So, this is Dan, sneaking in the last bit of the trip. For those that don't know, I got here on the 3rd Dec to join Beki in her last 2 weeks. Well, it's been good to share the experience, and to have an insight. I think I've become a lot more relaxed with the way of living, for example not covering myself with insect repellant every time I leave the house, wear long sleeved shirts or big hats that almost cover your whole face. It's been a privilege to be involved in helping with teaching the computers, see the kids graduate, visit people - including a 3 day trip to Lugazi, and doing a fair bit of preaching. Being here without the team obviously has its differences, I think preaching is a big one, as I usually have the other guys to rely on. But it's been a good challenge, and I've really felt the empowering of the Holy Spirit - thank you for praying. The scriptures that people gave have been really encouraging.
It's been really weird being here in the heat in December, particulary wishing people a Merry Christmas! It's the last two days now, today with a trip to Kampala, and tomorrow just visiting the childrens' ministry led by baby Charles, and maybe a few other peeps.
There we are, maybe I've got the last word :p hehe. See you all soon.
15 December 2008
01 December 2008
Photos
There are now 4 albums on facebook of my photos, so please click/type these links to find them.
The first is
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40656&l=f4381&id=503957996
The second is
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43351&l=f7582&id=503957996
The third is
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44739&l=acfdf&id=503957996
The fourth is
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48254&l=ced30&id=503957996
Lots of love
Beki x
The first is
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40656&l=f4381&id=503957996
The second is
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43351&l=f7582&id=503957996
The third is
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44739&l=acfdf&id=503957996
The fourth is
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48254&l=ced30&id=503957996
Lots of love
Beki x
Computer lessons begin!
So I know its been like…forever! Please forgive me? Here’s a quick summary of my last few weeks since the Rat episode (euuughhhh….)
10th November – starting this week Judah and me invited the P7 children who had completed their exams to have free computer lessons at the school!. Out of a possible 18 children, 8 of them came back every day in the morning and we spent about 2 hours each day teaching them the basics of what a computer is, and an introduction to word processing. At the same time I was continuing with my normal lessons with the younger classes, and we also made the same computer lessons available after school for the teachers. So all in all it was a crazy weekday schedule, but we had a great time and the kids and teachers were all very grateful for being able to even touch a computer for the first time, let alone learn how to use it for free. We had two computers, so you can imagine the patience and sharing skills that were learnt! At the weekend I went with Judah – Emmanuel’s second son – to visit a new church plant in a place called Mukono, about 30 minutes East of Bweyogerere towards Jinja. It was called New Day church and was led by a Pastor Moses, who is actually working in a fairly important business organisation in Kampala. Although the church is not directly under Emmanuel’s oversight, it is under a friend of his called James who had started around 200 churches in the last 40 years! There was a real sense of the early church of Acts in this place, because it had only been around for about 8 months and really need every shilling it could collect for even the most basic things. For example when we were there they were preparing for their monthly overnight prayer meeting and needed 20,000 shillings (about 6 quid) to buy paraffin for the lamps. One by one the congregation of about 30 people stood up and promised to contribute 500, or 1,000 or 2,000, and bit by bit they made it up to the money they needed! Also, they have 7 people praying and fasting each week for two meals a day from Monday thru to Sunday. On the Sunday morning they were saying thanku to the ppl that had prayed the previous week, and assigning another group to pray for the following week. This is really the backbone of the church and they way that they continue and pray for growth, so we were really encouraged.
17th November – this week was exam week at school, and was truly manic for us! I had to supervise the exams for the subjects I had taken and take the papers home to mark (which is certainly not a menial task, so thank God for willing helpers of William Judah & Norah!). During the day we were also doing the P7 lessons and also staying late after school with the teachers, so by Friday I was well and truly shattered! On Friday I went to the first part of the overnight prayer meeting (which they have every week!) at Emmanuel’s church, and I was really pleased to get a call about 12 midnight from Dan who had me on the phone to the church at the Uganda night! It was short and the network was bad but I had a funny feeling of being at home and in Uganda at the same time, and actually went back into the prayer meeting really missing home. On the Saturday I went to a very silly and happy 3rd birthday party on Jovan, who was the son of Milly the Bursar at the school. Me and Norah went together and spent the afternoon blowing bubbles and eating cake with a load of kids, and had a lot of good fun! On the Sunday I went with Judah again and Baby Charles (the children’s worker from Emmanuel’s church, hence his nickname) to Lugazi Pentecostal Church. This is the church where Emmanuel first was involved and before he started his own ministry, and was a young evangelist with the pastor there – Tom and his wife Edith. It was a big church, maybe 250 people, and they met in a primary school where Judah and Sam used to go. We really enjoyed the service and there were loads of young people there that Judah knew so it was nice to be introduced to them. We spent the afternoon with Tom and Edith, who have all hands full with so many areas of ministry. They run a church, a secondary school, a clinic, a child sponsorship program in partnership with compassion, and they have just started a vocational training school for young people without school qualifications! On top of this, Tom has lost all his brothers and sisters to AIDS so they have 18 children in their house, only 6 of which are their own biologically, and of course they have to pay school fees and everything else as well as give them their time. I was so impressed with this couple, they are so sincerely selfless and giving, and even just spending a few hours in their home they couldn’t have done more for us! We also went to their evening service, where there are less people but much more free worship and sharing time, which reminded me a lot of our church at home.
