We left off with the completion of the chapel. This obviously calls for a party. I had a couple from my home church send me a donation to treat the boys and so I did. There is a hotel/resorty place in a nearby village that overlooks the Lake Victoria. We had stopped by there this past summer on our research field trip and the boys have talked about how they hope to one day go back. The day has arrived.



On my agenda for the night I had; pick up the boys, order food, eat food, go home. Unfortunately for me, Sam, Patrick, and the boys had a more Ugandan style gathering in mind. Ugandan parties, weddings, church services, funerals, and most any other sort of gathering are long drawn out events. I've heard stories of 6 sermons in one church service or weddings that just never end. I so far have not had many events of this sort so I am still in a bit of cultural rebellion. Anyway, their agenda went more like this; pick up the boys, Patrick gives an introduction speech, order food, Patrick give another longer speech, Sam gives a speech, several of the boys give speeches, Patrick does a question and answer session with the boys, I give a speech, eat food, they all decide that this was my gift to them so they want to have another gathering the next week that they plan, go home. Honestly it was great, but boy can Ugandans talk.



Fun story about the evening. I told them to go ahead and pick anything they wanted on the menu. Foolish foolish Brad. Of course every single one of the boys picks the highest priced item (lucky for me this was only $7.50 each). Each of the boys ends up with this big old fish. It comes out with a huge mound of rice as well. I was like "you guys really think you can finish all that?" Response from all of them "oh yeah, it isn't so much. We will finish." Guess how many finished. If you guessed zero you are correct. I took this prime opportunity to give them grief. "Can we get a round of doggie bags"


So, the next week they planned a dinner for Katie and I to thank us. We were also able to present them with their certificates of completion for the summer construction training program. They all chipped in and prepared for us rice and chicken. It was a generous gesture that I very much appreciated. I couldn't believe what they brought out next.



Side note-I have recently gone into the goat business. I have purchased 7 goats of my own and plan on raising them and breading them. Just for a hobby cause I really don't have much going on to keep me busy (that last comment is dripping with sarcasm).



Back to the story. They got me a goat! I couldn't believe it. Reminded me so much of the woman who gave the 2 copper coins. "Truly I tell you, these boys, gave more than I. I gave out of my wealth; but they, out of their poverty, gave everything."

It seems by the end of the day my brain is non-functioning which makes creative blogging difficult. I'm sure my brother will have some comment about how even fully rested my brain is only partially functioning so I'm going to preempt him.



We have completed the chapel! It took a bit longer than anticipated, but I should have learned by now to anticipate that my anticipations will be inaccurate. Ha what a horrible sentence.





A few details on the building process (not sure anybody will find any of this interesting, but here ya go):
-the slope of the land made the top side about 5 feet higher than the bottom which means filling which a ton of dirt. We had to bring in about 12 dump trucks full and wheelbarrow it all into the center, wetting it and packing as we went.
-We used 7,000 bundles of grass on the roof
-Each brick cost $0.04 and are homemade in the village; one of the boys we have been working with and teaching has saved his money and started his own brick making business where he rented a small plot of land and hired two others to make bricks for him.
-We used a final plaster coat of cement to make all the walls and floors nice and smooth. Basically it is cement without the gravel and applied at a thickness of about 1/2 inch.
-We didn't paint any of the walls cause we don't want to present ourselves as big and fancy. Perceptions to the locals is constantly on our mind.
-The poles used on the roof and for supports are eucalyptus poles, but we are not blessed with the cute Koala bears that most associate with the tree.
-We can fit over 400 children inside the building (probably closer to 600 if we seat them Ugandan style. By Ugandan style I mean on top of each other. Personal space doesn't exist here so much)
-We had the 10 young men (8 from the playground project and 2 new ones), 2 experienced construction workers, and my foreman Sam working on the project
-It took us about 2 and 1/2 months to complete the chapel construction





After finishing the roof we found that the span was a bit too far for the poles and the ones in the middle had been pushed out about 1/8 of an inch from the weight on the. This doesn't seem like much, but it is a major concern for the longevity of the building.

I had my trusted welder make us some beams with plates in the middle that we could bolt together to draw the poles back into position. We then reinforced the roof with poles running lengthwise to keep them from again pulling apart. Praise God it all worked out. I am now confident in the structural integrity of the building which is kinda important.




Here are some completed photos of the children enjoying the solace from the intense Ugandan sun. The project turned out marvelously and will open so many doors for future missions opportunities in the community. We are dreaming up so many different ways to use the building and excited to see how God is glorified through it.

Chapel Genesis

Update on the craziness that has been my life. One of our employees resigned 2 weeks back which has added to my duties as well as required me to learn many new sides and goings on of our organization. Although it has made things a bit hectic I have actually enjoyed getting more immersed in all the aspects of what we do here.

