Friday 18.11.11 12th full day in Uganda

Mostly random photos - except the ones of me and Louvisa
At Nursery school I helped the children practise for their Parent’s Night Concert. They are very cute, but not very good at remembering the words.

At lunch I went to Kampala on a boda to buy some books. Turns out the first Christian bookshop really wasn’t very good. So I went to the standard general bookstore, and bought 3 books. I am hoping that it will be enough for me, because I don’t know where I can buy anything else I actually want to read. The boda driver on the way back, Stuart, wanted a contract to drive me in Uganda. I told him no, and I am leaving shortly, and probably won’t be going back to town.

At primary school, I helped first Louvisa and then David with their reading. Louvisa is the third of 7 children, and the only one currently at school, and she was only there because she was sponsored. Her sponsor however has lost his job, and so she is no longer sponsored. It means that she may not be returning to school next year. She went through my small handbag and asked if she could have the handwipe I had packed. I gave it to her, and she wiped her hands (which were filthy, btw – she hadn’t washed them at all that day), then she pocketed it to use for later. She also asked for my bag, saying that if I gave it to her, she would pray that God would bless me and then I would have the money to buy another bag. I felt terrible – the bag was free from my flight, and I had 2 anyway, and would most likely get another 2 on the way back. So I gave her the bag.

Above: Me and Louvisa. Below: Louvisa

But what was saddest was that when I mentioned that I will have to go back to Australia, she asked me if I could take her with me. I told her no, I wasn’t allowed to. She asked if I did, would my mother beat me. I said no, but that our government has laws about who can take home children from other countries – they have to check your house, make sure that you are safe. It made me extremely sad, especially as I would happily adopt several children.

Before dinner, Auntie Florence introduced me to her daughter, Penny. Penny is working with children as well, but is just starting out and has no formal training in this area, so Auntie Florence thought it would be a good idea if she could contact me about different questions she has. So I’ve given her my email, and I have hers as well.

Pray For The Nations

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
Psalm 2:8

The first and most important thing we can do to reach the nations for our Lord Jesus Christ is to pray for them. Join us in this new venture of Hope Church!

Prayer meeting occur every Monday night that there is not a Corporate Prayer (Touching Heaven) on. This is typically every second week, but with a few extra thrown in for measure!

Prayer is at Sam and Kal's house, from 7:30-9PM.

Bring yourselves, your Bible, and a passion for the lost!

For further details, see Sam or Kallie, or email Sam at:
samismad [at] hotmail [dot] com

Our next prayer night is Monday March 5th.

Thursday 17.11.11 11th full day in Uganda

Britt and Andrew slept in, and the generator had gone out, and eventually Lisa came over to wake them up. With the generator on, I needed a cup of tea, so I had one, and ran late for devotions.

I spent the 1st part of the morning in Baby Class, and the 2nd part in Top Class. Top Class were practising for the Christmas concert. One of the songs was, “Life is full of temptations, I am just a buyer-bus, and when I leave my mother’s home, I will go to heaven.” I asked what a buyer-bus was, and in spite of a lengthy explanation, I still have no idea. The other song was the 12 days of Christmas. I was able to tell them the story behind the song, how all the things symbolise something about Christianity, and they used the song to secretly instruct their children in the faith during times of persecution in Ireland.









I ate chips for lunch, and the girls had to take their weekly malaria tablet. Getting Abby to eat was pretty impossible. I bribed her with chips, which was moderately successful.

At Primary School I spent most of my time talking with Amina. She is going through a tough time now – her brother is out of work, so she is supporting his family as well as her own. Her grandmother, who brought her up, has also been in hospital, and she’s the only one out of the 4 grandchildren with a job, so she had to pay the hospital bill. It’s the 17th, and they’ve already spent all but a few shillings of their money for the month.

For dinner we had matoke, which is a type of mashed banana, with stew and rice. The matoke was funny if you thought of it as banana – it’s savoury, not sweet. It was very filling, and very nice with the stew. It’s my favourite meal so far! After dinner, I tried to watch Soul Surfer, but it had been dubbed over REALLY badly in Luganda. As it, they kept pausing the movie to describe the scenery, the words, and even the LOGOS in Luganda. I managed to watch about 3 minutes. I’m leaving it here so that Britt and Andrew can use it to try and pick up some Luganda.

