays before the start of a new academic year in February, and a month when people who went back to their home villages to see their relatives for Christmas and the new-year slowly trickle back into town.  January is therefore also the best time of year for Youth Work, when young Ugandans who are scattered throughout various boarding schools, colleges and universities during term-time are all gathered in their home districts, along with their peers who have fallen out of education – normally for lack of money to pay fees.

From the 9-16^th Jan therefore there was a massive attendance of over two hundred youths from all across Kasese District at a Baptist Youth Conference held at Nyabagando Secondary School (which is so close to the border with DR Congo that it uses a Congolese mobile phone signal).  Our contribution to this conference was ably assisted by the BMS Uganda “Action Team” (Gap-year programme) of Alice, Gemima, Ian and James who travelled down from their work in Masaka to join us for a week.  Aged 18-22 they mixed easily with the youth at the conference and did a great job of preaching to the whole conference, running devotions every morning in huge groups of over fifty, and helping out with evening sports and games.  (To see their blog go to http://www.bmsworldmission.org/news-blogs/blogs/the-swing-things ).  Most Ugandan boarding schools are not comparable with the well-equipped and expensive schools which educate a wealthy elite in Britain.  For people from remote villages and small towns in rural Uganda going to a boarding school is often the only way to access secondary education.  Keeping fees affordable for ordinary Ugandans means these schools crowd pupils into triple-tier bunks in concrete dormitories, which are shared with rats, bats and insects, and provide pit-latrines, an inadequate water-supply and very basic food.

Such issues however, did not concern the young Ugandans who flocked to the conference to enjoy fellowship, bible-teaching, and inevitably with youth events anywhere in the world, the chance to socialise with members of the opposite sex away from their parents for a week!  Worship sessions were ear-splittingly loud thanks to the PA System, with jubilant singing and frenzied dancing to match.  Although rarely in tune, such enthusiastic worship was wonderful to experience, and a far-cry from the tepid variety often found in the UK.

Bethan and I were both asked to preach to the conference and given topics to speak on.  Bethan’s was “Accepting Christ as your personal saviour” and mine was “How to grow in Christ” – not necessarily the easiest topics with which to engage young people for a 2-hour slot.  We worked hard on preparing our talks, trying to keep in mind that we wouldn’t have wanted to sit though two-hour sermons when we were teenagers, and that any complicated words or concepts might well be lost during translation into Lukhongo.  Luckily Ugandan time-tables usually get delayed so a talk of about 40 minutes, which is  translated and which starts an hour late should finish neatly at the end of a 2-hour slot!

Bethan’s talk took a practical angle of looking at how accepting Christ as your saviour means following his will in your life – for example with regards to behaviour, friendships, relationships, work-ethic and career choices.  Mine used an every-day item as a metaphor:  I took in a large pumpkin from our garden and a tiny pumpkin seed and invited the conference to contribute suggestions as to how the one would grow into the other.  I then used the answers – space/good soil, daily watering, exposure to sunlight, removal of weeds and protection from predators, to explore things that help/hinder us from growing with Christ; including daily prayer/bible reading, hiding our faith or sharing it with others, identifying our own struggles and sins (weeds) and seeking God’s help in dealing with them, growing a thick-skin, and seeking protection and comfort in fellowship with others. As Jesus preached to a predominantly agricultural society, the Gospels are full of helpful parables related to sowing, growing, bearing fruit, and dealing with weeds.  The reception to our talks was encouraging.  We’re not Pastors and we wouldn’t particularly  call ourselves evangelists, but we were both young Christians not so long ago and it was pleasing to think that we might have helped some young Ugandan Christians to learn from some of the lessons that we learned growing up, and even to avoid repeating some of the mistakes we made. 

On our way back to Kasese after the conference we took the Action Team to QENP and camped overnight.  On returning from dinner at the lodge along the pitch-black mile-long track back to the campsite we caught something glowing a large shadowy figure in the car headlights – it was an adult male lion, its eyes glowing at us.  It walked only metres past the car and so we turned and followed it until we lost it passing right among the buildings used as park-staff quarters.  Unfortunately photographing animals at night through car windows is almost impossible, but the scene will be etched on our memories for a long-time.  Needless to say we were all quite excited as we turned into our tents and we made sure to build up a very big blazing campfire before doing so!

