When Helping Hurts Training in Kaberamaido

Last week I did my When Helping Hurts training again, this time in Kabermaido with the Pentecostal Assembly of God denomination (PAG).  The training consisted of about 60 people total, though not everyone completed all four days.  The participants were pastors, other church leaders, and the staff members of KMDP (the development organization of the PAG denomination in Kabermaido district; it is one of World Renew's partner organizations).  My World Renew supervisor Edward also came along as a participant of the training. 

I think I am getting better at teaching this training each time.  This training went very smoothly and the pastors understood things very quickly.  They were also very well organized and timely, which always makes things go more smoothly.  Even though everything we did was translated, we still finished in time.  In Kabermaido the people speak a mixture of Ateso (which we know some words in), and Luo.  This sort-of hybrid language is called "Kumam" and the Bible was only published in Kumam a couple years ago.

The need for training in Kabermaido district is huge.  Out of 193 PAG pastors, there are only 8 pastors who have a Bible school education.  Because of this I'm very excited that in September I will be beginning Timothy Leadership Training with these same pastors.

One of the joys of this training was seeing two of my former students from Pentecostal Theological College, Emmanuel and Charles. 

I talked much about this training in my post last week, so I'll highlight some different things this time.  One of the things we did towards the end of the week, was an exercise I borrowed from my World Renew orientation in the US.  Each group was to draw a picture of "community development." I gave them only 10 minutes to do so.  Then each group presented briefly.  It turned into the funniest event for me yet this year.  Maybe we were tired and ready to laugh, I don't know.  But I laughed so hard I was crying and could not even talk for a while.  We were making fun of groups who lacked animals in their drawing (saying that they killed them all off), or forgot to draw in people, or had people that looked like squids.  It was great.

But it was an encouraging exercise to me and to them.  The development they drew was not that their community suddenly looked like middle class America.  It was their same communities but with access to schools, clean water, hospitals, and roads.  They emphasized improved relationships with people and with God.  They showed how people in the community were taking care of the environment while developing.  And what struck me the most was that it was clear in their drawings that the people themselves were doing the development and not one group's drawing showed outside donors or organizations doing the development for them.

One of the big exercises in this training is to have each group plan on how to help people returning to their communities who escaped from the Lord's Resistance Army, after having been abducted as children.  We make detailed plans, and then analyze those plans at the end of the week to see what we would do differently after the new things they learned.  This is always a powerful exercise.  But this time was really unique.  One church leader stood up and said, "well I know what would be a good way to help these people from experience.  I was abducted and in the LRA for about 4 years before I came back."  You just never know who is going to be in your trainings.  Testimonies like these remind me of how easy my life has been.  It's strange that I have lived so different of a life than these men and women, and yet when we are together, it's as if we are exactly the same, and you would never know about their trials unless they tell you.

When we listed our resources, I explained that most Americans do indeed have more material things and money than they do, but that we should not focus on comparing ourselves in Uganda to Americans.  We all have been given different things by God and need to focus on being good stewards ourselves of what God has given us.  During this discussion, I explained that while Americans generally have more things, sometimes they don't have certain things that Ugandans have.   When I asked them how much land they thought I owned, they all thought I would own at least 5-10 acres.  I kept saying, "no, lower."  When they found out that I own no land at all, they were shocked.  When it came time for testimonies at the end of the training, one man said that he learned that Anthony is a very poor person.  He said this with full knowledge that I own many things even if I do not own land.  And he said it with a smile on his face.  But he wasn't just joking either.  When most people in Uganda own many acres of land, and then they find out that I don't own any land, it gives them a very new perspective and makes them feel like God has given them much and they should start valuing it and managing it well.

From their written testimonies:
-"May the Almighty bless you very much, because I was like a hollow tire but now I am a strong like a soldier."
-"Anthony your coming to Kaberamaido was an arrangement from God  You have changed and also transformed the lives of each participant."
- "As a poor person, I have developed a strong heart to achieve blessings of God in my future through use of what I have."
- "I have experienced bigger things that I never knew and used to do ignorantly, hence harming both myself and the community."
- "Master Anthony, thank you very much, may God bless you and expand your numbers of days/life."
- "Anthony, you have been so kind to us though we make mistakes before you.  You showed us love."