Mission Trips

Myanmar
(22-26 June 2012 ex Kuala Lumpur)

This trip is organised by Ps TT Quah. The previous trip that some of us showed interest in last year or year before did not go ahead because of growing tension in Myanmar towards such visits. Update of the situation is as follows:

Foreigners can now go to Seikkyi again although it is not sure if the team will be allowed to do medical mission there.
The team will visit the fish farm
Will visit Dawn Education Centre and minister to the children there and give the students a physical check up
Will visit and minister in the church
Depending on the authority in Seikkyi, there could be very little ministry and more of a follow up and look-see trip. The team is to be prepared for this to avoid disappointment.
There are very limited places. Please inform your life group leader if you are interested in joining, BEFORE 23 FEB 2012.

Russia
Dates: TBC (sometime in August 2012 for 2 weeks)
Please inform your life group leader if you are interested in joining, BEFORE 23 FEB 2012.

Others
Hope Malaysia sends teams on annual trips to Indonesia (June), Taiwan (Aug), India (Aug), Nepal (June & Oct) and Middle East (April-Easter weekend). They welcome anyone of us that are interested to join them subject to team size and arrangements.

Please inform your life group leader if you are interested in joining, BEFORE 23 FEB 2012.

Wednesday 16.11.11 10th full day in Uganda

I lead devotions today, which was a bit nerve-racking. The topic is self-control, and I read from James 3:2-12, or on the control of our tongues – which is something I know I need to do a whole lot more work on.

Alice was absent today, because her baby, Precious, was sick, so I spent most of the day with Baby Class. Elijah was sick and resting on a mattress when I came in. Britt was the one who noticed, and Lisa got the mattress. Soon I noticed that another child, Francis, was sick too, so he went to sleep next to Elijah. Both had fevers, coughs, and were lethargic. By the end of class, several other children were looking sick, and one girl had fallen asleep in the middle of music class.

After eating some lunch, Britt, Lisa, Amaya, Abby and I went out to “Garden City”, which is a shopping centre. I bought most of the presents that I wanted to buy (only Dad, Kal and Stephen left) and I got another book on Luganda. I missed primary school, but that is ok.

Some other funny things that happened at Nursery school. Teacher Aidah told off the children for counting beyond ten. “No! No! We are Baby Class! We only count to 10!” then “corrected their pronunciation of elephant to el-phant, and finally, the funniest one:

Everyone here is terrified of caterpillars. So for show and tell, Aidah told the children how she came to work, saw a giant caterpillar, screamed, then killed it with a stick. They then needed to draw a whole lot of caterpillars – a big “Mummy” caterpillar and lots of baby caterpillars. I went up to her and quietly told her that caterpillars ARE babies, that the mummies are butterflies. Aidah looked at me like I was crazy. So I explained the entire life cycle. Aidah then told me very carefully, that caterpillars produce young caterpillars. I re-explained the caterpillar facts of life. She asked me if I was sure. I told her I was. “Well,” she said, “We will not tell the children. They are too little to understand.”
Funny!

Teacher Alice reads to the children:

Injection and Other Medical Costs:

Session 1:
• Consult $105.00
• Immunisation $11.55
• Boostrix (tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough) $48.00
• Flu FREE
• Rabies $45.00
• Typherix $52.00
• Yellow Fever $95.00
• Malaria pills ($6 per week) $42.00
• Gastro Kit $46.00
TOTAL $444.55
Medicare Back $79.20

Session 2
• Consult $34.90
• Immunisation $11.55
• Cholera $58.00
• Meningococcal $98.00
• Rabies $45.00
• Permethrin Impregnation Kit $22.00
TOTAL $269.45
Medicare Back $46.45

Session 3
• Priorix (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) $30.00
• Cholera $58.00
• Hep B $20.00
• Rabies $45.00
TOTAL $98.00

Total for all immunisations $686.35

Monday 14.11.11 8th full day in Uganda

Today was fairly typical. I spent half the day at the Nursery school and half at the Primary school. At lunchtime I went out with Unia and I got some food and she tried on some clothes that the worship team here is getting made.

After school I went for a walk and bought a DVD of Soul Surfer and a copy of the daily newspaper. The newspaper was actually really boring.


