My wonderful church here, Kampala International Church, is a growing, exciting place to worship and learn. This Sunday we are having our first ever Ministry Fair. Each group that helps to organize the service is seeking to show others how simple, and how much fun it is to be an active part of the church, not just sit and listen.
There will be lots of ways for people to join in: coffee hosting, greeting, leading worship, running sound, operating the overhead/computer, women's groups, house groups for Bible Study, children's church, youth groups, communion, prayer partners, etc. For Charity committee, which I head, doesn't need more members, but will offer ways for people to give service in our local community by teaching, holding babies, building houses, visiting those in prison, rescuing teens from street and institutional life or simply donating food and/or clothes to those in need. The hope is that people will find a way to be a blessing to others....and become blessed in the process.
We will see what wonders God will do...
Friday, September 30, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Scare
This morning when I got up at 6:30 it looked at first as if Florence had already left for her school. Then I realized the lights were not on in the living room and I hadn't heard her shower this am, part of her usual routine.
I called her, no answer. Went and stood outside her bedroom door and called again, no answer. I opened the door, confirmed she was in bed, called again, no answer. My heart began to beat a little faster, so I called more loudly.... Florence!! Thank God she rolled over and asked what?! I told her that it was going on towards 7. Boy did she move fast to get showered, dressed, coiffed, packed and out the door, just before 6:55.
If we hadn't been talking so much about funerals I don't think I would have been quite so nervous.
I called her, no answer. Went and stood outside her bedroom door and called again, no answer. I opened the door, confirmed she was in bed, called again, no answer. My heart began to beat a little faster, so I called more loudly.... Florence!! Thank God she rolled over and asked what?! I told her that it was going on towards 7. Boy did she move fast to get showered, dressed, coiffed, packed and out the door, just before 6:55.
If we hadn't been talking so much about funerals I don't think I would have been quite so nervous.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Blessings
Florence was detailing the way blessings flow, using today as an example. I'd not seen God's love at work so clearly. Maybe you will see it too.
Some 3 months ago, God gave me some money to lend to Peter, who has a special hire car (taxi). He has been working off the loan by doing transport for me and my friends. Today he came and took Florence to go meet her daughter-in-law's mother, Kasifa, for the first time.
Florence had saved some money from what she earns from her school to cover the expected costs of public transport and boda rides to and from the visit. Because Peter took her for free, she was able to spend that money for sugar, rice, soap and other small gifts to give to the lady.
As they drove along towards the place where Florence's son and wife live, Peter recognized that he had traveled the road recently and named a village and other places ahead. Florence recognized the name as the place they were headed towards. Peter knew he didn't have enough gas (petrol) to reach there so turned back and traveled some time to find an ATM, where he took out money for more fuel. Florence had no extra funds to give him, having used almost all for the gifts. But Peter has been saving money steadily from his new business, so was able to cover this expense.
They picked up Tom and Robinah, Florence's son and his wife, and then proceeded to go some distance to the mother's home. After going to one place, and then to another, they were able to locate the mom's new home, a mud and stick room, divided by a curtain into 2 spaces. They sat on a mat on the mud floor and took tea together.
Robinah's mom had expected everyone to come on bodas, so had paid no attention when the car went by. Robinah did not know her mom had moved to this new place. The joy and laughter with the family reunion, including the small grand-daughter was wonderful to see. Florence was clear to them that they are all family, that Tom is now Kasifa's son and she is Tom's other mother. (This because culture does not permit son-in-law and mother-in-law to see or talk directly with each other. Florence knows this is foolishness and is setting new ways in place.)
Robinah's mom was so grateful for the visit, and for Florence's caring about making the connection before Tom and Robinah move to Florence's village next month. She told them that she would sleep well, knowing that Robinah was part of such a good family.
