Jenga, Here we come!

Today we leave Kampala. It has been a really interesting time here – a real gradual phase into what we came here to experience. On sunday, we slept quite late because of the long day of safari that we had on saturday. We visted the mosque which was beautiful but stirred up a lot of emotions and conversations within our team. Matt who walked in with 7 women following him was treated like a king whilst the rest of us were covered up constantly and not spoken to. We had a lot of good conversations that night.

Yesterday we  met Isobel. She works with Viva network in Africa. She works to help resource and network projects that are already going on – with the idea that if we work together we can be more effective. They also offer training courses for the organisations who need help – learning how to do book keeping, seeting up guidance and governance, child protection and a lot more. It is cool because this is kind of what we are looking to do in Nashville, getting people to work together to make a greater difference.

We visited two of the projects that Isobel works with in the networks both in the same slum. One was Hand of Hope, a nursery and primary school which had taken 60 of the most at risk children from the slum and put them into school, given them a meal and uniform, and supplies. It was amazing to see what a difference it can make. We also went to two houses in the slum and were privileged enough to pray for the women and their families. I will never forget Rose, a women living in a one room mud hut with three children. She has lost two babies who were twins, had two more twins and her youngest child was 9 months old. When she got pregnant with the youngest one, the father took off. She had nothing, but yet she had hope. Hope in God that he will provide for her and that he will look after her and her children. She was radiant.

We then visited another project, called Ray of Hope. Which is also a school for children from the slum, but also there was training for women in various craft trades. The girls on the team were more than happy to buy some of the necklaces, baskets, and purses. All Beautiful and hand made.

After our long day, Isobel invited us to her house and we had tea and Banana pancakes. A lovely treat for the team after and exhausting day.

Yesterday was the teams first real exposure to the poverty and desolation that is rampant in africa. Many were left feeling helpless and hopeless. Feeling like it is too overwhealming for anyone to even try to do anything to help. But we were impacted by the power of one, one person who is willing to do something to change at least one persons circumstances. But also we were impacted by the hope that the ugandans had, in the midst of all of this, they had hope in God, they had jesus to rely on – and their faith was what sustained them.

Today we leave for Mbale, to be with Jenga for a week. I am very excited to get to see Tiffany, my good friend and also to get stuck in to the community that we have been praying for and learning about for so long. Please pray for our safety as we travel and for ongoing health and comfort, peace and understanding.

Blessings,

jo

Departure

Today we leave! I am all packed ready to go. I am feeling excited but calm and collected which I am very pleased about. I know God will be with me and the team. Please pray for us as we fly down. I don’t have much to say at the moment. I am sure I will when I get back! Love to you all!

Kampala

We are here! We have made it safely praise the Lord. We are all healthy, all of us have our luggage and we are having  a great time.  Our flights were smooth and we got into uganda with no problem. our hotel is very basic but i love the life that surrounds it. we are just down the hill from kampala’s cathedral which we visited on our first day here. it was beautiful and it is situated up on a hill so the views of the city are breathtaking.this city never sleeps! there is always the bustle of cars and beeping horns, the call to prayer from the mosque just down the raod from our hotel adds a whole different layer to the sights and sounds. Yesterday was adventure, we awoke at 3.15 to go on safari in murchison falls national park. A five hour van jounrey over bumpy roads and jungle. When the sun started coming up, there was a sweet mist over the mountains, and locals hard at work with sacks of grain and bananas on bicycles. We entered the national park and there were packs of baboons on the raod every hundred meters or so. When we entered the game reserve we first had to cross by ferry and then we started to see animals! girraffes, elephants, water buffalo, and so much more. After a few hours of that we took the ferry accross and had lunch. then we took a boat ride up the victoria nile to the falls. Along the way we saw more hippos than can be counted and a few crocodiles. The best thing was the falls, when we got to the foot of them we did an hour and a half climb to the top and the views were breathtaking, not to mention it was hot, and the climb took our breath as well. Then we got back in the van and headed back for kampala, a 5.5 hour ride. When we were still in the park we came upon anothergroup who had had a crash in thier van. We picked up one of the stranded passengers and took her back to her hotel. We really felt that it was god’s provision as if only we had left a few minutes earlier it could have been us.

We got back safe.

I am out of time.

will write more later!

Two weeks to go!

I am so excited that there are only two weeks left before I am off to Uganda! Things are starting to really come together well on this end – shots are all done, I have my yellow fever certificate, I have made myself a packing list, and I have purchased 4 long skirts. I will be doing some final shopping tomorrow, getting all the meds that we will need for the team when we are down there.

We have done loads of fund raising and I must say that I am very happy to see that come to a close! We have put on three bake sales, a garage sale, we made a movie, had a talent night, and hand delivered fliers.  The concert that I did in June was a great success, we had about 85 people show up! It was so much fun and a great help to me in achieving my fund raising goals. We had such a great time that we decided to do another concert at the end of August before Tom and I move back to the USA as kind of a “farewell England” thing. It will be really great because Tom’s sister and brother-in-law are professional musicians and will be playing with us for that show. So much to look forward to!

Some people have been asking what we will be doing and I have recently learned more about that! We will be in Kampala for three days. The first two days we will be getting acclimated and we will get to see the city. On the Monday we will meet up with a CMS missionary named Isobel and she is going to show us around the work that she does with children in Kampala. The next day we will be picked up by my good friend Tiffany who has been living in Uganda for the past 6 months, and she will be escorting us to Mbale where Jenga is based. While we are in Mbale we will be visiting a number of projects. We will be painting two churches, doing hospital ministry and running some bible clubs. After we are finished with our time in Mbale we will be going to a safari park in Jinja and staying for two nights before we head home!

I am so excited to have this opportunity and I can’t wait to share it with you when I return. I am hoping to update this blog whilst I am in Uganda, whenever I can get to a computer with internet – so please be checking from the 23rd July to the 7th august and after as I will be posting photos upon my return.  Thank you so much for your prayers and support.

Joanna

Christ Church Chorleywood sends us to Uganda!

Hello Everyone!

I am heading to Uganda this summer to do some mission work. This blog will keep you updated on the latest happenings from our team, especially while we are in Uganda. Below is a brief summary of who we are and what we will be doing!

We are a small team of 8, three adult leaders and five teenage girls! We leave on the 23rd July and will be in Uganda for 15 days. When we are down there we will be visiting a missionary in Kampala who is a partner with the Church Mission Society (CMS). CMS is our sending organisation which means that they are taking care of our transport, health checks, training etc, if you want to know more here is a link: http://www.cms-uk.org.
For a majority of the time we will be working with an organisation called Jenga. Jenga is based in Mbale which is in south east Uganda. They are involved in all kinds of projects, here is a link to their site: http://www.jengauganda.org.  We are not exactly sure what we will be doing as Jenga has such a range of projects, but we are anxious to help in any way we can.

Each member on the team needs to raise over £1,900.00 which is no small task. Fund raising is not easy in this economy. As a team we have put on bake sales, a talent show, and garage sales. We are even making a movie! For my personal fund raising, I am putting on a concert in early June. I know that you most likely won’t be able to come, but I wanted you to know about it. =) This is the flier!

So that is all for now – please be praying for us as we prepare to leave on the trip of a lifetime! Blessings,

Joanna

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