HNGR in Uganda

Pentecostals in a Catholic University

2005-10-10T10:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to Uganda Martyrs University in Nkozi (way out in the village to the South East). I went South of the Equator for the first time in my life, but that wasn’t nearly the highlight.

I went to teach about Discipleship, specifically in the context of small groups, but the major focus of my session was on hypocrisy as the biggest enemy of the gospel.

After the session ended the coordinator of care groups took my aside and bombarded me with questions. Apparently my talk had hit the nail on the head for the problems within this particular ministry of this University. He explained the challenge he had been given by one of his non-Christian friends; “People here really need Christ, but they don’t see him in you. In your actions they see condemnation and judgmentalism. Where is Christ in the way you act?!” He was obviously convicted and shaken by this confrontation of the hypocrisy on his campus, and somehow from my talk he discerned that I had all the answers to the difficult situation of hypocrisy on their campus. The question he is longing to answer is, “how do we live out the gospel so people see and believe?” Ironically enough, I just finished an 18 page paper on an Evangelical social ethic, and I have been convicted to write a group study on the social implications of the gospel – which my supervisor has been really excited about.After talking with the care group coordinator, the CU chairman took us to the village near their university – not telling us what we were going to see. As we drove up to an ideally located patch of land on top of a gradually sloping valley. To the East stood two homes; one with three walls of mud and sticks was dwarfed in the shadows of a new brick house with glistening tin roof. Damon (the chairman of the Christian Union) explained that they had built this house as part of the practical application of what they learned in their course: Ethics and Development. They had located a widow in the village because her son was always sick with Malaria, and they asked themselves, “what can we do?” Then they went to professors and students and raised 17 million shillings. When we went in the home this woman broke down immediately and told us her story, “one day I came back from the garden, and there was a pile of bricks outside my house!” The students hadn’t told her or asked, they simply delivered the building materials one day and started work on her new home. The closing challenge I had given the group of students we were training, was to ask, “What are the needs of our community, and our campus?” And then, “What does the gospel demand that we do?” Little did I know they had already done it!

My question now is this; “What are the needs of our community?”

Daniel Tandeka

2005-09-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

One overcast Wednesday afternoon I decided to fast and pray. The last time I ventured to Fast I was propositioned for circumcision by a Muslim Evangelist, and so I awaited with eager anticipation what God had in store for me today. As I was reading in our living room it started to rain. In Africa it never sprinkles. When God comes to water this dry and thirsty land he does so with a flood, both spiritually and physically. And so I was not surprised when two gentlemen who had been cutting FOCUS’ grass came and stood under our roof. I took this as an obvious sign that it was raining, and didn’t think much beyond that. Then God impressed upon me the desire to host them, so I boiled some water and brought them tea.

It was here that I met Daniel, a recent graduate of Makerere in the Gender and Development program who, because he couldn’t find work, had taken to following around with people who could. He asked what I did, to which I explained the work of FOCUS, and then asked how he should go about reaching the children in his village in order to guide them into mature Christians. We talked for about an hour, after which he exclaimed, “how can I do what you do?!”

To make a long story short, God has placed Daniel in my care, and me in Daniel’s. I now take Daniel with me to all of my trainings (at his request) and explain and teach him everything I know. The greatest blessing was last week. We went to a training together, I showed him all the materials I had prepared and invited him to jump in wherever he wanted to in our training. And he did, with what I had taught him earlier about hermeneutics! And of course he did it better than I ever could.

Please pray for Daniel: that he gets a job, and for our friendship.
Pray for my studies (for HNGR and lesson preparations)
Pray that I become a better teacher and preacher – effective, confident, courageous, and humble
Pray that FOCUS finds the money to support its work

processing poverty

2005-09-11T05:33:00.000-07:00

"I grew up in the inner-city of Minneapolis Minnesota."

When I sit to write anything I am always drawn to make this statement first. If I'm sharing anything of myself it begins with these words, simply because if you don't know this you don't know anything about me. Growing up in a poor neighborhood in Minneapolis made me very bitter toward the American suburbs - strangly ironic that I would choose to attend school in the wealthy Christian sub-cultured suburb of Wheaton.

