Week Two Day Two

Our Tuesday night in Soroti was very interesting. Tuesday was the Uganda national primary elections.  The office of elections is right across the street from our guest house.  Starting at about 6 PM they began broadcasting over a loud speaker the election results.  The street was full of people.  This went on all night.  It was so loud we got little sleep.  It was still going on when we left for our training venue at 8 AM.

Week two day two of training (Wednesday) started off with a time of worship and prayer.  The worship time here is exhilarating.  The rich blend of voices, the rhythms, and blend of languages is amazing. Each day they have a different CLIDE staff person coordinate the day’s activities and another one to lead devotions.  Once the singing starts the vocal leadership shifts from person to person throughout the room.

CLIDE staff member Judith was the coordinator, Dinah was led the devotion and Martin taught the first story of the day on Adam and Eve. 

The story time for the day began with 7 volunteers doing a mime of the 7days of creation. They are so creative and not afraid to try new things. The trainees had a lot of fun with the story of Adam and Eve.  Some of them had the group in stitches with their gestures and different voices.

After lunch the Sunset team along with Dr. Moses, Dr. Val and Orono headed to a village about 30 minutes out of town for our first of two goat distributions. The funds to purchase the 155 goats was raised by Sunset's summer Kids Camp. These events are always a lot of fun for us and a huge celebration for the village.  As we drove up they are all outside singing, dancing, and clapping.  Once we were out of the van we got handshakes, hugs, and some dancing.  Next came a ceremony inside the church (grass and mud building).  We were welcomed by the pastor, village leaders, and local government officials. Each of our team members shared a brief greeting. After the ceremony the rodeo began as we rounded up 80 goats that were tied up in the field.  Each goat had a number on its ear that corresponded to a number randomly drawn by the recipient. 

When the distribution was complete we shared a meal in the church with the village leaders.  It was a great day.  We will do another distribution on Thursday afternoon.