ekissa: The blessings of forward movements...

Monday, April 21, 2014

Our time here in Uganda has quickly come to an end. It’s 7pm on Monday evening and we’ll be leaving for the airport in about 2 1/2 hours, for a gruel-some journey home.....

.........Well, life’s funny sometimes. Like an unbridled horse, it it takes off running with no notice at all. I’m not sure where my thoughts were when I started this blog entry, but now that it’s 37 hours later, I’m not sure I can recapture them.

Our time in Uganda was brief but sweet. We went with intentions of encouraging our friends, yet we return the benefactors of such encouragement.

I’m continually humbled at the modern-day examples of Christ’ life on display as we experience a day in the life of Abbey and the boys. What Abbey does on is nothing short of Jesus feeding the 5,000----on a DAILY basis. I could tell story after story, of how he reaches out without hesitation, to encourage & alleviate the suffering of so many. The beauty of it all is how he not only demonstrates our Christian responsibility of caring for those in need, he has taught this commandment to the boys he cares for.

Abbey is an anomaly to me. My human-ness can not process his level of sacrifice, grace, compassion, self denial, and unconditional love, he demonstrates. He truly is an extraordinary individual...the male counter-part of Mother Teresa. To encounter him, is to receive a blessing.

His forward thinking led him to present a proposal while we were there. He and Mark have been meeting together over the past 6 months during our absence, discussing how ekissa could begin a project which would benefit the community of Bweya. While our focus has been to begin raising funds to build a permanent home for he and the boys, his focus is on a much bigger picture.

As most of you know by now, Abbey has a master’s degree in education, and has been a teacher for many years. His dream has been to run a children’s home, as well as begin a Christian Day School in Bweya. This project would be more a ministry; focused on making education attainable for the very poor in Bweya, who other-wise would not receive an education.

Upon Abbey presenting this proposal to Debbie & I, we knew immediately we needed to meet with Pastor Gerald (of Bweya Community Church). The location of the proposed Day School is the church. In this proposal, indeed ekissa’s dream of the local church becoming the “hub” of ministry, would be realized.

We meet with Pastor Gerald and Abbey presented this same proposal. The unity experienced in that “grass church” made the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention! I was brought to tears at what God was doing before my eyes. There is such beauty the way God fashions 5 individuals to come together, from different villages, different continents and different life experiences, and realize the unity of dreams, visions and passions.

Lord willing, the school will begin with 1 class this Fall; the equivalent of our kindergarten readiness program. Both Abbey & Pastor Gerald agreed that starting small, slow and at the beginning level had great merit. While keeping the tuition rate very low, there are other fees/ expenses associated with attending school. Those fees include 2 uniforms, shoes and scholastic materials (paper, pencils, etc...) I inquired about the need/ requirement of uniforms, for which I was informed of the reasoning behind. The uniforms give all students equal footing such that there is no discrimination regarding a particular socio-economic level. Yes, even poverty has its’ stratospheric levels. Uniforms also promote a sense of pride for the students and the parents as it demonstrates in the community that the child is able to attend school. Such a project will require ekissa to find many individuals willing to participate in child sponsorship! Please join us in praying for this specific project.

This educational ministry will also open up endless community outreach opportunities for Pastor Gerald. Pastor He commented that when the children begin to come into the doors of the church, the parents will come as well. Among additional opportunities of spiritual growth, Pastor Gerald is interested in providing parenting classes & community health classes. These will be requirements for the students’ parents/ relatives in which they live with.

It is also realized that while the tuition cost of the school will remain considerably less than all other schools, there may be some families who will struggle with that minimal amount. Rather than turning them away due to the lack of capital, they will be able to give other means of compensation to benefit the school. (ie...a bag of beans, or rice, maize, or provide a service for the school such as cooking, ...) This allows educational opportunities for everyone, with no discrimination, yet it requires some sense of responsibility/ investment on the part of the family.

Thanks to generous donors, ekissa was able to complete the process of providing power to the church. This was initiated in October of 2013 (6 months ago), but within a week, the lights will be turned on!

I must close this post for now as we are beginning to board the plane. We are grateful for this week, for time spent with friends, for all God has accomplished...and the honor for this front row seat in witnessing His hand moving.

Peace,

Sarah