Sunday, Jan and I went and taught the 8-11yr olds their Sunday school lesson. The rest of the team was likewise off in pairs teaching lessons to various ages. We were teaching on Exodus 3-15 about Moses going to Pharoh to let his people go- and the 10 plagues that followed until Pharoh said go. It was fun interaction with the children. I have felt so inadequate in ways (my first missions trip), but the Lord allowed us to teach from a workbook that walked us through everything- games, questions, even prayers- so HE provided for me exactly what I needed.
After Sunday school, we all walked over to the nearby village church, The Light of the World church to praise God with everyone and hear Pastor Jonathon preach. The worship was so beautiful, passionate, and spontaneous. I felt so kindred and loved in the little thatch church with a red clay floor, wood benches, and a tin roof crammed full of children, missionaries, our team, and villagers. The Pastor, Jonathon, preached on Exodus 33. He started with Exodus 3 (which we had just taught on earlier that morning) and went on to Exodus 33 and how Moses knew God personally; how he refused to go forward without God; how he asked God to let him know HIS will, so it could be done. I felt so connected to the Lord in that little church in Uganda; how universal praise and worship is to the Lord; no matter the language or location.
We left church, had a quick lunch, and then signed life application bibles to give to Eric, Emma, and Patricia. These are the three teens that Sharon and Tom support with school fees to go to secondary school. Eric is 17yrs old. His mother died and his father left to find work in Kampala and was never heard from again. Eric has built his own mud hut in his village on some family land and lives there taking care of himself. He would like to become an auto engineer. He works during school breaks at GSF to earn money for his school fees. Sharon and Tom, bank that money and keep it to pay the fees. They do this with Emma and Patricia as well. Yet, even with the money they earn, it is not enough to pay for school fees which are very high here. Beyond just paying the "tuition" there are other fees added on like all the text books, papers, uniforms, etc. that must be purchased. GSF has a scholarship program to help those who graduate out of GSF to be able to go on to secondary school (high school) and even university, but Eric, Emma, and Patricia are not GSF kids, they are from the village and cannot afford secondary school. This program helps the village children to go to secondary school or vocational training school.
Emma (Emmanuel) is another village child who Sharon and Tom help support. He is very studious and serious. His father had worked for Meta (a large sugar producer) and he lost his job. He told Emma that he must quit school and go to work for Meta (back breaking work cutting down sugar cane fields with a machete for $2 a day) or else leave home. Emma chose to stay in school and thus was kicked out of his home. He now lives with Eric and goes to school at Nygeya secondary school. He is also 17yrs old.
Patricia is the other village teen in Sharon and Tom's program. She lives just off the GSF campus with her father and step mother. She is 15yrs old and Eric's cousin. Her father works at GSF around the campus and in the maintenance area. Patricia is sweet and kind. Her family would not be able to afford school fees without assistance.
We signed and gave each of them their bibles and then headed to the "Open House" at school with them to see the school and get their mid term grades. Their school is a secondary school in Nyenga, a nearby village.
The way school works here is S1-S3 are day students (equivalent to freshman and sophomore year in the states) and S4-S6 must board at school (junior and seniors). Obviously they have more years in school than in the states. So Patricia is in S3 while Eric and Emma are both in S4, so they board at the school.
S4 is a VERY important year in school here, as there is a large test at the end of the year which determines if you can continue on in school or if you are no longer welcome. If you do not continue, they you pretty much go back to farming, working for a sugar corporation perhaps, or something similar.
We went for a tour of the school campus...it was decaying. Small rooms for hundreds of students. They have very little time off; always expected to be in class or studying. For boarders, they are in classes until 11pm, go to bed and get up at 3am to go back to class until 9am. Have a break for breakfast, and then back to studying and classes until late. We asked when they sleep? Emma really couldn't answer that since it is pretty much here and there cat naps. The school was so poor, compared to our standards, it would have been condemned. They boys sleep in one large room with 50 others- basically it looked like a refugee camp or emergency shelter, except without beds. There were just mattresses on the floor and all their possessions on the mattresses. There was no space between mattresses. It was crammed full- no wonder they do not sleep! Yet they are the lucky ones to be in school at all. It was extremely hard to see.
