I had gotten to meet Wycliffe, one of Pastor Edward’s older children the day before, but on Tuesday I was going to go the schools, hoping that they would be the schools that his children attended. I was very excited! Pastor Edward and the rest of his family used to all live in Bukaleba, but the mosquitoes were so bad that his family was constantly suffering from malaria, and he moved his family, except for the oldest children, closer to Jinja.
When we got back to Bukaleba on Tuesday morning, I played just a little bit with the children while we waited to go to the schools. Ashley told me that she has since learned that Bukaleba is one of the very poorest and sickest areas of Uganda. Even just the little bit that I saw was heartbreaking.
While we waited, I got to meet Juliet, one of Pastor Edward’s adopted daughters. It was amazing to meet someone I’d been praying for and loving for almost a year!
I went out with Josh, Pastor Edward, Isaac, and maybe a few others to the first school, Bishop Hannington Primary School. While we waited in the headmistress’s office, I saw that there 800 children who attended the school, and according to the calculations on a poster on the wall, they had a budget of $1,200. TOTAL. $1,200. The headmistress had been at a funeral, so we waited a few minutes for her to get back, but when she did we went outside where the teachers had assembled all of the students outside. They looked SO cute in their blue uniforms. We did songs for them, and I gave my testimony about overcoming fear. As I ended, I said “Webale nyo. Katonda Akuwe Omukisa.” Which means, “Thank you very much. God bless you.” I had 800 children in front of me nearly rolling with laughter. I thought I must have said something wrong, and I quickly sat down. I leaned over to ask Pastor Edward what I had said wrong, but he said that they only laughed because it was funny to hear words in their language spoken from a “mzungu.” Josh presented the Gospel and literally hundreds of children got saved! It was awesome!
A friend of mine had generously donated about 2 dozen soccer balls for us to take, and we had enough to give one to each school. I had hidden the ball in my backpack, and after we were done we said that we had gifts. We handed a plastic grocery bag full of paper and other school supplies to the head mistress, and when I pulled out the soccer ball, there was SHRIEKING. They cheered SO loud! Each of them was so grateful for just a simple soccer ball to share with 799 others.
We walked back to the bus with 800 children following us and wanting to touch us.
When we got back on the bus, we ate our lunch while we rode to the next school, which was a secondary school (high school). Pastor Edward told me that it wasn’t the school that his children were at, so I was obviously disappointed but I tried to put that behind me and focus on the students that were there.
Our interpreters went in to talk to the school officials and tell them that we had arrived, but they said that that they didn't know we were coming and the students were on their lunch break, so we could only have 15 minutes when they were ready for us. We waited on the bus for them to be ready, and two girls came up to the bus window that I was sitting next to. They smiled shyly, and I held up my camera and asked them if they wanted me to take a picture. They nodded and giggled when they saw the result. I have yet to meet someone in Uganda who did not like getting their picture taken.
We went inside to talk to the students, which was different from what I had done before. I’d also never been to a secondary school, and I was surprised by how much smaller it was. I don’t know if they didn’t bring all of the students to listen to us, but there were only 30-40 students in the room. Knowing that our time was short, we only did one song, and I gave my testimony again on fear. Again, my “Katonda Akuwe Omukisa” brought squeals of laughter. When Josh presented the Good News, about 20 students accepted Jesus as their Savior! God is so good! One of the girls that I had taken a picture of got saved!
As we were talking, it started pouring outside, so our time got extended. We did some more songs, and just like at the secondary school there was lots of cheering for the soccer balls.
On the way back to the village to meet up with the rest of our team, Pastor Edward told me and Josh that he was going to paint us black with shoe polish so that we would look like true Ugandans. He still tells me that he has “Kiwi” shoe polish waiting for me when I come back in June. :-) I love that sweet, sweet man so dearly.
When we got back to Bukaleba, I got to see Juliet. She said that her brothers and sisters had come to the village on their lunch break to see Pastor Edward and to meet me, but we were not there. I was extremely disappointed. Juliet was with a crowd of smaller children, and she helped me to tell them my name, and they all laughed as I tried to copy her accent and speak to them. I didn’t get to say much, even to her, but it was an unforgettable experience to feel a bond with someone that I barely knew.
At the guest house that night we had a tea party for our interpreters and all of the others who had made our stay so wonderful. It was so nice to be able to see our friends relax and eat and enjoy themselves. We were able to give them little gift bags with hats, t-shirts, soaps, etc. and it was just a very precious night.
I didn’t write anything else in my journal about the trip or the ride home, except a prayer that I wrote out. I might share that later. I think that I was just overwhelmed because it was so hard to leave. Every time I go to Uganda and come home, I feel like I leave pieces of my heart scattered all over the beautiful country.
