Micro Development Missions

Wednesday morning leaving for Wankonge: Kayla Maynard, Marlea Johnson, Irene Kimeze, Ida Bazanoona

2010-07-29T07:12:00.001-06:00

Bathroom in the village yesterday

2010-07-29T03:54:00.001-06:00

Kayla Maynard with children from Wankonge

2010-07-29T03:53:00.003-06:00

Some of the ladies in Wankonge and the hut where we had our Bible study on Wednesday

2010-07-29T03:53:00.002-06:00

Ladies Bible study in Wankonge. There were 20 of us in the hut. It was great. Really.

2010-07-29T03:52:00.001-06:00

Supper with Mugulusi family: rice, chicken, matoke, pineapple, cabbage, soup, fresh passion fruit juice

2010-07-29T03:48:00.001-06:00

Sunday night at Bukiya. This is Charity, the leader of the group we visited.

2010-07-29T03:47:00.003-06:00

Source Cafe library

2010-07-29T03:47:00.002-06:00

Tweyembe group (means self-help) in Bukiya

2010-07-29T03:46:00.001-06:00

Apophia is sitting on the far right, she's a member of Tweyembe and a Source cafe employee whom we've known for several years.

2010-07-29T03:45:00.001-06:00

Irene's nephew/adopted son, Grace. His mom, Irene's sister, passed away two years ago after my last visit.

2010-07-29T03:44:00.003-06:00

Guys at Jinja church on Sunday morning

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Tyler Kimeze showing off his gaps (he's lost his front teeth).

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This is Irene's 4-year-old Zach, named after my Zach. Sitting in Irene's living area after a long day.

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Irene's house--where we stay on our visits. This is her dining room and this is Tyler on the left and Grace on the right.

2010-07-29T03:41:00.001-06:00

Craft section at the Source. I'm sitting behind the counter while Irene arranges inventory. It's where I spent the day on Thursday.

2010-07-29T03:39:00.001-06:00

DJ with group of grandchildren who are all orphaned and living with their grandmother.

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Children in Musima

2010-07-29T03:27:00.001-06:00

David and Roy sitting in Musima with those interested in the new microloan program. That shed behind them is where Samuel's preschool meets.

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Samuel's preschool in Musima. I'm sure there's another name but I don't remember it.

2010-07-29T03:20:00.001-06:00

Samuel accepting a donated soccer ball from David.

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David and Roy with the basket-makers from Musima

2010-07-29T03:18:00.002-06:00

Roy talking with the ladies about purchasing their baskets

2010-07-29T03:16:00.001-06:00

DJ inspecting banana-fiber baskets and describing the qualities of a well made basket.

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Roy Mwesigwa (in the middle) with DJ in Bugembe trading center purchasing staples for some familes in Musima.

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Gathering of the ladies in Musima

2010-07-29T03:09:00.001-06:00

2010-07-29T01:18:00.000-06:00

It's Picture Time!

2008-06-07T15:20:00.017-06:00

Ronald Mugulusi with his dad.

Ronald Bwana with his son, Alex

Jeff had just given Maanda Wilson some new soccer balls for his men's ministry.

Greeting Mugulusi's aunt and cousin at their home in Magogo.

Welcome Hom--we're home

2008-05-29T20:49:00.001-06:00

Welcome backto us andjiggity jog.We;re all pretty exhausted and Ithink I'm falling asleep at the keyboar so I won't make this long.... We;re home! Got in about 11:30 easteeeern DJ and Jeff have already gone to bed and I;m abuttttow

will send more tomorrow sometime, love you all

...i can drink tehwaterout of the faucet now and i csn go lie down and sleep in my own bed.

2008-05-26T08:48:00.000-06:00

We just got back from taking Rachel and then Gerald to their first day of school for this term. Rachel who’s still in what we’d call kindergarten, will be home this evening when we get back. Gerald goes to a boarding school in Iganga, about a 45-minute drive away so we told him goodbye. David gave him a watch as a gift, bought him new black leather school shoes last week in Kampala, and we’d already given him a soccer ball. He’s such a nice kid and a lot of help with the younger children. He’ll be missed.

This afternoon, David and Jeff have gone with Roy and Ricky to the Njeru Parents’ School where the ISAC kids are enrolled. It’s their first day back to school after holiday also and David was taking pens and soccer balls as gifts to the school and teachers.

Yesterday was a fun but busy, long day. We had already made plans to spend the whole day with Irene and the kids after getting back from church (around 3pm) in Musima. So we went swimming at the Palm Tree Guest House overlooking the Nile and then got to visit for a bit with Surj and Danyne and hold baby Jag. We didn’t get to the pool til 4 so the sun was no longer shining on the water and it was a little cool but the kids wanted to swim anyway so David took turns taking Zach and Tyler and Rachel into the big pool. There were even times he had all three of them at once I think. Then we all met Bobby and Candice at the Sunset On the Nile Hotel/Restaurant for supper.

Now, let me describe just a little bit of Super Sunday at Musima. I suppose there were people from maybe 4 different village churches and the Jinja town church. People start gathering under the pavilion near Moses Kirya’s house around 10 am-ish. So we got there at around 11 and most of the benches were full. Zach had already fallen asleep but woke up. There were only seats left that were actually in the sun but that was too hot so I ended up squeezing in next to Candice. Rachel went to sit with Bwana and Alex and we took turns holding Tyler and Zach since they were both tired. Bobby did a great job preaching! He picked some volunteers out of the audience to act out Luke’s story of the Good Samaritan. Thankfully, Gerald was chosen as the hurt man, since Gary Selby, the Pepperdine prof, was chosen to get down on all fours and be the donkey. It will be a great visual for such a profound but simple message of caring for our neighbors/all of

God’s creation. Then we had communion (fanta and chipati) and then lots of singing, introducing visitors, dancing, clapping and afterwards everyone had a meal of posho and beans. It’s absolutely exhausting.

I know I’m sorta going backwards but….. Saturday morning, we drove with Joan Talibow and Ronald Mugulusi to Mugulusi’s village, Magogo about an hour or so from Jinja. It was a blast. Saturday was Jeff’s favorite day in a village. We got to Mugulusi’s auntie’s house around noon, greeted everyone and I do mean everyone—12 to 15 of the auntie’s grandchildren who’ve been orphaned, mostly due to AIDS, another man who’s a cousin to Ronald, and a couple more of the auntie’s daughters who are still living nearby. After a bit, Joan and I went to sit with the ladies as they were preparing this huge pot of steamed matoke. I’d never actually watched anybody put the peeled bananas all together in this pot lined with banana leaves, then it’s covered and mashed together in the leaves before they steam it. The cousin was showing David and Jeff all about the new ‘cho’ (pit latrine) that was being built. The workers had dug a pit of about 10 feet (it will eventually be about 40 feet deep) and were laying local bricks and cementing to build the support/foundation around the actual pit. It’s hard to describe but I have pics if you should actually be interested in such things.

Ronald decided we should go ahead and visit another widow before we ate so we drove to a nearby trading center and to the lady’s house nearby. It had gotten windy and started to get cool like it might rain. When we went inside this lady’s house, her orphaned grandchildren had a couple of songs prepared to sing to us. It was just wonderful and it’s all very moving. Overwhelming at times. Oh and we were such big news that the whole trading center cleared out and came and peered through the windows into the house. By the time we left, it had started to rain but we got back to the auntie’s house before it started to storm. Oh my goodness, what a storm—the rain was beating and the wind was just whipping the trees and pounding the crops!! I’m just so thankful we were inside the house—at one point, I ducked and screamed because I thought that flimsy tin roof was going to cave in. It was actually a big branch of one of the trees behind the house that had hit the roof and bounced off. The top of a jackfruit tree at the front of the house broke off, too, and as Jeff was filming. David says it’s the worst storm he’s ever been in. We didn’t eat lunch (matoke, rice and goat) until after the storm about 3and thankfully the area is pretty flat so we could still drive on the clay/dirt/mud roads back to the main highway.

As soon as we got back to town, we took Irene home and then went to the Bugembe trade center where Grace Nyanga was waiting to guide us to his house for supper and to visit. I’ve mentioned this before, but Grace and Goretti have two of their own children and then take care of somewhere between 15 and 20 orphans, some of them are children of Grace’s two brothers but others are just kids they’ve taken in. Edith, their oldest child, is about 10 now and she still has a crush on our Zach. When I mentioned that I’d brought a picture to give her of Zach and Ryan with their girlfriends, she was so embarrassed that she just took it and hid her face. Today, I gave her another picture to keep for herself since I think her baby brother, Emmanuel, had bent that one. Goretti had been working at a craft market all day so some of the older children had made the final preparations for supper. The food is always wonderful at Goretti’s place. We had great cabbage, beans, rice, watermelon, sweet pineapple, chipati and small irish potatoes that were battered and fried whole. Really good food!

So we’re wrapping things up here. I’ve been shopping for some gifts today and hanging with Irene since we have to leave in the morning. Bwana just came by to tell me that he can’t take me bike riding today like he wanted, but we’ll go tomorrow morning. Spencer Bogle just brought us the last of our malaria medicine. I buy some to get started in the states but buy the rest here. DJ and I have to keep taking the weekly pills for four weeks after we get home. Jeff is taking the daily pill that’s supposed to have fewer side effects. I don’t know how long he has to take those. Irene and Joan are totaling up my purchases in the craft area. David and Jeff just got back from their trip to the school and DJ is meeting with Roy and Ricky again. Then we’ll go by to see a gentleman’s rental property that’s near Bugembe, not too far from Irene’s, and we need to go get one of our suitcases at the Garners’ house. We’ll fix spaghetti tonight and pack our bags then have a terrible crying time at the house in the morning when we leave Tyler and Zach and Rachel. I have gifts to leave them but they’ll still cry. Irene is riding with us to Entebbe so I can delay that goodbye for a little bit. We don’t usually have internet access in Entebbe so Tuesday morning here is probably the last time I’ll check my messages. So, write me if you need to know anything before I go, I’ll check in the morning before we leave. We get in to Atlanta on Thursday around 1:30 Eastern so we should be home to Montgomery by 4 or so. I just got an email from Emily that she’ll be flying in on Friday from Ohio and that Ryan will be coming to our house probably by early to mid-afternoon on Friday. Can’t wait to see them! Then as soon as I get home, we’re gonna start looking at getting Zach and Julia back to the States for a visit or longer.

Love to all, mj

Friday afternoon, May 23

2008-05-24T08:54:00.000-06:00

I don't think I have much time but just in case, I'm starting a note of random stuff again just so I don't forget this stuff.

This afternoon has been a lot of fun. I spent the morning writing that earlier message and then helping Irene unwrap all her purchases from yesterday and chatting with Bobby and Ben while DJ was in another meeting. Then we went to the Bogles house to visit with our good friend Ronald Bwana and his son Alex and Zach's former dog, Libby, who shed all over me. Ronald told us about his chicken project. He was part of a group that made a group proposal to us last year. We didn't loan them the money. As a matter of fact, DJ basically told them that it wasn't a good idea for the group to make one loan for one thing like chickens--literally not putting all your eggs in one basket. Well, they did anyway. As a group, they bought some of the local chickens to raise. They each had a particular job to do and assignment. I don't remember them all but one of them was supposed to be in charge of the chicken's health. But the project failed because one chicken got sick and then they all did and their whole project was wiped out because as Ronald said, one of them was lazy and didn't do the job. He said they'd learned their lesson and so now he's raising chickens with Spencer Bogle.

Ok, gotta go, so the rest of the afternoon we spent on the banks of the Nile at the Ginger Restaurant drinking sweet tea with ice cubes in it! I've never had that in Uganda. We met some of the missionaries there to visit about what we're doing. Bobby and Candice, Ben Langford, Spencer and Emily Bogle. It was great fun, incredibly relaxing and we all hated to leave but we had plans already.

now, random....

ugandans end most words with an extra ee or ah: bye-ee, zach-ah, gerald-ee

Last week at Jinja church, when we were singing about the 20th verse of "I'll be somewhere working for my Lord," I leaned up to Bobby and Candice and told them that I needed the words to change and that I'm really rather it went like this.... "I'll be somewhehyah relaxing, I'll be somewheyhah relaxing, I'll be somewhehyah relaxing for my Lord, yes for my Lord...."

Friday morning, May 23

2008-05-23T02:04:00.001-06:00

Congratulations to us! We made it to Kampala and back in one piece and had a good but busy day. David is a really good driver but the roads and the driving conditions are much different here. I’d say traveling once we’re in country is the most dangerous thing we do. (Of course, to avoid the real dangers, we do take malaria medicine and stay away from unboiled/unbottled water.)

Yesterday on the drive, I was reminded of what a beautiful place this is. There is luscious vegetation, almost “ Jurassic Park ” style so there’s an abundance of fruits and vegetables--sweet bananas, pineapples, tomatoes, avocadoes, squash, cucumbers, fresh beans. The drive to Kampala takes us through Mubira Rain Forest Preserve, past huge tea plantations where workers are hand-picking the leaves and also past large sugar cane fields. (These are real plantations as opposed to when we go to the village and someone shows us his banana plantation and we find three plants.) The tea is David’s favorite. It’s such a beautiful green across the valley and hills.

We also drive through a trade center that’s known for it’s fast food—chicken on a stick. I’ve never had it. If you pull your vehicle over, the guys selling the chicken run up to your car windows to get you to buy their chicken. Irene got sick once after eating one so she won’t eat it. It’s one of my Zach’s favorite things so I’d really like to try it sometime.

I need to take and upload a pic of my favorite tree here. I call it the Dr. Seuss tree because it has these long skinny elegantly twisting branches with a green ball of leaves at the tip of each branch. It reminds me of something you might find in “Cat in the Hat.”