When I went to school it didn't take long to become cynical and hard towards life in the suburbs of Chicago. I did not understand how a Christian could be rich. It just didn't make sense. The life of Faith which was modeled to me from birth by my parents was one inspired by the writings of Bonhoeffer and Christ's sermon on the mount. My parents had been deeply impacted by Bonhoeffer in their youth, and when they were attending University together a pastor preached a powerful series on the sermon on the mount which drew them into living as salt and light in inner-city minneapolis. The life I have seen in them is one of credible Christianity. And when I went to Wheaton I was not impressed by what I saw.

However, over time I adapted to this strange Christian sub-culture, and came to see that earnest and devoted Christians could be exceedingly wealthy. I started with a very condemning attitude toward Wheaton (and most students there), but ended up accepting that wealth isn't evil in itself - it's when you worship it that it turns sour.

So I went through three years at Wheaton and eventually came to the realization that money isn't evil. I even made some wonderful friends with people raised in the suburbs, some of whom are deeply committed to actualizing God's love for the poor. I was able to live with the tension of wealthy Christians in an age of hunger, poverty, oppression and deep need.

But now I'm coming around another bend.

Living in Uganda has opened my eyes to my own wealth, and it's a wealth which I'm not sure I can even forfeit. Simply because of the color of my skin, and the passport hidden in my room I will never be as poor as my neighbors. Simply because I can read, write and speak in English I will never be as desperate as my neighbors. simply because of my education, I will never be as idle, or bored, or poor, or oppressed as anyone who lives in my neighborhood.

When I went to Wheaton I could afford to be condemning, because my family had chosen not to compete with the American dream. But now I find myself being judged, and I am lacking.

Nicholas Wolderstoff writes that, the affluence of Christian missionaries from the West doesn't just make relating to people difficult, it makes relationships embarassing.

This last week I went home with a friend, and his father explained how some days there is not enough money to feed his family, so they go to bed with nothing but tea. 5 minutes earlier he had told me that when he heard I was coming he decided to stay home from work and host me - we had intended on coming at 4:00pm, but didn't make it until 7:00pm! Which meant he waited all day and could have gone to work. As he was telling me this, his son brought me a donut and soda (the cost of which could have fed his family that night), and despite my begging he refused to share what was given to me. So as we talked I ate and I drank their dinner in front of them. All this because I was a special guest - special only because of the color of my skin.

It's important that we don't get too comfortable in this world, because after all we are just pilgrims passing through. But what sort of pilgrims are we? Are we like those of the MayFlower who came and ushered in their own prosperity and dominance at the expense of the environment and every other people in their way? I don't think that's what Christ meant when he said the world would hate us. I may be wrong. Proselytizing and the prosperity gospel may be the way to go in life. But I don't think we're supposed to be pilgrims of affluence, marching onward promoting Jeffersonian democracy, freedom of choice within a free market economy, and the gospel of GLORY. (See Luther's Heidleberg Disputation for a full understanding of what I mean by "theology of glory")

When Bonhoeffer took some time to reflect on the experiences of the resistence, he wrote a peice entitled, "After Ten Years." Within this peice was held the communal leasons of those who had resisted Hitler for ten years. It's the writings of those who refused to tolerate the evil of their day, and chose instead the way of absolute solidarity with the oppressed, even to the point of Bonhoeffer's own death. The conclusion of this peice speak of their experience of incomparable value, to see the historic events of the world "from below". They came to see the gospel from the perspective of those without power. They came to understand that, "love your neighbor" requires absolute solidarity with your neighbor. "And who is my neighbor?"

In short, we cannot deny that our neighbors are living in poverty while we have wealth... (out of time, more later...)

Namirembe Cathedral

2005-09-05T12:18:00.000-07:00

When Aggrey invited me to fellowship with the 'revivalists' I didn't really know what I was getting myself into, but it promised to be a very different sort of Christian gathering and I looked forward to the opportunity. On our way to Namirembe Cathedral I began to question him more on what sort of fellowship this would be; "This is the original fellowship of the East African Revival Movement; they have been meeting every week since 1929!"

