Update

Hello friends,

I’ve apparently had some issues with my last few updates, as it seems not everyone on my list has been receiving them. If you are interested, you can make sure you are up to date by visiting my blog at http://uganda-journey.blogspot.com.

It’s been a busy few weeks since my last long update. ECM Gulu was joined by another American missionary, Christine Sliwinsky. We are excited to have her here! Melissa recovered a bit quicker from her second bout of Malaria, so we were able to leave on Friday Oct 16th to go to Kampala to get our visas renewed. We went first thing and dropped off our passports to get the process started. One of the Ugandan volunteers who helped the summer team with translation (Ocan David) is now a student at Makerere, and he had invited us to come and watch a student led cultural festival, so we went there Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. The theme was HIV/AIDS and Cross-Generational Sex. David presented a poem which he had written about HIV/AIDS in Luo, and we also got to watch an Acholi folk song. We also saw presentations by many other different tribal groups from Uganda, including dances, folk songs, dramas, poems, and dress code. It was fascinating.

Saturday evening we left Kampala and took a bus a little under two hours away, to Jinja, Uganda. That night we rested, but Sunday morning we woke up early and went to see the mouth of the River Nile. It is beautiful and exciting to see. The Nile flows out of Lake Victoria. 70% of the source of the Nile is from the lake, while the other 30% bubbles up from an underground spring. We ate fresh tilapia caught from the Nile, saw hundreds of birds including eagles, kites, and kingfishers, and took a small boat ride out to the location of the spring (stopping at a small man-made island to stick our toes in the Nile). It was a beautiful day and a much needed rest from the busy pace of our work here.

Monday morning we returned to Kampala, and went back to immigration to check on the progress of our visas. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we took care of various things in Kampala, and spent time with ECM’s Gayaza staff & missionaries, as well as our friend Kibuule, who was the summer team‘s driver. We also got to visit the Ugandan Martyr’s Monument. Our visas were finally ready on Friday, so after picking them up from immigration, we returned to Gulu by bus. We missed being with the kids in our classes, but were thankful to be able to give Simon some lesson plans so he and Christine could keep classes going while we were gone.

Saturday morning, October 24th, was GuluWalk. The program began around 8:30 with some cultural dance presentations by local primary schools. Walking began a little after 9. We had a live band in front and a truck with a giant sound system in back playing loud music. We walked up and down the streets of Gulu town, with breaks and speeches every few minutes. It is difficult to estimate but I am pretty sure there were over 1,000 people walking. We walked for a little over two hours, ending up in a large field for more speeches and dancing. It was an honor to finally be participating in GuluWalk, and especially to be doing so in Gulu! GuluWalk was a great success this year, with their global efforts raising over $125,000 for building the new youth cultural centre in Gulu town.

This week (Monday morning) the entire ECM Gulu staff is traveling down to the Gayaza office. ECM’s international director Lorella Rouster is in the country and will be presenting a training on human trafficking and modern day slavery. We will travel on Monday, have training Tuesday and Wednesday, and return to Gulu on Thursday.

Melissa, Christine and I have had several opportunities to join Simon and Mary in doing home visits for the sponsored kids. The purpose of this is to get to know the families better, to find out how they are doing, and to hopefully encourage them. However, we always end up being encouraged by them as well. This past week we traveled to the home of one sponsored girl, Apio Prossy. Our meeting was mainly with her father, and it was so encouraging to see a father who is very involved in the lives of his children. He mentioned how most people in the community look down on him and some even avoid him, because he refuses to drink alcohol. Alcoholism is a huge problem in the camps, and even here in town. Many children have lost their fathers because of the war, but those whose fathers are still alive watch them desert their families or see them drunk day after day. So, hearing this man’s story was a huge encouragement.

Prayer Requests:

-Zion Project - they have been experiencing a great deal of spiritual attacks from a number of sources. If you would like more details let me know and I will forward you the update from Zion Project.

-Sudan, esp. Southern Sudan, as they prepare for 2010 elections

-That Joseph Kony would be apprehended and that the children who are currently still captives of the LRA would be returned to their homes.

-For the sponsored children and their families/guardians as they face the ordeal of resettling.

-Safety for ECM Gulu as we travel down to the south for training.

-That Melissa and I would have wisdom about what to focus on and how to best use our last couple of weeks when we get back to Gulu.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

Love,

Sarah