Florence learned that the mom and dad have been separated for many years and that the mom now lives in the small village where she was raised. Her uncle, grandfather and mother all live in the environs. Before returning Tom and Robinah to their home, Florence and Peter took the mom to her uncle's home to continue the introductions and exchange phone numbers for emergency contacts. (The mom does not have a phone of her own, nor electricity.)
Florence suspects that the mom will have shared some of the sugar and other things with her family, as that is the way to show honor and respect to elders. It is also possible, even likely, that those Kasifa shares with will also pass some of the benefit along to others.
God gives to us so freely. Look at all the joyful hearts, lightened spirits and laughter that can come from imitating Him.
Some 3 months ago, God gave me some money to lend to Peter, who has a special hire car (taxi). He has been working off the loan by doing transport for me and my friends. Today he came and took Florence to go meet her daughter-in-law's mother, Kasifa, for the first time.
Florence had saved some money from what she earns from her school to cover the expected costs of public transport and boda rides to and from the visit. Because Peter took her for free, she was able to spend that money for sugar, rice, soap and other small gifts to give to the lady.
As they drove along towards the place where Florence's son and wife live, Peter recognized that he had traveled the road recently and named a village and other places ahead. Florence recognized the name as the place they were headed towards. Peter knew he didn't have enough gas (petrol) to reach there so turned back and traveled some time to find an ATM, where he took out money for more fuel. Florence had no extra funds to give him, having used almost all for the gifts. But Peter has been saving money steadily from his new business, so was able to cover this expense.
They picked up Tom and Robinah, Florence's son and his wife, and then proceeded to go some distance to the mother's home. After going to one place, and then to another, they were able to locate the mom's new home, a mud and stick room, divided by a curtain into 2 spaces. They sat on a mat on the mud floor and took tea together.
Robinah's mom had expected everyone to come on bodas, so had paid no attention when the car went by. Robinah did not know her mom had moved to this new place. The joy and laughter with the family reunion, including the small grand-daughter was wonderful to see. Florence was clear to them that they are all family, that Tom is now Kasifa's son and she is Tom's other mother. (This because culture does not permit son-in-law and mother-in-law to see or talk directly with each other. Florence knows this is foolishness and is setting new ways in place.)
Robinah's mom was so grateful for the visit, and for Florence's caring about making the connection before Tom and Robinah move to Florence's village next month. She told them that she would sleep well, knowing that Robinah was part of such a good family.
Florence learned that the mom and dad have been separated for many years and that the mom now lives in the small village where she was raised. Her uncle, grandfather and mother all live in the environs. Before returning Tom and Robinah to their home, Florence and Peter took the mom to her uncle's home to continue the introductions and exchange phone numbers for emergency contacts. (The mom does not have a phone of her own, nor electricity.)
Florence suspects that the mom will have shared some of the sugar and other things with her family, as that is the way to show honor and respect to elders. It is also possible, even likely, that those Kasifa shares with will also pass some of the benefit along to others.
God gives to us so freely. Look at all the joyful hearts, lightened spirits and laughter that can come from imitating Him.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Death in Uganda
This last week was a bit more laid back than in the last few months. All the eMi staff have arrived and are with interns out on project trips, both here in Kampala and in Kenya. One new long term volunteer will soon go to Kenya on a different project for 6 weeks. We will really miss her. Rose is a great lot of fun.
My week, the exciting part, involved meeting with administrators at International Hospital Kampala, to attempt to find a food source connection for In Need Home, an NGO, which is in their neighborhood. The administrator was around, but busy, so I get to go back next week. The other visit that same day was to a shipping container company to see if they had 2 old 40' containers to donate to the same NGO. After waiting for an hour (I arrived at the beginning of lunch time), Richard met with me to explain their community service program. They do indeed give containers to be used as classrooms, but have already done it for 2011. When they donate, they transport and situate it on the plot, paint, install wiring, put in furniture and class supplies.
I will go again to see the lady who is in charge of selecting the projects and see if I can persuade her to make the 2012 project In Need Home. The bad news was that any damaged containers that can't be used (which is what I was thinking they might have to give away) are actually repaired and/or recycled at the main shop in Mombasa. So that was good news for the environment.
