Arrived in London

So, we departed the village Thursday morning, stopped for some coffee in Jinja, and then split with the rest of the group with them going back towards Kampala and Greg, Lauren, Jared, Matt and Jenni going to the Hairy Lemon.

The Hairy Lemon is a campground type area that is actually a small island on the Nile River. It was very picturesque and relaxing. We were able to get a shower after several days in the very muddy village and talk about our experiences so far through the trip. It was a very good time of further getting to hear about the ups and downs we have experienced and the lessons that we have learned so far.

We departed Friday morning back to Nasana and spent the next several hours packing up, tagging paper bead necklaces that support the Threads of Life ministry of CLD and saying goodbyes to our friends at CLD. We went to a pizza restaurant on Lake Victoria by the airport with Jenni, our driver Emma, and a Ugandan friend Florence. It was a great time of relaxing and hearing insight about the Church in America and in Uganda. We got through the airport with no real hassles and flew for 9 hours. We landed in Heathrow and got through pretty quickly.

We are now sitting at the Ace Hotel(where we will be staying the next 2 nights) which is from where we are updating the blog.

We are looking forward to getting home and getting to share more details about the stories we have experienced and lessons we are learning.

Village Life

We have spent the last two days and nights in a village of one of the pastors who works with CLD. It is outside of Kalero, in eastern Uganda. There was no power or running water, but shown gracious hospitality by the families we stayed with. Our meals were simple with porridge for breakfast, rice and beans for lunches and dinners. We slept on the floors of the concrete house under mosquito nets (Jared, Greg, and Matt sharing one net and two pads was a bonding experience).

Our time there was spent encouraging the village pastor, Jacob, and visiting both a primary and secondary school. The visits allowed us an opportunity to hear from the students about their hopes and give them a chance to ask us questions about American life. The weather over the last two days has been challenging as it rained on and off most of our time there. Despite the weather our team played a soccer game against the secondary school, losing 4 to 2. The students found great joy in seeing the "muzungus" defeated by their schoolmates. Last night we distributed both candy and toothpaste & toothbrushes to the people of the village before they showed a movie on the projector we brought from Kampala.

We are now in Jinja where we will separate from the rest of the CLD team for the next two days. Our team along with Jennie O are going to spend some time at a campground on the Nile river about 20km outside of Jinja. The retreat campground is called the Hairy Lemon and we have heard you take a boat to reach it. It should be an interesting adventure to conclude our time here in Uganda with.

Our time here is coming to an end and we are grateful for the opportunity to spend these last few days reflecting on our experiences and debriefing them with Jennie O. We look forward to sharing more stories and pictures of our time with many of you soon. Thank you for your prayers over the last few weeks.

Pictures After All !

Apparently we lied, we are going to put some pictures up after all. Greg, Lauren, and Matt are spending some time at the Internet cafe before heading down to the Kids house while Jared is running around doing other stuff in Kampala.

Here are some pictures:

Here is Greg, Lauren and Jared in London.

Here is Matt in London in front of a large swan in Hyde Park.

Here is Greg and Lauren at the Kids House

Here is Jared and our friend from Colorado Tiffney at the Kids house.

Here is our friend from TNL and CLD staff member Jenni with baby Jonathon. Read her blog linked on the side for more information about baby Jonathon.

Here Greg and Lauren are passing out cars.

Here Jared is leading the kids in Yoga.

Kids on the slip and slide.

Greg, Jared, and our friend from Colorado Nate about to partake in Indian food.

We spent this morning preparing for our village outreach. We spent half of our project money on buying the trees for the farm and hiring laborers to plant the trees we were unable to get to. The rest of the project money is being put towards the village outreach which will include buying a pig for CLD's Pigs for Hope ministry in the village.

We will be spending Tuesday, Wednesday, and part of Thursday in the village doing ministry, playing soccer, showing evangelistic films and trying to partner with what God is already doing in the village of Kalioro.

Thursday afternoon/evening and Friday morning will be spent in the town of Jinja at the headwaters of the Nile. We start our journey back to the States around midnight Friday night/Saturday morning.

