Prayers and Potholes

A fairly early start this morning saw us on the road to Rakai, where we have a new sponsorship project, a youth income generation enterprise and are considering renovations to the school building. Today however, we were simply going to worship at the church, coincidently called St Paul’s, the same as Carmen’s home church, and visit the homes of a few of the sponsored children.

When we communicated with Patrick that we would like to worship at St Paul’s on Sunday and then return on Monday to visit the school and see the other projects, not wishing to disappoint us he failed to tell us the road to Rakai, which in fairness has never been great, was under construction. Had he communicated this information we may well have reconsidered our options!!! Eriab, the best driver in Uganda, was unavailable today so Patrick was driving and 2 very dusty and bumpy hours later we arrived, not in time for the first service, which starts at 7.30am, after Rev Amos has finished a radio service, but in time for the second service at 10ish. As is expected here the girls and ladies kneeled to greet Patrick, embarrassingly, they repeated this for us.

As always, we were warmly welcomed. This was a far more traditional service than we have come to expect in Africa and surprisingly short, just 2 hours and that included communion, introducing us, and a talk by Patrick about how the sponsorship project works.

As we were processed out the congregation gathered round, many wanting photos with the muzungu.

Then back to Rev Amos’ home for a quick drink and snack of boiled eggs and banana chips. Actually, he is currently living in the office where he has been since he took up this position 18 months ago.

The old pastor’s house was falling down, and the parish is currently constructing a new house for him. This is entirely funded from donations and fundraising by the parish and can take a considerable amount of time to complete.

Next stop the home of Immaculate, one of the sponsored children. Immaculate and her mum were elsewhere but sister Judith invited us in, we went through the front door, a simple piece of ragged cloth, into a tiny room no more than 5ft x 8ft. This is home to Mum and 6 children, there appeared to be another small room behind the curtain, which was probably the bedroom, cooking is done outside on an open fire. A small solar panel powered a lightbulb and probably provided the means to charge a phone or run a radio. It is impossible to imagine how they all live in this tiny space. A prayer was said for the family, and we moved on.

We made a couple more stops to visit sponsored children, where we were proudly shown hens that had been purchased with the financial gifts sent by their sponsors. These gifts make such a huge difference to the lives of sponsored children and their families. Sylvia proudly showed us her gospel and sponsorship card which we send to all children when they are sponsored, and read a verse to us in English, very impressive.  

Then we arrived at the home of Margaret and her great grandmother. Margaret is recently sponsored, but we were welcomed into their home like old friends. The old lady proudly told us how she was 76 years old, quite an achievement here. She told us how she had studied at Rakai school in 1963 and had to walk 15- 20 kms to get to school, starting at 3am!! Today she is a member of the church management team and M.U. She cares for 6 young grandchildren and Rev Amos told us she is a good motivator. Her very small home was clean and tidy, and as we left, she insisted on giving us gifts of eggs, onions and bananas, all carefully loaded into a beautiful traditional basket. Prayers were said for the family, and we promised to return.

A few more stops, more hens to show off, and we headed back to Amos’ for a 3pm lunch. Despite the fact we were travelling by car Sylvia, the second sponsored children we visited, had arrived before us, in her arm she held a live chicken which was presented to us as a gift of thanks. It is so hard to accept these gifts when we know what they mean to the families, but it would be a great insult to refuse them, as Patrick accepted the gift, he discretely slid some notes into her hand, hopefully she will be able to purchase a new hen.

Patrick had to be back for a fellowship meeting at 5pm and so, after a very quick lunch it was time to depart. The chicken was trussed and loaded in the boot (don’t tell animal welfare!!), and we started the 2 hour drive back.

The madness of the Ugandan roads is multiplied manyfold when a road is under constructions, technically you drive on the left in Uganda, but weaving through the potholes over the massive speed bumps, and around the very slow-moving lorries, it really is a case of pick any position you choose and hope nothing is coming the other way.

At times the dust cloud bought visibility to zero, slightly unnerving as we overtook the lorries causing the cloud!!! Oh, and by the way, there is not a traffic cone in sight!!!

We arrived back hot and dusty but grateful to Patrick for getting us home safely, he is now the second best driver in Uganda. Needless to say, Patrick was late for his meeting.

Tomorrow we will do it all again!!