October 13, 2011 Kakamega

Greetings

Well I missed another day’s blog.  Yesterday we went into Uganda to meet up with Bishop Moses to discuss Orphan care.  Once we crossed the border I lost my cell phone coverage and later that evening I noticed that I did not have coverage on my Safaricom modem.  I thought it was supposed to turn over to whatever service Safaricom partners with in Uganda like MTN but no such luck.

We arrived at the border at Busia in a raging rain and hail storm.  We waited about thirty minutes in the car to let the storm subside.  Moving from Kenya to Uganda takes quite a bit of time and if you do not hire an expediter to get your vehicle through many hours can be spent at the border.  Of course the storm caused a delay in processing people both in and out of each country so there were some long lines to deal with.  Getting back into Kenya is not as difficult since the vehicle is registered in Kenya.

Bishop Moses met us at the border and took us to meet up with Pastor Florence for dinner.  We arrived at Pastor Florence’s house just before dark and enjoyed a wonderful meal of ugali, rice, potatoes, cabbage, watermelon and chicken.  I am not sure what she did to the chicken but it had a mesquite flavor to it so I must say it was pretty tasty.  After dinner we were taken to the executive hotel in Bugiri where we spent the night.  Let me tell you that it was a major improvement from my last stay in Bugiri a few years ago.  Before we retired for the evening we found a spot to chat with Bishop Moses about Orphan care.

After an hour or so into the conversation it was obvious that the meeting was not going very well and that we needed to continue the conversation in the morning.  The barriers to communication with Kenyans have been a challenge to me since the first time I came here.  Come to Uganda and it's even harder to communicate.  After Aaron and I went to our rooms Bishop Hezron and Peter continued on with the discussion with Bishop Moses in his room.

During breakfast we continued the conversation from the night before.  Bishop Hezron had been able to break down the plan much better when he was able to speak to Bishop Moses in Swahili.  After breakfast we continued the conversation moving from shade to shade to get away from the tropical sun.  Originally I made no set plans on how long we would stay in Uganda and pretty much left it up to the situation to decide.  If we were able to accomplish something in a day then we would stay a day.  If it was going to take longer then we would stay longer.  It was decided that it would be best if we did not visit any Orphans today.  I believe we all feel that we moved ourselves from talking about it to doing something about it. 

It has become obvious that our mere presence causes problems.  So in order to blog what we are doing I need to be really careful because it might not be in the best interest to speak too much of what we are doing.  This blog is out there for the whole world to see and so far it has been read in over 100 countries world wide.  I have no idea who is reading this.  It might be a passing glance or some of you that read it all the time.  However I need to tell the story so you might want to help along the way.  Granted we are going to incorporate some sort of micro-finance program into our Church or Community based Orphan care project.  However it would be next to impossible at this time to do this.  So until the church or community can take the burden of the Orphans care some sort of aid is needed. 

This morning into early afternoon we spent hours discussing Orphan care with a large amount of time spent on how much it costs just to feed a child in Uganda.  We went over the costs of maize, beans, rice, fish (minnows), meat, potatoes, cabbage, salt, sugar, tea, and cooking oil.  After it was all said and done it costs about forty two cents a day to feed one child up to three meals.  You heard it right less then 50 cents a day to feed a child up to three times and this could be on the high side.  This comes right out of the mouth of Bishop Moses that has five of his own children and twelve Orphans for a total of 17 children along with his wife living in a two room rented shack.  He just so happens to be behind on his rent and has little to no income.  Aaron was deeply touched when Bishop Moses asked him if he was doing the right thing by bringing twelve Orphans into his home.  How would you answer that question?

Last night Bishop Moses was having a really rough time with the concept that we were trying to bring him and understandably so.  He desperately wants a piece of land that he can put buildings on and call home to his family.  He is tired of renting and being run off because he can’t pay the rent.  He has brought in Orphans and would gladly bring in more but he has no money.  Right now there are hundreds of Orphans within his ministry both in eastern and western Uganda.  Today we identified seventy six children in nineteen church communities and with them we have initiated what we will call phase one.  None of these children are in what we would call a traditional Orphanage but in homes within the church community (mostly the pastors).  Pastor Florence whom we had dinner last night has eight of her own and has adopted three.  If I remember correctly she has also lost three or four of her children to childhood diseases.

Tonight at dinner Aaron and I were talking about the last couple of days.  Today we were with a man that is about as close to the end of the line as we can find to work with right now.  God has put us directly in front of him and he just so happens to have a really great name.  Our wish is to get him that piece of land.  Our wish is for him to build a home for his children (all 17).  Our wish is for him to grow his ministry so they too will take in some of the “Ones” we have been talking about.  In Uganda there are literally hundreds of thousands to choose from.  Let’s face the facts and realize that we are never going to get rid of poverty and we surely aren’t going to find all these children nice homes in the suburbs.  Every now and then a child wins the lottery so to speak but countless millions are left with little to no food.  What about a place to put their head, some clothes, some medicine for their sores, or even an education.

I will continue to write about our plans to help with Orphan care.  In time I believe Bishop Moses will have that piece of land to put his ministry and his home on.  I also believe that God is calling those that have a heart for the “Ones” to assist in providing adequate church/community based care.  So stay tuned for more on this matter.

Tomorrow it is off to Mumias for church service at Jerusalem Church.  After the service I believe we are going to discuss the program that Morris has been working on for the last week.  Hopefully we might have a little time to see the other two orchards in the area we did not see a few weeks ago.

Take care and God bless

Dave