We had curry for dinner (much to Abby’s delight) and Unia joined us. Afterwards, Royce came over with her baby, Sheeta. I got some photos, as she is adorable.

Tuesday 15.11.11 9th full day in Uganda

Mostly, today was more or less normal. Here are some of the interesting things that have happened.

I bought some hot chips from one of the local stalls, and seriously, they were fantastic! So after I had eaten them, I went out and bought some more.

At Primary school, I finally experienced the Ugandan expression of listening. When Westerners want to show that they are listening, we nod our heads. When Ugandans want to show that they are listening, they raise their eye-brows repeatedly, doing what I term in Australia as “dodgy eye-brows”. At first I was thinking, are you sceptical about what I am saying (I was talking about Australian animals, as they featured in the book we were reading), and then I realise what Louvisa was doing. It’s pretty funny.

I’ve started on working on memorising passages again. While walking to Primary School over the last two days, I’ve memorised psalm 24. Don’t be too impressed – it’s a short psalm.

Because I’ve read all but one of my books, and all of the books here, and one of Britt and Andrew’s, Lisa brought over 4 books for me to read. I read one before work, and 1/3 of another one at lunch. So after work I went to buy some more.

I got on a boda, and asked them to take me to the nearest Christian bookshop. He took me to the tiniest little Catholic stall that had about 3 bibles and half a dozen prayer books, and a whole bunch of icons and rosaries. Not what I wanted. So I jumped on another boda, and said the same thing. He drove past THREE Christian bookshops before stopping at a small second hand general bookshop. I went in, but there wasn’t really anything I wanted. Luckily I knew where 2 of the other three bookshops were, so I started walking back to them. The first had almost no books (about the same as the little Catholic stall, only spread out over a whole shop, and with no icons or rosaries), and by the time I got to the second (which was the one I had gone to with Unia) it was shut. So I started walking back to the 2nd had bookshop, and passed another, general bookshop. So I went in, and bought a book I’ve been wanting to read for a while and a Luganda phrase book. I then hopped on yet another boda and went back.

It’s really funny, lots of people do not know where our place is. My homeward boda asked another one, who knew. He explained it as: you go out of town to (some place), and then you go down the hill. My boda said “Down the hill?” as though he just could not believe that people would go to such a place. And then he took me back.

After dinner, Britt shared a little about the clinic. HIV rates are high in this community. Britt was saying how at the medical clinic, even though a significant proportion have HIV, they keep the condoms in a sealed box in a locked cupboard. They won’t give them out, not just to promote abstinence before marriage, but because they don’t want to be seen as “promoting sex”. The crazy thing is, the person who told Britt that has a young baby… and no husband. Now, I’m not for contraception, but it’s kind of funny here, because a lot of the males have several households in different towns, and there is a very high spreading rate amongst these people, most of whom are extremely poor. It’s a huge worry (for Britt especially, I’m not dealing with it directly). Apparently, even if the condoms are available, it isn’t culturally acceptable to take them, because that implies that you are loose. So there are a whole lotta babies without daddies and a whole lot of spreading of HIV.

And finally, some random cute pictures:

Mission Trip to Manila

Here are some details about the trip. My roles are highlighted in yellow. What a coincidence! My fav colour! Must be a sign from God...

1, Objectives:

• Leadership training & to growing the heartbeat for the Great Commission & missions
• To support and bless Hope Manila, Alvin & Jace and the local community

2, Roles

Nilla Team leader

Florence Assistant team leader, administrator

Judith Food/logistics manager

Myrna Worship coordinator, human GPS

Paul Financial manager, human GPS

Allan Creative director, first aider, translator

Shaun Fellowship coordinator

Hani Local communication

(Point 3 not related, so it was removed)

4, Things for you to take notes of:

