Uganda 2011

Hi everyone, I was planning on sending you a letter to tell you all about my trip to Uganda, but didn't think I could do it justice without pictures - so I decided to tell you about the trip through a blog - my first, so please cut me some slack.... Before I start, I want to let you know how overwhelming it was to receive all of your support and prayers for the trip. The response I got was beyond what I ever expected, but that is how God works.

The main purpose and expectation of our teams' trip to Uganda was not to radically change the lives of the street boys in the 8 days we would be with them, but rather hold a vacation-bible-school-like-camp to draw the street kids out of the slums each day in order to 1) love on and care for them and show them that there is a God that loves them more than they can imagine and 2) inform the kids of the weekly programs that Abby Tracy's ministry, A Perfect Injustice (API) and the "Uncles" (local young men) put on for street kids in the slums that provides food and equips them with knowledge of God's word in the scriptures, various trades and basic education.

Abby Tracy and her husband "Uncle" David.

 

Looking down over the inner city of Kampala, Uganda.

Slums around Grace Fellowship Church

On July 17, we arrived seriously lagged after 15 hours in flight. We drove the 45 minutes to Kampala and immediately headed to Grace Fellowship Church in the slums of Kuvelu for a really amazing service. Much of it was unscripted and without instruments. A few people came forward and gave their testimonies and then one of the Uncles (Abbey) provided a great "Welcome to Africa" song and dance for us. Pastor George (our Missions Pastor) was then asked to bring the message, which he did masterfully, from Mark 10.

  

Entering Grace Fellowship Church

 

Worship at Grace Fellowship

  


Pastor George lovin' on some street kids during the service

View from inside Grace Fellowship Church



Humbled by the Tide....

After church we hung out and met many of the boys. God immediately began preparing me for the week ahead through humility. The first boy I met was wearing an Alabama football jersey. As he pointed to his shirt, he promptly asked me "are they (Alabama) superior?" Seriously. I looked around to see who had put this kid up to this, but once I realized nobody was to blame, I reluctantly had to answer, with a large sigh, yes they are.... for now... 

Meeting some of the street boys after church

Allan is the boy in the middle wearing the light blue shirt

One street boy in particular gravitated to me and I felt something special for him right away – his name was Allan. He was so looking forward to spending time with us in the coming week.  More on Allan later... 

Alleys we encountered on our shopping trip

After church we headed to the guest house (hostel) we would be staying in to unload, then sought out on the adventure of gathering supplies. John, Codey, myself and Uncle Abbey set out to get food to feed the 200 kids for 1 week. I really didn’t expect what that was going to entail. We hit the streets of inner city Kampala right outside the Kesuvy slums, which I found out later the Police don't even go into because it is so dangerous. The three of us white boys stuck out like a sore thumb. We were led through trash-laden alley ways, over ditches flowing sewage, and bartered with many store owners for flour, rice, beans, sugar and salt. Then the three of us... white guys (Mzungus)... followed Uncle Abbey down the streets carrying the 100 lbs bags of food on our sholders, which prevoked numerous laughs and yells from the locals on the streets. We threw the lot into the back of a taxi/pickup and headed to store it in a shed near the field where we would hold the camp all week. We met the crew back at the guest house and turned in relatively early.



Street views along our quest for food.

Snuggling up in our mosquito nets.

After sleeping through our alarms, we got up for a quick breakfast and headed to the fields to start the camp. To say the field we held the camp was a multi-use facility was an understatement. The field was in the middle of a very active driver's ed course and had an equally active motorcross track with ramps running down the middle of it.  

This is a Bota Bota... no comment necessary.

As soon as our taxi van pulled up we were rushed by a hundred or more boys, shouting and cheering our arrival. It wasn’t long before I was sent with one of the “Uncles in training" (Fred) to the streets on the back of a Bota Bota (motorcycle taxi) to get 200 pair of shoes and 5 tarps. We went many places until we found the right sizes. Words cannot describe the traffic or what is was like to ride three deep on a Bota Bota in that traffic on the hilly streets. I am told the traffic in Kampala is second worst in the world, behind Johannsburg, South Africa.... I would really hate to see that. We returned with two Bota’s one with the four huge bags of shoes and the other with Fred, me and the 5 tarps. The rest of the day was very good and we got to know many of the boys.

 

My buddy and Bota Bota ride partner Fred, who also loved my hat or maybe just the USGS.

 

The typical schedule of each day consisted of feeding the boys porage (a drink made of water, flour and sugar) around 9:30, then playing soccer for an hour or two, followed by a devotional time, some sort of craft (which mostly consisted of them decorating clothing, backpacks and water bottles), then more soccer or other recreational activity before feeding them another meal of pinto beans over a thick grits-like concoction of flour, water and salt.

Preparing to feed the boys lunch of pintos and posha

Tending to a boy who had been stoned

We also did basic medical care and sent some to the hospital if we expected they had Malaria or Typhoid, which many of them did (one had a 104 fever). They typically would receive a shot and then return to camp the same day. Many of the boys would actually get stoned by other boys during the numerous fights that broke out each day. These wounds were also dressed and bandaged by our team. I broke up at least four fights per day, but it didn't take long for the two culprits to be buddy-buddy with one another again.

