We are at capacity!

This course has been absolutely excellent…but we are now at capacity! We have taken on board and inwardly digested a huge amount of material over our 10 weeks here and it has been great! Two weeks back I was nearly converted to being a development project manager! We spent 2 full days in small groups pouring over large sheets of flip chart paper,’ post-it’ notes and log frames working out how to plan and execute a ‘children at risk’ development project in Burundi. (It has inspired me to maybe try and develop a more coherent structure for the education project we will be involved with in Ibanda, Uganda…) Aside from his studying… Andy has also enjoyed a taste of victory on the All Nations footie team and was even awarded the prestige award of ‘man of the match’!

Overall, it is difficult to summarise our experience here – suffice to say that we both feel more equipped practically, more affirmed in our call to go and now ready to face the challenge of settling into Ugandan culture, with the Lord as our guide.

Thank you for your prayers during this period. Please pray that we’d be able to adjust to the transition of leaving college and going between family and friends during the holidays. Please also pray for Sunday 7th December – we are speaking at St Mary’s Church, Radcliffe on Trent and also at ‘Nightbridge’ (Holy Trinity’s youthgroup).

Now that's trust...

Last Friday I cut Andy’s hair and the Friday before that he cut my hair! There have been lots of comments around the college about Andy’s smart new hairstyle – but to be honest they haven’t got close enough to see the rather large ledges left in the back of his hair! It turns out that hairdressing scissors are actually pretty sharp as well – my fingers testify to this! Well, this is an example of the practical side of our course. Andy has also been learning the basics of car maintenance and loving the opportunity to sit and play with ‘toys’ in the workshop.

A flavour of week 6...

So we are just over half way through our course and it definitely feels like the end is rushing towards us.  Recently we have been challenged quite a bit as well… for example we have been discussing and attending lectures in areas such as ‘Culture Shock’, ‘Expectations and Boundaries of working abroad’ and ‘Stress vs. Burnout - overseas'.  On the one hand we feel privileged to be in a safe environment at All Nations to prepare for what lies ahead, but on the other hand we feel like there is a lot to process and to take in at the moment.  Please do keep us in your prayers (if that is your thing) and in particular we’d like prayer as we think through what our specific roles might be in Ibanda and at NMS (the school).  We hope to email the school with our ideas, but we are aware that there may well be a difference in the levels of expectation from them or us.  Away from the classroom Andy is busying cleaning his footie boots for a match on Saturday and I am getting surprisingly excited about the hairdressing course on Friday… we’ll let you know how they go!

No Power for 24hrs but Snow!

A heavy dump of snow caused a small amount of chaos yesterday…Not only was it ‘Quiet Day’ at college (where everyone had the day to read, prayer, relax on their own) but with the electricity went the hot water and the whole heat system... If it wasn’t for the beauty of a couple of inches of snow, I am sure things would have seemed a little different?!  But the snow was such a blessing! We awoke to glorious sunshine slowly eating up the magical blanket of snow…I became like a little child gobbling down my breakfast as fast as I could to maximise the time I could have in the snow. It was wonderful…the crunch underfoot, the branches laden with snow, the red berries sitting stark against the pure white and the warm sun rays making the chilly air, warm – it was a superb scene!  Thankfully to everyone’s great relief, at 6pm, just as more and more layers of clothing were being added to keep warm and candles lit, the electricity came back on and the sense of adventure began to diminish…

We've got a neighbour...

Zillah (what a brilliant name!), who is on our course here at college, is going to be just up the road – well, actually about an hour up the road from where we are planning to be in Uganda, (but that’s not bad given our very rural remote location out there…) This has also motivated us to start learning the local language ‘Runyunkole’, since she has found a handy little workbook with basic phrases in. So far I think we’ve just about mastered good morning and thank you - progress is slow! The great news is though that we won’t actually have to rely on this foreign tongue the whole time, as all the lessons at the Ugandan school (NMS) are taken in English – but it will be good to communicate with the locals and get by at the market etc.  So, hurrah a fellow Brit in close proximity...to share our experiences with.

'Who am I?' & 'The Bible and Mission'

We now know who we are! (Or at least that was the aim of week 1's lectures!)  We've completed the first module 'Who am I?'  This included doing the Myers Briggs personality test.  It was quite revealing and scarily accurate at working out our strengths and weaknesses, but I suppose it's important to be aware of these, so that we can be as effective as possible in our future ventures. We were also hugely encouraged looking at our identity in Christ from a variety of Bible studies. Now we're coming to the end of our second module, which is all about what the Bible says about mission and how the four Gospels portray Jesus' model of mission.  Aside from the studies Claire and I have been dusting off our instruments and playing in the worship, which has been enjoyable. We've just been out enjoying the sunshine and playing football with a few of the other students... Claire obviously played brilliantly, but unfortunately I came away with a bruised big toe (...nothing to do with her though)!

