Thursday, November 13

For our last day in Karamoja we had one school to visit.  It is where our youngest students are…St. Daniel Comboni Nursery School.  Little Paul comes in and as quiet as usual shakes my hand and then just stares at the pictures on the walls in the headmasters office and doesn't speak to me.  Then here some Sarah…passes by Pastor Philip and Agnes and makes a beeline straight to me and gives me her hand and then a hug.  The best part of this was…Pastor Philip and Agnes were convinced that this was not the right Sarah Nakiru.  Evidently there are 3 of them at the school with the same name so they brought all three so we could decide which one was “our girl”.  Of course the first one was the right girl but Agnes kept saying "this girl looks too big.  We just saw her in August and she was small".  To be honest I didn't know if it was the right girl either.  Her hair was styled differently in August but she looked similar to me.  We all got a good laugh out that one for a while…

The correct Sarah is on the left...the other two girls are the other Sarahs

Our best attempt at getting a smile out of Paul.

Since this was the first time I've been at the school the teacher wanted me to go around and see each classroom.  Which means get in front of the class and say something…not my favorite thing to do but they are little kids so what could it hurt?  LOL! 

It goes something like this:

Me:    Good morning students

Kids:  Good morning teacher

Me:    How are you today?

Kids:  We are fine.

Me:    I am from the United States and am just here to visit the school today.

Kids:  Clapping

Done.  Onto the next class….

This is Paul's class.  He is in the middle section in the very last row.

The littlest ones which is call the “Baby Class” were doing a dance and you can see it below.  And my big baby was in there having fun with them too.

Abdu in front of the class teaching them some new English words.
This is Sarah's class.

The headmaster coming back as we were leaving.

Nice playground at the school

Pastor Philip talking to Paul's mother.

After leaving the school our next item on the agenda was to visit a couple villages that received gardening tools and seeds and trees when the Ezekiel 37 Ministry team was there in April to see how they had progressed.

Tractor stopped in the middle of the road...probably out of fuel...

So you blaze your own paths when the road is blocked...

First stop—Lorikitei village

Lorikitei is a tough village.  We've only been there on 2 occasions prior to today’s visit. They need water badly.  When we were there in April we prayed with the village for rain and thanks to God’s grace it did rain before we left from there.  But the sun is so brutal in this area.  There’s nowhere to hide from the sun.  Over time they have cut down most of the trees to use a firewood to cook with.  A water well (borehole) is a long walk from where they are.  They did attempt to plant the seeds that we had given them in April.  Some people were successful at harvesting some.  It must be a tremendously difficult job to keep the crops watered.

They walked us around to see where people had successful planted the fruit trees that were given also.  They are young trees so it will take time for them to produce.  But the people are trying desperately to keep them alive.

This village is where Abdu had met with the older youth boys and when the team presented the pangas (machetes) he had told the boys that they should go cut down trees for firewood and go to schools to sell it.  It was an idea for them to make some money and not just loiter around each day.  It turns out they missed some of the steps when it comes to this.

They went into the forest area (as they call it) and cut down trees.  They have heaps that they have cut but they said no one came to buy it.  Upon further conversation it came out that they never brought the wood out of the forest.  They expected people to just show up…  I had to remind Abdu that we are not dealing with educated people who can think through processes the way that we do.  Start at the beginning and explain every step.  So, he did.  He stood before them and told them that they needed to bring the wood to an area that a vehicle can reach.  Then you go to the schools and say we have firewood for sale it is here and you can reach by road.  They wanted us to see what they had done but it wasn't reachable by road so we couldn't go see the heaps.  We could tell they were really trying and I am proud that they actually did something.  Although it didn’t work out for them at that time we know they will figure it out with guidance and mentoring.

Abdu said these little ones were having conversations and planning what to do

Nice day for a shave and a nap...

Agnes greeting one of the elders of the village.

Loading up to move onto to the next stop

Abdu makes friends everywhere he goes.  He doesn't speak the language in
Karamoja but he's learning it and they seem to respect that.

They told us that this old man on the ground needs a hand pedal bike to be able to get
around however, we could tell his arms are strong enough for that either.  He would
be better suited with a regular wheelchair.

We moved onto another village that I cannot remember the name of…starts with an L…I don’t remember…  Anyhow, April was the first time we had visited this village.  These people had a similar issue with not enough rain and too much sun.  It also turns out that we were a bit late in the season when we gave them these items.  They need to begin planting in March and we didn’t get there until the end of April.  But these people were more successful with harvesting some corn.  They have the ears in sacks and they are keeping some aside to be able to use for planting next season.

Other villages also decided to keep the seeds and use them the next season for planting.  Which is responsible really.  They are trying to make good decisions for the future of their families and village.  All in all I would consider it a success.  With all things we do it is a learning experience.  Really what these villages need most is WATER!  I am hoping that in December when we return to Karamoja that I can meet with some borehole drilling companies to get some information and then we can really start to see a difference for these people.

Agnes and the ladies of the village discussing how the planting went.

On my way to see the trees a woman planted...

Abdu literally took 20 pictures of me getting to the place...

Every step I took he took pictures of.  LOL!

Made it!

This lady was very proud of her fruit tree.

Baby tree

Even smaller baby tree...

Pastor Philip clearing the way for me to walk...so sweet!

You learn after multiple trips to Karamoja villages that you do NOT wear flip flops when you are going.  Between thorns and briars and animal poop you just need to be smart about shoe wear!

I'm becoming a pro at this door entry thing!  It's much easier without a backpack too.

Sorghum they harvested and have not ground yet.

This is the corn that this lady harvested.

Another families corn that they harvested.  The sack was fairly full.

The best part of walking through the villages is that you get to experience how the Karamajong live.  We were walking through and next thing I know Abdu is down under a hut grinding sorghum.  Then they talked me into doing it too!  Enjoy the videos…  Haha!

After a short rest and late lunch, we went to visit where Agnes and some ladies gather together and sew items in order to sell them and make money for their families.  Another organization, Mercy Uganda, donated I believe 8 sewing machines that these ladies are using.  Pastor Philip and Agnes have hired a man to come teach the ladies how to make items that are marketable.  When I was there they were making little girl dresses which were really cute.  They have found that the dresses aren't really moving off the shelves so they want to shift their focus to handbags for women and a type of tote bag that students can use for school.  This group of ladies are in need of some support with sewing materials such as thread, scissors, fabric, etc.  If you are interested in helping with this sort of project please let me know.  They are trying to get established so that they can be self-sufficient and generating some income for their families.

Moses is talented at sewing and cutting the pieces to be sewn.

This is Pastor Simon Peter's wife, Theresa.  She just has another baby...pictured below.

Only a few weeks old I believe...so cute!

The remainder of this evening we spent time with Pastor Philip, Agnes, and the mentors of Ezekiel 37 Ministry.  We discussed their advice and what they would like to see done differently for next year.  These people are the ones who are on the ground there in Karamoja.  They live there, they go to school there, and they are wanting to serve the Lord and His people alongside us.  I am honored to serve with them.

Stay tuned…