Choas of the trash-for-treat exchange at the end of each day

The final activity of the day consisted of the boys bringing us trash from around the field in exchange for a sweet (tootsi pop, rice krispy treat, etc). All trash in Uganda is burned, so that is how we got rid of our trash as well, plastic included, which put off a nice aroma and black smoke.  The kids were very good at working every system we set up to keep order.  For this, they would keep coming back with weeds as their "trash" so that they could get their sweet.

We usually left the fields around 4:30 and headed to a little coffee shop called 1000 Cups of Coffee for a quick 45-minute respit and reflect on the day. We would then go to one of the homes for former street boys to just hang out with them, bring them food, act out a bible story and then pray with them.  

Preparing to give out the shoes.

The boys picking out new shoes.

On the first day of camp, after I survived the Bota ride and returned with the shoes and tarps, we lined the boys up and started giving out the new shoes. Unfortunately the following day, most of the boys came back to camp without their shoes. They were either stolen overnight or the boys sold them for drugs. The drug of choice for the boys is called Chenga, which is expired jet fuel, that is sniffed. We made the boys turn in their Chenga each day in order to take part in the camp. The boys did a lot of self-policing by pointing out those who did not turn in their drugs.

Some of the boys sleeping off the Chenga (drugs)...

The Chenga helps the boys sleep and forget about their past and current circumstances, and for many of them is a way to survive on the streets. Unfortunately after about 5 years of being on the drug, their minds really go. Many of the boys just slept off the Chenga during the first part of the camp each day.

The sports each day consisted mostly of soccer, and the games lasted anywhere from 1 to 2.5 hours on a hard-packed, undulating clay/pea gravel field with randomly spaced rocks protruding from the surface. We were visited often by dirt tornados barging through our games. Despite the field condition, most of the boys were playing bare foot or in flip flops, which frequently went airborne and got more distance than the soccer ball. It was a blast playing with the boys, even though half of our guys on the team pulled muscles.   

Live action from a soccer game.

I recruited the Tasmanian Devil to be one of my lock-down defenders.

During one of the soccer games, my buddy Codey rolled out two 3’ medicine balls and the boys not playing soccer went wild with it. It was like a rugby scrum for an hour until one of the balls busted. Then all the boys focused on the lone ball standing, it was absolutely priceless.

  

The medicine ball free-for-all

We also played tug-o-war daily and it was a huge hit, much bigger than we expected. The boys on the winning team would dance and chant  – what a sight. Many of the kids on the losing team would sneak over to the winning team, which led to one team being completely dominating.

 

Tug-o-war begins.

The winners!!

One of the highlights of the week was when we went to home of Abby’s boys to have dinner and hang with her 16 boys. What a great time. We were so blessed to be there to see a new boy come into the home from the streets, 6-year old, little David. What a big smile. He was a little overwhelmed, but you could tell he was so happy, just a bit guarded since he had been hurt and let down so much in his life already. I asked Abby if little David would start school that week and she said he would probably sleep for about a week first and then he would start school. The little kids get so little sleep on the streets because they have to constantly be on guard against the older boys.

After we ate, we acted out the story of Joseph for the boys and I got to play Joseph. The boys then played the guitar and sang for us, before they put on a stellar dance show. Steve, one of the members of our team, went with Uncle David (Abby's husband) to buy 18 new beds for A Perfect Injustice and they delivered them while we were there. A really great night, except it seems that the meal got most of us a little sick for a few days....  A life lesson from Uganda - never drown your food in purple sauce, regardless of how hungry you are.

Little David coming home....

Little David meeting some of his new big brothers.

Steve and I eating dinner with little David, his first meal after leaving the streets (and alleged source of our teams' sickness).

Jam session with the boys in Abby's home.

Boys at Grace Fellowship house eating their chicken dinners.

We also visited another boys' home, Grace Fellowship.  There are about 50 boys that live in a 7-8 room house of Grace Fellowship. The second night we visited Grace house a couple of the boys (Alex and Abdanemase) took me immediately into their room to show me their school work and a test from that day. One of the questions that they missed on the test and asked me about was very fitting; "name two bad things that can happen from too much rain". "Well, it just so happens that I can help you with that one!"  Who knew I would need to use my hydrology skill set on a mission trip for street kids in Africa?! They had to correct their test for the next day.  Just another reminder of how God puts people in the right places at the right time. We also played some basketball (my arms were the hoop, my face.....the backboard) and served the boys some box chicken dinners. We shared a story from the Bible, prayed with them and then said our goodbyes.

Playing some basketball with boys at the Grace house - I was the hoop. Kids were using the backboard way too often...

Sharing the Gospel with the boys.

