Tuesday at the Peace Village

Brad cutting sheet steel to go above and below the kitchen windows

Village youth helping to paint the panel Brad cut

Martin, CLIDE accountant, painting the metal.  He always has a smile!

About 200 first grade students attending school under a tree!

We left our guest house a little later this morning giving the dirt roads a chance to dry out.  We have about 40 miles of dirt road to get to Nakayot.  This is the start of their rainy season and the rains are a welcome sight for them.  They have had two years of drought. The road into Nakayot from the main highway was pretty bad.  Lots of mud in spots.

We had another productive day working on the kitchen and the storeroom for the school.  It is fun working alongside several of the young men from the village.  They are hard workers.

We got the first coat of finish paint on all the metal parts.  Got rebar around the edges of the floor.  Cut and installed several pieces of sheet steel above and below the kitchen serving windows.

About 3 PM we had a torrential rain storm.  Much worse than the day before.  We stuck it out until about 4:30 but had to leave for fear if we waited too much longer we might not get out on the muddy roads.  The ride out was rough and we nearly got stuck several times.  Hopefully it will dry out over night.  The team is doing very well.  Working very hard with great attitudes.

You never know what shirt you will see on the kids in the village!

A river running in front of old school building.

Monday at Nakayot

Today was a day for the record books!  We had breakfast at 6:30 AM and planned to leave for the Peace at 7.  We finally headed out at 8 AM,  The road to Nakayot is about 20 miles off the main highway.  It is a dirt road and it had rained hard overnight, so the going was pretty rough.  But we made it.  Our day was very productive.  We had to put a primer coat of paint on all the metal support structures.  We hauled untold numbers of wheelbarrow loads of gravel to cover the floor of the kitchen and compact it by had to make it ready for concrete.  We also install two windows through which the children will eventually receive their meals.  About midday we had a torrential rain storm with lots of wind.  We all got pretty damp.  After about an hour the sun came out and dried everything.  A team of local youth unloaded two truck loads of cement blocks for the walls and also several hundred gallons of water for use in mixing the cement.  We headed home around 6:30 PM and one the way out to the main road had to help pull out one of the trucks that hauled the cement blocks.  The road out was really muddy.  All in all a very good day.  Everyone is sore and tired and ready for bed.  Thanks for your continued prayers.

Sunday In Karamoja

We had a wonderful Lord's Day in Karamoja. After breakfast we split up and some of us went to an Anglican church and others went to a Pentecostal church.  There was a little mix up on the start time at the Pentecostal church.  We were told the service started at 9 and it was really at 6 AM!  Needless to say our team was a little late.  They still got to enjoy some of the service.  At the Anglican church we were blessed by the vibrancy of their worship, and an excellent message about the presence of God in our lives. We were also encouraged by the large number of young people in the service.  Each of us were invited to introduce ourselves and share a little about us.

In the afternoon we took a short drive to visit Dr,Val and Waffle at their home in Kongole.  We got to see a wide variety of projects they are working on.  All the way from growing plants for herbal medicines to a large scale aquaponics project.

Another treat we had during our visit with Val and Waffle was sharing a special meal together.  On Saturday Waffle showed us a Cane Rat that

Waffle showing the Cane Rat he just purchased

Can Rat Val prepared for us

Julie and Paul watch Jim try the Cane Rat

Pastor Joseph of Anglican Church Matany

Val and Waffle enjoying swing Waffle bulit

First Day At The Peace Village

We went to the Nakayot Peace Village today (Saturday).  There are about 12,000 living in this village with 800 elementary age children.  We sized up the task ahead of us this week.  It is daunting.  We have to paint the steel support structures, place and compact gravel for the cement floor, put rebar in place for the floor.  If we have time we will start the walls.  There will be lots of local help from the village to give us a hand.  We also have to haul lots of water from a bore hole (well) to mix the cement.

 Some of our team installed a temporary gutter on the kitchen roof to gather rain water for use in mixing the cement.  There was a large steel container nearby that we were going to pull into place with the truck.  But the young villagers said "we can carry it" and they did!

 After dinner one evening Dr. Moses Otim, the CLIDE Director shared his story of how he came to Christ, became a veterinarian and the director of CLIDE.

Below are Jim Zook (on his back) and
Spencer Sherrill putting the finishing touches on the rain gutter.

It is Sunday morning as I write this.  After breakfast some of us will attend a Pentecostal church and some will go to an Anglican service.

We made it to Uganda!

We are safely in Matany, Uganda.  A small community in northeastern Uganda. We traveled for 28 hours to get to Entebbee.  Spent the night in Kampala, and then after 5 hours of sleep boarded a 12 passenger Mission Aviation Fellowship plane and flew for 90 minutes to a dirt airstrip at

Ready to board MAF plane to Matany

Matany.  We finished the day by driving to Moroto for lunch and visiting the CLIDE Moroto office.  We are all tired but feeling great and in good spirits.  Tomorrow (Saturday) we will go to the Nakayot Peace Village and begin our construction project.  Thanks for your prayers, they are greatly appreciated.

Sunset Team Heading to Uganda

Jim Zook, Paul Schaefer, Mike Hildenbrand, Julie Sherrill,  Brad Schlief, Gail Hildenbrand, Spencer Sherrill

On Wednesday February 22 a team of 7 from Sunset will head off to northeastern Uganda to begin construction of a school at the Nakayot Peace Village. $57,000 was raised to help build a four classroom school, a kitchen and storeroom for the school, a borehole for clean water at the school, and latrine facilities.  We can't wait to get there!