Two quick updates: 1. We ran into Danyne Randolph and her mom outside the Source the other day so I got to hold baby Jagpal (I’m not sure how it’s spelled but it’s pronounced like Jag Paul). It’s an Indian name since Surj, his dad is an Indian and it’s one that Danyne’s family from Texas can pronounce. I don’t think we’ll have time to go to the Palm Tree Resort that Surj owns/runs but we’ll probably see them Wednesday at the airport since we’ll be on the same flight to Amsterdam with Danyne’s mom. The baby is absolutely gorgeous, beautiful. He has amazingly white skin and lots of black hair. I told Danyne that he was whiter and even more beautiful than I expected and she laughed and said the baby is whiter than his older sisters expected too. Danyne adopted two Ugandan baby girls either while Z was here in 03 or right after that. Then she and Surj were married a little over a year ago.

2. I forgot to tell you what Bobby told us on Wednesday about the beehive they hung the other day. The afternoon after we were at Agri’s place, he called Bobby and in his very slow, monotone with long pauses to build the drama, said, “Boehbbee, I am standing in front of our bee hive. (long pause) I am watching bees fly in and out of our hive.” So, looks like there’s a good chance this first hive will be a success and once that happens, they can hang some more of them. Bobby said the first have only had about a 50% chance of drawing any bees.

I haven’t said much about what we did in Kampala yesterday but we went to the Garden City Mall just briefly to get cash out of the ATM there and look at the expensive craft store, Banana Boat. Just to get ideas about what they have to sell that we might want to look for at the craft market. Then we drove to the craft market to do the real looking/shopping. There are maybe 40 outdoor stalls surrounding a small grassy that carry lots of jewelry, clothing, carvings and stuff like that. Irene was buying ceramics from one of the stalls there for the craft shop at the Source and since she was buying things wholesale, I was able to get a few things cheaper than I would have otherwise. So, I bought a ceramic water pitcher with a couple of cups and really struggled over whether to buy the tray in the shape of a fish that’s flat and easier to pack or the casserole dish that’s in the shape of a fish with a lid. I liked them both but was really in love with the casserole dish and she was willing to come off the price a little more on it than she would the tray so that’s the one I bought. I told Irene that I’ll get the tray the next time. She didn’t even buy the fish tray because the girl wouldn’t bring the price down enough for her. I haven’t looked at the ceramics website but here it is http://www.mukisa-uganda.com/. I’ll have to bring that stuff back in my carry-on probably so I may regret my purchase at least on the day we travel.

Ok, ok, yes, I did buy a nativity set. Just one. The barn is made out of banana-fiber and I think the figures are corn husks. You’ll have to come see me to see it. DJ shops for things to resell for the Victoria Nile crafts business that helps fund African missions stuff but I shop for me and for gifts. Are you surprised? Yeah, I don’t think so.

I’ll try to tell you one funny story before I close. I’m sure the humor will be lost in the translation but I’m gonna try. A few days ago, Jeff and David had been meeting with Roy and Ricky all morning. Roy and Ricky are Ugandan and we’re around mostly Ugandans. Even though there are a good many bazungu (white-folks) here, we still stand out in a crowd. Ok, so the other day, David, Jeff, Roy and Ricky are walking down the sidewalk to a restaurant for lunch. David’s just talking away, telling Roy all about something while Ricky and Jeff follow. David’s got the hand motions going and the whole bit. Jeff just stops on the sidewalk and bends double laughing because he looks up and sees DJ talking but that’s NOT Roy. That whole time he’s been walking alongside some other tall Ugandan man with a striped-shirt who hasn’t even been responding to David and NOT Roy ! Finally, DJ looks up and realizes he’s been lecturing to some stranger and he turns around to see Roy, Ricky and Jeff all laughing at him.

Maybe I should’ve had Jeff tell it and maybe I should just delete it but I’ll leave it just in case you enjoy it anyway. DJ has more meetings today and we’re gonna see another one of my very favorite people, Ronald Bwana, and his son Alex. Ronald works at the Bogles house here in town so we’ll just stop in to see him sometime today. Then this afternoon we’re meeting with Ben and Bobby at the Langfords house so I’ll get to see Kym. She just got back on Tuesday from her grandmother’s funeral in the States. I like Ben and Kym a lot and just love their son, Eli. He’s just a hoot! Their younger son, Noah, was just a newborn when we were here last year. I think we’re going to this new restaurant for a soda and to visit. It’s called Ginger on the Nile and I think it’s right down on the water. Then tonight we’re eating at Joan’s place. We’ve never been there and spend the day in the village tomorrow and Sunday. I may check in again tomorrow if we get home early enough.

Ok, one thing is that David hired a carpenter to make and install some screen doors for Irene. They sleep under mosquito nets but that only helps after you’re in bed and asleep and that’s not usually when mosquitoes like to fly in through the door so we’re hoping that will help cut down on the mosquito issue. We haven’t actually had many at all. I think the first night we were here, there were some in our bedrooms and then maybe two nights ago, I got a bite. Oh and Zach, Gerald is just loving the Manchester U shirt you sent him especially after their big win the other night. We didn’t watch the game because it came on too late—9:45 and we left early at 7 am for Kampala . It’s gotten cooler here the last week or so. Much nicer than when we arrived and it’s raining every two or three days a little bit so that’s making it very pleasant for the most part.

Love to everybody there, I’m sure I’ve forgotten something I wanted to tell you but I’ll try to tell it to you later.

AIDS Hwy in Njeru, Uganda just outside of Jinja

2008-05-21T09:06:00.001-06:00

More pics

2008-05-21T08:44:00.002-06:00

This is the 90ish lady who we saw out working with her hands in her garden in Kainagoga.

More Pics

2008-05-21T08:27:00.005-06:00

This is Kawere rolling out chipati while Dimbodo, in the red shirt, cooks them. Kawere bakes the Source's banana bread, too. It's very tasty. I had it this morning for breakfast.

In Musima, listening to DJ talk about micro-loans. These two just couldn't stay awake.

Tuesday and Wednesday in Uganda

2008-05-21T06:28:00.010-06:00

Candice and Marlea in the Jinja market shopping for skirts.

Tyler who's 3 1/2 and Zach Kimeze who's almost 2

Roy Mwesigwa, Faustine who runs the clinic they visited, DJ and Ricky Kahudu

Hi, it's Tuesday afternoon here. David and Jeff have been meeting with Roy and Ricky about the ISAC program since about 10 this morning so I'm having a pleasantly slow, relaxing day. It helps when we can schedule a day in town like this after long, tiring days out in villages or meeting people like yesterday.

This morning, Irene took some time away from the craft shop and she and I went shopping for school supplies for Gerald and Rachel who will start a new school term this coming Monday. Gerald is in a boarding school in Iganga. We'll go with Irene on Monday to take him there. The school supply list for these kids is a little different than the one we might have back home listing how many different notebooks or kinds of crayons and markers. Besides items like 2 pens and 2 notebooks, this list also had laundry soap, bath soap, toilet tissue on it.

Forgive me for repeating things, it's difficult for me to remember sometimes what I've already written and it's quite difficult to go back and open up my old messages. I just called Candice to see if we could come to her house to use her internet since it's a little faster but they're actually having it worked on today. Last year, I was able to write in the evenings sometimes at the house but this year I try to just spend time with Irene and the kids in the evenings. We make chai together, cook and eat supper together, or entertain the kids so she can. Then I usually hold Zach til he falls asleep and the last two nights, Rachel has fallen asleep in my lap. So there's really no time at Irene's to spend on the laptop--unless I were to get up early but I'm not going to do that. Besides, Zach is up by 6 as it is so I don't think that would work anyway.

Just in case you’re wondering, I’ve been reading Mark Bowden’s book Road Work, I’ve been on a Mark Bowden kick since I sent a couple of them in Z’s birthday package in March—at his request. I read Black Hawk Down a couple of years ago and in the last few months, I’ve read Killing Pablo (about the Colombian drug lord, Pablo Escabar--after listening to or maybe sleeping through Z’s audio version a couple of times), Guests of the Ayatollah (about the Iran hostage crisis in the late 70s), Doctor Dealer (about a dentist in Philly who became this cocaine kingpin) and now I’m reading Road Work which has about 20 of his magazine articles from the past on a wide variety of topics like Saddam Hussein, Al Sharpton, and F-15 pilots. Jeff’s reading them after me. Obviously, I really like his writing. David is reading The Bottom Billion, a bestseller that Z left for us to read. It’s about the poorest of the poor and the nations that are at the bottom economically.

A couple of days ago, I was getting homesick and then last night, I thought, why aren’t we staying longer? Why can’t we spend the whole summer here each year? I mentioned wanting to go to Murchison Falls next year if/when we come. It’s a beautiful national park in northern Uganda where we have been discouraged from going in the past. Things are so much better politically in the north now that travel is much safer. Jinja’s interns (mostly from Rochester and Abilene I think) are going up to Gulu in northern Uganda to some of the Internally Displaced People’s Camps (IDPs) in just a few weeks looking for areas for church plants. I’ll be anxious to hear how that goes and if they go to the Falls.

I feel like I’m rambling terribly so I’m gonna go. I got to talk to Zach’s girlfriend, Julia, online today and also to Ryan for a little bit. Julia says Z has gone to Shanghai to get his cellphone fixed. Ryan is going up to Ohio for the holiday weekend. So, I think everyone is doing really well. We’ll be home a week from this Thursday.

Wednesday afternoon…..

I didn’t get to send yesterday’s message out because the electricity went off—therefore no internet. This afternoon, I’m sitting at Candice’s house while DJ and Jeff are in budget meetings with Roy and Ricky and then I think were going to drive around into another slum area we haven’t seen before. We’ll be home in just a little over a week but things are winding down here in Jinja.

This morning Jeff, DJ and I took Candice and Bobby on a trip around the Nile to see the Source itself—where the falls used to be that start the Nile River. It’s a fun boat trip. There are lots of birds to see and we watched several families of monkeys play in the trees along the bank. It’s very relaxing. We watched some fishermen casting their nets. I really enjoy being on the water and I’m glad we went in the morning when it’s cooler. And it’s getting cooler here, by the way. The evenings are very pleasant.

Tomorrow we’re going to Kampala, Uganda’s capital, to spend the day with Irene shopping for crafts and just enjoying the day visiting the mall and eating out. She works six days a week and has four kids so she doesn’t get to go there very often at all. Friday, we’re visiting with some of the missionaries here to talk with them about our plans and what we’re up to. Friday evening, we’ve been invited to dinner at Joan’s house. She’s Ronald Mugulisi’s fiancé. Ronald is the accountant at the Source. We’re helping him with a loan to build their house and on Saturday we’re going to visit his village. Mugulisi handles the finances for our loan programs and is a great resource for us and a real blessing. I like him a lot.

Saturday evening we’ll be visiting and eating at Goretti and Grace Nyanga’s home. Grace is the director of the Busoga Bible School here and very close to Dr. Ganus. They have two of their own birth children: Edith and Emmanuel and also care for about 16 orphans—mostly the children of two of Grace’s brothers who died of AIDS. Goretti runs a craft shop in Jinja and used to work at the Source cooking. When Z lived here, I showed Goretti how to bake a chocolate cake from scratch that they still have on the menu I think.

Sunday we’ll be going to Musima for Super Sunday where a bunch of the village churches all meet together for singing, lots of singing, preaching, lots of preaching, and food, lots of beans and rice. Zipporah and the ladies will be cooking back in the hut. Bobby will be preaching. Moses will be leading the singing and last year, several choruses from different churches sang. It’s a blast and lasts way too long. The Pepperdine group of about 20 students plus Gary and Tammy Selby will be there. Dr. Ganus is leaving on Friday so he’ll be gone already.

We’re planning on spending the rest of Sunday afternoon and evening with Irene and the kids as a last night together. We may go swimming again and will go out to eat maybe at this really neat place with Bobby and Candice. Then Monday, we’ll take Gerald to his boarding school, come back to town and visit the Njeru Parent’s School to see those kids actually in school. It will be their first day back after the holidays. We’ll probably present the school with a soccer ball and lots of ink pens to students and teachers. Then we’ll pack up Monday night and leave for Entebbe on Tuesday morning. I’m not looking forward to the goodbyes. It’s always a tough time especially with Irene’s kids. On Tuesday afternoon if we get there in time but more likely on Wednesday, we’ll be again at Banana Village and James and Jemimah. We’ll visit some more of those ladies in that microloan program. We fly out of Entebbe at 10:20 pm so we have the whole day—just have to be there 3 hours ahead of time. Then we land in Atlanta on Thursday afternoon around 1:30 Eastern I think. Lexie is supposed to be there to pick us up. Ryan will be get a two-week leave starting on that Friday so he and Emily are heading down to Florida to meet DJ’s parents. I’m telling you all of this just in case I don’t get to write again. Love to all there.

Monday--long day

2008-05-19T09:31:00.000-06:00

We'll be leaving soon for Irene's house so I don't have long but we had a very good, busy day today. If we weren't visiting in the homes of the poorest of the poor this afternoon, we were very close--certainly in the lower percentages. There really aren't words. We were visiting in the homes of many of the grandmothers and mothers of children in the ISAC scholarship program. So they're some of the kids some of you are sponsoring. Thank you from those children and their caregivers. They are hard-working women of courage who are doing the best they can to care for their children and grandchildren.

David is composing a real update/report and I'll try to send it out tomorrow since we'll be in town more of the day tomorrow. Irene's mom and two sisters came over last night and joined us for supper. Monica wanted to know how Lexie and Seth are doing. We saw her a lot more last year. Irene prepared a traditional meal of matoke, rice, posho, goat meat, cabbage, greens, and it seems like I'm missing something. Oh, avocado. We had her mom and sisters tell funny stories about Irene and we got out Irene's photo albums of her wedding and introduction so the kids were able to see pics of their dad. It was good. Irene wasn't up to doing that last year--the grief was just too raw.

Dr. Ganus is around some. I got to give him a message from Cliff who'd written me from China--that was fun. He did a radio program last night but we didn't know it so we didn't listen.