Yesterday Florence and I had a great conversation - it weirded her daughters out a bit - about what will happen to our bodies when we die. I told Florence that if she died, I'd wrap her in a sheet, get a special hire and take her to her family/village to be buried. She broke out into laughter and wiping the tears from her eyes, said she didn't want me to go to prison for trying to be helpful.
She then explained the procedures here. If someone dies in the home, without having been ill and treated by a doctor, there is always the suspicion of murder! The ones to be suspected would be me and even her daughters, if they were living here, or even had been to visit the day before.
So, the proper sequence of events is this:
Find dead body
Go to nearest police and tell them.
They give a paper that is taken to the nearest big gov't hospital.
Hospital sends an ambulance, does autopsy. When cause of death is determined, and if not murder, then they will call next of kin to pick the body, issuing a death certificate.
The certificate is taken to police to get a letter authorizing the transport of the body.
THEN, the body can be taken to the village for burial. The friends/family will visit the body, in a living room, maybe even sleep in the room that night with the body if the burial is the next day.
Burials are a huge deal. All the available family come. In Florence's case, this could be up to 100 blood kin. In addition, all the friends, neighbors, others in the village, will all come to say good-bye, maybe tell stories, etc. There will be at least one huge meal for all of them (think about slaughtering a bull, plus all the vegetables, matooke, etc) as well as tea available all day and night.
With all that information, my plan still looked best. So I told her what I wanted if she found my body. Wrap me in a sheet, take me to her village, dig a vertical hole, drop me in and plant a tree over my head. Florence again went into peals of laughter. So I revised it a bit, saying if I was dying, we would have time to go to the village, get the hole dug and I could go be near it. When I died, she could just nudge me into it.
Florence asked if I really wanted her to spend the rest of her life in prison. Of course not I replied. Well then, she said we have to do it the right way. I can call your American Embassy and they can fly your body home to your family.
Now I hadn't even considered that the US embassy would even need to know, but it does make sense. So I will ask them what the procedures are. But, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that the embassy does not pay for the transport.
So, I will still be buried here. However, I still want it to be simple. I couldn't convince Florence to agree to do the burial my way, even with giving written instructions. She said if she was in charge, I'd just have to put up with it, and besides, it would just be the body anyway. Their last chance to do something nice for me.
Anyway, still a conversation in process, but I'm learning a lot more about Ugandan culture. It is telling that murder is the first thought when someone dies unexpectedly. Guess it is to be expected given all the wars these people have lived through in the past 50 years, with the average age of a Ugandan in the mid 20's and 48 years is considered to be old.
Hope you are well and laughed at all the information in this note as much as Florence and I have. BTW I expect to live to be 102, so don't be making any travel plans on my account.
Blessings,
Maggie
My week, the exciting part, involved meeting with administrators at International Hospital Kampala, to attempt to find a food source connection for In Need Home, an NGO, which is in their neighborhood. The administrator was around, but busy, so I get to go back next week. The other visit that same day was to a shipping container company to see if they had 2 old 40' containers to donate to the same NGO. After waiting for an hour (I arrived at the beginning of lunch time), Richard met with me to explain their community service program. They do indeed give containers to be used as classrooms, but have already done it for 2011. When they donate, they transport and situate it on the plot, paint, install wiring, put in furniture and class supplies.
I will go again to see the lady who is in charge of selecting the projects and see if I can persuade her to make the 2012 project In Need Home. The bad news was that any damaged containers that can't be used (which is what I was thinking they might have to give away) are actually repaired and/or recycled at the main shop in Mombasa. So that was good news for the environment.
Yesterday Florence and I had a great conversation - it weirded her daughters out a bit - about what will happen to our bodies when we die. I told Florence that if she died, I'd wrap her in a sheet, get a special hire and take her to her family/village to be buried. She broke out into laughter and wiping the tears from her eyes, said she didn't want me to go to prison for trying to be helpful.