Then while we were there, we could hear children being caned. If a teacher felt they had not performed will in class, they would recommend caning. Many parents allowed it. We heard the caning going on and the screams of the kids. It felt like Oliver Twist or a Dickinson novel, but it was life here; an accepted practice. Then Eric's math teacher asked to cane him. Tom was against it and was going to speak with the principle and teacher to let him know that was NOT ok. That they did not want Eric, Emma, and Patricia caned EVER.
Then it was time for us to leave. It broke my heart for Eric as we left and the threat of being caned still loomed large. I wanted to hug him and say it was going to be ok, but I don't know that nor can I promise that, so all I could say was trust in Jesus. It made my heart hurt. It made me want to save all the hurting children, forgotten children, thrown away children. How did the school affect me so much when the same thing is happening here in so many places- the forgotten children. GSF takes them in as they can- the orphans. The same thing is happening to the women at Jinja hospital; the same thing is happening to the street children, the teenagers who are pregnant out of wedlock and going to the crisis pregnancy center- all that is happening, but it was the school and Eric, Emma, and Patricia that really got to me. It broke my heart.
I had prayed for God to break my heart and soften my heart for what breaks HIS. And HE did so with all that I have seen here; the school and the caning was the last straw. I came back to GSF and had to simply weep.
Yet, the LORD comforted me in my spirit that HE is in control. That alone I can do nothing, the overwhelm is real, but HE is in control and through HIM ALL things are possible. I don't have to understand HIS ways, but I do need to abide in HIM in order to function in this fallen world. Without abiding in HIM, I am quickly empty, overwhelmed, and hard hearted in order to deal with the overwhelm.
I feel as if the Lord brought me to Africa to break my heart. To overwhelm me. To soften my heart. To open my eyes to what HE sees. So that I can remember and know my complete need for HIM. The need, poverty, darkness crushes me. I am weak and unable to process the magnitude of it all without the LORD and the hope HE, and HE alone, offers.
In my previous travels through the world, I was a non-believer and it was all about the adventure. There was a deep poverty and need in China, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia when I traveled through; it was all over the place. But I didn't see it then. It was more of an inconvenience than anything else; it interfered with the adventure of traveling. NOW as a believer, the travel, the adventure is in following Jesus Christ. Seeing where HE leads me and what HE wants me to see.
It is a bigger adventure than I have ever been on before or could even imagine...
After Sunday school, we all walked over to the nearby village church, The Light of the World church to praise God with everyone and hear Pastor Jonathon preach. The worship was so beautiful, passionate, and spontaneous. I felt so kindred and loved in the little thatch church with a red clay floor, wood benches, and a tin roof crammed full of children, missionaries, our team, and villagers. The Pastor, Jonathon, preached on Exodus 33. He started with Exodus 3 (which we had just taught on earlier that morning) and went on to Exodus 33 and how Moses knew God personally; how he refused to go forward without God; how he asked God to let him know HIS will, so it could be done. I felt so connected to the Lord in that little church in Uganda; how universal praise and worship is to the Lord; no matter the language or location.
We left church, had a quick lunch, and then signed life application bibles to give to Eric, Emma, and Patricia. These are the three teens that Sharon and Tom support with school fees to go to secondary school. Eric is 17yrs old. His mother died and his father left to find work in Kampala and was never heard from again. Eric has built his own mud hut in his village on some family land and lives there taking care of himself. He would like to become an auto engineer. He works during school breaks at GSF to earn money for his school fees. Sharon and Tom, bank that money and keep it to pay the fees. They do this with Emma and Patricia as well. Yet, even with the money they earn, it is not enough to pay for school fees which are very high here. Beyond just paying the "tuition" there are other fees added on like all the text books, papers, uniforms, etc. that must be purchased. GSF has a scholarship program to help those who graduate out of GSF to be able to go on to secondary school (high school) and even university, but Eric, Emma, and Patricia are not GSF kids, they are from the village and cannot afford secondary school. This program helps the village children to go to secondary school or vocational training school.
Emma (Emmanuel) is another village child who Sharon and Tom help support. He is very studious and serious. His father had worked for Meta (a large sugar producer) and he lost his job. He told Emma that he must quit school and go to work for Meta (back breaking work cutting down sugar cane fields with a machete for $2 a day) or else leave home. Emma chose to stay in school and thus was kicked out of his home. He now lives with Eric and goes to school at Nygeya secondary school. He is also 17yrs old.