As we walked in I found the women of the fellowship seated on the left, and the men on the right. An old time Luganda hymn in 5 part harmony was floating in the air. As we took our seats we were handed song sheets by a light skinned black man of 89 years old; his skin was a smooth leather and his eyes peirced the soul through his thick glasses. We sang several Luganda hymns, and then began sharing our testimonies. This group had just participated in a crusade, so several of their stories began with testimony of the work of God regarding the lost being found, but they all ended with the same chorus of a Luganda hymn - which usually began as the person was still sharing. Aggrey introduced me, but was then told, "you're not a Buganda, you don't know how to talk so sit down and let someone else translate!" (A bit harsh for African culture, but it fits with the culture of this group). After I finished explaining what I'm doing here I went to sit down, but Zabuloni Kabaza called out to me, "tell us how you got saved!" So I shared briefly how I came to Christ, but no sooner did I say, "and then I gave my life to Christ" than the whole assembly burst into a passionate hymn.

Zab is one of the original members of this fellowship - and did I mention he is also a Wheaton grad (you can see our picture together above). Him, along with William Ngende, Simeon, Godfreed and a few others were the first converts of the East African revival under the Rwanda missionary medic Joe Church. Church may have led them to Christ, but that's about where his role ended. It was these Ugandan who spread the gospel all over East Africa. The work of the Holy Spirit through them is responsible for the vibrancy and size of the Church in Africa.

The current state of the Church in Uganda is the direct result of their work. However, after participating in their fellowship I have become a bit less impressed with the Pentecostal Church here. This group, though few of them have received an advanced education, are deeply commited intellectuals. The man who preached was a second generation revivalist (about 70 years old) who had read 2,000 books to celebrate 2,000 years since the birth of Christ! And this is the common trend. There is a disciplined passion here to learn more and more about God. One problem in the Pentecostal church (all over the place and also here) is a lack of intellectualism under the guise of simply following the Spirit, but within this fellowship the two are intimately intertwined, while being drastically counter-cultural. I say counter-cultural because of their four points of emphasis: Repentance, Walking in the light, Being broken (having the guts to say when you're wrong), and puting things right - people in this fellowship have actually gone to prison for this last point because they have confessed to stealing money from an unforgiving government. There is also a problem in Pentecostal churches regarding a lack of accountability, but within this group there is absolute accountability - whether you're planning on getting married or buying a house you would not do so without coming first to the fellowship and asking for prayer. And if you did something warranting concern you would hear about it immediately and within the public gathering.

After the sermon we spent some time mingling, and I bought a book from Kigozi which he had written a chapter in entitled, "70 years reflections on the East African Revival"! Zab is by far the most energetic Uganda I have met to this point, and at 84 years old it's no surprise because of this fellowships philosophy, "you continue in ministry until the Lord calls you home."

It was truly inspiring to participate with this group; their devotion makes sense of the strength of the church in Uganda.

Still alive and looking good

2005-08-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

For those of you wondering what I look like in Uganda, here I am.
And here is Emily Cool in a Gomaz! Emily is my friend from Wheaton who had her birthday on July 30th. To celebrate I went to her house for a huge party and this is how we dressed for church. Her hair looks a bit like raggedy Anne because she had it plaited with Yarn but I think it works for her.

Re-education of the oppressed

2005-08-25T06:59:00.000-07:00

I think one of the hardest things to see is when your own culture murders another. But more challenging - at least for someone already disenfranchised with their own culture - is to see deeply imbeded institutions of cultural oppression having their way with a whole class, race or gender of people.

Within Uganda there is no lack for suffering, nor for the classic bout between the oppressors and the oppressed if you buy into that liberation jargon. But I have only come to really see the embrace of idealogy in the last week as I started to write and teach bible studies with the goal of "empowering women" in our neighborhood. I knew there would be some confrontation - our neighborhood is mostly Muslim, and the people in the class I would teach are mostly men, mostly because it was a University age class and by that point most girls have left our project for any number of very painful and difficult reasons all tied to cultural institutions which challenge every movement toward empowerment which a woman may take.