Added on top of all this we have just completed the election season here in Uganda. Due to the happenings in Egypt and several other countries in the past few months there was some concern about the peaceful proceedings of elections here in Uganda. So far it has been calm, which is an answer to prayer.

Anyway, we are nearing the completion of the chapel project that I started upon arriving back in Uganda, Nov 15th. Lets start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start. When you read you begin with A, B, C. When you sing you begin with doe, re, mi. When you build you begin with research, drawings, and foundation. Sorry there was absolutely no possible way to make that rhyme.

We originally planned to make it 26' x 30', but after roughly calculating how much space a child fills when sitting, we realized that we needed it bigger to fit the 300 or so kids that come each Saturday. We decided to make it 26' x 45', which ends up being 1170 square feet.

We also decided that we want the same grass thatched roof we used on the gazebo for the playground. Even though they end up being a bit more expensive they have so many benefits to counterbalance. They keep the building cooler than a tin roof. It is somewhat a dying art, which we want to support. It is nice buying the materials from a village of local women who cut the grass themselves and bundle it (personally my favorite reason). Finally, it is absolutely gorgeous. Here are some photos of 3 of the 15 or so women who spent their days in the hot sun cutting grass to support their families. In the states seeing old school manual labor is a rarity and here you see it everywhere you look. I love it!




Now it was time to assemble the crew. We decided to work with all the boys from the playground project to further their learning and better prepare them for a job opportunity in the future. We also picked back up Sam my foreman from this summer and two older experienced builders that Sam had worked with in the past, Salim and Abu, that came with high praise. We also hired on another boy from the neighborhood who didn't work with us this summer, but in retrospect I wish he had. His name is James and he lives in the house next to the Amazima land. James doesn't speak a lick of English, but he is a work horse. It seems he volunteers for all the worst jobs and does them with a smile on his face. These are the type of guys I really like being around. Can't wait till I have a free second to take some Lugandan classes so I can talk to him. He is pictured below in the red shirt and bucket hat.



Everything here is done a bit different. Obviously we lack some of the equipment the more developed West uses, but there are still other differences. Foundations here are not poured with re-bar running through them. Rather, they dig the trenches and use a brick wall as the core. Then they are covered with cement. I'm assuming this is to save costs cause cement and metal are both expensive here. As for the equipment I know that a cement mixer would be nice. Luckily, I am the only one who knows the labor this would save and to all my workers mixing by hand is standard. For this project we mixed several hundred bags of cement. Yikes!!! Oh, and for those of you who followed the summer project, we still get to run to the well for water.


It was impressive to see the improvement the boys had made in just 3 months of work this past summer. They are no longer students, but fully capable construction workers. Obviously, there are times that they have questions or need correction, but they were confident and able to carry out most tasks easily after short explanations.

I can't tell you how much I love what I am doing here. Praise Jesus he has led me here and prepared and equipped me in a way that I can serve Him and His kingdom.

Mathew 18:20

For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.
-Mathew 18:20

Where do we gather in the Lord's name?

This past week we (meaning myself and many of my friends here in Uganda) found ourselves in an not so unique situation. I suppose for me it was unfamiliar territory, but for the rest it unfortunately and fortunately isn't so uncommon. A significant portion of our Bible study attendees all had patients at the local hospital and were dedicated to spending time there seeing to their needs, providing meals, and loving on them through their hard times.


I was included in this group. I had recently found a girl in need. I won't go into full details of her situation, but I will give you the short version. On my way to work I found her unconscious lying in the middle of the road. Upon getting her help we discovered that she had come down to Jinja, from northern Uganda, for a promised house girl job. The people who brought her here took her things and abandoned her in the bus park. She had been living on the streets for over a week with no food and because of her tribal background she was unable to communicate with anyone. We also discovered that she very likely had psychological problems and may have been a rape victim.


She was a sweetheart. Her smile would light up the room. She was a child of God who I fell in love with quicker than I would have imagined. When I found her she had no hope. In Uganda having no hope means something a bit more drastic than in the States. I honestly believe that had the Lord not led me to her and surrounded me by people who could help me through the situation that she would be dead today and if not today very soon.


Anyway, as we discussed Bible study for the week we realized the obvious solution was having it at the hospital. A great horde of white people came and crammed into the Women's Ward. There were families gathered around patients in beds across the way and several of our patients sat and listened in, some understanding some just enjoyed listening to the songs and watching us as we browsed through scripture and discussed adamantly in a foreign tongue. It was a glorious night. It was such a blessing to see the smiles on the faces, of all within earshot, as we sang praise to our Lord and Savior.


