Uganda is often called the pearl of Africa. It is a beautiful nation. We hope to see this. It is a nation still recovering from civil war and genocide. It is a nation not 100% stable. Yesterday there were large government protests. Over 100 people were arrested. They say the army is on the streets of Kampala keeping the peace. One person was killed. Most of our days will be spent in the slums. But not all of Kampala is a slum. Not everyone in the country is poor. I rented our group a very nice apartment to stay in. It is 5 star for half the price of a hotel. There are 3 bedrooms, a bathroom and a full kitchen and living room. Directly below the apartment is Cafe Java. This place looks like it would fit comfortably in LaJolla California. Sunday morning I hope to be drinking a pretty good cup of cappuccino there. We will experience the best, and the worst of Uganda. To be safe, we have our own driver. He will take us directly to the MOPS sewing workshop, and the soap workshop. We will not spend a lot of time walking through the slum. This is for our own safety. Our mission is not to Uganda. It is not even to the slum. It is to these 20 teenage mothers and their 27 kids. So I am afraid we will remain a little isolated. This is for our own safety. And we need to focus our time, and resources on our women. That is why we are going. I am trying to learn "how to help the poor". I guess lesson one is to define your mission. FOCUS. We are going to build up the MOPS leadership. They will be serving this population of women long term. So we will encourage them, and build them up. We will be involved in building practical infrastructure. We want to build a chicken coop, and pallet furniture. We will start plants, and teach cooking. And we will be doing research. How can we market soap? What needs to happen going forward? What kind of animals should we buy for the farm? I am also writing a book. I will be doing a lot of research for the book. On the one hand, you have government protests, and some of the worst slums in the world, and on the other hand Cafe Java. And I will pour myself out for our women in Kampala, but feel zero guilt about my cappuccino on Sunday morning. We have to get up at 3am on Saturday morning. Our flight leaves at 7:30am from Frankfurt. We appreciate your prayers for safety. This is sadly a real need. I am not downplaying this. I am just not dwelling on it. We will try to exercise wisdom.
Uganda is often called the pearl of Africa. It is a beautiful nation. We hope to see this. It is a nation still recovering from civil war and genocide. It is a nation not 100% stable. Yesterday there were large government protests. Over 100 people were arrested. They say the army is on the streets of Kampala keeping the peace. One person was killed. Most of our days will be spent in the slums. But not all of Kampala is a slum. Not everyone in the country is poor. I rented our group a very nice apartment to stay in. It is 5 star for half the price of a hotel. There are 3 bedrooms, a bathroom and a full kitchen and living room. Directly below the apartment is Cafe Java. This place looks like it would fit comfortably in LaJolla California. Sunday morning I hope to be drinking a pretty good cup of cappuccino there. We will experience the best, and the worst of Uganda. To be safe, we have our own driver. He will take us directly to the MOPS sewing workshop, and the soap workshop. We will not spend a lot of time walking through the slum. This is for our own safety. Our mission is not to Uganda. It is not even to the slum. It is to these 20 teenage mothers and their 27 kids. So I am afraid we will remain a little isolated. This is for our own safety. And we need to focus our time, and resources on our women. That is why we are going. I am trying to learn "how to help the poor". I guess lesson one is to define your mission. FOCUS. We are going to build up the MOPS leadership. They will be serving this population of women long term. So we will encourage them, and build them up. We will be involved in building practical infrastructure. We want to build a chicken coop, and pallet furniture. We will start plants, and teach cooking. And we will be doing research. How can we market soap? What needs to happen going forward? What kind of animals should we buy for the farm? I am also writing a book. I will be doing a lot of research for the book. On the one hand, you have government protests, and some of the worst slums in the world, and on the other hand Cafe Java. And I will pour myself out for our women in Kampala, but feel zero guilt about my cappuccino on Sunday morning. We have to get up at 3am on Saturday morning. Our flight leaves at 7:30am from Frankfurt. We appreciate your prayers for safety. This is sadly a real need. I am not downplaying this. I am just not dwelling on it. We will try to exercise wisdom.
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