Ok, gotta go, love you guys, mj

Saturday, May 17, random thoughts

2008-05-17T00:35:00.002-06:00

This is about the time during the trip when I start wondering if I will ever be able to get my feet clean again. There's very red clay dirt here and since I'm in sandals all the time, my feet get stained. I forgot to bring kool-aid. Irene's kids love it and it's easy to pack. Lexie, help me remember and I'll mail them some when I get home. Ida brought her some back from the states.

Well the personal big news is that I had a hot shower last night at Irene's because Jeff bought this shower head attachment that heats the water and we had an electrician come and install it. It was actually so hot that I had to turn the switch on Low heat instead of High. So now, I no longer rough it in any sense of the word when I come visit. Ok, well maybe latrines but not at Irene's.

Baby Zach had his first bathroom accident yesterday--and it was on me! We all went to the Nile Resort Hotel yesterday afternoon and paid for the kids, DJ and Jeff to swim. It was a blast! Gerald is with us this year. It's was only his second time to ever swim. Anyway, Zach (who will be 2 soon so I prob need to drop the 'baby' thing), Zach swam and swam and swam. I bought floaties for $1 at Big Lots and he wore them but didn't need them much. So, they were all exhausted when we left last night. He slept from the time we left, through supper of Indian food at Leoz and until we got home. He slept through peeing on me in the car.

I have to go to the big ISAC thing soon so I may post again later this afternoon but I have 2 stories to tell. Yesterday morning, we went with Bobby Garner to Agri's place. I thought we were just going to see some bee hive 'stuff' and then come right back. But it was a village trip and I'm usually the one who makes sure we always have bottled water to drink and I didn't have any. So, we stayed until about 12:30 or 1 and saw the chicken raising operation, watched them prepare and hang a bee hive and then when it was time to leave, they of course didn't want us to go without breaking break. They brought us roasted corn and I thought that was it, but it wasn't.... we are served huge meals and lots of starches and I eat as much as I can. Anyway, we had a really good time and the chicken stuff and the bee/honey thing are both really very interesting. Agri is a very smart man and a hard worker. By the way, he bicycles 14 kilometers into town every morning with 15 trays of eggs (30 eggs each) stacked on the back of his bicycle. Just imagine....

Last story for now: Jeff and David got to hear from a man who had escaped from Kenya during the violence. He told some of his stories. He'd come from Kenya to meet David because we'd sent funds (money from Victoria Nile craft sales) to our friend James Okumu to help him care for some people fleeing Kenya. This gentleman has gone back to Mombasa now. His home is still there--not burned down--but all his belongings had been stolen--probably by his neighbors but he didn't turn them in to the police because he wants healing and forgiveness to take place. THe stories reminded me so much of the stories we heard when we were in Rwanda two years ago. Such tragedies and it's so hard to understand how people can treat each other in such horrible ways.

Hope you have a blessed day, thanks again and always for your prayers and love and support, I'm reading emails and comments but have a hard time responding to each, thanks for the news from home and if anybody out there has questions about the work or anything, just post or email and I'll try to answer.

DJ and Jeff are in the cafe visiting with Dr. Ganus right now. It's good to see him and hear his voice. He's a great man of God with so many stories!

Villages, villages

2008-05-15T07:27:00.002-06:00

Well it looks like I was able to upload 3 pics. One of me holding baby Johnson Kirya; one of Jeff holding one of the many children we visited yesterday and then one of David with Ricky Kahudu and Roy Mwesigwa standing in front of one of the homes we visited yesterday.

We've already taken tons of pics and video that we'll have to sort through at some point when we get home. This afternoon, I'm sitting at the Source Cafe drinking a Pepsi and waiting on a very slow internet. The 20 or so Pepperdine students have arrived for their study abroad program that's here, Rwanda and Tanzania for the next few weeks.

Today, we visited two separate villages and walked miles and miles. Now, I'm in a long billowy skirt and flip flops. The guys are in long pants, long-sleeved shirts and hiking boots. I don't want to trade with them. This is the second day we've taken Gerald, Irene Kimeze's adopted son, with us. Gerald is about 13--they don't really keep track of birthdays in the villages. He is the son of one of Moses' brothers. Irene and Moses adopted him a couple of years ago after both his parents had died (at least one of them, but probably both, from AIDS). Since we're here this trip during school holidays and I want Gerald to be with David and Jeffrey as much as possible, he's been going along as Jeff's helper. Jeff brought a lot of camera and video equipment that Gerald helps lug around the hillsides. Jeff's also showing him how to take pictures and, of course, they play a game of pick-up football (soccer) every time we are around 3 or 4 kids. Well, actually, Jeffrey performs juggling tricks with the soccer ball.

Many of our visits this morning were to ladies we'd met last year in Kainagoga which is just next to Musima. We met with two or three people who'd asked for micro-loans last year but we weren't able to start that program as we'd hoped. So it was really encouraging to see that some of these people had started enterprises on their own and now hope to expand when we're able to start the program. Juliet showed us her pigs--and I oohed and aaaahed over them. We all did. Then after visiting a few more folks and their pigs and their gardens, we sat under the mango tree where their church meets and talked about microloans and our plans and we prayed with them. This year, they're actually building a church building near the mango tree. I almost forgot but the first place we stopped was at the home of this 90ish woman. She was out in her garden beside her house, down on the ground, digging with her hands. Unbelievable. I can't imagine that life. Daniel says the church members come by and take care of her and help her with the land.

After having lunch at tall Daniel's house, we went to another one of the churches he's started to visit with the ladies who've recently begun meeting to making necklaces from these really pretty seeds. I'll have to show you sometime.

Ok, this is already getting long so I'll wrap up. I was going to philosophize a little but that can always wait. I'll need more caffeine for that. By the way, when go to villages, I usually try not to drink anything in the morning before I leave so I don't have to go looking for facilities. Yeah well, I had chai this morning. So it was a very long day away from town today. This afternoon, when we got back to town, Candice Garner met me at the Source and took me back to the market. I bought 3 skirts there the other day to wear while I'm here. Irene showed me that one of them had several holes in it so she insisted that I go back to the market and tell the guy that it was no good. So, that's what we did. We dug through skirts and found one that maybe Candice can wear and made a swap.

Tomorrow, Friday, David and Jeff are going with Bobby when he gets a beehive. He's gonna be a bee grower--there's a special word for that but I don't know it. And then Irene is taking the afternoon off and we're going to take the kids swimming for the afternoon. I may not be able to write again until Saturday afternoon. We're having a big deal here with the ISAC kids on Saturday. Ricky has arranged for all of them to come to town. I think he's bought some things for them and we're supposed to have a worship time with them then eat together.

2008-05-14T09:04:00.002-06:00

2008-05-14T08:45:00.001-06:00

Tuesday, May 13, in Jinja

2008-05-13T05:55:00.001-06:00

It's Tuesday afternoon here. We're spending the day in town. David is having meetings so I'm just hanging out with Irene while she works in the craft area of the cafe. The electricity has been off here in town for the last several hours but is back on now. That's the first time that's happened since we've been here so that's pretty amazing.

Grace Nyanga, who is the director of the Bible school here, told me that Dr. Ganus will be arriving in Uganda tonight and then in Jinja tomorrow. I've never been in Uganda with Dr. Ganus but David and Zach were here once while he was here. They even stayed together at Bret and Johnna Raymond's house. I hear he passes out gum or candy to everybody here just like back in Searcy.

Ryan called last night! He'd tried to call on Mother's Day but the toll-free card I sent out had run out of money so he called me on Irene's phone with Skype. It's harder to be online the same time as he is. He says things are fine at the house. I'm sure Lexie is taking care of everything.

I did get to see Ida today. I mentioned yesterday that she and Richard are just back from the states. And as soon as she saw me, she said, "Oh, Maria, I bring you greetings from your only sister who says she misses you already!" So, thanks Margo. I'm so glad you and Mark were able to meet Richard and Ida.

Tomorrow, we're scheduled to go visit in the homes of some of the ISAC orphans. We'll be meeting the grandmothers and aunts and others who've taken these children into their homes. It will be a long day and probably emotionally challenging so thanks for the prayers you've been raising for us. God is good and has been blessing us. We are so blessed with good friends here and I feel very good about the people we're working with here.

On Thursday, we will be going to another village, Kainagoga, that we visited last year with Daniel. (I can't remember his african name). We'll visit some people from his church and also a women's group that is making jewelry.

Blessings on all of you, Marlea

Monday in Jinja

2008-05-12T09:19:00.000-06:00

It’s Monday morning, May 12. David, Jeff, and I spent last night in Jinja town at Bobby and Candice Garner’s house so I’m just relaxing this morning at their house while David and Jeff are meeting with Ricky and Roy about the ISAC orphan program. Irene’s house is about 20 minutes from town and we don’t like to drive here after dark so we decided to stay at the Garners’ after having supper with the Jinja team missionaries last night. There are two new babies on the team since we were here last summer. Emily and Spencer Bogle had baby Adam Nile just about 10 days after we left last year. Mark and Lori Manry had their fourth child, a daughter named Tessa, a few weeks after that.

I’m going to try and summarize what’s been going on since we got here. We spent our first two nights at James and Jemimah Semakadde’s Banana Village in Entebbe, just outside Uganda’s capital, Kampala. They run a guest house there. Last year, we visited some people working at a rock quarry there. That’s when we met a lady, who is not only caring for her seven grandchildren but also her elderly husband. This January with James and Jemimah’s help and the financial support of our family at Vaughn Park church, we started a microloan program with the ladies in the quarry and that village. So it was an amazing treat to get to see this lady again. She no longer spends very long days breaking big rocks down into pebbles. She’s supervising about 7 young men who work for her in the quarry. She’s been able to pay school fees, have water piped to her compound and been able to install windows and doors in her house.

This group of 10 women have already borrowed money once and made weekly payments completing their loan repayments. Most of them have now taken out a second loan for the next 16 weeks. Another loan group has been started from the mothers of a local school there. I really can’t tell you how exciting it was to actually see this woman and see the improvements in her life and therefore the life of several others just through a small loan. (David has all those details about how much and how many and how long and names that we’ll try to put together in a report after we get back home—plus pictures and video.)

We got to Jinja on Thursday afternoon I think. It was great to see Irene. She’s doing well and sends her love and greetings to all of you. After she got off work at the Source café, we drove to her house and hugged on the kids. Then she and I made spaghetti together for supper—she thinks hers doesn’t taste as good as Auntie Maria’s (that’s what the kids call me; she calls me “M”). Friday we visited the market in town. Candice Garner helped me buy some skirts since I didn’t pack very many clothes. Saturday, we spent in Musima village. I’ll send pics of Moses Kirya and Zipporah’s youngest, Johnson, as soon as I can. That was a day of holding lots of babies for me while Jeff and David took pics of several of the ladies who make banana-fiber baskets. It’s always an honor and so humbling to be able to see these ladies with their families in their homes. I really enjoy it. Zipporah cooked for us, of course. We had her special lemongrass tea with chipati for our morning snack. Then lunch at 3 was rice, matoke (the steamed bananas that taste mostly like mashed potatoes), greens, cabbage, and instead of meat, we had g-nut sauce. That’s ground peanuts with salt and water that make a sauce/gravy. It’s really quite good.

Yesterday we went to church in Jinja town. Richard and Ida Bazanoona are just back from the States. They brought me greetings from my sister, Margo, who’d seen them at the Pepperdine lectures (where Margo says Ida especially was a big hit—I can only imagine!) We all took Emily and baby Adam Bogle and Candice Garner out to lunch at Ling Ling’s (Chinese restaurant—Irene’s choice and one of my Zach’s favorites). Apparently it was Mother’s Day but we didn’t know it so Happy Mother’s Day to our moms. I got a note from Z telling me Happy Mother’s Day but haven’t heard from Ryan………..)

Today, I’ve been hanging out with Candice. They’ve only been in their house for two weeks so we bought curtain material for a couple of the houses, ate at Ozzie’s—the restaurant across the street from the Source and talked a lot. David and Jeff had meetings and also visited a clinic that’s helping take care of the families we work with through the ISAC program.

DJ and Jeff and Irene are on their way to pick me up so I’m going to close for the day. I did hear from Z today and he said he didn’t feel the earthquake that hit western China today but some of the buildings in Ningbo did sway some. We also heard there were terrible tornadoes in Okla, Missouri and Ark.

The time is going quickly here. Our calendar is filling up with meetings. We’re doing really well. Jeff wants to stay—and is already planning on coming back in the fall. Oh, two of our friends here, Surj and Danyne, had a baby boy just a few days ago. I haven’t talked to them yet but hope to see them soon.

Ok, gotta go, love you all, marlea

Friday afternoon in Jinja

2008-05-09T08:40:00.001-06:00

Just a quick note... We're at Bobby and Candice Garner's house this afternoon and Bobby's internet actually works so I'm just writing quickly to say we're doing well. Things are busy. We go to Musima village for the day tomorrow. That's where Moses and Zipporah Kirya are. Zipporah heads up the ladies' group that makes banana-fiber baskets. They have a new son, Johnson, born just 2 weeks ago. He's named for DJ, of course.

We had a good visit in Entebbe and I'll just have to write about that later. Hope all is well there.

I'll try to send a longer message on Monday. love to all, mj

UGANDA Trip 2008

2008-05-04T18:37:00.009-06:00

Hello friends and family,

It's time to start blogging again!

David and I leave tomorrow, May 5, for a three-week trip to Uganda. Jeff Ireland will be going with us. I've posted some pics from last year's trip at the link below just because it's hard to download pics while we're there.

http://picasaweb.google.com/marleamjohnson

David just sent a report out to the folks who sponsor kids through the ISAC program (Initiative to Save African Children) that David has been working on since we got back last summer. I'm copying that report below. It's lengthy but I think it gives a good explanation for what's been going on and what we hope to accomplish in the future. I'll try to write every couple of days if I can and send pictures when I can. We're especially looking forward to seeing and staying with Irene Kimeze and the children. Also, our good buddies, Candice and Bobby Garner, have moved to Jinja and we'll be seeing them.

