Hello from the muzungus (foreigners)!
The last two days have been our most intense and exciting yet. Here's an overview of our adventures...
The team attended at prayer time at Life Ministries’ headquarters. The three hour-long meeting included testimonies, concerns, queries as well as prayer and worship. A small congregation of about twenty people spoke about current issues such as homosexuality, political corruption and the evolution of Ugandan values (modesty, family, etc). The team participated, but mostly listened and learned from the natives about their high esteem for traditional ideals. They shared a strong faith that was evident in their moving testimonies. Several members of the congregation shared stories about healing and success while others mourned a death or illness in their family. Each praise report was celebrated with singing, clapping and prayer, while each news of tragedy received empathy and prayer as well. The interactive session of prayer allowed the team to observe Uganda’s strong Christian core, cultural standards and tight community.
Later that evening the team took a 40-minute bumpy ride to the outskirts of the city. We visited the Mercy Junior School - a small Christian primary school in a slum area between Kampala and Entebbe. The school consisted of three classrooms – Nursery (Kindergarten), P1 (first grade) and P2 (second grade). Following a tour of the school, the team was taken on a walk around the community. Despite the meager living conditions, we saw crowds of smiling faces and received a warm greeting from each family we met. After the walk, the headmistress of the school handed us textbooks. That evening we made a list of songs, games and subjects we would teach the following day. The activities were divided according to class and each team member picked a role.
Our team with Pastor Joseph at the Mercy Junior School
The kids chased our van as we drove off :)
A view of the slums near the school
May 25th, 2010:
The next morning we relived the bumpy ride back to Mercy Junior School – this time as guest teachers. Our collective talents combined to create three hours of creative lessons (math, science and English), song/dance and, of course, play time. The team split up to work with different classes, and soon the entire building was filled with children’s voices screaming the answers to an animated question and singing songs like “Father Abraham” and “Jesus Loves Me." During their breakfast break at 10 A.M. some of the children performed a dance for us. After the first song, we were invited to join them on stage. For the next four songs we danced along with the children. Although, the youngest ones spoke very little English they were eager to learn and extremely loving. We made a lot of friends, very quickly.
Serving the kids lunch :)
Joe, Betsy, and Jennifer taught Bible, English, and Science to the P1ers (5 and 6 year-olds)
The children love to play!
The team was invited to teach again tomorrow. We’re all looking forward to another day with the children!
Keep us in your prayers!
Love,
Elvina
So excited to join you in about 36 hours. :-)
ReplyDelete