Friends from Colorado in Uganda

Our friends, Nate, Tiffney, and Josh have their own blog - Epic Adventure

Sorry - No Pictures

Since our internet access has been limited and none of us brought a laptop, we are unable to upload pictures. Sorry. :-(

We plan to upload pictures of our experience and friends over here in Uganda when we return.

Kids House and Church

Since our last post, we have gotten to enjoy many “rolexes” with and without hot sauces(those we brought and those that were here). Fri. night there was a party for a CLD staff member, Torrey, who is leaving at the end of this week to go back to the States. We got to have lots of good discussions through the night and Greg, Matt, Jared, and our friend Josh decided to act like we were college students and stayed up until 2:30 AM talking through the night. Some of us(Jared), paid for that decision more than others. ;-)

Saturday was mainly spent at the Kids House. CLD does a weekly Saturday activity with the kids. They try and alternate a really big event, like going to the zoo, with doing smaller activities at the house. This Saturday was the week to do smaller activities with the kids. The first part of the day was spent reading and coloring with the kids. There was a break to eat beans and rice for dinner. Sarah and Ryan, former staff and volunteers, had sent over Matchbox cars for all the kids at the Kids House. The kids were very excited for their new toys. We then had some great fun of Slip and Slide with the kids. Jared decided to lead by example and demonstrate the proper way to Slip and Slide.

The rest of Saturday night was a night used for resting, recharging and a great game of Nerts. We also got to experience our very first Uganda power outage.

Sunday morning was spent at the unique cultural of Ugandan church. We went for the very end of English worship and got to hear Justine preach an English message. It was a very good message about continuing to grow in Christ and to run the race set out for us. There was an interesting theme of not totally relying on our pastors but that we can approach God just as well as our pastors can. It is a good message for both sides of the Atlantic. It fascinating that just like God is present throughout all of time, he is also present in all of the world. Seeing our brothers and sisters in Christ joyfully worship our Lord during the Ugandan worship time was a great joy.

We went to the craft market this afternoon, drank delicious coffee and tea at 1000 Cups and are taking our friends of CLD to dinner for a well deserved treat.

Life on the Farm

For the last two days our team has joined with other CLD Staff and Volunteers in planting a "live fence" at the CLD farm. It sounded easy enough until we saw the project. It required slashing the growth back to hoe and plant the seedings - 5,000 of them were purchased. We were able to plant over 1,500 of them and hopeful that they will make it. No serious injuries were sustained, although Greg did manage to cut his finger enough to cover his pants and machete in blood, but we think that it was a ploy to make Lauren more attracted to him. Matt and Jared chose to not shed any blood in Uganda so far as they have no women to impress.

After working on the farm on Thursday we attended Prayer Alter at the local church which was an experience of group prayer and worship unlike anything most of the team had ever seen. Friday after the farm we stopped by the Kid's House for our second time and celebrated the birthdays of two of the volunteers. Thanks to George from Mountain Man Candy we were able to give each child their own bag of sweets.

The team was introduced to the local fare of "Rolex" which is a rolled chapati and fried egg ("rolled egg" is the etymology). It has been the dining highlight so far as lunch is peanut butter and bread and dinner is potato and either beans or some other vegetable.

The staff of CLD has been gracious in welcoming us into their lives and world here. It is encouraging to hear about how many of them have connections with TNL. In many ways the CLD house is a unique Colorado - Uganda relationship of family and friends.
We will be returning to the Kids House this weekend, attending church, hopefully meeting some friends from Colorado for dinner in Kampala, and beginning planning on the Village Outreach for next week.

Welcome to Uganda

We landed in Entebbe this morning around 7:30 local time. The view of the sunrise from the plane was spectacular -- it seemed that the horizon was endless and the sun rose as a red ball from leftover storm clouds.

From Entebbe it was about an hour car ride to Nansana and the CLD headquarters. We got settled in and then headed out to visit Solomon at the sew shop -- he and the women working there are truly inspirational. We were fortunate to be able to share in a devotional time with the women led by James the Boy ("the Boy" beacause he's not a woman, but he hangs out at the sew shop).

Our latest adventure was our first taste of Ugandan food. I had matooke and chapati in g-nut sauce. Its no Oscar Meyer weiner, but quite satisfying. We're on our way to play soccer with the kids from the Children's Home, and then maybe some much needed sleep.

