Destination Uganda – Day 5

Friday 20th October

Today I actually slept in until the alarm went of at 5 am – my body clock is starting to work on Ugandan time.  At breakfast Edward commented that it was good that we were becoming good friends after such a short time.  To know that he was thinking the same way about this as us was very comforting.

Brian Houston started today’s conference of with a fantastic word, speaking of the possiblities and potential that we have.  One statement he made that stuck out to me was along the lines of, ‘Half the world lives on less than $1 a day, a quater of the world lives on less than $2 a day.  The UN says that $1 a day is absolute poverty and $2 a day is relative poverty, so we are relatively rich!’ Then we got into the breakout sessions again:

• Finance – Over all Objectives, Project Management, Sources of Funding, International PArtners, Self Sustainability, Donor Funds, Integrity and Transparency, Systems & Contracts, Management of Funds, Sponsorships, Procurement Policy.
• Networking
• Hosting Visitors & Teams – Spoke on the importance of having people see for themselves and that impacting them was important.
• Project Development

As Part of the conference we received a large manual that includes extensive notes on the breakout session topics and also Watoto’s policy manuals which will be invaluable in the future.

Today we had lunch with Edward and Jackson.  It was a great opportunity for our friendship with Jackson to begin to grow.  We talked about music and other common interests.  I enjoyed hearing him talk about how he was a Pastor at 22, and was assigned to minister in Kabale, even though he was not from there.  Even though he was the same colour as the people in Kabale, he could not speak the same language and to preach he initially had to use an interpreter.  Here is a photo of Jackson with Brian Houston.

 We met many other people at the conference, but there were a few that I really enjoyed meeting and will most likely keep contact with, as I enjoyed their company, liked what they were doing and felt a connection with them in some way.  There was a couple around our age from South Africa who had 12 orphans, an architect from Bathurst Australia, and a Texan couple.  The couple from Texas particularly got my attention, they are starting out on a project that includes an orphanage, schools, church, hospital and agricultural projects.  Not only did they desire to do similar things to us, but they were doing it where God called them to, even if it was in the midst of all the rebel action in Northern Uganda.

 Brian shared again in the evening service from Psalm 23 v1 – I shall not want, and v5 but my cup shall over flow.  It was as if David was saying I reject want or lack, and I choose overflow. There are a lot of good points that came out that I will post latter.  Today we also met a man with the friendliest smile you have ever met – Moses who runs the only orphanage in the Kabale district with 14 children wither living with them or at boarding school.

I started to think about visiting one of Watoto’s villages tomorrow, where we will get to see a house that we helped build as part of a team that came out last year.  I am nervous because I do not know how I will react.  I am excited about it though.

At dinner Edward asked us about what our vision was and I told him, but also said that we were aware that we needed to remain very open and would draw on him and his ideas a lot as he knew a lot more about how things work in Uganda than we would ever know.  Edward said that we both needed to bring our ideas together to work out where God was leading together.  This was good as I really felt that he was looking at us as partners, not just as a source of finance and I had gotten from others at the conference.  God has began speaking strongly that it was not our role to come in and do the work, but rather to assist the local people.  Allowing the locals to build up self belief and confidence within themselves.  Aiding them to draw on the potential God has placed within them.