Uganda Wedding and Community Development Project in Iganga

Uganda wedding

Juliet and I returning from the wedding;
notice the craziness of our town,
under construction.

         One of the teachers here at the school got married yesterday. All of us staff where invited. I did not want to go by myself, so I asked the other staff here when they were planning to go. They told me that they had other things and were just planning to go for the reception. All except for Juliet; so I went with her. I asked Juliet when it started "11:00, but we shall leave at noon, because the bride will still be getting ready and won't get there at 11:00" ok sounds good with me, I had some things I wanted to get done in the morning. So I came back from the farm around 12:30 and get ready. Juliet tells me she still needs to pick up the gift the school had bought for the bride. So we hop on motorcycles "boda-boda's" or the Ugandan version of a taxi. We get to the church at around 1:00 pm and the groom and groom's men are slowly dancing up the isle with anyone from the audience dancing with them; with loud music too, of course. No problem, we walk in and find our seats; since everyone else is up getting pictures, I do too. Then we wait for the bride to come. The waiting is filled with very loud music, singing, dancing, etc. Around 2:00 when the bride is supposed to come in, someone comes  up front and says "she is still not finished decking out". "Bring her in anyway" they said. So half an hour later she makes her way in. They have the red carpet laid down for her. There is an arch and a ribbon she

Standing ready for the bride to come; notice
the ribbon across the door.

cuts when she comes in. Of course everyone gets up from their seats and goes to meet her as she comes through the arch, with loud music and dancing. Since I was trying to get video footage of this, they kept telling me "go up front there so you can get a good picture"; so I stood where I could get "ok" footage. Finally, the bride makes it to the her seat, the choir sings a song challenging the bride to treat her husband well and the husband to treat her wife well. Then there is a sermon, presenting of the rings, and the vows. Oh, and Juliet is still was trying to figure out how to get the mattress delivered as the gift. So in the middle of the vows, she makes a call to see if they can deliver the mattress. The call was no problem because other people were also answering their phones during the wedding. It was so loud no one cared about people making phone calls anyway. After the prayer of dedication, Juliet and I leave for the reception. Except she needed to pick something up at home and I needed lunch. So She drops me off in town to get food.

Dancing up the isle;
Make sure you watch to the end.

         After 30 minutes she comes back with some others from the school who are now with us because it is time for the reception. The reception is packed out; people are seated on chairs facing the front, there is loud music playing. There is a table for the bridal party and wedding cakes, lots and lots of cakes. Finally the bride and groom arrive and dance up the isle. It takes 10 minutes for them to dance up the isle. Here again everyone is around them and getting pictures, so I do too. They serve everyone cake first. One thing that was different was that the groom sat on a chair and the bride at his feet on the floor; the bride fed him cake and then a glass of juice to wash it down. Then they switched places. If it

This was cool, except I don't know if I could
do it without cracking up.

was me, I would probably burst out laughing in the middle of taking the juice (Those who know me well could also see this happening). Then the bride and groom left; the bride changed dresses, came back in and the couple gave cakes as gifts to groups of people they appreciated. Our school got a cake. Then people presented their gifts to the couple. Finally, at 8:00 we came home, I was ready for it to be finished! As I reflected back at the wedding, I realized that the order of the wedding was similar to our weddings; the only difference was that each process was done differently, ex. dancing with the bride as she comes up the isle. 

Visiting a Friend in Iganga

Pastor Daniel's wife; she was so proud of her 300 chickens,
it reminded me of my mom.

      Several weeks ago I went and visited a friend in Iganga, a town about 1.5 hours away. I had met Pastor Daniel on facebook. Luke Kuepfer has worked some with Daniel and connected me with him. As it turns out, Pastor Daniel is a man with a very big vision for raising up Christian leaders. He has planted 3 churches, speaks on the radio 3 times a week, does community development up in northern Uganda, and has 5 acres of land that he farms and hopes to make into a demonstration farm. His wife keeps chickens; they have over 300 laying chickens.

Banana corms, similar to flower bulbs.