Hot Sauce, Broncos, and Fish & Chips

We are 12 hours into our journey to Uganda and the trip has already been full of adventure. First was three hot sauces from BW3's that Matt P was taking to one of our friends in Uganda that he had left in his carry on. We were escorted out of security at DIA to find a box and newspaper from a recycle bin to pack the sauces in a box and check as baggage to Uganda. We found a plac to watch the Broncos game while waiting for our flight that was 30 minutes delayed. As the first half ended we began to walk toward the gate to hear our names being paged over the intercom. As the final four passengers on the flight we sat down commenting about how bad it would have been to miss our first flight for the Broncos game (which we are unsure of if they won or not). Nine hours later we arrived in London for a nine hour delay until our next flight. We took the train into London for lunch of pints and fish & chips.
We are grateful for all the thoughts and prayers and will attempt to update the blog when we arrive in Uganda and have access to internet. Grace and peace.

Thank You TNL

Last night over 200 lbs. of towels, sheets, shoes, and toiletries were brought to TNL for our team to transport to the Children's Home in Uganda. Thank you to every person who took their time and resources to partner with our team in giving and sharing to those in need.
A special thank you to George Alexander (father of Andrae Alexander)with Mountain Man Fruit & Nut, for providing 50lbs. of candies and sweets for us to take to the children. (The dozens of toothbrushes and toothpaste given will be an appropriate companion to the extra sugar).
It is humbling to be a part of such a generous and thoughtful community of faith. We look forward to sharing the experiences and adventures with you in the weeks to come.

One week Away

We are one week away from TNL is sending a team (Greg & Lauren Owen, Jared Mackey, and Matt Paulsen) to Uganda to work alongside the grassroots non-profit Come, Let's Dance. TNL has sent several teams to Uganda and currently Jennie Otte and Morgan Johnson, who have attended TNL, are working full-time with CLD.

The TNL team will be visiting the CLD Children’s Home that provides care for over 40 children. The team can transport up to 400lbs. of resources with them for the Children’s Home. All supplies need to be delivered to TNL by Tuesday, October 13. Currently needed supplies are:
· twin bed fitted sheets (50)
· towels (50)
· kid sizes black shoes (50)
· kids underwear
· kids mulit-vitamins
· toothpaste and toothbrushes

The team is raising financial support for two projects they are sponsoring:
1. The Farm – Purchase and plant a tree line to protect the land to assist with the continued development of a self-sustaining agricultural and livestock center. Cost - $2,000.00
2. Village Outreach – Travel with the Ugandan CLD staff on a 2-day village outreach for delivery of resources, assessment of needs, and a village wide celebration meal. Cost - $1,000.00

All support can be contributed to TNLC c/o Uganda Team and is tax deductible.

TNL to Come Let's Dance - October 2009

Family & Friends,

We have the opportunity to travel with a team from The Next Level Church to Uganda in October 2009. The team will be working alongside a grassroots non-profit organization called Come, Let's Dance. The Next Level Church has sent both teams and individuals to Uganda to work with CLD over the past few years and TNL has had the opportunity to host visits from Come, Let's Dance when they are visiting the USA. The team is a continuation of the ongoing relationship between TNL and Come, Let's Dance.

Come, Let's Dance was founded by Shane Gilbert in 2005. Shane is a native Coloradan who grew up in Steamboat Springs. Here is a brief explanation of what Come Let’s Dance is in doing in Uganda.

"Come Let’s Dance exists to empower and inspire African children and their communities through the hands-on implementation of education, medical care, family style living, personalized relief, and the creation of self-sustaining agricultural and business ventures. By empowering at-risk African youth and their communities, we enable a generation of leaders who will take the hand of their Africa and dance into a stable, hopeful future."

