Making Soap

By Sara:

I have occasionally been teaching on different topics from home, with groups of women (and sometimes even a few men) from the Soroti church.  After the last time that I was with one of these groups, they asked if I knew how to make solid soap.  It just so happens that I do, so they asked that I teach them how.  We were all very entertained as we were "suiting up" in our protective gear (so no one would get burned by the lye which is used in the soap making process).

Making soap is not very complicated, it just takes some time.  We actually took a two hour intermission in the training after we had mixed the ingredients together and needed to wait until it became thick so we could pour it into a mold.

Kampala When Helping Hurts Reflections

By Anthony:

Several months ago through some Facebook networks, other missionaries in Uganda found out about the When Helping Hurts training I do and asked if I would come to Kampala sometime to do the training there.  I had some free time at the beginning of October so I and a couple missionaries quickly threw together a plan.  For the training we met at a mission organization's guesthouse and we invited other missionaries, Ugandan partners, development workers, and local pastors.  In the end we had a good sized group of nearly 30 people, a great number for discussion.  I really enjoyed getting to know all of these wonderful Ugandan leaders and other expat missionaries.  At the beginning I didn't know 95% of the people.  One really fun surprise was that a friend, Sam, who we worked with at Pentecostal Theological College 6 years ago, showed up and he hadn't even received my invitation but was invited by someone else. 

Honestly this was a really challenging training for me.  I was quite scared to do it.  It turned out to be a great success though.  I had been intimidated going into it knowing that all of these people have worked with materially poor people more than I have, and most of the missionaries have stayed in Uganda longer than I.  Some of the participants work with street children, some work in the slums of Kampala, some work with families of Ugandan prisoners, and others are leaders in denominations and churches which also, of course, reach out to the poor.  I am happy to say that God used me to pass on to them information from the book, When Helping Hurts, and to facilitate discussion.  All of us learned a lot from each other and from telling our stories to one another.

It was exciting seeing such a random selection of people come together throughout the week.  It was good to brainstorm strategies together and network.

The week encouraged me greatly.  It is always wonderful to meet such gifted, passionate, and godly people and to hear the great ways God is using them to make change in Uganda and transformation in the lives of individuals and families. 

 

Through the experience of teaching about this topic once again, I realized how many mistakes I have made myself in helping the poor (and continue to make), how little time I really spend helping the poor, how I still look for quick fixes to problems, and how little compassion I have for materially poor people.  I have repented once again, and am overjoyed afresh at how amazing God's grace is.  I keep praying that God will give me a compassionate merciful heart towards his people.

One of the topics in the book is about how we as wazungu (foreigners) often have "god-complexes" acting as if we have all the answers in helping the poor, without discussing and planning with poor people themselves.  Throughout the week I was humbled and challenged.  It's so easy to read this book and then go out and judge other missionaries and ministries for making mistakes.  But this can be another form of a god-complex.  There are certain types of ministry that I have regularly criticized, only to hear amazing stories this week of lives being changed through such ministries.  One of the biggest lessons I took home is that while we have to learn important principles about helping the poor, such as in the book, life is not just black and white.  Helping the poor is complicated and always will be.  We have to pray and trust the leading of the Holy Spirit.  We have to be quick to praise and affirm other ministries, and slow to criticize.  Besides, our God is powerful enough to create wonderful transformation even through messy and imperfect ministries.  Our God is a God who loves to use the weak, broken, unskilled, and sinful.

Here are a couple of my other reflections from the week that I also put on facebook:

Sometimes it is the bleeding heart compassionate missionary/foreigner who weeps when they see poverty who can cause the most damage in our poverty fighting efforts. Think about a Ugandan family in the village who might be a bit financially poor, but are quite happy and content generally. Then an American comes on a short term trip, visits the village, and because of the American's materialism and luxurious life back home, they see people living in a grass-thatched hut and weep and say things like, "you are so brave to live like this, I couldn't do it, we have so much compared to you, because you are so poor let us give you this, this, and this." Then, after the person goes back to the US, this family now starts feeling inferior and not so content, wondering if what they really need to be happy is all the stuff the American has. Now they begin to look for the next American who can continue to supply more of the stuff and dependency develops. So they go from contentment to feeling inferior and unhappy.