        I arrived Friday evening; after getting settled into the guest house that he got for me, we went to church. There we both preached. On Saturday, the goal was to plant bananas on his farm. So we picked up George, a man educated in agriculture who teaches ag at a high school. We went to see one of Pastor Daniel's friends, Pastor Dawson, who has a large farm. Since Pastor Dawson had bananas, we went and picked up plants from him. Now, for those who aren't familiar with bananas plants, bananas spread similar to flowers with bulbs; you plant one stem and after several years, you will have 5-15 small banana plants that need thinned. 

Pastor Dawson and I with his cash crop of corn
he hopes to use to fund his school. It was a 13 acre field.

        Pastor Dawson is also an incredible guy; he is a pastor and runs a school for less fortunate students. Instead of asking for support from the States to run his school, he asked someone in the States to buy him land, so he can support the school with the land. Talk about community transformation! He has 30 acres and hires 15 families to work for him on his farm. His goal is to teach students and other families advanced agricultural practices. He has bananas, passion fruit, papaya, cassava, peanuts, maize, vegetables, soybeans, mangos, oranges, and hopes to build fish ponds. He was intercropping his crops and seemed to know what he was doing. Pastor Dawson is not afraid of hard work either; when we got to his place, him and his wife were both out working on the farm. 

Digging holes to plant bananas.

         Once we got the banana plants, we went to Pastor Daniel's farm. George showed us how to trim the outside layer of the small banana plants to remove the nematodes. They had done some soil preparation several weeks before we got there. They dug a hole 5 ft sq. and 3 ft deep hole. Then they mixed chicken manure with soil and added some leaves into the hole and filled the hole 2/3 full with a soil and manure mixture. After planting the small bulb-like banana plants, we covered them with a thin layer of leaves to keep the soil from drying out. This was a planting technique that Pastor Dawson was using and was having very good success.

Fun picture with Pastor Daniel.

        The next day was Sunday and Pastor Daniel's church had a 5 hour church service that lasted 6 hours. Different ones of us preached and the choir sang a bunch of songs. After the service, several of us were invited to a couples house for dinner. After dinner I returned to Mbale. It was a really good weekend. It was great to see Pastor Daniel's vision for raising up leaders, spreading the gospel, and doing community development work. I could talk a lot about him, but it would take too long. He had been working for the UN, passing out solar panels. He did such a good job that the UN rewarded him with his own van; so now he has his own van he can use for ministry. He loves his wife, family and those close to him. It was very encouraging for me to see his faith and commitment to God and those around him.

The First Week

My view from my porch. There are waterfalls on the mountain
I can see as well.

 I made it!
          I arrived at the Pentecostal Theological College (PTC) last Saturday. Uganda is similar to Ghana in many ways, but has it's differences too. The people are very friendly and there is less western influence here than what I was used to in Ghana. I am glad for this because it is easier to join in with the people.
A beautiful Overview
         PTC is in the town of Mbale, Uganda. Mbale is at the foot of Elgon. As you can see, this is the view from my porch. I stay in a room on the third floor of one of the buildings on campus. It is a nice room furnished with a bathroom, bed, fan, table and a chair. I will be happy to call this home for a year.
Adjusting
         The first couple of days I had a serious case of jetlag. It made for an interesting case because the folks here at PTC would knock at my door and wonder if I wanted food or to go to church with them. I would greet them with bleary eyes and try to explain why I was so tired. They were very generous, but it seemed it was hard for them to identify with me.
         Coming here was unique. I have never experienced something like this in my life. I flew into Uganda with a small group of people, but the next day, I was shipped to PTC where I was greeted by the staff and students, but I was the only American here. I had to rely totally on them to host me to my new home, introduce me to the town, feed me, etc. All other cross-cultural trips I had been a part of, I always had Americans with me or was greeted by other Americans. It has been a good bonding experience, having to rely on them to take care of me. They do a wonderful job at it too!
Timothy Leadership Training

         This past week was a very good time.
Wednesday I went to

Students Graduating from the
Timothy Leadership Training.