The team traveling to Uganda is six people who have a desire to support CLD and experience firsthand the both the challenge and beauty of Uganda. The team is Jason & Jenna Meyer, Greg & Lauren Owen, Jared Mackey, and Matt Paulsen. Our purpose is to encourage the staff of Come, Let's Dance. Daily life for our friends who live and work in Uganda can be disheartening at times. We want to offer assurance that they are not alone in the work they are doing. The majority of our time with Come, Let's Dance will be spent working with them on two ongoing projects:

1. The Farm – CLD purchased land in 2007 to create a self-sustaining agricultural and livestock center. The design and plans were completed last year by Engineering Ministries International and include fish ponds, poultry houses, and housing for workers and staff. The long-term goal of the farm is to generate income and provide a basis for a variety of micro-business ventures. One of the initial aspects of infrastructure needed is a tree line to protect the land from intruders. The team from TNL plans to fund this project and work with CLD to plant the trees while we are there.

2. Village Outreach – many of the Ugandan CLD staff have come from neighboring villages outside of Kampala. We will be working with one of the Ugandan CLD staff for a 2-day community outreach that includes relief projects, delivery of essential resources, assessment of needs and future development, and a village wide celebration meal.

You can read more about both the Farm and Village Outreach online at www.comeletsdance.org.

As we prepare and travel to Uganda we ask for your prayers for our team:
- For the staff of CLD (Shane, Julie, Morgan, Jeremy, Ryan, and Jennie) to be encouraged by our visit
- That our hearts to be motivated by compassion and love for the people of Uganda
- For our safety and health as we travel in an unstable environment
- That God would be honored as we work, learn, and live with CLD and those in Uganda we meet

Your support of the financial cost of this team is also appreciated. The total cost for our team is $17,000 which includes project funds for the CLD Farm improvements ($2,000) and the Village Outreach ($1,000). As a team we have personally contributed the initial $7,800. We need to raise $9,200 for the additional costs of the team and provide financial and tangible resources to CLD. All financial support should be sent to The Next Level Church, c/o Uganda Team. All support is tax deductible. Your partnership is vital as we seek to communicate the hope and love of Christ to those in Uganda.

Our hope is for this experience to be a catalyst of growth and encouragement not only for ourselves and those we work with in Uganda, but for you as well. We plan to provide updates on this blog - www.friendsofuganda.blogspot.com.

Thank you for partnering with us in this journey.

The TNL Uganda Team
Jason, Jenna, Greg, Lauren, Matt, and Jared

Home Safely

I am kind of at a loss for words. How do I put into words the depth of our experiences in Uganda? So many things happened the last week we were there – rafting on the Nile (which we are thankful to have lived to tell about), continued service working with the kids at Mercy House and in the slums of Katanga, treating our Come Let’s Dance friends and Jennie Otte to a “fancy” dinner, Prayer Mountain, the house where we were staying being robbed, the building of new friendships and the strengthening of old ones. Now, being home, I look back on this trip as being the most adventurous one that I have ever taken. It was good, hard, life giving, depleting, joyous, challenging, and overwhelming to name a few. I truly have a new found admiration and respect for those who give their lives in full time missionary work…and find joy in it. I am glad I went, but I am glad to be home. Thank you for all your prayers and words of encouragement. We truly appreciate them and each one of you. Please continue to pray for those who are living and serving in Uganda with Come, Let’s Dance. They are wonderful, amazing people and need all the prayers, encouragement, and support we can give them. Thanks again and may God draw you closer to His heart this day.
Tanya

Winding Down

Chady and I had wondered at the beginning of our trip what our purpose was in visiting CLD and Nansana at this time. There were only two of us and we didn’t really have any big plans. We were just going to encourage those at CLD, play with the kids, paint, and be used by God in whatever way He saw fit. Even though I am still not completely sure of why we were there, I know that God knows. He gave us a glimpes of His purpose. We were encouraged to know that we had been an encouragement to those we were staying with at CLD. That was an answer to prayer. Also, knowing that from the beginning, God had orchestrated this trip, we trusted that He knew the greater plan. I believe that He has done more than we will know. I could sense the spiritual aspect of life SO intensely while over there. I know there was a lot more going on than we could just see. Praise God that He is in control…

We were able to meet up with Jennie Otte and take her out to dinner with all of us. Hearing some of what she has experienced in the last year while living in northern Uganda was so amazing and overwhelming. It was so evident in her story and just our daily life in Uganda that we are all alive by the grace of God…nothing more. Sometimes it was overwhelming and at other times so joyous. It is something that I had heard about Africa before I went – the extremes: the joy, the sorrow, the love, the hate, the beauty, the ugliness. Life in Africa…we only experienced it for a short time, but I am truly grateful for the opportunity.