Within Uganda the attitudes toward women are much more harsh than in my little class in Kampala. For instance: in the West women are taught from birth that beatings are a form of love, and that if your husband does not beat you there must be something wrong in your marriage. In the East there are still some tribes practicing female circumcision. These are some blatant examples of culture oppressing women, but much more suddle are the examples in Kampala; where there is little money to send the children to school only the boys go. They will be able to make more money (even for the same job men are paid more), and they are considered smarter (a notion still present in the US with some strength). Also, in the traditional context here, women could not eat chicken or fish, and they could not drink beer (not a great loss here considering the quality of the beer, but the motive behind it is that men need time to think and talk and women should not rest!).

There is so much pressure here against women getting an education that the ones in the Mulago Child Project are really a miracle, and yet by the time they reach this age they have been severely beaten by a culture (and religion - Islam) which tells them they are virtually worthless.

I really enjoyed teaching class on Saturday, but I was utalizing everything I have as a theologian to reason through the value of women and that they do not deserve to be oppressed. In the midst of it, the most opposition came from a woman in the front row, and a muslim boy in the back. One student was convinced that the curse on women in Genesis (that she would be ruled by her husband) was not a curse at all, and later conceded that it was really a curse on men! That they would have to be responsible for their foolish wives.

The most difficult part of this is that I could see these views embraced by some of the students at my University. They would not follow them to the final conclusion which they reach here, and in the (wealthy) US there are plenty of social networks help someone land softly when they hit rock bottom.

The challenge of seeing Western culture's influence here comes when you place capitalist values in situations of extreme poverty. With the expanse of globalization, it seems that most people here know what they are missing out on, and they know what they want. I met a 30 year old man several weeks back who wanted to make a gospel album with me because I speak a bit of Luganda and know how to sing (and a muzungu singing Luganda would really sell the band). Because if you're going to make money in Africa, its going to be through the church! Pastors in Kampala (at least those over orthodox churches) are, in my experience, a wonderful breed of people, but if you turn on the TV to "lighthouse television" and watch the Nigerian variety of power evangelists, or even the Miracle churches here in Uganda (or shouold I say unorthodox - not to be confused with "traditional") you will find another brand of AMERICAN Prosperity Gospel proclaimed to a people completely disempowered by poverty. Sometimes it's a shame to see what we export.

Advisory Visit

2005-08-12T00:04:00.000-07:00

Just yesterday I saw Dr. Mark Husbands to the airport and said, "see you later." He has been here the last week helping me begin my research and organize my independant study (which he is directing). It was a wonderful week for many reasons, but most of all I think seeing Mark here helped me to see how to live as a theologian in Uganda. He helped model for me how my curiosity can turn into unassuming questions which plunged the depths of Ugandan Christianity.

Meeting with Pastor Franco:

On Monday Mark and I met with Pastor Franco (the man in charge of the fastest growing Pentecostal Church in Kampala) from 12:45pm - 5:30pm! He cleared his entire schedule for us just to share KPC's ministry with Mark. We had lunch out and talked about all the many works of God through KPC - it's at times amazing how God uses what I would not expect Him to. At times the ministries of KPC seem rediculously hopeful and optimistic - and yet amazing things happen! Like when KPC bought a mountain without knowing what it was really like, and now (18 months later) it is the home to 400 orphans of war and AIDS, along with widowed or abandoned mothers for every 8 children. Mark was blown away by the ministry of Watoto (the villages on the hills), and could not stop talking about the effectiveness of the place.

Meeting with David Zac:
On Tuesday we met with the Bishop, assistant to the archbishop of Uganda: David Zac Niringye. He is a Wheaton graduate, but that's not his defining characteristic. He burst in the door 15 minutes late, coming from a celebration for the "caretakers" (those in the Anglican church who serve those with HIV/AIDS by providing every level of care for them). I cannot do justice to this man in writing, so I will make this brief and possibly write more later. We talked passionately for an hour about following God; that there may come a point where solidarity with the poor and suffering will require us to speak prophetically against the wicked, and even to let go of our personal righteousness and become guilty - not walking, but dying with the poor!

Zac's meeting was certainly a highlight, and he's invited me back to talk with him more - so hopefully this won't be the only encounter.