Each of the guys on the team took turns leading a daily devotional time we had with the street kids. I was asked to share the Gospel with the boys on the fifth day of camp. On the night leading up to day five, the "enemy" began attacking our team. Most of the team began having major stomach issues and therefore none of us got much sleep. The sun finally came up on a long night and I kept praying that things would improve. I took two Imodium and popped a Cipro for good measure, drank some water (bottled of course), had a piece of toast and a banana and we headed for the fields. I wasn't able to play soccer on day 5, but thankfully was able to function.  We truly felt God's presence as the boys were by far more calm and attentive during the Gospel than they were for any of the other devotionals the entire week. I shared the Gospel with the boys through a translator (Uncle David, who is a really amazing translator, I think...) and at the end told them they had a choice to make - if they wanted to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior, they could join us and the Uncles off to the side, otherwise I rolled some soccer balls onto the field and told them they could go play. Immediately, about 50 of the boys got up and walked over to the Uncles and the guys from our team.  They were ready to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. It was one of the sweetest moments of my life. The Uncles and our team prayed with the boys, loved on them and then joined the others on the field.

My gifted wife put together an awesome little picture book (shocking, I know) of our family with some perfectly selected bible verses on each page. I took the book with me each day and the boys absolutely loved seeing my kids and Cayce and asking about them. I was able to share with them the bible verses as well, which were very pertinent to our talks.

Sharing the pictures of my family and the bible with the boys.

On the night preceding the final day of the camp, we had a really great dinner and time of fellowship with the API team. I sat with Uncles Abbey, David, and Stephen and got to hear most of their  testimonies. Truly amazing, coming from the street themselves to now working with the boys. They love Christ deeply. The Uncles have the boys do these responsive shouting at the programs – “God is Good” – “All the Time” and the reverse. Uncle Abbey explained the root of that to me. He said that he realized that the terrible years he spend as a street kids in the slums was preparing him for his ministry now. So even when times are the worst, God is using that to refine us and prepare us for his perfect work. The outlook on life that the Uncles conveyed was extremely inspiring and humbling. I was really worn out after only 8 days working with the street boys, yet these Uncles do it joyfully every day.

Serving ice cream... the calm before the storm.

The final day of the camp consisted of a soccer tournament and ice cream. Unfortunately, there were lots of fights this final day and we had the most kids yet (over 200). We even ran out of food. My soccer team was named Aresnal by the boys and we won our game in penalty kicks. We let some of the younger boys do the PKs and they scored all three times. Ice Cream was pure chaos. One of the young girls on our team and I worked together to serve the ice cream, but it was mayhem. I was tyring to “finish well” as Pastor George encouraged us to do, but was on the edge of loosing my cool at times. I picked up some of the boys and deposited them at the back of the line many times. Then Abby took one of the boys to the clinic and forgot to leave the water purifying tablets, so we couldn’t clean drinking water for the boys. Chaos ensued again. My buddy Codey and I were washing hands and had to defend the water cistern from boys trying to drink the dirty water. They didn’t care, but the Uncles did not want them to drink it as they can get Typhoid from the water. It was a battle that we eventually won, but the boys were not happy with us. I learned to say the “water is dirty” in Ugandan and repeated it over and over. Some of the boys laughed, so hopefully we were actually saying "the water is dirty" and not "I am a stupid white man" or something.



Washing hands before lunch and defending the cistern from the boys trying to drink the dirty water.





Me and Allan (aka Chad)

Now, back to Allan, the little boy I mentioned at the beginning of the trip. Allan and I became really good buddies, so much that he insisted on having "Chad" on his name tag each day. Near the end of the week I began inquiring to see how interested he was in going to school and getting into a home. His interest seemed sincere and was confirmed by the Uncles who indicated Allan is always at the weekly programs and is always engaged and eager to learn. Unfortunately, not all boys are ready to leave the street so the Uncles explained to us that it is very important to carefully and prayerfully consider when a street child is ready to be brought into the structure of a home. Allan was ready and there was a spot opening up in one of the good homes to take him in. I worked through Uncle Abbey and for less than what it costs Cayce and I to go see a concert these days through TicketMaster or LiveNation, we were able to pay for his school uniform, books, bed, bedding, some new clothing and his food and school fees for 4 months. When I told Allan the news on the final day of camp, he was so overwhelmed he fell to the ground at my feet. I picked him up and hugged him and told him that this was a new beginning. Another one of the moments I will never forget.

The trip was very tiring but one of best experiences of my life, without question. The dire living conditions and mind blowing numbers of street children in Uganda do seem overwhelming.  The country has the highest birth rate in the world. However, it is obvious that God is doing a great work in the lives of these street boys through Abby, the Uncles and ministries like A Perfect Injustice.  

I want to extent my deepest and most sincere appreciation to all of you for your prayers and support that made this trip possible. May God bless you and your family.

A common posture of the boys....



Homes in the slums of Kampala

One of the crafts was making a laminated keychain with a picture of themselves on one side and our team photo on the other - they loved them. Most of the boys hadn't seen themselves in years.

 

Sack races were also a big hit.

Amen.

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." 

Matthew 25:40