Destination Uganda – Day 14 Church & Coffee

Sunday 29th October

We started the day by going to Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC) for the 8 am service, this is the church that runs Watoto and hosted the conference we attended.  After this we just went for a coffee at one of the few coffee shops around and then waited for the horrible trip back home.  We stopped in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for three days as a holiday.  This was a great thing to do as we could think over all that had happened in our own heads, before having to face the reality of our lives back in Australia.  It gave us a chance to get things sorted in our hearts and minds before we were bombarded with questions back home.

My general thoughts are that they need the help of someone, and it is the churches best opportunity to show God’s love for them.  Here are a few reasons why I feel that it is good for us to partner with VCCS run by Edward in Kabale.

1. Because we need strong, commited, trust worthy people to partner with and VCCS has proved to be this and more.  They are impacting the community around then.  Even if it is only small things they are doing at the moment, what they are doing is HUGE in terms of what they have.  They also have a vision that looks beyond their current resources, not looking for handouts but trusting that God will supply.
2. Because the situation in Northern Uganda is so bad (LRA rebel action causing many bad situations), all the attention and help goes there and the Southern part of the country if forgotten.  We saw one other white person while in Kabale and Edward knew only of one other foreign missionary in the area.  The needs are greater in the north, but because no one is giving any assistance to the south, the needs there are being forgotten and before too long the needs in the south have the potential to become much worse than they are. 
3. Between our last trip and this trip the influence of people involved in the situation in Sudan has increased.  They are taking obvious steps to make changes within the educational, political and law areas of society, with hundreds of these people enrolling for university in these areas.  Unless the local people are also educated in these areas then there will obviously be an increase in these forces and there may well be repeats of the situation if Sudan.  Working with VCCS in establishing a quality boarding school, would not be a fix for this, but it would be a start in the right direction.
4. I can see no way that the cycle of poverty in Kabale can be brocken, unless people partner with locals, giving resources, experience and skills to help.

Personally I can think of nothing else more desirable in my life than to help those who need our help.  Many may criticise and say we are wasting our time, but if I can make a life changing difference to a handful of people then I know my time is not wasted.  I have lived with the pleasures that living for oneself has to offer and have decided that this is not enough for me.  I want to help others, not to big not myself, but to see peoples lives changed.  I have had a small influence in different peoples life, helping them in someway to live a better life and have discovered that this gives so much more than living for myself.

This trip is a pivotal point in my life, I do not know exactly what will come in the future but am looking forward in great anticipation, to be able to look back and be satisfied I have lived to the best of my ability to live the life God has called me to!!!!!!