Oh, if you've got questions about any of this, comment here and I'll write you back or email me.

God bless all of you and thanks always for your prayers and support. God is good and faithful! Marlea

Report to ISAC sponsors and supporters of Ugandan development missions – Spring 2008

David and Marlea Johnson

As you may know, Marlea and I return to Uganda on May 5 to document some of our projects there, and to gather information that will help us chart the future of these and other development ministries. Our involvement took a leap forward this past year as we began to solicit sponsors like you for the Initiative to Save African Children (ISAC). ISAC was established in 2007 to minister to AIDS orphans in an impoverished area of southeastern Uganda.

Your annual sponsorship ($25 per month) covers the child’s school fees and supplies, a new school uniform each year, one hot meal per day on school days, and medical care as required. Sponsorship funds also provide for program administration in Uganda. It is important to note that 100% of the funds you contribute go to Uganda to support the ministry. Marlea and I handle the money and paperwork on this end as unpaid volunteers. The program is administered in Uganda by Ricky and Jackie Kahudu, long-time members of the Jinja church of Christ. Their work is overseen by Roy Mwesigwa, a trusted Christian leader in the region.

Ricky and Jackie are the primary administrators of the program. Through close work with the schools and with local churches, they identify needy children, document their family situation and physical condition, and assess their needs. They develop a personal relationship with each child and provide emotional and spiritual counsel to the children and their caretakers. Besides having a tremendous heart for these children, Ricky’s former position as a secondary school administrator suits him well for this ministry.

Here’s how we got started. During our visit to Uganda in June, 2007, Ricky approached me about his work among children in Mbiko community in Njeru, a town on the west bank of the Nile RiverMombasa, Kenya to Kampala and beyond. Positioned as such, it is a place where long haul truckers spend the night, and where prostitution—and HIV/AIDS—is rampant. near Jinja. Njeru lies on the main highway that runs from

I was impressed that Ricky was not sitting on his hands, waiting for someone with money to start his program. He had already spent a considerable amount of personal time and funds in planning ISAC and registering it with the local government. Ricky’s persistence and sincerity convinced me to look into the situation, to visit the community, the primary school where many of the children go, and even to visit the homes of eight or nine of the children. It was for me the most emotionally wrenching single day of our six-week stay in Uganda.

I had no intentions of getting involved in an orphan care or school fee sponsorship program. I want to be clear about my perspective and intentions with regard to these sponsorships. Stated briefly, it is this: My long-term goal is to have absolutely zero children in the program. That is, I intend to work toward the day when a program of sponsorships for basic necessities like education and medical care is irrelevant, because we will have implemented programs to enable the families who have taken in these children to earn the money needed to care for them.

Two years ago, I sat with Joseph (not his real name), a father of eight children whose family has taken in three orphans, children of relatives who died in middle age. It is a common refrain in sub-Saharan Africa—families with too many children burdened with even more who are orphaned due to AIDS-related deaths. I listened as he itemized each child’s school expenses, and then told him, “Joseph (not his real name), I am concerned about your children’s school fees, but I’m not in a position to provide scholarships. I want to help you make more money so you can pay your children’s school fees.” [1]

It’s a statement I’ve recited on a number of occasions, and one with which our Ugandan partners agree. No parents would choose to have their children’s wellbeing dependent on charity, which may be generous today and nonexistent tomorrow. Like you and me, they want the security and dignity of providing for their own needs, and to have their children grow up in homes with secure sources of income and hopeful about the future. If I want these things for myself, the Golden Rule compels me to want them for others.

For these reasons, we believe:

in development, not relief, as a remedy to underdevelopment;

in providing tools and training, not handouts;

on building competency and self-confidence, not dependency and inferiority; and

on regarding even “the least of these” as capable agents of their own futures, not victims whose problems can only be solved by outsiders.

This is our vision for all the families who’ve taken in orphans like the ones you’re sponsoring—to identify ways to assist them in moving to self-sufficiency. With some this may be possible fairly quickly; with others it will take some time; and for others it is simply not feasible. It’s not practical to tell an aged grandmother, for example—the sole caretaker of seven grandchildren—that we won’t help her immediately but will help her make more money so she can care for them. She may be able to feed them, but she can’t keep them in school; and without education, the cycle of ignorance and poverty will persist. In her case, we will seek to help her make more money, but we also want to help put the children in school. Even more, through special programs and life skills training, we will search for ways to help these children break free of poverty’s hold on them, while also taking care not to allow them to become trapped in dependency.

When we began considering how we might work with ISAC last fall, we knew we needed local accountability to ensure the program’s legitimacy. I believe there are four requirements for legitimate programs of assistance such as this.

We must show that there are:

genuine needs;
a program designed to address those needs both efficiently and effectively,
accountability to ensure that resources contributed to the program are properly used to accomplish the program’s purposes; and
measurable results, to confirm that the program is indeed effective at meeting the needs for which it was designed.

In February, we hired Roy Mesigwa to provide accountability for the money sent to fund the program, and to serve as our “eyes and ears” there. Roy is highly respected within the churches of Christ in southeast Uganda. He serves as a primary language instructor for missionaries in Jinja, and has extensive work experience with charitable non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Uganda. Roy is also supervising some other development work we have started in the area. For your information, Roy’s salary is funded from the profits of Victoria Nile Trading Co., the craft sale business we started in 2006 to help Ugandan women artisans access the U.S. market.

As of May 2008, we (all the sponsors) currently provide for 56 children. There are another 60 children who are waiting for sponsors, but I have not yet tried to recruit more sponsors. I told Ricky that it is wise to “walk before we run,” that is, to make sure the systems are in place to run the program properly before expanding.

Beyond the orphan care program, we are engaged in microlending and microenterprise development projects. The craft sales business is an example of microenterprise development—we purchase baskets and jewelry from Ugandan women, enabling them to buy better food, clothing and medicine for their children, and to pay school fees. We help the women to identify products that will sell here in the U.S. and help them improve the quality of their goods. In so doing we encourage them to be creative, to emphasize quality, and to be responsive to customers.

The lessons we teach are not just good business--they also reflect biblical principles of concern for others, responsibility for oneself and one’s family, the blessing of work, perseverance, and more. We also share some profits with the women, and some profits are returned to the communities in other ways. For example, in early 2008 we sent $500 of profits to assist Ugandan Christian families who had taken into their homes refugees who had fled the violence of Kenya’s recent political unrest. All profits of the craft sales support Christian missions in Africa.

Let me explain our microloan ministry by first introducing you to a courageous woman. Her name is Mrs. Muzenge. She’s probably in her fifties, and six days a week, nine to ten hours per day, you will find her as we did, sitting on her rockpile in a quarry outside Entebbe. With a hand sledge, she breaks stones the size of car tires into smaller and smaller pieces, finally into gravel for use in construction projects. A month of that labor yields her about $35, with which she supports an invalid husband and seven grandchildren--the intervening generation is dead.

It is a hard life, but it’s the life she knows, and it is a scenario repeated thousands of times over in Uganda, hundreds of thousands of times over in sub-Saharan Africa. This past January, through $3,000 allocated from the Missions Sunday collection at the Vaughn Park church, a microloan program was started among these women who work in this quarry. Mrs.Muzenge is one of the first group of 10 women. Another 10 to 12 women are waiting to enter.

Microloans are very small—most in the neighborhood of $50 to $100—but large enough to help someone start a very small enterprise. Ideally, the borrower is already economically active, in which case the loan can help her expand the business to a size that will allow her to repay the loan—plus interest—and contribute something to the betterment of the family. Microloans have proven effective in a wide range of circumstances, geographically and culturally, to help people extract themselves from poverty. Why loans? Why not grants? Why charge interest? I can’t explain the details of the loans in this letter (which is already much longer than I’d planned!), but you can read about them on our website: (www.microdevelopmentmissions.com). As always, I’ll be happy to address any questions you have about this work.

Among other activities, one purpose of our trip to is to document this loan program in writing and in video, so we can describe it, evaluate it, adjust it as needed, and replicate it in other areas. The program is overseen locally by James and Jemimah Semakadde, Christian businesspeople who own a guest house and retreat center near Entebbe. James holds a Master of Education degree from Harding University, and also serves on the Board of Directors for FINCA, the second-largest microcredit organization in the world. Our program is modeled after other successful microloan programs, but with the additional element that Christian principles of personal and commercial behavior are the foundation of the training and ongoing development of the women participating in the program.

We will be in Uganda for about three weeks. Our primary focus on this visit is to document the works going on at this time. We will be accompanied by Jeff Ireland, a long-time family friend, and one of my colleagues at Faulkner University, where Jeff coaches the women’s soccer team. Jeff will be bringing some quality video equipment, which we hope to use to produce documentary materials that will tell the stories of the children, the women, and these ministries. We’ll also be gathering information to help us evaluate the programs and chart the future of these and other development ministries in Uganda.

I don’t pretend to understand how God works in the world, nor am I certain what it is about this ministry that appealed to you. Whatever your reasons, Marlea and I are grateful for your financial, emotional, and spiritual support.

Maybe, if not for your support, God would find another way or another person to make this difference in your child’s life. Maybe help would come in some other form. Or maybe your sponsored child would not be attending school . . . not getting regular meals or essential medical care . . . not receiving visits from caring Christian counselors like Ricky, Jackie and Roy . . . not hearing that the God of all Creation knows him personally and loves her unconditionally.

Many thanks to our family at the Vaughn Park church for their encouragement, financial support, and prayers for us and for this ministry. We look forward to seeing you and reporting to you when we return.

If you are not sponsoring a child but would like to do so, or if you want more information, please email us at service@microdevelopmentmissions.com. The Vaughn Park Church of Christ is receiving contributions for this work, and contributions made to the church are tax deductible. Please be sure to earmark contribution checks for “ISAC” or “Ugandan mission.”

Our son Zach, in China, with his friend Julia

2007-07-29T21:24:00.000-06:00

Saturday afternoon, our last full day in Jinja

2007-06-30T09:06:00.000-06:00

Left, two of the Neller boys.

Tyler found his mom's perfumed powder.

Some of the children at New Victory receiving their care packages before our departure.

Hi, we’re finishing up here trying to pack our bags full of crafts (baskets, jewelry, purses) and a few gifts. Tonight is our last night at Irene’s so we’re having a feasts of chicken tenders, rice, chipati, beans, avocado and then ice cream for dessert. Today has been full of meetings, goodbyes and shopping.

Thursday was a fun but tiring day. We spent the morning at home and then went to meet Zach’s friends, Surj and Danyne at Surj’s Palm Tree Guest House. We’d seen Danyne earlier at the orphanage she started, Amani Baby Cottage. Seth, Lexie, Rachel, Tyler and Zach got to swim in the swimming pool. Tyler was absolutely hilarious doing belly flops into the kiddie pool and then, without telling anybody, decided to belly flop over in the deep end. Seth got to him as quickly as he could pulling him up to breathe—what a save!

Ronald Kizito arrived from Fort Portal Thursday afternoon and then was with us at Irene’s for supper that night. Since Irene had taken the day off, we got home earlier than usual. We made spaghetti sauce and pasta for supper and since DJ loves fried green tomatoes, I made those as an appetizer using posho flour. Posho is made from maize so it’s corn meal but finer than what I’d normally use. Everyone loved them! Ronald came back into the kitchen to ask if he could watch me so he could make some when he got home. They were pretty tasty. We’d bought the green tomatoes on Wednesday from one of the men out in Musima who’s applied for a loan.

Yesterday, we had some more meetings and then that afternoon went back to Musima for the burial (funeral) of Moses Kirya’s dad who we had just visited on Tuesday. Kirya had called us Thursday night to tell us about his father. I can’t say I was looking forward to the burial but I did want to experience an African burial to see how it differed. Zach had told me it would probably last at least a couple of hours and there would be lots of talking and lots of wailing.

Well fortunately for me, the burial started at 2 but we’d been told it wasn’t until 4 so when we arrived around 4:20, things were well under way. There was a huge crowd there all gathered outside Kirya’s dad’s house. We stood around and visited with Kirya and then Zipporah since we couldn’t hear anything anyway. Then all of a sudden, the crowd turned and headed our direction. We tromped back up the road while most of the crowd, tromped across the field to where the grave had been dug. There was a little singing and then one of the ladies, left wailing with a few ladies helping her back to the house. The rest of the people, headed up toward Kirya’s house and the church building to eat. At that point, we said our goodbyes and left as quickly as we could.

Last night after we got back, the four of us took Kizito out to eat after David had a meeting to talk about loans with some of the people here (in the dark because the electricity was off for the night.)

I guess I’ll close now. It’s been a very good trip. We’ll spend the next day saying lots of goodbyes and will be sad but that’s a good thing. It means the relationships are real and they’re growing stronger even in between visits.

In closing, let me just briefly say that in the next couple of weeks/months, David and I will be working on the Micro Development Missions website (http://www.microdevelopmentmissions.com/). We’ll have sections to buy the crafts, see pictures and read the stories of the artisans. There’ll also be a section explaining the micro-loan program with specifics on each person’s loan proposal and another section about sponsoring some of the children we’ve met who need help with their school fees. I’ll send out an email as those updates are made.

2007-06-30T02:36:00.000-06:00

Zipporah, above left, weaving baskets.

Above, Alex, Ronald and Tape Bwana's son.

Left, DJ and Ronald Bwana outside the chicken house.

Below left, Daniel with church members Rachel and Esther under the mango tree where the Kainagoga church meets.

Above--and another church member just lives another kilometer...

Below--Water-spewing Contest winners

Above, Director Samuel shares a 'brief' history of the Musima church preschool

Musima Preschool Chorus

Below, DJ doing magic tricks for children at Zach's Birthday party. (Orange tree on right was planted by our Zach Johnson in January.)

Rebecca (Richard and Ida's daughter), Rachel and Tyler all stickered up at the birthday party.

Irene and Seth help Zach cut the birthday cake.

