Back to the USA

We arrived back in the USA on thursday with sadness in leaving those who became like family to us.  Now as our family gathers for Thanksgiving we remember with thanks those in Uganda who made a deep impression upon us.

There is Christopher, 8 year old son of Akello Grace who is the son of the 3rd in command to Joseph Kony (LRA leader).  He stole my heart as we explored the new land for CVI together (he was my GPS man), taught him baseball, sudoku, and saw his skill in drawing pictures grow.

There is Pastor Nelson who took us under his wing to love and pray for.  I believe his prayers were heard by God to open the way for Nick (our son-in-law) to land a great job at Children's Hospital in Boston.

And there are the dear staff at Child Voice, who labor tirelessly so that 30 mothers and their 38 children will someday go from the most vulnerable in the community to those who are leading the way in self sustainability and sharing the gospel of Christ's love.

I am amazed at some ongoing work of God from the Global Issues Internship in June.  Esther in  this picture is finishing up at Makare University and plans to do ministry with FOCUS next year.  Andrew (on left) is starting an Art School with street kids displaced from the north with the help of Amanda from Wellesley College, a student for InterVarsity who came on the Internship.

 May all have a wonderful time of giving Thanks this week

God Bless

tom

Visit to Kony's hometown and sacred rock

Joseph Kony has been responsible for millions being displaced, hundreds of thousands of deaths, and over 65,000 abductions of children transforming them into child soldiers.  For 20 years he kept the Ugandan army at bay and even now they still can not find him to force a peace agreement.

Where did this man come from?

The president of Child Voice International (Conrad Mandsager) and I journeyed to his home village today, Nov 13.  We passed the school which he attended and saw his home plot near some tall trees.  We traveled with a schoolmate of his, who is now the community leader, LC III.  

Kony lived here until 1986 and then began his rebel activities at age 35.  He was a normal cattle herder, but dabbled in witchcraft strongly which lead him to the rock mound we were hunting for.

This mound (200 high, 1000 ft by 500 ft) was one of his places of sacrifice and spiritual power.  The president of Uganda flew local pastors and the military into this place for pastors to pray and break the stronghold here.  After this event in 2006, Kony began to lose his hold and had to move to the Congo and DAR, where he is now.

Baby Thomas

Here is the little guy name after me, Thomas.  I have no claim to fame other than Nancy was with her when he was named, so the mother asked: "What is your husbands name?"  So it was Thomas.  He's a cute little guy.  I do pray for and wonder about his future.

Lukodi Massacre

On May 19, 2004 100 LRA rebels attacked the small village (1000 people) of Lukodi.  They believed that one rebel had been killed by the soldiers in Lukodi a few months before, so they came for revenge.  (Our friend Jackie (pictured and former child soldier) told us this story yesterday).  So in the battle, the soldiers ran away, the LRA surrounded the village and burnt down every hut.  Over 60 people were killed, with many burnt to death in their huts.  We were on sacred ground in the picture.  Many died horribly here.  But we also are in a place where the villagers now have their land back and are beginning to rebuild their lives and this village one again.     

James and Calvin (shown) both lost families in the raid.

Life back in Lukodi

We are winding down our fourth week here.  We will be happy to be home to NH but sad to leave this community of child mothers and the staff.

We have grown to love their humility, sacrifice and faith.  We also feel like we have served Child Voice well by advising the country director James Lomoro and also served the CVI interns by helping them through some rough transition periods.  God has used Nancy to minister to the women interns in deep ways.  When one comes and lives for 3-6 months in another land many personal issues surface as all of your patterns of normal life are stripped away.  These interns are very brave for moving out to a war zone, and living off of very little in mud hut for 4-6 months.

First Bible and Life Conference in Uganda was a success.

On Saturday November 8, 2008 65 staff, local pastors, and student leaders from six local universities spent the day pouring over the book of Luke, emphasizing the Lordship of Christ in our lives.

As I directed the weekend and two Ugandan FOCUS staff gave key talks on Following Christ and Growing to know Christ, we found that the material met two critical needs for Ugandan University students.

1.  Friendship in relationship to sharing their faith is virtually unknown.  We taught about the integrity and effectiveness of growing strong friendships and being natural in sharing your life in Christ with friends.

2. Students in Uganda are so strong in corporate worship and group activities but don't know how to cultivate a personal relationship with Christ.  Thus we also exposed these students to this helpful concept.

During the day, one student also became a follower of Christ for the first time.  He came unexpectedly (to the prompting of the Spirit) and told us all he would like to become a Christian at the end of the day.  So he did.

The two FOCUS training secretaries who attended are very interested in using the Bible study material in Bible and Life to forward their student training.

Bible & Life Level ONE coming up

Please set aside some time this week to ask God to bless the first Bible and Life training in Uganda in Lira this weekend (Nov 8).  I will be directing this Bible teaching in the gospel of Luke for the FOCUS staff and 40 student leaders from 6 plus campuses.  We hope this training will be replicated through Uganda in the following years to train students to grow in leadership and character and use of the Bible as their source of guidance and truth.

Presentation of book for Fort Patiko Library

On Sunday Nov 2, Nancy and I took a few of the CVI Interns up to Fort Patiko to visit this historic spot and for a Mid term mini-retreat to reflect upon what they are learning.

I had brought a book to present to the curator of the Fort, Into the Heart of the Nile, which tells of the history of this place and how Samuel Baker stopped the Arab Slave trade from moving south at this point in 1872.  Mr. Constant was very moved by our gift, as he has very little resources.

Income Generating Projects

I've also been learning much about IGP (Income Generating Projects) that many NGO's use to help the people to become self-sustaining.  Northern Uganda and Gulu especially are packed with so many Aid organizations that the people now expect a handout and look for people from the west to provide for them.  Child Voice is teaching these former Child Soldiers who are now mothers to bake, cater, and make cards which will sell in the west.  These project have setbacks in teaching about quality work for western standards but soon will be making a profit to support the girls at CVI.  They also work on the farm to produce their own food.  In working on these projects the girls also earn a small amount of money and learn to save for the future.

Tom meets the US Ambassador to Uganda, Stephen Browning

This last week has been a whirlwind of activities.

It would all be in the category of gaining information for our InterVarsity New England Global Issues Internship thru serving Child Voice International.  I represented Child Voice in meetings with the following groups:

Invisible Children, where US Ambassador to Uganda, Stephen Brownings (pictured) was the honored guest.  I hope to have him as a speaker to our group in June.

Gulu District Disaster Management Cooperative Meeting, where I learned about the resettlement process of the IDP campus.  At present 40% of the 700,000 are still in the camps, but 30% have moved back to their traditional homelands, with another 30% in transitional stages.

I also met with the local Land Management Office and the District Water Resource Office to learn about sanitation, land resettlement issues, and water resource management.