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.