Seth giving Tyler an Ipod lesson.

2007-06-30T02:34:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Ok, I think the village visits are over and we ended with a bang! Actually had my first vehicle breakdown in Africa ever and it wasn’t bad at all. We lost some nut off the tire/wheel when we were going very slowly over one of the many speed quadruple bumps here on the roads. We weren’t too far from Irene’s place or Jinja town and we were near a trading center so about 10 guys came over immediately to look. Seth, self-assured male that he is, was the only guy around who didn’t feel the need to huddle around and help. He was also at the time in charge of Tyler, Irene’s 2-year old that we’d decided to take with us for the day. While DJ was calling the mechanic, Abraham, whom we’ve come to know quite well on this trip, someone went off to try to find another nut. So before Abraham could get there, the wheel was replaced and we were on our way again.

Today’s visit was to Butwaaswa, the home of one of my most very favorite of Africans, Ronald Bwana who works as a nightwatchman at the Bogles’ during the week and then goes home to his wife, Tape (pronounced ‘toppy’) and son Alex on the weekends. Sometimes Tape and Alex come stay with him during the week too. They’re expecting another child this September. We were supposed to just spend the morning with Ronald and be back in Jinja for meetings at 2 and 3. Instead we got back to town around 4ish, not quite as dirty or tired as the day before, having had a good visit with Ronald and his family and had a meeting with Ronald’s group of agemates who are requesting a loan to start a poultry business. I’ll attach a pic of DJ and Ronald outside the chicken house they’ve already built.

On Monday of this week, David and I met with Ronald Mugulusi and Irene about establishing a school scholarship program to honor both Moses Kimeze and Adam Langford. We’ve named it the Kimeze/Langford Memorial Scholarship Fund. Ronald who works at the Source Cafe has stepped in and helped us with loans, etc. since the loss of Moses and wants to help us implement this scholarship.

After that meeting, we spent the afternoon at Richard and Ida Bazanoona’s home just outside Jinja near Njeru. Ida is loads of fun. I’ve mentioned before I think that she works in the Source Monday thru Thursday and then goes to minister out in the villages on Friday and Saturday. Ida also plans to start a preschool in their home before too long and she makes some of the paper necklaces that we sell through MDM and will bring back with us. Last year, we loaned Richard and Ida the money to buy their own motorcycle. They make payments through their salary checks and I think will have it paid off in a few more months but they’ve already been able to save a few dollars each day just in transport back and forth to town. Lexie and I helped her cook our lunch and also picked beans in her garden to take back to Irene. David, Richard and Seth talked business (actually Seth fell asleep on the couch).

Tuesday was a long day visiting Musima village again with Moses Kirya but very important since our pilot group loan village program will be with the people from the Musima church and the nearby Kainagoga church plant. We had a lot to get done so Kirya was working very hard to keep us on a schedule. We got a late start because the car needed to be worked on first so at the first lady’s house, we met 3 ladies, 2 of whom make baskets. When we were offered tea, Kirya regretfully turned them down saying we were very pressed for time but we said we’d take eggs with us thinking they would be raw ones to carry back home like the last time. We were wrong. They brought out boiled eggs, roasted g-nuts, roasted corn which we tried to eat very quickly and then pray together before going to the next stop.

We visited the Musima church preschool again. Guess what? They had a program planned for us that included their school chorus! J We were served passion fruit juice that had been made with bore hole water which they say doesn’t need boiling but since we weren’t too sure about that, we didn’t drink it. The director told us that as part of the program, he would read us a brief history of the school that would only take 15 minutes. Both DJ and Kirya said ‘No! we are so sorry but we are very behind schedule” and Kirya said he could have 4 minutes.

After the preschool, we went to Kirya’s home to meet with the folks that are requesting loans to talk about how that will work. We also took some video footage of Zipporah weaving one of her baskets. One of the most memorable moments of the day for me was when Lexie was playing around in Zipporah’s dark sitting room and moved a clock on the wall only to find a very large gray spider and jump out of her skin while Seth and I watched and laughed.

Daniel, the preacher at the new church in Kainagoga met us at Kirya’s to take us to visit a few of his church members who were requesting loans. (We’re trying to take pictures of all those requesting loans so we can have those on the website later.) I think that instead, Daniel took us to the home of EVERY one of his church members and showed us where they meet—under a mango tree. I’d considered bringing Tyler with us for the day but had decided against it. Several times during the day, I was so very thankful he wasn’t with us.

-------------------------------------------------

So it’s actually Thursday morning now. (Kirya called this morning to tell us that his father whom we met on Tuesday had passed away.) Irene has taken the day off and we’re getting some paperwork done here at home before going to Jinja market to shop, lunch with Surj and Danyne and then part of the afternoon at the Nile Resort swimming pool with the kids. We kept Rachel home from school today. I think we’ll stop to see a lady who makes handwoven cloth. Also, Ronald Kizito from Fort Portal is coming in this afternoon for a couple of days to meet with DJ.

David has to go into hiding at the end of the trip because a lot of people, some that he doesn’t’ even know, want to see him just one more time. Irene runs defense for him when she can at the Source and we screen his phone calls. I think he’s having a meeting tomorrow with folks about the loan program that Ronald Mugulusi will be handling on site.

We also have to start trying to pack all the stuff we’ve bought into the suitcases we have. We’ll only be bringing back a few personal items—only what we’ll need on the trip. I usually leave most of my clothes to give away and had told Lexie that I shop at Goodwill before I leave so I can do that. This time, Lexie and I will leave our clothes with Irene to maybe use again next year—and for her to use until then if she wants.

Now I’m going random…..Irene has started calling me “M” and she calls DJ “Mussai” which probably means “Old One’ but is used to show respect like Teacher or Wise One—at least that’s my interpretation. DJ calls Irene the Lusoga word for Little Daughter. We’re going to miss the chai and chipati. We had Zach’s First Birthday party last Sunday. I didn’t write about that. It was a scream. The kids loved the balloons and bubbles that Lexie got out. Irene invited ALL the neighborhood kids. There are some very poor children who live nearby. It was fun to be able to love on them, give them cake and soda and cookies and watch them play together.

We leave Jinja around 2 on Sunday so we’ll be without a phone then and won’t be emailing after Saturday until we get home. We arrive at JFK on Tuesday morning around 7:30 Eastern then go through Customs. I’ll call Ryan and the moms as soon as I can from JFK—I don’t think our flight to Atlanta leaves until 3ish that afternoon.

Ok, one of the pics needs a little more explanation. Som of the Musima preschool children had a contest for the ‘visitas’ to watch—I’ll call it the spitting contest. Six children gulped water from their cups and ran back and forth with mouthfuls of water and then spewed as much water as they could into their assigned soda bottle. The one to fill her bottle first, won. The two young ladies on the left of the pic finished first and second. Is it possible it’s harder to spit into a Krest bottle than a Coke one? Maybe.

More pics from Uganda

2007-06-23T05:46:00.000-06:00

1. Erica Pierson with ladies in the village on Friday. Alice from Christian Aids Network is on Erica's left in black.
2. Jinja's Nile Resort group photo--Irene and children get to meet Seth's dad, Ken Neller.
3. DJ shopping for baskets along the road on the way back to Jinja from Mbarara.
4. That's me with James Okumu as he shows us his crops.
5. Lexie playing with Zach.
6. One of the children DJ and Seth visited on Friday.
7. Our group photo from Mbale.

Saturday, June 23, Jinja

2007-06-23T05:36:00.000-06:00

Saturday, June 23

Happy Birthday, Ryan! Sorry you’re having to work.

Speaking of ‘sorry,’ that’s a word we hear often around here. Anytime anything not so good happens, like you bump your head going into a hut or drop your piece of sugar cane, the Ugandan with you will say, “Oooh, sorry.” Another common phrase is “welcome back.” Whenever we get back home, Irene’s babysitter Annette or cousin Esther will say “welcome back” as they let us in the gate. As we see people here that we’ve known from previous visits, they say “welcome back”. After our trips to Mbale or western Uganda, everyone says “welcome back” and also “how is there?” As we leave, the phrase is “safe journey.” I’m sure I’ll think of others but those are the ones for right now.

That last few days have been fun, productive and full. Wednesday, Lexie and Seth went rafting on the Nile and returned to us unscathed even though they had a few gulps of river water. While they were off on their project, David and I went to the home of James Okumu who lives about a 2 ½ to 3 hour drive—1/2 of it on a bad public road to Iganga and then the last half was basically out into the bush, driving on dirt paths. Had we known what the drive would be like, we might have thought Irene’s car wouldn’t make the trip but it did. If it had rained and turned the paths to mud, we might still be there. Okumu has a very big farm raising goats and pigs as well as cassava, g-nuts and other staples like bananas. He has donated land for a church building that was built with the help of Dr. Ganus (the chancellor one) who has helped many of the native ministers and churches in this area of Uganda

Okumu has also started a Bible training program with 12 men who come in from surrounding villages and since October have been spending every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at Okumu’s place studying the scriptures together. They’ve finished the History of Israel parts 1, 2 and 3 and are now studying one of the gospels. I enjoyed getting to meet Okumu. I’d heard about him from Zach and David when they went to visit and spend the night at his place seven years ago. The trip was so long that David said a visit every seven years is about right.

Irene took the day off work on Thursday so we could all spend a fun day together. Rachel stayed home from school. We had a relaxing morning at the house and then drove to the Nile Resort to let the kids (Rachel, Zach, Seth and Lexie) swim there for the afternoon. Mid-afternoon, Philip and Laura Shero and family joined us on their way from picking up Seth’s dad from the airport and going to Mbale. (By the way, Ken, Irene says you look entirely too young to have a son as old as Seth—and you don’t even dye your hair!)

On Friday, Lexie and I got to join Ida and Erica Pierson on a visit to another village for what I thought was probably going to be a ladies’ day. We rode with Ben Langford who was going on for a men’s Bible study. It ended up not being a ladies’ day but we joined Alice and Robert at a ladies meeting at the church there. Alice and Robert are volunteers for CAN (Christian Aids Network). They go to village churches and train the ladies there to counsel and encourage those suffering from AIDS or who are HIV positive. I think it’s a really good program. Alice said she would get in touch with Elizabeth in Fort Portal who takes care of those AIDS widows and children to encourage her and also teach about good nutrition for those who have tested positive for HIV.

While Lexie and I were enjoying our trip, David and Seth stayed in Jinja. They heard a very interesting proposal from Geoffrey Menya, a young man who is starting a fruit juice distribution business. In the afternoon, they went to meet and take pictures of some of the children from New Victory School who are needing support. David said the conditions were pretty bad and it was hard for him to keep his composure. They went to the homes with Earnest, the headmaster, and his wife Phoebe. David is quite impressed with both of them and feels very good about the work that they’re doing with Ricky and Jackie. You’ll hear more about that later and find info on the MDM website in the future about all of these projects.

Last night, we got to spend time with the local missionary families—Spencer and Emily Bogle, Kym and Ben Langford, and Mark and Lori Manry plus about 5 kids with 2 on the way. I thought a lot about Adam Langford yesterday. I rode up front with Ben on our trip to and from the village so we’d had some time to talk about Adam and then last night was my first time back to the Bogles’ house where we’d spent several evenings with Adam last summer.

Today we’re at the Source Café in Jinja writing reports, meeting with folks and eating banana bread—it’s the best! (The common sugar here is raw sugar and the bananas are very tasty so putting those two together is wonderful.) Lexie still hasn’t gotten her fill of avocados here so she’s going to the market with one of the guys from here to buy more avocados and pineapples. Seth and I will probably go to the grocery store for a few staples. I’ll make spaghetti again tonight and Irene will make chicken tenders and chipati for tomorrow. We’re having a 1st Birthday Party for Zach tomorrow afternoon. It’ll be time to pull out more of Lexie’s bubbles then hand out more pens and gum.

David has taken Irene for two driving lessons this week and will try to do that most days from now until we leave. He said the second lesson this morning was much better than the first. I’m posting some more pics out on the blog and I’ll write again before we leave Jinja a week from tomorrow on July 1.

(A marching band just went past the cafe with cars bedecked with ribbons following.
Apparently it was for someone's wedding. Very interesting.)
Love and blessings to you all, mj

Pics of the trip

2007-06-19T07:08:00.000-06:00

Primary School Chorus

1.Lexie and Marlea wearing new necklaces.

2,3 and 4. Musima Super Sunday

5. Faith's grainery in Ft. Portal with DJ andKizito (far right).

6. Amani Baby Cottage

7. Bugagali Falls, Jinja

8. Jinja Market

9. Ft. Portal church

10. Elizabeth with seed necklaces.

11. Primary school after the rain

12. Seth's muddy feet after the walk.

13. Stephen Waiswa family.

Uganda Update from DJ--western Uganda trip continued

2007-06-19T05:47:00.000-06:00

Saturday, June 16, 2007
As we arrived back at the Source Café in Jinja on Thursday afternoon, I told M, S&L that one of my main goals for the trip had just been reached—to get everyone safely back from our road trip across Uganda. The roads are, in many places, full of potholes, and a driver has to be aware of animals and people on and very near the road much of the time, as well as the significant volume of bicycle and motorcycle traffic. Also, getting from inner Kampala to Jinja was a bit less direct than I had expected. Mark Long gave me some direction to the Jinja Road, but something was lost in the transmission and we wandered a bit, thankfully in the right general direction, and made it to Jinja in a little over two hours.

It was good to be back at Irene’s and not in a hotel and the feeling seemed to be shared by everyone. On Friday we slept in and went into town close to 10 am. The road is under “improvement” all the time, it seems, and so detours through some back roads from Iganga Rd to Kimuli Rd where Irene lives. It seems to be a real treat for the families living on those roads to have so much more traffic and to see so many more strange people like us in their neighborhoods, despite the heavy coat of red dust left on their houses, children and laundry drying on the bushes.