Rafting on the Nile

Chady, Laura (a new addition to the CLD team), and I decided to go white water rafting on the Nile this week. So exciting! Eunice, another of The Girlz from CLD, was our guide as we made our way to crazy downtown Kampala, found our taxi, and headed off to Jinja for a day and a half of R&R. We arrived in Jinja in the late afternoon and hung out at a local coffee shop, shopped a little, and then had a very nice dinner sitting outside with the cool breeze soft on our skin. I found that I could take a deep breath and start to relax after the constant chaos of Kampala/Nansana. Even though I enjoyed the people and place that we were staying in Nansana, I found that the constant noise, crowds, feeling of being on defense for the unexpected was very tiring for me.

As Eunice headed back home to Nansana, the three of us found our way to the campground where we were to stay before heading out for rafting the next morning. The Nile River is amazing! Wow! And we were able to see the source of it. God has made such beautiful things…as well as people. All those that we met while in Uganda were wonderful and friendly. Even most strangers, after greeting them with a smile, were ready to chat and share a smile in return. Rafting was an experience of a lifetime. Not only to be on the Nile, but the first of five class 5 rapids that we came to, we flipped and hit rocks. The thought ran through my head, “I am going to die.” But, fortunately, it was not my time (or anyone else’s) to go. After some time in the first aid boat, we continued down the river. Not five minutes later on the next class 5 rapid, we flipped again. That was enough for me. We finished the trip, but some of us opted to walk a few of the remaining class 5 rapids. Fortunately, there were no broken bones or permanent damage, but Chady and I are still recovering from some pretty large bruises and bumps.

We made it back to Nansana that evening, but I was kind of out of commission for the last few days of the trip since my knee was pretty banged up and I couldn’t bend it without pain. I ended up going to the doctors to have it checked out. Chady, the amazing trouper, hardly complained and continued working at the kids house finishing painting and also spending another day working with the kids in the Katanga slums. Part of me felt bad to be laying around on our last few days there, but another part of me was thankful for the rest. I decided that since I couldn’t do anything physical, I could spend my time praying.
Tanya

Visiting the Hospital

Our second (and last) week in Uganda continued to be as eventful as the first. We visited the one of the local hospitals and spent time in the infant ward where we prayed with the families over the children, gave out balloons & stickers, colored, and made fun little things with colored pipe cleaners. The minute we brought out the little red balloons and the color books and crayons, there was a small gathering of mothers and babies around us. The mom’s seem instantly cheered by the little things we brought. It was good to see them smile after feeling the heaviness of worry in the room. Also, being able to pray with them was an amazing experience. Feeling the power of prayer and knowing that God was listening and answering was overwhelming. I was with Florence, one of The Girlz from Come Let’s Dance, and as she prayed in Luganda and I prayed quietly, even though I didn’t understand what she was saying, I know that God was working.

Play-Do and Day Care in the Slums

Tanya and I have spent a couple mornings in the slums just doing day care with the kids. The first day was overwhelming when we tried to hand out sweeties and stickers – all the kids just crowed around. Luckily there were a couple older children around to help the kids take turns form lines!

One day Tanya & I made homemade play-do to bring to the slums for the kids. We set up stations for play-do, books and coloring. At first the kids had no idea what to do with the play-do – luckily I only saw one kid who attempted to eat it! They seemed to have a lot of fun, were laughing and cheerful! The kids were so much more calm the day we played with play-do.

Painting at the Mercy Children Home

Painting seemed like it should be an easy task. Tanya & I realized that although we had a vision of what we wanted to paint for the children we think God had more planned for us. This two day process started with walking for about 30 minutes (round-trip) to gather water at the local well so that we could wash down the exterior walls that were caked with red dirt. The first time gathering water was good – the children gather water two times a day. Julie is currently working with a friend to potentially drill some water wells at the children’s home. One of the things they are waiting on is funding for the wells $5,000 to $10,000 per well.