Some highlights for me of the night were; the head doctor who had just gotten off duty fetching his Bible and joining us, another Indian doctor coming in and asking to have a photo taken on his phone of him and the girl playing guitar, and the following day hearing that our favorite nurse was upset she had missed out (we promised we would be back and inform her with plenty of notice so she could attend).

I can't imagine what heaven will be like, but I know that it will be similar to our night in the hospital.

Where do we gather together in the Lord's Name...Al-Shafa Medical Center!

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I suppose I should give a conclusion to the girl I was caring for. We found a lady who spoke her language and organized a tribe mate and a social worker (who works for a friends organization) to escort her back up to northern Uganda to her home. She was sooo excited to be going home and I can only imagine the reunion with her family. I still think about her daily and pray the Lord is working in her heart and that she has the support she needs to deal with the difficult life she will continue to face in Uganda. Please join me in these prayers. Pray for Charity.

Operation Christmas Goat

I'm sorry to say that I have not been able to blog as much as I had hoped when I arrived back. Turns out that I am crazy busy with work...shoulda known better.Since getting back I have picked up three new projects. I am again working with many of the ones that I spent this past summer with. Sam, the foreman, and all the boys have come back on and are working with me in the construction of a chapel on the same land the playground was built. I also, was charged with helping complete the well we had started this past summer. It is a solar powered well and it was my job to construct a concrete box for the batteries and control consoles. Also, included in this project was setting up the solar panels in a way that would prevent theft or vandalism. I hope to post more on both of these projects in the future, but for now on to the last, which I hope is as interesting and entertaining for you as it was for me.

GOATS!!!!

As you all are aware Christmas season has just passed and here at Amazima that meant a new addition to each household. As an organization we are constantly looking for ways to help the families we serve become more self sustaining. This year we decided as Christmas gifts to give each family, with a child in the program, a female goat. We instructed them not to just take them home and eat them, but rather let them grow and mature until they are able to bear children (or as they are called for goats "kids"). Then they can eat the new ones or sell them or do whatever they like with them.

Anyway, this seems like a simple enough idea...not at all the case though. We needed to come up with 120 goats in about 3 weeks. There are no auction houses or sale barns here so we used the old "ask around" strategy. We would find 3 here and 1 there, but it wasn't going so quick. I decided to implement an incentive. These always worked in the states to speed things up. I told the boys I was working with that I would give them a small bit of money for each goat they found increasing the amount if they found them at a lower price (ranging from $0.20 - $0.70).

One of the up sides to this strategy was getting to see many new areas of Uganda. I trekked deeper into the villages than I had ever before. Many times I was anywhere from 1/2 hour to 1 hour from a paved road. The crazy part about that is that it couldn't have been more than 5 miles actual distance, but due to the winding paths and off-road nature of it all it took forever.

The boys efforts helped a bunch and between the 3 of them they came up with close to 40 goats. We also ran into the problem that 120 goats or anywhere near that amount is a ton of stinking goats. The feeding ground was limited on our property and we had to build a pen for them at night. Another problem we faced was a few of the goats developed a cold and spread it to all of them. We had close to a hundred sniffling and sneezing goats. This doesn't seem so bad until I researched and realized a common killer of goats is pneumonia. We only lost one, but I was a bit worried for a spell.

Despite the stress and setbacks I still am very fond of goats and hope to someday raise at least of few of my own. Even though I'm in an apartment currently, I am tempted to buy a few and keep them out on the Amazima property. Maybe I could pay somebody a bit to tend to them.

All in all Operation Christmas Goat (this is the official name I gave this project) was a success.

A few interesting goat facts

1) Goats are great swimmers and were often kept by sailors for their milk and lack of fear of water

2) Goats have rectangular eyes which help them see at night

3) A group of goats is called a trip

I've got many emails requesting a goat Haiku so for all you fans of Japanese poetry about goats here you go.

I get a bad rap

Many say I eat tin cans

They say that I'm dense

Children of God

See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.
-Mathew 18:10-14

We proclaim Christ, admonishing and teaching these children with all wisdom, so that we may present all of these children perfect in Christ. To this end we labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in us.
-Adaption of Colossians 1:28-29

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
-Proverbs 22:6

Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer.
-Psalms 4:1

He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.
-Psalms 102:17

All of the Amazima children have survived difficulty that I can't even imagine. They have witnessed their parents death, felt the pains of hunger, and often had no human comfort when they were scared and alone. Thankfully now they are learning to follow faithfully, pray earnestly, and seek the Lord in all they do. The truth that the Lord is teaching them will not only change their life here on earth, but more importantly guarantee them an eternity with our Father in heaven. I know the Lord is looking down on them guiding their steps, listening to their prayers, and rejoicing in their praise.