I’ve jumped over about five full days, our last day in Ft. Portal on Saturday, June 9 to our return to Jinja on Thursday, June 14. In that span of time we visited with several business owners, including Teddy who runs a bicycle parts business in a local market, and Faith, who buys whole grain and mills corn, rice, and barley into flour. They are friends of Ronald who he thinks are good loan prospects. In discussing Teddy’s business, we noted that her profit margins are lower than we’d expected. She might buy a bicycle for 90,000UGS and sell for only 100,000UGS, or 110,000 on a good day, and on average sells one every two weeks. We asked about why she chose that business (because her husband runs another bicycle shop elsewhere in town) and if there are more profits selling clothing or general merchandise (she doesn’t think so). She says there is more money in motorcycles and parts but the required investment is great. Faith is interested in a loan for a machine that will grind peanuts, or g-nuts as they’re known here (for “ground nuts” since they grow underground). G-nuts, always in the small “Spanish peanut” variety, are very common and usually eaten with milk tea as a snack or at “tea time” and also to make a sauce or gravy commonly used with matooke or potatoes. There is a significant market for ground peanuts. She also noted that a vehicle would enable her to buy directly from the farmers in the villages and so earn higher margins. With regard to transport costs, fuel is much more expensive than in the States, with gasoline selling for about 2,200UGS per liter, or roughly $5 per gallon.

We visited another woman who makes baskets to videotape the weaving process, and bought several of her baskets. Then Ronald took us to a crater lake about an hour’s drive up mostly dirt roads, through some beautiful countryside. There are a number of volcanic craters here, and the soil is much darker than in other areas we’ve visited. Ronald remarked that the soil here is very rich and that much more could be done with it than is being done. (Actually, he said people in this region are lazy and don’t take manage their property as well as they should.)

Sunday morning we attended church at the Ft. Portal Church of Christ. Jeff Cash spoke, and it was encouraging to see a large group of young men involved. Jeff explained that their discipling had focused on men and boys because the small group and one-on-one methods had proven more effective and that it was not socially appropriate to mix the genders in those settings. We had lunch at a restaurant with the Cash family and Ronald, then Sunday afternoon we returned to visit Elizabeth, taking her a gift of rice, sugar, salt, tea, etc. We purchased the seed necklaces she had made since our visit a few days earlier. She gave us each nicknames—I don’t remember the local language version, but the translations were, roughly: Marlea, Treasure; Lexie, Kitten; Seth: Junior (we had the most laughs about that one); me, Thunder (that one got laughs, too). About the time we thought we ready to say our farewells we realized she was making tea for us, so we stayed for another hour.

Ronald had another appointment for us, buy the man couldn’t be reached and we returned to the hotel to rest. A bit later Ronald called and said he was bringing the man to the hotel to see me. He was an uncle of Ronald who was working in an AIDS education/support organization in Kyenjojo, just east of Ft. Portal. There is a high incidence of AIDS there, which I thought unusual since it’s a rural area. He explained that there are tea plantations there and that many of the pickers are men who come for the work but leave their wives back home and have relations with local women. His program was funded by a program called Uphold, which was in turn funded by the USAID. The Uphold program was expiring this very month (June) and the gentleman was seeking funding to continue. I asked him to send me information in writing on the program and that, if it was appropriate to our purposes, I’d post the appeal on our website.

Somewhat in passing, Ronald explained that he works some with a local moneylender who specializes in “emergency loans.” In the U.S. we’d call the fellow a “loan shark” and Ronald might be his “strongarm,” but in the more objective terms of economics they’re both part of the “informal credit market.” Emergency loans require collateral that is taken in possession pending the loan repayment. The rates, according to Ronald, are 10% for a month; if the borrower only wants to buy a week’s time, the rate is 5% for that week,. Obviously, those rates would be regarded as usurious in the U.S., and some would cry for government regulations to stop it. If successful in making it unlawful, it would probably result in driving the business out of public view (underground) or resulting in some means of circumventing the regulations through clever structuring of the loan arrangements, as in the case of the many check-cashing businesses in the U.S. Maybe there’s an opportunity for someone to come in and undercut the loan sharks and still generate returns that are attractive even given the high risk of this clientele.

On Sunday night we had dinner with a group on a medical mission trip from Lubbock, TX, led by Dr. Mark Hall, former missionary in Jinja. Since Ronald would be working with this group starting early Monday morning, we saw him off at our hotel that night, but invited him to come to Jinja in the last two weeks of our stay to wrap up some things and talk about the future of our work together.

The next morning we left the hotel about 10 am. The drive would take us west then south, about 3 hours from Ft. Portal to Queen Elizabeth Nat’l Park, through beautiful hilly country with the Rwenzori Mountains (aka Mountains of the Moon) to our right most of the way. About 20 km outside Ft. Portal Marlea spotted the “showroom” or “outlet store” for Rubona Baskets, the group whose three members we had met a few days earlier. We stopped for photos, visited with Marcellicus the store manager and bought more baskets. We were apparently quite an attraction for the locals, as more women and children gathered to look in the store window as we visited.

South of Kasese is the main entrance to QENP. We had already seen a couple of Ugandan Kob, a large antelope that is fairly common in the park. The 24 km from the highway to the main gate is full of potholes and ruts, enough to make you wonder if you’re on the right road. We were in Mark Long’s 4WD truck, which is a pretty stiff ride but proved necessary to getting around the roads and trails, especially after a heavy rain. Our development work didn’t require a safari, but it’s a shame not to see some wildlife when you’ve come this far. Besides, we want the trip to be memorable for the students and hopefully give them the “Africa bug” so they’ll return.

We stayed two nights at Mweya Lodge with full board, and the food turned out to be better than we expected. We had lunch about 2:30 pm and settled into our rooms before going out to look for animals around 5:00 pm. We didn’t really see much that afternoon, a few warthogs, a waterbuck or two. I had checked into getting a guide for the early morning (6:30 – 930 am) drive the next day but they were booked up. The next morning we got up early to drive around on our own, but the man who appeared to be matching up people and guides told me to just follow the others, so we did. That morning we saw two lions (females) and three cubs from only about 30 yds, then a group of about 15 elephants at more like 50-100 yds. We followed the other vehicles for about an hour then decided we’d seen plenty and returned, afraid we might miss the breakfast buffet. That afternoon we took a launch cruise on the Kazinga Channel that connects Lakes George and Edward and there, at a distance of as little as twenty or thirty feet, we saw many hippos, cape buffaloes, a few elephants and crocodiles, and many birds. Our cruise also took us past a fishing village where the tourists and villagers seemed to enjoy viewing each other almost equally. When we retuned to the lodge there was a hippo grazing on the lawn of the lodge itself. An attendant was watching him to see that no one got too close, which he said was important because this hippo was aggressive.

The next morning we took a guided game drive with park guide named Vincent, and took a much longer drive than the day before, finishing around 9:40 am. It had rained heavily the night before, and we needed the 4WD to get us out of a ditch once. Again we saw lions, many waterbuck and Ugandan kob, a group of elephants, warthogs, hippos, crested cranes, and other birds. I had been up a lot the night before for bathroom visits and not sleeping well because of early wakeup time. Also, we were leaving that morning and I wasn’t looking forward to the drive to Mbarara.

To finsh this edition, I’ll just say that the trip to Mbarara, the night’s stay there at the Agip hotel, and the next day’s trip through Masaka and Kampala to Jinja went well. We’re back in Jinja with two weeks to finish a lot of work, and have enjoyed safety and great times so far.

Tuesday, June 19 from Marlea

2007-06-19T05:35:00.000-06:00

Tuesday morning, June 18?

Hey everybody! We get back to the States two weeks from today on July 3 and while it will be hard to say goodbye, I’ll be ready to be home. This Saturday, June 23, is Ryan’s 24th birthday and he has to work all weekend so we’ll celebrate later.

The last few days have been pretty busy. Friday afternoon, Irene arranged for Gerald, her 12 year old adopted son (Moses’ late brother’s son), to be picked up from the nearby boarding school and spend the weekend with us. Friday night while sitting at Irene’s house after a big rain, I thought I felt an earthquake for several seconds. Seth said he felt it too. I asked Irene if they ever had earthquakes and she said there had been one about 3 months ago. I haven’t been in one of those since we lived in California several years ago. The next day I searched on Google and found out that there was an earthquake in Congo felt all the way to Kenya (through Uganda) measuring 5.9 at around 8:50 pm local time.

Sunday we went to Musima village for Super Sunday where several village churches get together for their Sunday assembly once a month. It’s a fun time but lasts longer than even a normal village Sunday assembly lasts. We got there around 10 and left around 3. There was lots of singing, preaching, fellowshipping, eating lunch and 3 church choruses sang for us. It was absolutely exhausting, especially since we had Rachel and Tyler with us (Irene and baby Zach stayed home). (One in our group calls times like this “Introvert Hell” and I’m inclined to agree. DJ is the only extrovert in the group.)

Later Sunday afternoon, we met one of our friends, Maanda Wilson, who is a village preacher and has started a soccer ministry for young men. First we went to Bugagali Falls on the Nile where you can go near the river and see the rapids. It’s a very pretty place. Then I got to ride with Maanda on his motorbike out to the soccer field at a school nearby. We met some of the men and took pictures of them playing soccer. Later, we met Spencer and Emily Bogle, one of the missionary couples here (they’re expecting a baby in the next week or two) and Erica Pierson who lived here when Zach did and is back for a visit. We had a fun time eating Chinese food at Ling Ling’s in town.

Last week we started scheduling all the appointments for our last two weeks. I asked David then that, if possible, we would schedule village visits only every other day so we have a chance to ‘recover’ afterwards from those longer days and then spend time meeting in town with people on the other days (that’s also when I get to hang out/hide with Irene and kids and be on the internet). So our first village visit this week (not counting Sunday in Musima) was yesterday to Nawangoma to see a primary school and visit the home of Stephen Waiswa, a good friend who is another of the Jinja cluster village preachers.

Stephen came to Irene’s yesterday morning around 9 to ride with us and show us the way. We stopped at a shop owned by a friend of Stephen at a nearby trading center to pick up some gifts/staples for Meribou, his wife. I bought a couple of chipati hot of the grill for S&L to enjoy just in case it would be a while before we ate again. It’s a good thing. Not long after we pulled off the paved road at the trading center, it began to rain. The dirt roads turn into wet clay in the rain so we slipped and slid around but finally made it to the primary school. It was absolutely pouring but we ran out of the car into one of the school’s classrooms, basically a shed with a tin roof. It was raining so hard we couldn’t hear each other talk so we just looked at each other, the teachers and the children for probably 30 minutes until the rain softened enough for us to listen. We toured the school and then sat in one of the sheds that houses the nursery school and primary one for a little program they’d prepared for the visitors. We heard the school’s national anthem, Uganda’s national anthem and the school chorus sang for us. I can’t describe these school choruses, I’ll just have to find a way to put a video out on our website or something.

About 1:30ish, we headed out for Stephen’s home down the road after the teachers filled our car trunk with gifts of eggplants, corn, tomatoes, sugar cane and pineapples. (We distributed a lot of that after our return to the Source café employees.) Normally, we could’ve driven to Stephen’s house but since it had rained so much, we had to walk. DJ and Lexie had on tennis shoes and hiking boots but Seth and I just had on flip-flops. We all had a very difficult time walking on the road thru the mud/clay. Seth and I ended up going barefoot since one of his most favorite ever shoes tore badly and was ruined and it was too hard to pull our shoes out of the sticky stuff with each step. Anyway, after we finally got to the house, Stephen’s wife and one of his daughters cut the mud off our shoes with a machete and then washed our feet for us and the shoes so we could go sit inside and share a meal. They loaned Seth another pair of flip flops. I really enjoyed the foot washing but Seth had a little tougher time with receiving.

The best part was after our meal when one of Stephen’s sons, Johnson, brought Seth his repaired sandal. Seth was ecstatic! How did they fix it? Johnson said he’d taken it down to the cobbler’s shop and had it repaired. It was like the parable of the lost coin/sheep/son. Much rejoicing! And it only cost about 200 shillings so that’s maybe like a quarter or less.

After the meal and taking group photos of Stephen’s family, he took us to the next house to meet his 94 year old father. Wow! That’s very unusual as you know but especially for a place like Uganda.

Today, DJ and S&L are in meetings and working on loan proposals as well as printing out pictures to give to people. Later this evening, we’re going to the home of Grace and Goretti Nyonga. Grace is the head of the Busoga Bible School here in Jinja. Goretti used to work at the Source. I showed her how to bake chocolate cake from scratch to sell here at the café when we were here four years ago.

David and I go to a village a couple of hours from here tomorrow to meet with a man named James Okumu. David and Zach went to his home in 2000 I think but I’ve never been there or met him. We’ve told Seth and Lexie that tomorrow could be a good day for the two of them to go rafting here on the Nile if they want to miss that village visit.

I forgot to mention that last Saturday we did get to see Danyne Randolph and visit the Amani Baby Cottage orphanage here in Jinja. We’ll go back and eat supper with her and Surj, the newlyweds, sometime next week. Surj and Danyne are good friends of Zach from his time here. We also took a short tour of the Jinja market on Saturday. That’s an experience. It’s like Beebe flee market and Ripley, Mississippi’s First Monday but it’s every day and bigger. It would be more fun if we didn’t stick out as the white ones and could just look around and be invisible for a little bit. Being white also doesn’t help when it comes to trying to bargain for good deals in the market. They always give us the ‘muzungu’ price. Hope things are going well in your world and with your families.

I’ll try to post some more pictures.

2007-06-19T02:39:00.000-06:00

June 9, 2007 from Ft. Portal, Uganda--Report from DJ

2007-06-16T07:38:00.000-06:00

On Thursday, we went to the Source Café to await a call from Jamie Duncan, teacher at Mbale, who would go with us to Kampala. There we would connect with Mark Long, missionary in Kampala and recently engaged to Jamie. From there we travel to Ft. Portal, on the western border with the (Democratic Republic of the) Congo. It’s a four-hour drive, although the road is good from about 20 km outside Kampala all the way to Ft. Portal. Lots of beautiful scenery on the way, fewer villages and people than on any long stretch of road we’ve seen in Uganda.