We had a couple of children help us wash down the dirty walls - our rags barely held up! (the next day we decided to purchase brushes!) All the children were very anxious and willing to help us paint the base coat of paint on the walls. By the end of the day all the children showed markings of paint. The paint here in Uganda is just a bit different than in the states – it does not rub off, but requires Paraphin to remove (at the end of the second after being paint stained we decided to buy the Paraphin and it was marvelous!).

For the second day of painting Tanya & I ventured off on our own for the first time! (taxis, botos, shopping for paint at the local 8x10 ft shops – we had to go to about 7 stores to buy and find the supplies we needed today) By the time we arrived at the kids house it was already close to noon – the pace of life here is so much slower and relaxed.

All the kids were very excited to help us wash the remaining walls and paint. Tanya had a great idea of beautiful educational mural for the children. But, we ended up letting the kids create most of the artwork and drawings. They were so excited and wanted to show us their creations! The wall turned out much differently than we expected, but it was beautiful!

These children so want to help and take ownership of their projects!

Visit to the Women’s Sew Shop

Just a short walk from the slums ‘Come, Let’s Dance’ has opened a sew shop for ladies to try to make money to support their families. The women arrive early in the morning, are provided breakfast and lunch and can bring their children along with them. They are compensated on a per item basis. They make aprons, uniforms, beaded necklaces from paper, etc. Ideally it would be nice if they could get contracts with local schools to provide uniforms, but they are not consistent enough with producing goods. Currently the sew shop is not fully self-sustaining, but the hope is that eventually it will be!

They attempted to show Tanya & I how to make the paper beads. It appeared easy. But, we found out that it takes a lot of time to make just one bead that is perfectly symmetrical and balanced. The ladies were so very patient, gracious and helpful!

A couple days later we helped bring three of the children (Julius, Johannie and Hannah) from the Mercy Children’s Home to stay with their mother who lives in the slums and works in the sew shop. Hopefully they will eventually be reunited permanently.

Visit to the Slums

I was a little intimidated to visit the slums - unsure of how safe it would be. But, sometimes it is good to step out of your comfort zone to fully experience life and what God has planned for you. I was later shocked at how safe and welcoming the people in the slums were!

When we arrived at the church (visually all the buildings and houses look like make-shift shacks, but they are truly homes to these people – no running water and no electricity), Jeremy was working with one of the locals help them set up a micro business. This 20 year old guy from Colorado has spent most of the last year building relationships with the people who live in the slums and it is amazing to see the impact he has made – person by person. They were working out of a mead notebook writing down the necessary supplies, estimated costs – sitting on wooden benches on a dirt floor with a group of people gathered around to absorb the conversation.

Mama Flavia, older lady, is one of the local ladies who lives in the slums that Jeremy has helped get on her feet. She graciously welcomed all 9 of us into her ~10x10 house. The interior of the house was decorated in full with skateboarding magazine pages! She was abandoned by her husband and moved to the slums. Jeremy loaned here enough money to start up her micro business of making somosas, (basically triangular tortillas filled with peas/beans – also very delicious), japote, etc. Amazingly she was able to pay off her loan within two months! She was such a joyous and happy lady – totally amazing given the physical circumstance she has been placed in – you could definitely tell that she had the Spirit of God in her heart.

Shakirah, a 20-year old, also welcomed us into her new house. I believe that ‘Come, Let’s Dance’ helped her pay off her 10x10 home in the slums so that she and here family would not have to struggle. I believe she is managing/renting two other homes in the slums to make ends meet. Florence, one of the Ugandan girls who is helping to guide us, went to school with Shakirah. Shakirah’s husband basically fell a couple stories down from a construction site and is not able to work. He has pain and some brain injuries. Shakirah has two adorable children Emma (3-year old boy) and Ester (1-year old girl). She also told us her story and that she was close to leaving her husband and children because life was so hard and she did not know if she could make it through everything. She patiently prayed to God to help her and her family. Amazingly Jeremy came along with such energy and helped her to get on her feet financially and was able to encourage her to continue living through her struggles. Such an amazing example of love, patience, perseverance, trust and total reliance on God.