• Please adjust the flight time if possible, as most of the team members will arrive around 10am – 10:30 am on 08 Dec. Also on 15^th Dec, most of the team will leave after 5pm, but if you can’t change this, that shall be fine
• QT (Quiet time) arrangement – Please refer to the highlighted session of the itinerary
• Fellowship with the committees of CCM Philippines on 11^th Dec (Sunday), after church. Main purpose of this is to fellowship and exchange ideas and experience with CCM Philippines. Shaun to be in charge of this, please prepare some materials as a showcase of CCM Monash or even CCM Melbourne. E.g.: 20 Photos of CCM events, sample brochures, videos, etc. (Brisbane side will prepare some materials from our end)
• We have arranged accommodation (renting 2 apartments), it will cost around $85 per person for the whole trip if you join us.
• We will prepare some gifts and possibly love offer for Hope Manila & its 2 sister churches, as well as Alvin and Jace. We will have a love offering session during a combined Sub-D LG this week. But I foresee that the team may need to top up a bit for all the costs.
• Budget: To prepare at least AUD $350 for the whole trip, please do the money exchange before the trip. We will have a team common fund which we will use to spend on things that the team share together. E.g.: Transport, food, drink, etc.

5, Proposed mission trip itinerary

Date and Day	Morning	Afternoon	Evening
08-Dec (Thursday)	Arrive in Manila	Short Orientation (Do's and Dont's)	Team Session / Prayer and Rest PIC: Nilla
09-Dec (Friday)	QT (PIC: Paul) Pamantasan High School Laguna	Visiting and blessing the less fortunate families	Team Session / Lifegroup PIC: Paul
10-Dec (Saturday)	QT (PIC: Myrna) Meeting Alvin and Jace, together we travel to the meeting place for carolling performance, short preaching and gifts distribution to poor families	Workshop about P&W with Hope Manila	Team Session / Lifegroup PIC: Myrna
11-Dec (Sunday)	QT (PIC: Florence) Sunday Service	Workshops and fellowship with CCM Philippine​s committees headed by Renee PIC: Shaun	Team Session / Prayer Meeting PIC: Florence
12-Dec (Monday)	QT (PIC: Allan) Pamantasan High School in Pasig	Prayer walk/Evangelism	Team Session / Meeting PIC: Allan
13-Dec (Tuesday)	QT (PIC: Judith) Community work at Handicapped Center Lourdes (TBC)	Evangelism at Universities / Visiting church offcie (TBC)	Team Session / Meeting PIC: Judith
14-Dec (Wednesday)	QT (PIC: Shaun) Prayer walk/Evangelism	(With Alvin and Jace) R&R for sightseeing, shopping, fellowship and Rest
15-Dec (Thursday) Prison Ministry	QT (PIC: Nilla) (With Alvin and Jace and a local church) Performance, short preaching, and gifts distribution to around 500 prisoners (Details to be provided soon)		Leaving Manila

My first impression of the trip was that I was amazed at how quickly they have integrated me into the itinery. Furthermore, they saw that I was CCM president and immediately made in charge of the CCM fellowship session with Hope Manila. Needless to say, I was as cool as a cucumber in a pressure cooker.

Alvin and Jace were originally from Hope Brisbane, but they were called to lead hospital and prison ministries in the Philippines a few years back, so they left Hope Brisbane to start their own ministries. Everyone in my team (except for me) knew them really well. They currently reside/work in a bible college together. Jace is expecting, BTW.

Nilla was our fearless leader. She was ultimately in charge of the whole program. When we have questions over what is happening next, she is the first person to go. We really appreciate her extended periods of discussions with the various contacts to solidify the upcoming plans. This means that the actual program in the end may be completely different. This also means we sometimes had to wait for nearly an hour for her before we can go for dinner. She’s currently engaged, BTW.

Florence was the one who settled administrative stuff like the accommodations, gifts, etc. She is also multi-talented as she can play the keyboard and the guitar very well. She must be into music.

Judith is the unit leader of Allan, Florence, and Paul’s life group. She is a sincere and gifted speaker, being able to quote from the Bible and speak on spiritual topics fluently. She comes from Hong Kong.

Myrna is in the same life group as Nilla, with Nilla being the unit leader. I am guessing she leads worship in church and life group because she has a nice voice. She also sings the high notes in the carols we sing., as she seems to be the only one to reach them.

Paul was the treasurer. Every night, he would meticulously sort out payments and reimbursements, sorting out between the mission funds and pools for different finances. Ever since he arrived in Manila, he became addicted to the sweet dessert known as Halo-Halo. He's a cool guy.