She then explained the procedures here. If someone dies in the home, without having been ill and treated by a doctor, there is always the suspicion of murder! The ones to be suspected would be me and even her daughters, if they were living here, or even had been to visit the day before.
So, the proper sequence of events is this:
Find dead body
Go to nearest police and tell them.
They give a paper that is taken to the nearest big gov't hospital.
Hospital sends an ambulance, does autopsy. When cause of death is determined, and if not murder, then they will call next of kin to pick the body, issuing a death certificate.
The certificate is taken to police to get a letter authorizing the transport of the body.
THEN, the body can be taken to the village for burial. The friends/family will visit the body, in a living room, maybe even sleep in the room that night with the body if the burial is the next day.
Burials are a huge deal. All the available family come. In Florence's case, this could be up to 100 blood kin. In addition, all the friends, neighbors, others in the village, will all come to say good-bye, maybe tell stories, etc. There will be at least one huge meal for all of them (think about slaughtering a bull, plus all the vegetables, matooke, etc) as well as tea available all day and night.
With all that information, my plan still looked best. So I told her what I wanted if she found my body. Wrap me in a sheet, take me to her village, dig a vertical hole, drop me in and plant a tree over my head. Florence again went into peals of laughter. So I revised it a bit, saying if I was dying, we would have time to go to the village, get the hole dug and I could go be near it. When I died, she could just nudge me into it.
Florence asked if I really wanted her to spend the rest of her life in prison. Of course not I replied. Well then, she said we have to do it the right way. I can call your American Embassy and they can fly your body home to your family.
Now I hadn't even considered that the US embassy would even need to know, but it does make sense. So I will ask them what the procedures are. But, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that the embassy does not pay for the transport.
So, I will still be buried here. However, I still want it to be simple. I couldn't convince Florence to agree to do the burial my way, even with giving written instructions. She said if she was in charge, I'd just have to put up with it, and besides, it would just be the body anyway. Their last chance to do something nice for me.
Anyway, still a conversation in process, but I'm learning a lot more about Ugandan culture. It is telling that murder is the first thought when someone dies unexpectedly. Guess it is to be expected given all the wars these people have lived through in the past 50 years, with the average age of a Ugandan in the mid 20's and 48 years is considered to be old.
Hope you are well and laughed at all the information in this note as much as Florence and I have. BTW I expect to live to be 102, so don't be making any travel plans on my account.
Blessings,
Maggie
Monday, September 12, 2011
Blessings
What do you count among your blessings today?
Health?
Friends?
Family?
Job or service?
How about simple things like shelter, blankets, food?
This past week, for fun, I mended a sheet for one of my guards. It was torn so badly that I used another torn sheet to strengthen it and cover the rips that both had. The repair job wasn't great, but functional.
He was so amazed and thankful when it was returned to him. He said that it would be better than new for it would be warmer now. He doesn't have any blanket, and often puts on a second shirt at night and doubles the sheet, just to stay warm.
we are now in our rainy season, projected to last through December. Which means things will be damp and cold.
Anyone wanting to paypal money for blankets for my staff may send $10 to maggie.mcneill@gmail.com. Just earmark it for blankets and I will pass your blessings along.
Health?
Friends?
Family?
Job or service?
How about simple things like shelter, blankets, food?
This past week, for fun, I mended a sheet for one of my guards. It was torn so badly that I used another torn sheet to strengthen it and cover the rips that both had. The repair job wasn't great, but functional.
He was so amazed and thankful when it was returned to him. He said that it would be better than new for it would be warmer now. He doesn't have any blanket, and often puts on a second shirt at night and doubles the sheet, just to stay warm.
we are now in our rainy season, projected to last through December. Which means things will be damp and cold.
Anyone wanting to paypal money for blankets for my staff may send $10 to maggie.mcneill@gmail.com. Just earmark it for blankets and I will pass your blessings along.
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