21st Nov – this week the kids had mostly gone home as their exams had finished, but we made computer lessons available through the day for any who wanted to come, and had a fantastic turnout. We have had a good 40 kids every day, and continued with the teachers lessons in the afternoons. It has been a real challenge to negotiate with 7 year olds why they have to sit 10 to a computer and take turns, but they have really appreciated it. And with the older ones (10 or 12) we have been able to give them more detailed knowledge of the theory and basic computer knowledge, as well as teaching them to use Paint and Word. The teachers completed their third weekly progress test on Friday and they have to wait until next week when we will issue certificates based on their performance. This gives an element of official-ness to the lessons, although they obviously won’t qualify in anything apart from basic computer literacy. They are certainly competitive, even if they aren’t as quick at learning as the kids and they ask so many more questions! Its been really great that people are so enthusiastic and grateful, and has made me realise how privileged I have been to be brought up with computers in every classroom and learning basic things from a very young age. Its really a shortage skills here, at least at schools like this one, and they keep reminding us how much it would have cost them to take a proper course for the same skills.
So thank you very much for letting me come and to Judah of course for helping teach!
10th November – starting this week Judah and me invited the P7 children who had completed their exams to have free computer lessons at the school!. Out of a possible 18 children, 8 of them came back every day in the morning and we spent about 2 hours each day teaching them the basics of what a computer is, and an introduction to word processing. At the same time I was continuing with my normal lessons with the younger classes, and we also made the same computer lessons available after school for the teachers. So all in all it was a crazy weekday schedule, but we had a great time and the kids and teachers were all very grateful for being able to even touch a computer for the first time, let alone learn how to use it for free. We had two computers, so you can imagine the patience and sharing skills that were learnt! At the weekend I went with Judah – Emmanuel’s second son – to visit a new church plant in a place called Mukono, about 30 minutes East of Bweyogerere towards Jinja. It was called New Day church and was led by a Pastor Moses, who is actually working in a fairly important business organisation in Kampala. Although the church is not directly under Emmanuel’s oversight, it is under a friend of his called James who had started around 200 churches in the last 40 years! There was a real sense of the early church of Acts in this place, because it had only been around for about 8 months and really need every shilling it could collect for even the most basic things. For example when we were there they were preparing for their monthly overnight prayer meeting and needed 20,000 shillings (about 6 quid) to buy paraffin for the lamps. One by one the congregation of about 30 people stood up and promised to contribute 500, or 1,000 or 2,000, and bit by bit they made it up to the money they needed! Also, they have 7 people praying and fasting each week for two meals a day from Monday thru to Sunday. On the Sunday morning they were saying thanku to the ppl that had prayed the previous week, and assigning another group to pray for the following week. This is really the backbone of the church and they way that they continue and pray for growth, so we were really encouraged.
17th November – this week was exam week at school, and was truly manic for us! I had to supervise the exams for the subjects I had taken and take the papers home to mark (which is certainly not a menial task, so thank God for willing helpers of William Judah & Norah!). During the day we were also doing the P7 lessons and also staying late after school with the teachers, so by Friday I was well and truly shattered! On Friday I went to the first part of the overnight prayer meeting (which they have every week!) at Emmanuel’s church, and I was really pleased to get a call about 12 midnight from Dan who had me on the phone to the church at the Uganda night! It was short and the network was bad but I had a funny feeling of being at home and in Uganda at the same time, and actually went back into the prayer meeting really missing home. On the Saturday I went to a very silly and happy 3rd birthday party on Jovan, who was the son of Milly the Bursar at the school. Me and Norah went together and spent the afternoon blowing bubbles and eating cake with a load of kids, and had a lot of good fun! On the Sunday I went with Judah again and Baby Charles (the children’s worker from Emmanuel’s church, hence his nickname) to Lugazi Pentecostal Church. This is the church where Emmanuel first was involved and before he started his own ministry, and was a young evangelist with the pastor there – Tom and his wife Edith. It was a big church, maybe 250 people, and they met in a primary school where Judah and Sam used to go. We really enjoyed the service and there were loads of young people there that Judah knew so it was nice to be introduced to them. We spent the afternoon with Tom and Edith, who have all hands full with so many areas of ministry. They run a church, a secondary school, a clinic, a child sponsorship program in partnership with compassion, and they have just started a vocational training school for young people without school qualifications! On top of this, Tom has lost all his brothers and sisters to AIDS so they have 18 children in their house, only 6 of which are their own biologically, and of course they have to pay school fees and everything else as well as give them their time. I was so impressed with this couple, they are so sincerely selfless and giving, and even just spending a few hours in their home they couldn’t have done more for us! We also went to their evening service, where there are less people but much more free worship and sharing time, which reminded me a lot of our church at home.
21st Nov – this week the kids had mostly gone home as their exams had finished, but we made computer lessons available through the day for any who wanted to come, and had a fantastic turnout. We have had a good 40 kids every day, and continued with the teachers lessons in the afternoons. It has been a real challenge to negotiate with 7 year olds why they have to sit 10 to a computer and take turns, but they have really appreciated it. And with the older ones (10 or 12) we have been able to give them more detailed knowledge of the theory and basic computer knowledge, as well as teaching them to use Paint and Word. The teachers completed their third weekly progress test on Friday and they have to wait until next week when we will issue certificates based on their performance. This gives an element of official-ness to the lessons, although they obviously won’t qualify in anything apart from basic computer literacy. They are certainly competitive, even if they aren’t as quick at learning as the kids and they ask so many more questions! Its been really great that people are so enthusiastic and grateful, and has made me realise how privileged I have been to be brought up with computers in every classroom and learning basic things from a very young age. Its really a shortage skills here, at least at schools like this one, and they keep reminding us how much it would have cost them to take a proper course for the same skills.
So thank you very much for letting me come and to Judah of course for helping teach!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