Prayer Requests:

Please pray for the young Ugandan Christians who came to the youth conference – and also for those who couldn’t make it: 

As the new academic year approaches please pray for those who are struggling to afford school fees, stationery, text-books and uniforms.

Please pray for those students who may be picked on for their faith, or for other reasons in those big school dormitories.

Please pray for teachers, Pastors, youth leaders and others who will exercise influence over impressionable young people during the coming term.  May they teach them sound principles – and lead them by example.

Partnerships Deliver Projects!

Sorry we've not posted for while.  The last few weeks have been very exciting as our projects got underway.  Here is a "stand-alone" article all about them - apologies for any repetition of previous posts.  Please also see the picture gallery for a selection of project photos.

When we arrived in Uganda in June 2011 the situation in Acholi Quarter, the poorest neighbourhood of Kasese town, seemed desperate.  Uganda’s high inflation has caused difficulties throughout the country this year, but for those who are unemployed or in large single-headed households the hardship is always greatest.  Lively community consultation meetings in July confirmed that the biggest challenges facing the community of Acholi Quarter were: high unemployment, worsened by a chronic lack of skills or education; the daily neglect of pre-school age children while their single parent (or grandparent) looked for work or dug their fields; and a general sense of despair amongst young-men, often leading to involvement in drink, drugs or crime.

Faced by such challenges it is easy to feel helpless but our Pastor Bwambale Alfonse has been working hard in this community for years.  Through his CBO “Alpha Children’s Ministry” Pastor Alfonse is providing an affordable nursery and primary school in the heart of the community, resettlement of orphans with other family members, and assistance with medical expenses, and all with a positive Christian ethos.  Alpha Ministry and the local Baptist Church of Nyakasanga work in partnership through sharing their land and buildings.  Alpha’s school hall becomes the church building on Sundays, and the church’s Sunday-school block provides two classrooms for the school during the week.  Alfonse’s vision was that this site, in the heart of Acholi Quarter, should have a wider impact on the community, serving people of all ages and denominations. 

With the help of BMS World Mission, this dream is now being realised.  On 28^th of November three new projects were opened, all funded by BMS World Mission and managed by the new Kasese Baptist Association of Churches – Development Committee (KBAC-DC), which is answerable to the Baptist Union of Uganda (BUU).  These projects are providing training in carpentry for young-men, and tailoring for women.  Both of these courses also include weekly training in business skills, and life-focussed Christian discussion/Bible-study sessions led by local Pastors and clergy of all denominations.  While local women are learning tailoring, or pursuing other employment, their 1-3 year old children are being cared for in a new Day-Care, where they receive maize porridge for breakfast and nutritious local food for lunch every day.  They can play in a safe environment and learn through simple games, songs and bible stories. 

It has been so exciting to see how these projects have progressed in the first three weeks.  The Day-Care children cried solidly for the first three days, but are now beginning to play happily together.  The young men, so often the subject of criticism and blame here, are already proving themselves at carpentry.  Last week two of them made a bed which has been sold locally, followed by orders for another three!  The money raised from selling these will be used to buy more timber for the next furniture they will make, alleviating some of the pressure on our inflation-stretched budget.  They have also fitted a door- and will be making stools- for the Day-Care staff.  The women are producing different items of clothing and will soon be making aprons for the Day-Care staff and uniforms for the toddlers.  In addition to learning valuable skills, the trainees are also developing confidence and building friendships.  The tailoring trainees proudly wear their tape-measures around their necks like mayoral chains and concluded this term with a friendly netball match with the Day-Care staff!