Uganda Christian University:
It's amazing how tribal evangelical Christians can be... As a student of Wheaton college I am begining to believe that I have access to anywhere in the world. We went to UGandan Christian University (UCU) to talk with the Vice-Chancelor (because UCU is going to partner with Wheaton) and from that conversation I've have gained access to the best Theological library in Uganda - along with the support of the Vice-Chancelor to intorduce me to the family of Janani Luwum (a martyred Archbishop of Uganda whom I will research in my time here).

My neighbor the Muslim President

2005-08-04T01:11:00.000-07:00

I took this last Wednesday to fast and pray about the direction of my internship, and spent most of the day in the house writing or praying. But I was also organizing my advisor's visit from the States, so I went to the internet Cafe to see if he had emailed me recently. On my way back up the hill into our loud slum community I started praying and asking God to show me where there might be strong holds in our neighborhood which I should specifically pray for in my time here. As I rounded the corner to my home the Muslims in our neighborhood were entering the mosque for their afternoon prayer. I caught the eye of a middle aged gentleman wearing the traditional Muslim outfit, he was about my height with a big smile on his face and a hole straight through one of his front teeth. He took my hand and got right to the point, "I want to circumcise you." I was a bit surprised by the proposition, but I kindly told him that I was already circumcised. He asked if I believed Mohamed and Jesus were prophets from God, to which I replied, "no" to the former, and "I believe he was more than a prophet" to the later. Then he made his position very clear, "I want you to become a Muslim, you're already circumcised, so all you have to do is say, 'there is no god but allah and mohamed is his prophet,' then we give you another name, either Abraham, Mohamed or Moses, and you're a Muslim." I kindly told him, "I will not say that." And then we discussed briefly the virgin birth and trinitarian theology. He asked if I believed God took Mary into heaven and had sex with her to make Jesus, but when I brought up the Holy Spirit he laughed as though I had made the most hillarious joke of all time. He explained that he was running to be president of Muslims in our neighborhood, and that he would pray for me to become a Muslim. I told him I would not and then he entered the mosque for prayer. Only later did I realize this was an answer to my prayer, and then I laughed as I started praying for this man to recieve visions and dreams revealing the godship of Christ.

Mosaic

2005-08-02T01:38:00.000-07:00

Devotions

I learned at HoneyRock last summer that ministry flowing out of one’s personal devotions is effective and enjoyable; whereas ministry contrived and forced is an ineffective unjoyful burden. With this in mind I have been waking up at 6:00am every morning, and generally enjoying life a lot more. Please pray that I would be able to continue this schedule as it is richly rewarding, but at times hard to maintain.

Mulago

On July 14th I was feeling a bit guilty. At that point I had been in Uganda for about a month and hadn’t really done anything – even now I haven’t done much in terms of ‘working’ for my host organization. I stopped by the child project office and decided I needed to learn more. Through a conversation with Earnest (whose role is somewhat like that of a social worker) I was invited to visit the homes of some of the children FOCUS helps to sponsor. We visited several homes, meeting mothers and grandmothers, but the most impressive was Mamma Frank. Her husband died of AIDS several years ago, after passing the disease to her, yet she lives with a unique strength and deep love for her children. Simply to look at her home you can see that she has planned for the future, even though she knows her days are numbered. What little she has is kept very clean and well arranged; her small garden provides a business and food, the grass she has planted under a banana tree gives her a soft place to sit in the shade, and her home (which she built herself) is always kept in good order. These simple things reveal her hopeful heart; that tomorrow will come, and some day God will return.

Watoto

As I have been learning about KPC I have heard a lot about Watoto Child Care ministries, so I thought I should learn more. KPC started caring for orphans of war and AIDS about 11 years ago, and since then their approach has become a model for orphanages in Africa. Last week I spent all day Tuesday learning about the Watoto homes, and topped it off by an impromptu visit with a friend of mine who works in Watoto’s accounts office. As I walked around their sight on Subi mountain I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the place, and the people. A cool breeze from lake Victoria graces this tall hill which overlooks the miniature mountain range of East-Central Uganda. I met a young man named Dennis who showed me around his mountain and then took me to his home. As I approached the door I was greeted by his mother (each home has 1 mother who has been widowed, abandoned or divorced because of AIDS, war, or an unfaithful husband, and 8 children who have been orphaned by AIDS or War), she told me, “welcome,” but I responded, “erade Nyabo” (a very respectful greeting) to which she nearly jumped out of her skin laughing! She started jumping up and down and gave me the biggest hug I have ever received. I was quickly ushered in for tea and bananas and began to learn ever more about God’s heart for redemption.