Arriving at ANCC

All Nations Christian College drew into view as we winded our way up the long drive...a beautiful grand old house to live in...brilliant for 10 weeks.  However, on arrival we were quickly told that we were in 'Oakhouse', which although perfectly comfortable is a trendy sixties purpose built block covered by huge trees!

Well... we've been eased in gently with lots of social time interspersed with admin bits.  We can already tell that the people here are going to be a real inspiration.  As an example our neighbour is a lady of real courage and faith having just returned from 5 years in Tajikistan!   

The college itself is surrounded by incredible countryside - so i think a routine of lectures and ambles through the forest may well be the order of some of the days ahead?! (It's a hard student life!)

  

Visiting Nyakatukura Memorial School (NMS)

Upon our arrival at NMS we were given a tremendous welcome.  We met a significant proportion of the school governors, the archdeacon of Ibanda, along with the headmaster (Revd Agasha Muhwezi) and some of the teaching staff.

While we were at NMS we were honoured to live in Revd Agasha’s house on the site of Nyakatukura Memorial Primary School, which neighbours the Senior School.  The house was lovely, but basic.  No running tap water, bucket wash, long drop and only enough electricity from the solar panel to light half a dozen 12-volt light bulbs.  Needless to say, we found it challenging.

Most of our time was spent meeting people and chatting with staff and students.  On the Sunday, I was asked to preach at St Paul’s Church in Ibanda.  Claire and I were both moved by the free worship that the community have in church.  They are not afraid of showing that they love Jesus and want him to have all the praise he deserves.  We were pleased to find a copy of the Bible in Runyankole in a local stationer’s shop; this has become our primary way of learning the local language.  Although English is the primary language in Uganda, and we could get by comfortably without Runyankole, we feel that we could integrate far quicker and more smoothly into the community with some confidence in the language.

Southwest Uganda is a very lush and fertile place; there was no lack of food.  We ate loads of unbelievably delicious fruit.  We ate lots of rice, matoki (mashed and steamed plantain), beans and g-nuts.  Occasionally I was able to enjoy poshu (ugali), beans and dodo (spinach), a childhood favourite.

We were encouraged by just how much we learnt about the area, community and the school during that week spent in Ibanda.

The evening before we left, we met with some key people to discuss how Claire and I might fit into everyday life at NMS and in Ibanda.  It was concluded that we could do some teaching, whilst at the same time running workshops for teachers in the community.  We would also take on some chaplaincy duties at NMS, such as initiating Bible Studies and offering training for staff and students in how to plan and run Bible Studies.

Upon our return to England, we had a meeting with CMS (Church Mission Society) and DCS (Dean Close School).  At this meeting we agreed that we would go to NMS, initially for 12 months with a view to continue beyond, in the capacity as described above.

The next step is All Nations Christian College (Easneye, near Ware, Heartfordshire …30 mins from Stevenage) to attend their ‘En Route’ course in cross cultural mission work.

Visiting Uganda

Claire and I conducted our exploratory trip of Uganda from 13^th-31^st July.  It wasn’t long before God started introducing us to helpful contacts.  On the same flight fro

m Dubai we met a young Canadian couple, who were heading back to Uganda to visit a school that they had spent a year teaching in …very interesting to hear of their experiences and reflections.  Upon our arrival, we spent a few days acclimatising in Kampala at 

Namirembe Guest House; coincidentally a few doors down the corridor from our new Canadian friends!  We all went out for a meal at ‘Garden City’ (the western mall in Kampala) one evening, a

nd while we were there we happened to bump into the headmaster of the school that they had taught in; even they were not expecting that!  The headmaster (Revd Canon Paul Jeffries, also Ca

nadian) is a top man doing a great job.  His experience of the country’s education system and involvement as a westerner will be very useful to us especially as his school is in Bush

enyi, only 1½ hours away (by car) from where we’ll be in Ibanda.  It also turns out that his deputy is the husband of one of the governors at Nyakatukura Memorial School (NMS).

It was not all that difficult adapting to the climate in Kampala …it rained.  We even had a thunderstorm on the Tuesday evening!

Anyway, a particularly fantastic person that we met was Garry Ion.  A man who has lived and worked in Uganda for 14 years; he works with CMS (Church Mission

 Society) in south Sudan, though is based in Kampala.  We had a lot of fun hanging out with Garry both before our visit to NMS and after.  In fact, Garry drove us to NMS on Wednesday 16^th, a 5½ hour trip.

So, on to Ibanda, and NMS…