Patricia is the other village teen in Sharon and Tom's program. She lives just off the GSF campus with her father and step mother. She is 15yrs old and Eric's cousin. Her father works at GSF around the campus and in the maintenance area. Patricia is sweet and kind. Her family would not be able to afford school fees without assistance.
We signed and gave each of them their bibles and then headed to the "Open House" at school with them to see the school and get their mid term grades. Their school is a secondary school in Nyenga, a nearby village.
The way school works here is S1-S3 are day students (equivalent to freshman and sophomore year in the states) and S4-S6 must board at school (junior and seniors). Obviously they have more years in school than in the states. So Patricia is in S3 while Eric and Emma are both in S4, so they board at the school.
S4 is a VERY important year in school here, as there is a large test at the end of the year which determines if you can continue on in school or if you are no longer welcome. If you do not continue, they you pretty much go back to farming, working for a sugar corporation perhaps, or something similar.
We went for a tour of the school campus...it was decaying. Small rooms for hundreds of students. They have very little time off; always expected to be in class or studying. For boarders, they are in classes until 11pm, go to bed and get up at 3am to go back to class until 9am. Have a break for breakfast, and then back to studying and classes until late. We asked when they sleep? Emma really couldn't answer that since it is pretty much here and there cat naps. The school was so poor, compared to our standards, it would have been condemned. They boys sleep in one large room with 50 others- basically it looked like a refugee camp or emergency shelter, except without beds. There were just mattresses on the floor and all their possessions on the mattresses. There was no space between mattresses. It was crammed full- no wonder they do not sleep! Yet they are the lucky ones to be in school at all. It was extremely hard to see.
Then while we were there, we could hear children being caned. If a teacher felt they had not performed will in class, they would recommend caning. Many parents allowed it. We heard the caning going on and the screams of the kids. It felt like Oliver Twist or a Dickinson novel, but it was life here; an accepted practice. Then Eric's math teacher asked to cane him. Tom was against it and was going to speak with the principle and teacher to let him know that was NOT ok. That they did not want Eric, Emma, and Patricia caned EVER.
Then it was time for us to leave. It broke my heart for Eric as we left and the threat of being caned still loomed large. I wanted to hug him and say it was going to be ok, but I don't know that nor can I promise that, so all I could say was trust in Jesus. It made my heart hurt. It made me want to save all the hurting children, forgotten children, thrown away children. How did the school affect me so much when the same thing is happening here in so many places- the forgotten children. GSF takes them in as they can- the orphans. The same thing is happening to the women at Jinja hospital; the same thing is happening to the street children, the teenagers who are pregnant out of wedlock and going to the crisis pregnancy center- all that is happening, but it was the school and Eric, Emma, and Patricia that really got to me. It broke my heart.
I had prayed for God to break my heart and soften my heart for what breaks HIS. And HE did so with all that I have seen here; the school and the caning was the last straw. I came back to GSF and had to simply weep.
Yet, the LORD comforted me in my spirit that HE is in control. That alone I can do nothing, the overwhelm is real, but HE is in control and through HIM ALL things are possible. I don't have to understand HIS ways, but I do need to abide in HIM in order to function in this fallen world. Without abiding in HIM, I am quickly empty, overwhelmed, and hard hearted in order to deal with the overwhelm.
I feel as if the Lord brought me to Africa to break my heart. To overwhelm me. To soften my heart. To open my eyes to what HE sees. So that I can remember and know my complete need for HIM. The need, poverty, darkness crushes me. I am weak and unable to process the magnitude of it all without the LORD and the hope HE, and HE alone, offers.
In my previous travels through the world, I was a non-believer and it was all about the adventure. There was a deep poverty and need in China, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia when I traveled through; it was all over the place. But I didn't see it then. It was more of an inconvenience than anything else; it interfered with the adventure of traveling. NOW as a believer, the travel, the adventure is in following Jesus Christ. Seeing where HE leads me and what HE wants me to see.
It is a bigger adventure than I have ever been on before or could even imagine...
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