Rafting

On Monday July 18th I left Kampala at 8:00am to go rafting down the Nile with two other interns from Wheaton (Dan and Emily). We drove to Jinja, the source of the Nile via the provision of a minivan from a rafting company we had discovered two days earlier. I took a large backpack full of all the esencials, except two: sunblock, and swimming trunks. I don’t know why I did not bring these things, but I did have some options before me. I brought an extra pear of underwear, a pear of athletic shorts, and an extra t-shirt. However, the distribution of assets was somewhat lacking. Dan did not have swimming shorts either, so I gave him my shorts and went down the Nile in nothing but my underwear (fortunately our rafting party was mostly international so no one seemed to cared, and I was definitely more decent than the Spaniards in Speedos).

So…While rafting down the Nile in my underwear I received the worst sunburn I have ever had; I could not sleep on my side for a week because it hurt so badly. It was somewhat reminicant of the scene in “A River Runs Through It;” when Paul’s future brother in law falls asleep naked under the blazing sun of a Montana Summer and is so sore that he can’t wear his clothes even to greet his mother. At the second rapid our raft flipped and my underpants instantly found their way to my ankles (these particular boxers were not equipped with a draw string); after that I was convinced they would be gone by the time we got to the end – but miraculously they managed to stay on for the entire trip.

Trip to Lira

Last weekend I went to Lira to visit a children’s sponsorship program which my supervisor has helped to start. The children they support are those in most desperate need, living in the refugee camps as orphans with no one to care for them. As children they are most vulnerable to human predators who would take advantage of them…but you cannot tell where these children have come from just by looking at them, because they have sipped the sweet taste of redemption in their lives, and are living under the support of God. While there we also visited Lira Pentecostal Church. Three years ago as the LRA attacked Lira district people fled to Lira Town as the only safe haven, and the church opened its doors to these refugees. Though there building had just been completed after a several year long building project, they willingly opened their doors to these refugees and they came streaming in to the point where there was no space to walk in their compound or in their sanctuary without disturbing a sleeping refugee. Within the walls of this Northern Pentecostal church was an awe inspiring sense of holiness – it was as if the Holy Spirit had not really left the temple, He merely relocated to Northern Uganda. As I breathed in the air of this empty sanctuary I was overwhelmed by the beauty of redemption. The sanctuary has been cleared of refugees as homes have been built in the compound, and many of the people living their have been able to return to the village or find another place to live, but a few hundred refugees still mark this compound with a stark reminder of God’s redemption.

Please pray:

- For direction in my research/independent study.
o My advisor from Wheaton (Mark Husbands) is coming this Friday to help me sort through my research. Pray for his health and safety, and that God would direct his visit and our conversations.
- Continued discipline in devotions.
- Discernment, courage and initiative to follow where God is leading me.
o In particular courage and creativity to teach.
o Pray for this Saturday as I will start teaching the Bible at the Mulago Child Project.
- Praise God for his protection, provision and faithfulness.

Wealth in the Global South?

2005-07-22T01:21:00.000-07:00

these are a couple pictures to illustrate the gap between wealth and poverty (and to show that not everyone in Africa lives in a mud hut with 30 malnurished children). you've all seen the pictures of AIDS orphans in Africa, so i thought my first post would be a bit more uplifting by showing the middle class of Uganda.

this was my homestay for two days, but it was too far for me to make the commute to kampala and arrive at work by 8:00am so i moved back to Kalerwe (a mostly muslim slum neighborhood on the north west side of Kampala). currently i live with the general secretary of Focus (just the two of us), but we are always hosting people coming through kampala. this compound was given to jacob and Mona Zik because of some convenient family connections. There are four people who live in this home, two parents 1.5 children (mona is very pregnant) and a maid. mona has her masters in development and works with the red cross, Jacob works in upper management for a shipping company. they are devoted christians who work very hard and use their money wisely. though they live in a country whose future is not always stable, they provide the healthly foundation of a stable middle class which will be needed to see a fruitful future for uganda.