If we want to rid our country of corruption, we don't have any hope unless we begin with ourselves. Are we showing favoritism? Are we giving bribes? And how can we expect the traffic police to obey the laws about taking no bribes, when we ourselves, even as Christian drivers, do not obey the traffic and speed laws of the country? It is far easier for us to stop speeding than it is for these officers to stop taking bribes when they are paid so little and have to take care of their families, and yet we brazenly disobey the laws and then criticize the police for not obeying. Or as passengers on matatus when the taxi breaks the law by over-packing in order to fit us in the vehicle, we say nothing and even say thank you. Or when the matatu driver gives a bribe, do we call him to account? When the matatu or bus is speeding, we say nothing and look the other way because we are thankful we are getting to our destination so quickly. But then when we read the newspaper and read about a taxi accident, we are quick to criticize, "ah these drivers who speed, how terrible!" If we want to fight corruption, we must begin with ourselves, and get rid of our hypocrisy, no matter how difficult or uncomfortable it might make us.

When we discussed relationships and frustrations between missionaries and Ugandans, I was really touched by a Ugandan sister from PAG.  She really listened and understood the frustrations that missionaries face from people on the street asking for money just because we are light-skinned and not because they really need money.  She felt the pain we experience daily and really empathized.  She apologized on behalf of Ugandans and said they should be the ones supporting us as missionaries, giving us encouragement and gratitude for the sacrifices we make.  She asked that we forgive the people asking such things on the street because they don't know better.  I in turn pledged to do better at forgiving such people and responding in love and compassion rather than anger.  It's not bad to say "no" to such rude requests, but when I do so I need to do so in love and understanding of their situation, not in impatience and exasperation.

Moving to....

By Sara:

We are excited to share with you that we will be continuing with World Renew next year and moving to Nakuru, Kenya to work at an Anglican Bible College and Farm!

Here is a map to show you where Nakuru is (kind of in the middle and to the right).

This is the beautiful area where we will be located (so start saving your money to come visit Kenya):

World Renew has been working very hard on our behalf (thank you to World Renew staff!) to put together this position and we're really looking forward to continuing with an organization that we love in a part of the world that we love.  It is going to be really hard to leave all the people we have gotten to know here in Uganda and the community we have become a part of, but we are very excited for this opportunity we have in Kenya.  We are also thankful that we will be close enough to visit and see our friends from time to time.  Over these past two years while traveling so much, we realized we feel a general calling to East Africa, and can see ourselves working here for the long-term, but without limiting ourselves to staying only in one country.

Over our discernment process we also realized that we needed a more stable type of position with less travel.  Driving 3-5 hours every day that I want to work with farmers in the field is not sustainable.  Teaching agriculture from a fixed position is much more appealing.  And while Anthony feels very privileged and full of joy to have worked with pastors teaching TLT, he has always been someone who'd rather be at home every day instead of traveling, so his current work of being away from home 50% of the time is rather taxing. 

As we've mentioned before, World Renew works with partner organizations, organizations that are doing direct work on the ground, by giving support, advising, and assisting in the good work they are already doing.  World Renew is partnering with the Anglican Church of Kenya in the Nakuru area, specifically the Anglican Development Service.  The Nakuru Diocese has a Bible college called Berea Christian College, just outside of Nakuru.  They also have a 250 acre farm that is right across the street from the Bible college.

We are going to be able to live on Berea's campus, so we can walk to work every day!  The college is providing housing for us and we will even have a fireplace which might sometimes be necessary to heat our house.  Not all of Africa is hot all the time.  The campus is about 30 minutes outside of town in a rural area.  We look forward to living away from the busyness of town, but close enough to enjoy the grocery stores and restaurants.

Anthony will teach classes at the college, including Church History, Systematic Theology, Introduction to Philosophy, Introduction to biblical Greek, Homiletics (which includes hermeneutics), Missions and Evangelism, and Apologetics.  He is very excited about this because these are topics that he is passionate about.  Anthony is filling a need because the faculty are over-stretched and one lecturer is retiring before we come.