We arrived about 6:00 pm on Thursday, stayed at the Rwenzori View Guest House. Ronald Kizito, church leader and our contact with the basket makers in Ft. Portal, had dinner with us at the guest house. Jeff Cash, missionary of about 11 years in Ft. Portal, and Mark Long recommended Ronald as a trustworthy contact last fall, and we placed an order for baskets through him in February. Due to the timing of the shipment and of our craft sales, we haven’t been able to sell many of those items yet. As in Jinja, one of the purposes of our visit is to meet the women, make photos and videos of them and their work, and to gather information that will help us promote their basketwork and tell about their lives. That shipment of baskets included the baskets made by three women, all of whom we met, interviewed and photographed yesterday.

The meeting took place in the home of Rosemary __________, who has taken in a number of AIDS orphans, some of whom are HIV positive. They live with her in her small home in the town. She wanted to talk with me about her work with these orphans, and after a short conversation I asked her to give me a written description of her work as a basis for further discussion. Ronald recommended her, and based on the recommendations of Ronald by Mark and Jeff, I’m inclined to trust just about anything he says.

The meeting was scheduled for 11:00 am, started a bit late, but went until about 2:30 pm, and the time went very quickly for me. As it turns out, the three women we interviewed are members of a group of 30 (actually, we later found this to be a sub-group of over 150 women who make baskets for this cooperative) women who go collectively by the name Rabona Baskets, named after their village located 15 km south of Ft. Portal. All 30 are widows, most due to AIDS. I believe most or all of them learned to make baskets from Nalongo Gorret. Gorret is 38 yrs old, has been a widow 6 yrs, and has 7 children ranging in age from 7 to 20. Her mother taught her to make baskets and she has been making them herself since 1983. She explained that the money she makes from basket sales helps her to buy food and medicine, and to pay school fees for her children. She personally finished the 5th year of primary school. As if the story wasn’t already punctuated by loss and deprivation, Ronald explained that Gorret and the other two women are HIV positive, a deadly and insulting gift from their late husbands. (Note added later: I was discussing Moses’ death with a relative and co-worker of Moses Kimeze, he referred to Moses as “The Late,” never using his name, as in, “The Late was my father’s younger brother.” )

We had a number of questions about her, about the basket styles and designs, about the dyes used, about the time required, and so on. For those curious about such things, which I am, it was very interesting. She brought samples of the materials used in the baskets, and even samples of the flowers and roots used to make the dyes used to produce the colors used. I want to know about how much time went into the various baskets. She showed us a covered basket about eight inches high, and she estimated that it took about 20 hours to make. The local price for that basket is about 8,000 Ugandan shillings, less than $5. That’s not much, of course, but the local wage for common labor is about 3,500 shillings, or right at $2 per day.

The women brought a large bag of baskets of all shapes and sizes for us, in case we wanted to buy some. With Ronald’s help, I bought all of them for 500,000 shillings, about $300, and gave them money one for transport to and from the meeting. The other two women we’ll describe on the website. As you may be able to imagine, the stories are pitiful and sad, but also inspiring and convicting. I told them that, by describing their work and telling their stories, we are trying to help them sell their work in the U.S. However, their courage, their commitment to care for their children, and the spirit in which they work together will be an inspiration to (especially) women in America.

We prayed with them and left for lunch. We had taken a lot of photos of them, and Seth had managed the videocamera so we could get their testimonies on tape, along with Ronald’s translation. We went to The Gardens Restaurant for lunch, and African buffet with great beans, matooke (plantain bananas that taste a lot like boiled potatoes), peanut sauce, rice, decent beef, and potatoes. I passed on the cow’s hoof and even the goat (I like goat a lot, but the pieces I probed with the serving spoon didn’t inspire confidence--from the pieces I find in the places we eat lead me to conclude that goats are 95% bone and sinew.

After lunch we went to the home of Elizabeth Baguma, 67 yr-old widow who makes some jewelry out of plant that produces gray seeds that make very nice beads when dried. She picks the seeds from bushes outside her house. She takes care of her own children and grandchildren, but has also taken in Rose , an HIV+ mother of three children, and is teaching her to make jewelry. We sold Elizabeth’s necklaces at the Vaughn Park church of Christ ladies day last spring. Because a close relative had died within the past few days, she did not have any necklaces for us to take with us. I told her that we would buy as many necklace/earring sets that she could make by the time we left. We arranged to go back to see her Sunday evening to pick them up, and we’ll take her a gift of rice, salt, sugar, tea, soap, and maybe some meat. We prayed with and for her, and she sent us away with gifts of garden-fresh sweet bananas, guava, and avocados.

Because of prior bookings in Rwenzori View Guest House, we moved to the Fort Hotel, just up the road. It’s a bit more expensive but much newer and nicer. We had dinner there for the four of us plus Mark, Jamie, and Ronald. It was a good dinner, but at about $9 a head (same as the night before at the Rwenzori View) not something we can afford to do very often. Jeff Cash came to visit with us and describe his family’s work in Ft. Portal.

I’ll let Marlea send this out and will write an update in the next day or two.

Friday, June 15 in Jinja

2007-06-15T06:21:00.000-06:00

I wrote the note below on Tuesday but this is my first chance to send it out. It's Friday afternoon here. We got back to Jinja yesterday afternoon leaving Mbarara at 9 am and getting to the Source at 5:15 pm. It was a long trip but DJ is doing great driving and Seth and Lexie are real troopers--never complaining about the heat or cold, the food, or lack of hot showers or bumpy roads. We had a guide go with us in the park on Thursday morning before we left for Mbarara. We had a good time and saw more lions, antelopes, etc. We also crossed over into the southern hemisphere going to Mbarara and then back across to the northern hemisphere yesterday on our way back to Jinja. Have a great weekend. Business is really picking up here and we're trying to plan the next 2 weeks--lots of village visits to share and fellowship and meet with folks. Sunday we got to Musima for a Super Sunday. That'll be great fun!

love you, mj

Tuesday morning in Queen Elizabeth National Park

Hi, I’m sitting in the lobby of probably the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in. Yesterday morning around 10, we left Ft. Portal driving through the mountains on a sometimes very bad but sometimes very good road. It’s the same road Zach and some of the other missionaries took while on a bikeathon a few years ago—too many hills for me to even imagine taking it on a bike. We stopped at the Rubona Women’s Basket Association’s shop along the way and bought some more baskets. I think more than 150 women make baskets for this shop—and the 3 ladies we met the other day are a part of this larger group. Irene Kimeze is now the crafts buyer in Jinja for the Source Café crafts section and she is looking for a direct contact in western Uganda too so I’m hoping they’ll be able to expand their market to Jinja as well. You can imagine that we cause quite a commotion when 4 muzungus pull up and start buying a couple dozen baskets—and taking pictures.

We got here to the game park around 2, had a nice lunch, rested for a bit then around dusk we drove along some of the roads looking for animals since animals are more likely to stir early in the morning and then again near dark. After seeing a few antelopes here and there, Lexie said “Oh, my!” and there were about 3 adult elephants with a baby and one that I’ll call an adolescent. We just sat and watched them for a bit then a little later we watched a beautiful water buck and of course took several pictures. On the way back, we stopped at the boat launch to see if there were any hippos nearby. There weren’t but there was a crocodile swimming just off the bank—but there were guards with guns nearby to protect us. The lodge has great food so we had a wonderful supper and I got a call from Ryan.

This morning we got up around 6 am and followed some folks who had guides out into the park. We saw a hippo in a big mud pit, 3 lion cubs lounging on the road (didn’t see any parents) and then as we drove past a large watering hole/lake, we saw probably 4 different groups of elephants. After about an hour, we came on back thinking we might take our 2-hour boat trip at 9. I wasn’t feeling so great so we decided to wait until later this afternoon. They say that often you can see more animals at the water’s edge when the sun is out during the 3-5pm boat trip so that’s what we’ll do. After enjoying a delightful breakfast buffet and resting a bit, I’m up waiting for the next meal J and just enjoying sitting out at this beautifully breathtaking spot and relaxing a bit. This is mid-point in our trip. I think we leave 3 weeks from today so this is a good break for us to just enjoy the beauty here and make plans for the next couple of weeks work that’s ahead.

We’ve invited Ronald Kizito to come to Jinja while we’re there so we can talk more about the micro-loan plans and the craft sales part of this project too. The four of us have been very impressed with Ronald and would like to have him as heavily involved in this as possible.

The last day or so, as we talk about what we’re seeing, who we’re meeting, the stories we’re hearing and what we can do, I’ve been thinking about how good this trip to this part of Uganda has been for me. Several of the women we’ve met through Ronald were older women. One in particular, Elizabeth who is a retired social worker, is working making jewelry so she can help those around her. She’s already taken in two AIDS widows and their children. After meeting them on Friday, we went back to her house on Sunday afternoon to take tea and pick up some of the necklaces they’d made for us just since our meeting. I think you’ll like these necklaces. They’re made out of a seed that has a natural hole through it. The seeds vary in color from almost white to gray and then almost black. She’d also made a very pretty blue magazine paper-bead necklace and earrings just for me. She gave the four of us pet names. Lexie’s pet name means kitten—which stands for beautiful. Mine was something like A-ki-ki which Ronald had trouble interpreting but when he said ‘It means something like unexpected,’ I said, “Oh, you mean a treasure or a prize!” and apparently I got it close enough. I think DJ’s was the word for Thunder and Seth’s name was like Junior.

After we’d visited and then conducted the business of picking out, counting and then paying for the necklaces and earrings we wanted, she served us tea and steamed corn and roasted peanuts and sweet potatoes and sweet bananas all from her garden. Well she had to buy the tea bags and the sugar and maybe some milk so when fruits and vegetables are in season, they can get by on very little cash. Usually before we make a visit, we stop at a trade center and buy flour, sugar, salt, tea bags and on this trip, Ronald and DJ have been buying a hunk of meat from the butcher as part of our gift.

I called Irene as we were leaving Ft. Portal to let her know that we’re making it okay but miss her and the children and that we’ll be back on Thursday. She laughed when I told her that Seth has been whining about being ready to be back in Jinja.

Tomorrow morning a guide will go with us through the park to look for animals and then we’ll come back here to the lodge then load up and drive on to Mbarara. I think we’ll spend the night there somewhere, hopefully see Scovia, Dennis and Diana, then head on back to Jinja. We met Scovia and her children four years ago when she lived in Jinja and helped Ida at the Source and with church functions. She moved to Mbarara to work for Terri Taylor but now that Terri has come back to the States recently, we need to see how best we can help Scovia and the children. It’s possible she’ll be moving back to Jinja and into Irene’s in the next month or so. She’ll be looking for work and maybe learning to make jewelry for us to sell through MDM and at the Source. I’m really looking forward to seeing her and the children again. Kids can change a lot in four years.
Well it’s 1 pm here so I need to go get the rest of them so we can eat lunch before we go on the boat ride at 3. Love you much! mj

2007-06-15T06:19:00.000-06:00

Hey, it's Saturday afternoon. We arrived in Ft. Portal sometime Thursday evening after stopping in Kampala at the Resource Center to join up with Mark Long. We got to see Ellen Little, meet a visiting dental team from Lubbock Christian, and 3 young women from Pepperdine's soccer team who are in Uganda conducting soccer clinics at local primary schools.The weather is much cooler here and rainy. My toes are getting cold since the only closed-toed shoes I brought are my tennis shoes and I'm too vain to wear those with my dresses. (And some of you think I'm teasing!) It's mountainous here with lush vegetation. The dirt here is very fertile and black, not like the red clay dirt in the Jinja and Mbale areas.Yesterday and today have been very full days. First, we met Ronald Kizito, our MicroDevelopment contact here. David had been looking for a contact in this area since we like the millet baskets that this area is known for. Ronald had come highly recommended by both Mark Long and Jeff Cash, a missionary here in Ft. Portal. He is a very responsible, generous hearted young man that we've come to enjoy and respect the last couple of days. It's good to finally see him face to face and meet the ladies he's been buying the baskets from.There is a group of 30 widows whose husbands all died of complications from AIDS and they are ALL HIV-positive. Three of the ladies met with us. The leader is Gorrette--she's taught the other ladies to make baskets so they can help support their children and buy food, pay for school fees. I really don't have words right now to explain the last 2 days. I'll just say it's been an inspriring, yet overwhelming and an emotional day or two for me. We bought all the baskets the ladies brought to us. AND we'll be bringing them home. Many of you know this selling part of this work isn't easy for me. I don't like going to the craft sales and having to be outgoing and nice to strangers and try to sell things. But right now, I'm frustrated with myself for letting that get in the way of helping these ladies. We've met some truly inspiring women who are in very tough situations who still smile, still take care of their families, and are trying to take care of those who are in worse conditions than they are. I've seen Jesus in so many of these women. Today we met Faith, a woman who runs a mill store grinding corn, cassava, g-nuts (peanuts), and she was just so fun and happy. She's widowed and is trying so hard to take care of not only her own children but her husband left other wives, children, and some who are orphaned that she's committed to helping.We go to church here in Ft. Portal tomorrow and will hopefully get to visit with Jeff and Sherrill Cash and their 4 children. The Lubbock medical team comes in here tomorrow so we'll cross paths with them (and Ellen and Darla from Kampala) maybe tomorrow evening.Monday morning, we drive 4 hours to Queen Elizabeth Park for a couple of days with the animals. Zach just wrote and reminded me to be careful so to Z and the others out there, we'll be careful. Irene called yesterday. She said it was baby Zach Kimeze's first birthday. Remember last year when he was born? We're so very blessed to be here. Right now, I'm not looking forward to leaving although I'm missing Ryan especially.