Soroti, a town about 2 hours from Mbale. There was a Timothy Leadership Training (TLT) module that was happening and Mwaya had encouraged me to go to it. Mwaya (I'll talk about him later) and several other Americans, who where part of the evaluation team for Christian Reformed World Missions would join me on Thursday. Thinking it was only for 2 days, I only packed 1 set of extra clothes; it ended up being 5 days. One of the students from the school took me to town, found a taxi for me and sent me on my way.
         I got there and was greeted by the pastors and church leaders taking the TLT course. Again, I was the only American. They greeted me, told me to join them, and continued with their program, (I was late). As I joined them, I was amazed at the transformation that was taking place! Everyone was participating, they were understanding the material, and when asked to write things at the end of each chapter, they took it seriously. Tea time (breakfast in Uganda that includes tea) was served mid-morning and lunch was served at 1:00 in the afternoon. Stick with me I plan to share a story later.
What is Timothy Leadership Training?
         TLT is a curriculum designed for church leaders all around the world. It starts out by looking at our value in God's eyes, followed by Christian Stewardship, Pastoral Care, Creation Care, Relationships, etc. In this particular case, each module took 3 days and the group would meet every 6 months for a module. At the end, they have a graduation ceremony, which is what I was able to be a part of.. It is a very practical curriculum and calls for action planning at the end of each module. All the students agreed that this was the best part of TLT, because it forced them to plan and then set a date for carrying out their plan. The stories of transformation where amazing! I'll tell some of them as time goes on.
How is the school/mission set up?
          Christian Reformed World Mission (CRWM) works almost exclusively with local partners. For example, here at PTC, the Pentecostal Assemblies of God has a bible college that they started in 1983. In time, CRWM then came along and is now helping them develop the department of spiritual transformation. I am here to help facilitate that; it feels like a huge task. CRWM also provides some funds for student grants as well as some materials. CRWM also provides some accountability. If it sounds confusing, don't worry, I'm still figuring out how it works. But it does work! This past week has been such a blessing. I don't think I have every gone to another country and felt like I was just another guest at a local church as much as I have here. It is exciting to see what God is doing and to see Americans and Africans come together, serve, worship and develop with each other.

Mwaya and myself; a fun-loving,
yet very spiritual man.
I have learned a lot from him.

        Within the CRWM are overseers for different areas of Africa. The guy I'm standing with is Mwaya Wa Kitava. He is has been an encouragement to me. As he says: "He is a man of many cultures" He lives in Kenya, grew up in Uganda, and has spent a significant amount of time in the US. I will answer to him while I am here. Mwaya is one of the funnest guys to be around and is always cracking a joke and laughing. Last night at bed time, he was joking about "bedside baptist". I told him I do "mennonite mattress" He laughed and said "tell your people, when I get there I will also play mennonite mattress"
          Anyway, enough of me droning on and on. There are many more things to talk about, but I don't want to bore my audience.

Until next time,
Eric

P.S. I will put a story at the end of some of my posts. See story below.

Left: Betty; Right: Jane
Betty and Jane showing the beads and necklaces
that they make at their shop.

         "I take paper, any paper, from magazines, calendars, etc. and cut them. Then I roll them very carefully, glue them so they stay together, and finally dip it a finish that makes it shiny." Jane explained how she collects materials for her business. I could hardly believe what I was hearing and seeing. Jane and Betty were both students from Timothy Leadership Training (TLT). "As a girl I always liked flowers, I would pick them whenever I could" I wish you all could have seen the joy on her face as she was showing us the shop. "When I was in TLT we learned about stewardship. I prayed and asked God what I could do. I realized that I could make beads, so that's what I did. Then I added some flowers. I also decorate at weddings and parties"
           "Jane told me about TLT, but I was too afraid to go. So Jane took my arm and said "come, lets go"". Jane and Betty both attend the same church. Betty told me how she was too afraid to attend TLT at first, but that Jane had convinced her to go. She had also figured out what assets she could make a profit from. She sold a few things at her house. Then her husband was having trouble keeping steady income. "We needed the money. Now I sell shoes, shirts, eggs, and help Jane make beads with Jane at her shop" I wish I could remember which one also told us how TLT helped her more confident to approach other women on spiritual matters. What a testimony of community development! No outside money needed! But the best part is the spiritual growth that was evident in their lives. It was also exciting to see the confidence they had from starting their own business.