Here are some photos of the Bible College: 

I am going to be teaching some hands-on, practical classes at the college on some basic agricultural techniques and working with the school to develop agricultural curriculum.  I will also help the school to make some agricultural demonstrations on the school land.  Additionally, I will work with the actual farm across the street, both to learn from the people who work there as well as to contribute from my knowledge, specifically about conservation agriculture.  Further, I will be working periodically with the development team either at Berea College through the demonstrations or out in the village.  As you can see, my time will be divided between several places and there will be no shortage of work for me to do.

The farm grows coffee, tea, vegetables, and raises dairy cows.  Here are some pictures.

Over the past two years we've made several trips to Kenya, and visited Berea College a couple times.  We've really enjoyed getting to know some of the staff from the development team, getting to know the Bishop, and the staff at the school and farm.  We look forward to working with them and they are also very happy for us to be joining them.

World Renew is also working in the region of Turkana, in northwestern Kenya.  During school holidays (once or twice a year), we will travel there to help with World Renew's work.  Anthony will probably start a TLT group and I will do some agricultural or livelihood (like baking, making soap, etc.) trainings.  We shared about Turkana before, when we visited there earlier this year.  You can look back on some pictures here.  Due to the work in Turkana and because of the distance we are from Nakuru town, we will be needing a vehicle for our work in Kenya (unfortunately in my opinion - I think vehicles are a pain!).

We will have a new budget which we can share more details about later on, but it will be at least slightly larger than our current volunteer budget.  For now, please know that we greatly value your continued support as we go to Kenya.

So, what are the next steps?  After we finish up our work here in Soroti in January, we will make one or two trips across the border to Nakuru (it's not very far) to transport some of our belongings (and the dog) there.  We will be able to store some small things (like some clothes, cooking implements, books, etc.) in the house where we will live at the school, though we are still selling all of our big furniture off before we go.  After that, we'll be in the US from February until about July for a whirlwind tour of visiting churches, family, friends, and meetings/appointments.  We'll return to Kenya in July with a month or two to get ready for the first semester.  This position will begin with a three-year agreement and then we will see where God leads from there.

We've already started learning Swahili and will continue to work hard at it.  We want to become fluent as this language can be used in most of Kenya, very unlike our situation in Uganda working with people of multiple languages.

All in all, there's a lot to do in the coming months.  Anthony's a bit stressed wanting to get started writing his lesson plans already.  But we are thankful that we have a plan for moving forward and we are excited to continue sharing interesting information about Kenya with you!  We can't thank all of you enough for your patience in waiting to hear from us, and for your faithful prayers and encouragements over the last year as we were discerning God's call.

Some Fun Random Pictures

By Sara:

Not really sure what Gaddafi is doing on the back of this bus in Tanzania...

A tree that fell over our wall in a windy rainstorm

And a chameleon that fell out of the above tree.  I put it in the garden.

Anthony and a friend's dog

Baby rabbits

And our newest goat!  His name is Beorn.

What it Means to Work With Farmers

By Sara:

Sometimes it is kind of difficult to explain what I do with these agricultural programs that I am always sharing about.  I want you to know that the Ugandan partner organizations we work with (KIDO and KMDP) are doing lots of great field work and doing the bulk of the agricultural training, so I try to emphasize their part in this work.  On the other hand, I don't want you to think that I am just sitting around watching them and doing nothing myself!

When our friend Kathleen came to visit us, she came along with me in all of the work that I did while she was there.  As a result, we now have lots of pictures and videos of me working so you can see what kinds of things I do.   

I've been sharing pictures of some of the results of conservation agriculture in the communities where we work, but today I am going to share about the preparation that other farmers are doing to begin conservation agriculture demonstration plots. 

I am always joining with KIDO and KMDP in the work that they are already doing.  Their gifted field officers put in many challenging hours traveling from community to community, training farmers, and monitoring the progress of their gardens.  When I work with them, one of the activities I help with is in preparing the training materials.  We went to Kaberamaido and worked with the KMDP field officer, Sam, to revise the conservation training manual they were using.

