Travelling Blogger Mari

Hi Folks, this is being written in retrospi..... retrospet..... retro (oh heck, don't use words you can't spell) well... looking backwards then.

Beki has told you a bit about our weekend at the village of Bugiri. We met Pastor Joshua briefly at the Pastor's Meal during the Team visit early in September. Joshua is in his 30's and has only been married since January this year - he said he delayed in marrying because he was busy with the Lord's work. His wife, Eunice, was kept busy in the kitchen area helping to prepare meals, not only for us, but also visiting Pastors and the lunch provided for the children when we ministrered to them on the Saturday. Every now and then we would see her hurrying past, fetching and carrying pots or food. They made a lovely couple and were deeply committed to each other.

On of the church elders and his wife Jennifer, opened their home to us. We were given their bedroom, and still have no idea where they slept. Our room had been prepared by Sister Rush - a real 'servant'. She had been brought up as a Catholic and within days of her marriage had accepted Jesus and was "Born Again". Unfortunately, her husband deserted her because she would not give up her new faith. She decided that she would dedicate her life to serving God and His people. If you can imagine a combination of Martha and Mary from the Bible, you would have some idea of the makings of Sister Rush. Our beds were made, mosquito nets in place, hot water and towel for washing, and a hot cup of tea shortly after we arrived. She served all our meals, laying them out on a large wooden table which was also in our room. She slep on a mattress at the foot of our beds, which brough to mind Ruth in the Bible who slept at the feet of her master - Boaz.

As Beki has explained, we were kept BUSY!!! But, the people were so grateful and joyous to have us there, that it made our efforts seem so worthwhile. On Saturday evening, as we sat around the oil lamp and one by one the believers told us their personal story of salvation, we were drawn into their lives. Darkness surrounded us, stars seemed near enough to touch, we could barely see each other, but as that single lamp burned, it brought to mind the light of Jesus shining in the darkness and their testimonies brough light into our lives. It is one of those special memories that will warm my heart when I am sitting in my rocking chair and can only travel in my mind.

They were so reluctant to let us go and we were to reluctant to leave, that saying 'goodbye' was very painful. We pray, as they do, that Community Church will return to their village - as one visiting Pastor said "I feel that I have only had half the meal".

The remainder of that last week, I spent trying to tie-up loose ends. I visited the orphans as many times as I could to complete their individual "profiles" to distributie to their sponsors. This has proved to be a mamouth task (please be patient). Firstly, it is difficult to get information when the children have come from different villages and towns and there are few relatives to approach. Of course, like all kids they have their own little personalities and I tried to get to know them and their ways. Speaking with the boys was the easiest - they settled on their bunks, listened carefully as I spoke to each one, sometimes encouraging the shy ones, or adding comments - they took it all very seriously. The girls, well, they were a different 'kettle of fish'. I started repairing their uniforms, partly because some badly needed repairing and also it gave me the opportunity to chat to them. They kept up a constant string of questions..... Sister Mari.... what is so and so like? Sister Mari...... do you have any children? What is his name? Why have you only got one child? Sister Mari...... is it cold in UK? Sister Mari.... why is your skin so soft? On and On and accompanied by one or other of them touching my skin or hair. They also watched closely as I tried to thread a needle in near darkness, unpicked white stitching on bottle green material and replaced it, scratched around for numberless buttons etc. In between times they pushed and shoved to be the ones sitting closest to me, or had little scirmishes about who's dress should be repaired next..... But it helped me to understand them better, the attention seekers, who badly need to be shown love, the helpful ones, the naughty ones - you can travel the world over, but kids are much of a muchness wherever they come from and whatever their colour. It was a privilege to be with "your" kids.
I left a small donation with Florence who will try to get a tailor to take all their uniforms over the Christmas holiday and get them repaired.

I visited Elder James and his wife (Ruth) at the orphanage at Lugazi. There are many needs there, which I hope to highlight on the Ugandan evening.

As Pastor Emi was ill, he arranged for me to go with his son Judah to visit the 'slum' - hereafter called the "shanty town". You may remember that we had a collection just before last Christmas to raise money to provide Christmas meals there. It was one of the most challenging things I did. They reckon over 800 people live in this small area. Most of the houses are only 10ft x 8ft and there are at least 5 people living in each (i.e. adults and kids). There is only about 18 inches between the houses, and maze-like passages leading you from one part to another. The houses are made of a mixture of mud, corrugated iron, wood, tarpaulin etc. I only saw one fresh water pipe, where many people were waiting to fill their jeri-cans. Some of the men were quite confrontational to me, asking who I was, and why I was there (being white didn't help). However, once I had introduced myself, and talked for a while they calmed down. Pastor Edward who has a church and school nearby helped me to visit the area (most of the kids who attend his school come from this area). The biggest problem is that they have NO TOILETS at all on the site. There has recently been a cholera outbreak and the kids are often sick with different diseases, not helped by the fact that there is an enormous rubbish tip nearby. The people I did manage to speak to remembered the Christmas meal, and thanked us for it. I hope to keep in contact with Pastor Edward and his wife.

Think thats it for me now.... thanks for reading this, I hope you have found it interesting. Mari