Intro: Getting caught up by David Johnson

2007-06-04T14:50:00.000-06:00

It’s 9:00 am and we spent last night in Mbale, staying in Phillip and Laura Shero’s guesthouse. They now have it stocked with everything needed to be pretty self-sufficient--three small bedrooms, kitchen with refrigerator and small gas camp-style cooking burners, bathroom with heated water. The water is more drip than flow, but it’s nice to have a warm shower and, of course, to see the Sheros again.

Since this is my first note, I have to go back to remember the what, who and when of the past week. To do so, I resort to my list of expenditures for the past week. Follow the money, they say, and that’s how I remember the rest. We have been staying in the home of Irene Kimeze, good friend and recently widowed when her husband Moses, along with missionary Adam Langford, was killed in a truck accident in January. Since last Monday, I’ve been driving her car and will use it to go to western Uganda next week. We did at least have the experience of riding in a matatu to town and back a time or two. (A matatu is a mini-van with four rows of seats. On the side of each is stenciled “Licensed to carry 14 passengers,” but I think they should add “but committed to carrying 20.” If you ride matatus very much you will eventually be sitting face-to-face with a chicken—it’s just a matter of time. A matatu ride is an experience in the sights, sounds, and especially the odors of Africa—oh, the humanity! Not many whites use the matatus, for matters of convenience and safety (traffic accidents), so when we ride in them I’m aware that it is one of the rare times that the average rural Ugandan comes into close physical proximity to whites.

We arrived in Entebbe last Thursday, 5/24 and spent the night at Banana Village, a retreat center owned by James and Jemimah Semakadde. They are Christians who lived in Searcy for a few years back in the late 1990s while James worked on a Master’s of Education degree at Harding. We slept too long on Friday, not really waking up until about 3:00 pm. James took us across the road to a small quarry where a group of about 20 men and (mostly) women and children manually dig large rocks, even boulders, out of a hillside and break them into gravel for building construction. The young men beat at the boulders with sledge hammers, even lighting brush fires up against them to soften them. (Does this work?)

We visited with one of the women there, an acquaintance of Semakadde’s, and got some info on her. She gets large stones from the young men and, with a small sledge hammer, all day long pounds them into the gravel. I paid the price of a new hammer to buy from her one of the old ones that had been worn down to a nub, a visual reminder that life is tougher for some than others. Age is hard to measure here by sight. I’d say she’s in her sixties or beyond. Her husband is older, as is the custom here, and unable to work, so her labor supports the two of them plus seven orphans. (The word “orphans” has a nebulous meaning here. It can refer to children who have lost both parents, or who have lost only one, or just children whose parents cannot or will not fully support them.) The woman sells a truckload of gravel for $65, from which she must pay about $30 to the man who provided the stones and the property owner and the men who load the truck. So she nets about $35 per month, just over $1 per day, or around $350-$400 per year, which must support nine people. James knows her and she allowed us to take some photos of her.

(Note: We brought with us a used Canon photo printer and plenty of ink and photo paper so we can provide photo prints for people in the villages, many of whom do not have photos of themselves, and have never seen themselves except in a mirror. It is a nice gift to them and something to open doors and to remember us by. It also sometimes gives us photo opportunities that we wouldn’t otherwise have, since people are much more willing to allow their pictures to be made if you can provide a print. That night, I made the prints and everything worked just fine, despite the apparent fluctuation in the power flow to the laptop, which is probably not a good thing.)

Most rural Ugandans raise food and get water from bore holes or other public wells, and they live in mud and grass huts. Their basic needs for food, clothing and shelter are not hard to satisfy. Still, the water must be boiled, changes of clothes are few, the diet is poor in nutrients, and grass roofs don’t keep out heavy rains. The biggest recurring out-of-pocket expenses for them are for school fees and medical costs. Technically, public primary schools are free; practically, even primary students are asked to contribute for the materials, teachers’ salaries, maintenance, etc., and may be neglected by the teacher if they don’t pony up. In many schools in the U.S., parents of elementary school students go to Wal-Mart or Office Depot at the start of a school year to buy a list of items they are expected to bring, such as Kleenex, crayons, snacks, other items. I don’t know the actual amounts, but I think the total cost is less than $20-$30. Suppose they went to purchase the items and the cost was about $1,000? In relative terms, that’s something like the situation the typical rural Ugandan parent of young children faces.

Fees really skyrocket in secondary school, especially if the distance to a decent local school is too great and the family has to send the child to boarding school. This is fairly common, and due to low incomes and high fees, a lot of kids don’t go to school, and a number go only sporadically. They are sent home when the fees go unpaid, returning to school when money is available and the fees are paid up. When they do attend, the public school classrooms are often overcrowded—I’ve heard reports of as many as 150 students in a class with one teacher, and I think 50 or more per class is not uncommon. As dismal as this seems, there are bright and encouraging spots, some of which I’ll relate in the near future. As for the quarry workers, most of them bring their children to “work” with them. What does the future hold for them?

On Wednesday, May 30 we went to Musima village, about a 30 minute drive north of Jinja. I’m driving Kimeze’s car and having more fun with that I expected. Moses Kirya, preacher for the Musima church of Christ, arrived at Irene’s house about 9:15 am to direct us there. On the way to his house, we stopped off at the homes of two women in the Musima women’s group who would not be able to come to the larger meeting later that morning. One lady could not leave her three small children and another had been ill—one side of her face was swollen, I asked about her condition but Kirya said she had seen a doctor who said it was getting better. We prayed with her and headed up the dirt road to a newly formed Musima Church of Christ pre-school. The school was started recently by Samuel, a church member at Musima who had been trained by Rebecca Dahlstrom and Erika Pierson, former teaching missionaries in Jinja. He has built a structure on his own property and receives some payments from some of the parents, although I assume the payments are small and irregular. It is truly humbling to see what sincere and dedicated men and women are doing to serve the needs of their families and communities with almost nothing in the way of material or financial resources.

At the school, Lexie started making soap bubbles that floated over their heads and into the pack. The kids chased them and laughed, and it was really hilarious. Finally we went to Kirya’s house, and there we had African tea and chapati—I put sugar on mine. Chapati are greasy, thick tortillas. The other day, I had Irene make one for me without much oil and it was really good, but they tend to use too much oil for my tastes, or to add some oil shortly before taking them off the griddle. Zipporah is Kirya’s wife and the best basket maker in the group. Loy is the widow of Kirya’s brother, who died of AIDS. She has been the leader of the group but is not doing well recently, and Kirya said she was infected by her husband and is now showing the signs.

On last year’s visit, Kirya was building a new house about 50 feet from the old one. The new one is not yet completed but it’s pretty nice by local standards, larger than most, and with a metal roof. It is a good thing he had started the new one, and here’s why: This past spring Kirya’s brother had showed signs of mental instability, claiming that someone or something was trying to kill him. The brother committed suicide by hanging in the old house. When the police came and the neighbors gathered, they said that the old house had to be torn down and the contents burned. They threw the brother’s body in a makeshift grave and somehow converted the house into a pile of rubble that is still there. Kirya says they lost some belongings that were burned.

One of our primary goals of this trip was to make photos and videos and gather personal information about the women we are working with in selling baskets and jewelry. We’ll use this info to develop promotional materials to advertise their crafts, and also to tell their stories. We try to discuss our efforts freely with the women, about our desire to tell people in the U.S. about their work and their lives. Their stories are those of sickness, death, hardship, and continually living on the edge, but they are also stories of courage, faith, and perseverance. When we visit them and hear and see their expressions of thanks, we commit to ourselves and to them to see that this work continues and grows. I want them to know that more and more women in the U.S. are learning about them and enjoying their crafts, and are also being encouraged by their ability to keep plodding along for their families' sakes.

When Marlea and I started this work last fall, we were careful not to use a story of pity to sell baskets and jewelry. Some of the artisans are by now very close personal friends, and our personal commitment to them is continually growing. We have been blessed with many partners in this, including many of you who have bought these items, and especially our families and friends and family at the Vaughn Park church in Montgomery and the Downtown church in Searcy, and of course the support in various forms that I receive at Faulkner. We will use the promotional materials to grow the market for their items, to share their stories, to increase the perceived value of their products, and therefore, hopefully, to see profits grow so we can have more to share with them. Moses Kimeze stated clearly last summer that the people in the U.S. must get a good value as well, and we know that’s the only way to grow the market. Someone who buys a basket and believes she has gotten a good value will buy more items and tell others about it; if she pays more than she thinks it is worth “just to be nice,” she probably won’t do it again, and she probably won’t recommend it to others. That’s my belief.

Our policy in compensating the artisans is simple in concept: When we work directly with the artisans, as with the Musima women’s group, we pay them local price plus 20%, and explain that the premium over local price is to obtain their best quality. We incur costs of shipping, promotion, and administration. Then, when we sell the items in the U.S., we send half the profits on those items back to them as a group to use for purposes they choose. (In one instance, last fall we sent $100 profits back to the Musima women’s group, which they used to pay school fees and buy clothes for seven especially neglected children that they wanted to support.)

We are careful not to pay inflated prices for the baskets (and it’s very easy for Americans to want to “fix” Africa by throwing around money), which distorts local prices and the incentives they face. We believe that overpaying gives them a false picture of what things are worth and induces behavioral changes that are, in the long term, harmful. Of course, we started this ministry to bless their lives through business development, and one way is by helping them access the U.S. market. We want much of the value created by sales of their goods in the U.S. to be used to bless their lives, so we send half the profits back to their community and use the other half to fund our buildup of inventory, pay for website maintenance, and fund other African missions-related expenditures.

We are not trying to shield these women from market forces, but are trying to help them meet the demands of the market. Based on my study and experience, that’s the best way to provide for sustained improvement in their ability to produce income. I must close by saying that our policies have been developed from thought, prayer, study, and experience. I would be happy to explain further or to respond to comments or questions you may have.

Thanks to those of you who have supported our work here. We are blessed to the names and faces of the brothers and sisters in Christ and the others who are blessed by your assistance, even though you have yet to meet them personally.

MDM Internship Uganda Summer 2007

2007-06-04T14:39:00.000-06:00

I thought it might be helpful if on this first post, you saw the plan for the trip we're on right now in Uganda. Then you may better understand the reports that will follow. Here's
David's description of this summer's internship in Uganda

As the story goes, a businessman once challenged Mother Theresa’s relief work among the poor of Calcutta, saying, “Sister, surely you know the proverb: ‘If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.’” She replied, “Yes, and I will give him a fish while you teach him to fish.” If you have ever wondered how God might use your business knowledge, skills, and interest to make a positive and lasting difference in the lives of some of the poorest people on Earth, Business As Missions wants to challenge you with an opportunity.

On May 22, 2007 Dr. David Johnson of Faulkner University’s Harris College of Business and his wife Marlea departed the U.S. for Uganda. Accompanying them are two business students, including 2007 Faulkner graduate Lexie Emerson and Harding University junior business student, Seth Neller. The four arrived in Entebbe via Dubai on May 24.

Their “base of operations” is Jinja, where Lake Victoria overflows to form the source of the Nile River. About twelve years ago, an energetic and gifted team of young missionaries initiated various community development projects which, among other accomplishments, brought the first local internet access to this city of 100,000. The Source Café and Resource Center currently operates business enterprises including a restaurant, internet café, lending library, and gift shop. Their facility also houses the Busoga Bible School and the meeting place of the Jinja church of Christ.

While in Jinja the team will visit rural women who are making banana fiber baskets and paper jewelry which we are selling in the U.S. (On the MDM website, visit the Buy from Artisans area for information on this ministry.) The team will make photos and videos and obtain personal information that can be used to develop promotional materials, as well as to encourage the women and seek to improve the relationship with them. The information will also be used in the future to assess the impact that the craft sales ministry has had on the women and the community. They will also gather information on proposed microenterprise opportunities in Jinja and the surrounding area.

From Jinja they travel northeast to Mbale, the future home of Messiah International University. MIU is a Christian university that will serve East Africa and beyond. The research team will then travel to Ft. Portal on the western border with Congo (DRC), where they will again visit contacts who are making craft items for sale in the U.S. On this stretch of their tour they will visit Queen Elizabeth Park to observe elephants, cape buffalo, hippos, warthogs, lions, and crocodiles (and more!) in their natural habitat.

By mid-June they will return to Jinja for focused research on microenterprise opportunities proposed by Ugandans in the Jinja district. In summary, our purposes are several:

(1) To work with existing contacts to strengthen our relationship with them and to obtain information that will be useful in growing the market for their crafts and assessing how our partnership with them has benefited them and their communities.

(2) To help people who want to start microenterprises, and to help them develop legitimate proposals that will be posted to our website to solicit funding via a microloan program now being developed.

(3) To use these proposals as the basis for case studies and examples that can be used to develop culturally appropriate educational materials for training in how to start and successfully operate a microenterprise according to Biblical principles.

Uganda 2007

2007-04-25T20:34:00.000-06:00

David and I will be going to Uganda this summer so I've decided to start this blog to share those experiences with friends and family. Access to the internet will be sporadic while we're gone but I will try to post as often as possible. Two recent graduates, Lexie Emerson from Faulkner and Seth Neller from Harding, will be joining us. Our departure date is approaching quickly, May 22. I hope to have Lexie, Seth and David share their thoughts and plans here too.

It's an exciting time for me. I love traveling and I'm anxious to get to Africa and see Irene and the children. It's still very hard to believe that Moses won't be coming to pick us up but I think the trip will be very healing, especially for David. So, the tickets are bought, the passports have arrived, Lexie and Seth have gotten their shots. Now, we make final preps with our contacts, decide which malaria medicine to take and pack our bags. DJ, of course, has a whole lot more to do to get ready. He's got to finish the semester teaching and grading first. Oh and we did buy a house closer to Faulkner's campus and will be moving in the next two weeks I guess. I tried to make a packing list last summer so it's probably time to look for that and re-read my diary from the last trip to jog my memory.

Ok, I hope this blog thing works out. I look forward to your sharing the trip with me. At the moment, I'm overwhelmed by God's love and blessings.