Without the grace of God and several other local and international partnerships, these projects  might have been beset by endless delays and difficulties.  The new building for the Skills-Centre, built by Alpha Children’s Ministry using voluntary labour (including ourselves) and roofed by BMS project funds, is not yet finished.  The locally made bricks ran out and a delivery of bricks that Alpha Children’s Ministries purchased was lost when heavy rain caught the truck in mudslides and most of the bricks got broken.  Fortunately Alpha School’s children broke up for their long Christmas holiday the Friday before the project started, so the skills centre started on time using the school’s hall and outside space.  This gives them until February when the children return to complete the skills centre building.   The school hall (and adjacent Day-Care room) had their floors cemented by the Meadowcroft family, supported by their Anglican church in Croydon, who are long-standing partners of Alpha Children’s Ministry.  The Day-Care also received a free water-filter from “Life-Water” a project run by “Watchman International”, courtesy of local missionaries Roger and Sheryl London.  Critically, the over-stretch on our budget caused by Uganda’s 30% inflation between our budget proposal submission in August and our receipt of project funds in November has been alleviated by partnering with UK-based charity “Tools With A Mission” (TWAM), who have a warehouse and friendly staff in Kampala.  Purchasing good quality Sheffield-made tools and traditional Singer manual sewing machines at low cost from TWAM, rather than buying increasingly expensive and poor-quality Chinese imports has saved us a fortune and freed-up funds to cover shortfalls elsewhere.  Our  Day-Care staff received three days of bespoke training from BMS colleagues Deb and Dug Benn, who work with the Children’s Department of the BUU in Kampala.  The Noah’s Ark mural on the wall of the Day-Care was painted by artist Louise Sunderland, a British friend of Bethan’s, during a brief visit to us.

We are grateful to God for his guidance to us and for sustaining us through the many challenges of the last six months.  We are also very grateful for all those here in Uganda, in the UK and elsewhere whose generosity of time, skills, effort, prayers, money and resources have made it possible to start these projects which serve the people of Acholi Quarter.   We ask for your continued prayers and support as we finish building and then move into the skills training centre, and as we work towards helping our first batch of trainees to establish successful and sustainable businesses when they complete their courses.

Ten things we've seen in the last month!

When you live in a different country for a while it is easy to stop noticing the things which are different are remarkable.  Here are ten things we’ve seen in the last month that we wouldn’t expect to see at home:

People buying and eating live grass-hoppers at the market in town.

A man roller-blading up the hill on the main road through Kasese followed by a roller-blading apprentice.

Two bats flying around in our living room.

An owl perching on the electricity pole in the garden at dusk – probably hoping to catch some bats!

The pick-up  we hired to buy timber and iron sheets which needed a reverse push-start before it could drive forwards.

A small girl at church copying the baby-carrying mamas by strapping an empty Sprite bottle to her back with a shawl.

Four adults on one motor-bike.

A herd of elephants under a massive rainbow viewed from a public main road.

A woman using a parasol under a hot sun in 30c + heat carrying a baby swaddled in numerous blankets and a woolly hat – and sweating profusely!

 A cow  crashing through a school fence and running into a classroom.

The Women's Co-operative

Gareth and I had a business idea a month or two ago that we thought would be fabulous for a women’s co-operative to start and run.  It is a very big idea by local standards and as we explained to the women the business plan there was a lot of sucking in of air and sighs of ‘ah!  Mama Samuel!’ as I seemed to explain the impossible.  When I explained that if it all works out then everyone in the co-operative stands to earn a good monthly salary, some become brave and talked about the idea as if it was going to be a reality.

The idea grew on the women and six of the bravest came forwards to start a co-operative.  They committed to save 500 shillings per day (12p) until they had raised enough with the local small business co-operative bank so that they could borrow what is to them a HUGE amount (£800) to start the business.

After a few false starts and two women dropping out and one woman joining (so now they are five) we eventually went to the co-operative savings and credit society to open an account so they could start saving and the temptation to just take the money back and carry on with life would be impossible.  Out of the five, three turned up to open the account and one signed on as chairperson, one as secretary and one as treasurer.  It is now official.  Five women are saving their money to look towards the future and create for themselves a good living as opposed to scraping about for a couple of hundred shillings per day to keep themselves going day to day.

One of the women is the pastor’s wife; another is a primary teacher; another is the daughter of the choir-leader at church and has just had a little baby girl with her husband; one is an artist and one is a woman whose husband recently sold their business to buy a plot of land, but that leaves them with no money coming in with which to build on that land.  They are an inspirational group of strong, determined women.