In the field, I help by contributing some of the training points.  Here's a video of me sharing how to make a measuring stick with your hands when you do not have a measuring tape.

And a picture from a conservation agriculture training. 

Also, I participate in the garden work when I can.  In these cases, it was preparation of demonstration gardens.  The farmers here set up nine or more different plots, all next to each other, showing different conservation agriculture options as well as a control plot.  In this case, we did one plot with mulch and several different intercropped plots - maize intercropped with different green manure cover crops like jackbean, lablab, mucuna, and ordinary beans.

We made a picture on the ground to show how we were setting up the different plots.

This was on a different day, working with another farmer to prepare his field:

Here, we're checking out his great field of jackbeans.  He has been growing green manure cover crops since last year and they're doing really well.

Kilimanjaro, a Dancing Church, and a Snake

By Anthony:

This is a random post of fun pictures.

Recently we had to take another trip to Tanzania, this time to Moshi, for our World Renew regional team meeting.  It was a good time of fellowship with other World Renew staff, especially since we got to meet new staff members, one who has been working in South Sudan, and one who just joined the Tanzania team.  It was a lot of long and tiring meetings so there wasn't much time to sight see.  But the fun thing was that our hotel where we stayed had a view of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

On one of the days that week, we left the meetings and all the World Renew staff took of tour of some conservation agriculture projects, ECHO's base/farm in Arusha, and an industrious model farmer.  The funny thing for us was that our tour guide was Neil Miller, who works for MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) and with CFGB (Canadian Foodgrains Bank), and who was our supervisor at the farm in Texas a few years ago.  It's amazing how we keep running into people we know all the time.

To get to one of the farm sites, we caravanned a total of 6 vehicles.  But our caravan fell apart when these huge cylinders blocked traffic.  We had to do our best to drive through parking lots to try to pass, but it took probably 20-30 minutes before we could pass.  One of the things you may not realize about driving in East Africa is that there are only a few main roads which means you don't get lost very easily, but also means there are no alternative routes on smaller roads to bypass things like this.  These cylinders were so tall that another truck had to move with them to lift up power lines as they pass under.

We continue to visit churches quite regularly.  I get a lot of preaching invitations and have to say "no" to many of them.  We don't usually post about them, but here is a fun video of dancing in a church we visited in Kumi district.  And some pictures of the church waving to you.







Here are some photos of a snake we found in our yard.  I would never have seen it but it was moving up from the ground into one of our orange trees when I entered our gate.  It is for sure completely harmless, so have no fears for us.  There are many types of harmless green snakes like this in Uganda.  It was quite incredible.  I have never seen anything move so fast in a tree, and it did so with absolutely no sound.  It was light enough to basically float on the leaves, so it could move anywhere without being limited to the branches.  It was very hard to see even on our tiny tree.

Caleb has proved his worth yet again, in more ways besides being a good security dog.  Recently he killed a bunch of rats for us in our garage and sometimes finds them at night in our yard.  This is good because the rats try to eat the chicken eggs.  It's a good dog that leaves chicks alone but attacks rats.





One of our missionary friends in Soroti just went back to the US for home service and so we are watching her dog for her.  As you can see, it is a super lovable dog.  He's the opposite of Caleb, incredibly needy and always wanting to be petted.  He didn't really have a name (long story), so we call him Mbwa.  So now we have two dogs, both named "dog" in Swahili and Hebrew.



We are so glad to have him because Caleb finally gets tired out every day.  Basically they chase each other around and play bite each other all day and all night except for when they are sleeping.  You can see a glimpse in the video below.  Caleb being out of energy means he tries to play with the goats less, (and the goats are party poopers who don't like Caleb's biting games).

So by mid morning they crash.





Then by 5:15pm they are both rearing to go on a walk and start whining and clawing at the door.  Somehow they have an internal clock.

Last, as one part of celebrating our 10-year anniversary in August, we hiked up to the top of a hill near our house at sunrise.  We thought we should include at least one picture of us.