the other picture is of a "traditional (kampala) wedding." the difference between this traditional wedding and one outside Kampala is rather stark. kampala is a very westernized city with incredible affluence and poverty living right next to one another. The basics of this ceremony are as follows:

- the groom arrives with his crew of family and friends to the brides house as they are having a 'meeting'
- our spokesman is the only one who speeks (this has become a big business for those who can speek eloquent Luganda), so he begs that we be allowed to join their meeting. they grudgingly accept, and then for 8 hours we beat around the bush until it comes out that one of our crew wants to marry one of their crew.
- at this point we all leave to carry in the bride price (about a hundred baskets of fruits, sodas,vegetables, sugar, rice, and a goat).
- after they accept we all drink and eat until food is flowing out of our ears, and then the dancing starts (lots of elderly women in traditional dress shacking they booties and laughing at the one white person in attendance dance down the aisle while being videotaped with the spotlight blaring on their pale skin (a wonderful party indeed).

you may be wondering, "why is a western suit coat part of African traditional dress?" Good question, I didn't get it either. Until I heard the story of King Mutesa. Islam came to uganda first, and then christianity only a few years later. king mutesa first accepted islam, but when he saw the gun-powder which was brought by Christian missionaries he decided he wanted to be united with them as well. however, there was a problem, if he wore a Kanzu (the long white dress I am wearing) the christians would believe he was a muslim, but if he wore a western suit the muslims would think he was a christian. So he wore both - and now it's what we wear to be really fancy in the Buganda kingdom of central Uganda - but really people only dress like this for weddings and very fancy events.

What am i doing in Africa?

2005-07-21T02:07:00.000-07:00

I realized the other day that i had more to say than i could put in an email update, so i created this blog as a way of allowing you (friends and family) to hear as much from me as they want. we'll see how this works

I am currently living, working and studying in kampala uganda, east africa. i am a human needs and global resources (hngr) intern from wheaton college in illinois, currently working towards a BA in theology as i study the role of the church as an agent for transforming society.

the HNGR department of wheaton college sends students on 6 month internships all over the global south to parts of Africa, Asia and South America. the focus is upon a service learning experience while being immersed in another culture and working for a host organization. i have two host organizations (as of last week), i am working with fellowship of christian unions (FOCUS) and Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC).

FOCUS is located in the slum district of Mulago in a mostly Muslim neighborhood. The slum was formed as a result of people further north being displaced to Kampala, though now it is much more stable than it was thirty years ago. i live in this neighborhood and it is generally quite safe; that is, unless you are a theif. in Kampala theives are shown no mercy unless they are rescued by the police (which does not often happen).

Focus seeks to develop mature christian leadership amongst college students in Uganda, and to equip them to impact and transform society for Christ. they also run a child project which seeks to transform society through the children of Mulago by finding support to fund their education and teaching them the bible.

KPC is a 10,000 member english speaking, cell based church with four main sanctuaries throughout Kampala. they have a vision to transform the nation of Uganda through intentional discipleship within their cells. the members of this church are very active in seeking mercy for those most vulnerable to oppression, and they have already had a tremendous impact in many ways.

KPC runs Watoto child care ministries which houses children orphaned by AIDS and war in three different villages 20 k outside Kampala. The homes are structured based upon their cell-based doctrine of church - a mother who has been widowed by AIDS or war lives in each home with 8 children whom she cares for as a mother. the church provides everything (food, shelter, education, etc.) for 809 children and otherwise supports several hundred more. the mothers are in a sense cell leaders to their children, and also participate in support groups between the mothers and KPC's social workers (as these mothers and their children are often in need of a lot of emotional healing). they also have minstries to people living with AIDS, to prison inmates, to their neighborhood children, and many more...

Right now i am being introduced to every area of ministry which KPC is involved in (quite a long introduction), while waiting for university students to arrive so i can begin working with them in discipleship by facilitating their small group fellowships.