Allan was our local translator. He translated what the locals said and he was also a Filipino. He enjoys singing and playing the guitar. He also is passionate about encouraging the locals and children with his life testimony. He reminded me of Antonius Thambrin who was previously from Hope Waverley.

I was the fellowship coordinator. As I looked back, I don’t think I actually did much fellowship coordinating with the exception of that CCM workshop on Sunday.

Now that the introductions are out of the way, I can now go on with the story...next time.

Sunday 13.11.11 7th full day in Uganda

I woke, ate, had my quiet time. From a bit before 8AM there was music coming from the church. I assumed it was an extra practice, but turns out that it was the Lubra service. At 10, we headed over for the Luganda service, though it turned out that it didn’t start until 10:30. The service was much more difficult than the prayer meeting, because the sermon goes for 1 ½ hours. It’s all translated into English, but the English translation is not easy to understand. The passage was Genesis 4, on Cain and Able. At the end they got me to stand up and greet everyone, which I had no idea I was going to do.

About 1/3 of Uganda has been born again in the last 20 years, and about 80% is Christian, with the non-born-agains being mostly a combination of Catholics and Anglicans. 10% is Muslim, and the rest is mostly traditional religions. Amongst the Indian population, Hinduism is the main religion.

After church I had a nap, and woke to find that Britt, Andrew and the girls had gone out to Kampala. While they were gone I watched a DVD called War Dance, which is a doco on the National Dance competition, and the Patoyo Primary School which entered. Patoyo is in a government camp to protect the Northern Acholi people from the LRA. After watching I looked up the number of tribes in Uganda – 64.



Britt and Andrew got back, and they had walked for miles in search of tradition Ugandan food, and had ended up eating in a very Western style cafe. They saw several beggars, including a six month old, which Britt said she could hardly bear to leave there, and a man eating from the gutters. Unia came over and showed us her new hair style, which had taken 5 hours! It was very nice, but I’d never sit for 5 hours to get my hair done. I went on the internet and went to bed.

Saturday 12.11.11 6th full day in Uganda

It’s been a slow morning. I attempted to sleep in, and managed to stay in bed until 7AM. Then I got up, had my quiet time, ate breakfast, and went to go for a walk, but the gate was closed. So I went back, did some reading, Britt and Andrew let me use their internet, and then I went for a walk past the primary school. I saw lots more of the little stall shops, and ended up having 4 women following me for about half an hour. There wasn’t really much that I wanted to buy, so I just got some water and some biscuits for Abby and Amaya.


I ate lunch, then got ready to go out again. I had been warned about the pick-pockets in Kampala, so I used my bum bag with a decoy bag with my change and ventolin in it. Auntie Florence told me about how much a boda would cost for the trip back (6000 shillings, with it actually costing me 7000) and I set off! I caught a taxi by myself, and even got off at the right place. I wandered around the stalls, but again, there just wasn’t anything that I wanted to buy. I saw a lot of beggars, and kicked myself for not bringing food for them. I gave several of the children coins.

I went into the large supermarket in Kampala, and wandered up and down the aisles, looking for things I could eat. I ended up getting soy milk and dark chocolate. But as I was browsing, a random Indian guy who I had seen on the street a few times came and talked to me. He then asked if it was okay for him to follow me. I shrugged, meaning, it’s a free country, but if you do, I’m going to think you’re creepy. He elected to be thought creepy, and we wandered around Kampala together. His name is Happy, and he repeatedly tried to ask me out or get me to have a drink. I ignored the asking out attempts, and refused the drinks. He is on a break from studying, is 21, and is currently living in Sudan. I gave him a fake email, as he really wanted it – he also wanted both my Ugandan and Australia phone numbers! I don’t have a Ugandan, and I was NOT giving him my Aussie number! Eventually I declared that I was going, got on a boda, and came home.

That’s right! I had my first boda ride! It was so much fun! My driver was slightly crazy, but only a little bit, not like some of the different drivers. Obviously it was hilarious seeing a mzungu on a boda, because lots of people waved and shouted. I waved back, which probably wasn’t the safest while sitting on a motorbike in a skirt. One guy, who was lying on the back of a truck, even got out his mobile and videoed me. I waved to him too, and when he had finished filming he lifted the phone to his lips and kissed it. This mzungu is popular here, if not so much back home. And even better, I got inside just before it started to rain!