Nakayot Peace Village Travelog

It's Monday February 5 and we are back in Soroti after spending nine days in the Nakayot Peace Village.  Internet connection there was not possible for this blog, so I will try and give you a flavor of our week.

We traveled to the Nakayot Peace Village on Sunday after worshiping at Rockview Baptist Church in Soroti. The trip took four hours over some pretty rough roads.  What an amazing sight to see the new school that the Sunset and several other churches helped to build.  It was so beautiful sitting there in the afternoon sun. We hurried to set up our sleeping arrangements before it got dark. Since school was not in session yet would be sleeping in the classrooms instead of tents.  This was a very pleasant surprise.  The weather was clear and hot.  Close to 100 degrees.  We began to settle in for our week of camping in the village.

On Monday we were blessed to be present for the much delayed dedication of the Nakayot Primary School which we had a part in building.  About 400 attended and it was a once in a lifetime event for our team.  To see the joy on the faces of the children as they got to flood into their classrooms for the first time is not something we will soon forget.  They broke into spontaneous singing and dancing. The LOC5, a local government official that reports directly to the President of Uganda, participated in the ribbon cutting and said he had never seen such a beautiful well constructed school in such a remote place.  He said that other government support would follow, including qualified teachers.

Tuesday we began work on the medical clinic.  Our task for the week was to clean the walls inside and out, sand and patch holes and rough places, apply a "rough coat" (stucco) and then paint the inside and outside. A monumental task.  While we were doing that a contractor was leading a crew of local village young men to begin laying the foundation for the nurse's home.

Each day we would get up around 6 or 6:30 to a beautiful sunrise.  We would have team led devotions at 7:30 and breakfast around 8 and then head to the work site.  We would  break at 1 PM for lunch.  Take a short rest and then back to work by 2:30.  We would work until time for dinner at 6 PM.  With temperatures close to 100 every day we closely monitored water intake and breaks from the sun.  The team did really well.  We had a great time getting to know the young village men working alongside us and there were always crowds of young children watching our every move.  They followed us where ever we would go. We worked hard to learn some of their language to be able to communicate the basics.  Many of the older children spoke some English.

Saturday was our last day to work on the clinic and we worked until almost dark that day in order to complete painting the exterior of the clinic.  We got it done, inside and out!

Sunday was a day of rest.  We joined in a 3 hour church service under a tree with about 100 villagers.  Julie Sherrill shared the story of the blind beggar, Janet Fraser share her testimony and Mike Hildenbrand dedicated 3 babies!  We also got to witness the conversion of two local woman for whom Paul Schaeffer was asked to pray for.  After church the team traveled to a nearby village to see "Julie's well".  A borehole that Julie had raised money for.  We visited the nearby villagers.  We then traveled a short distance to another village to see one of the men a Sunset team had trained two years before in oral story telling.  He honored Gail Hildenbrand with the gift of a live chicken. A significant gift or respect.

Tonight (Monday 2/5) our team will celebrate our time here in Uganda with a team dinner at a local Soroti resteraunt.  Dr. Val and Dr. Moses will join us.  Tomorrow we began our journey back to the States by getting on a Mission Aviation Fellowship small plane which will return us to Kampala.  We will see some sights in Kampala and then catch our flight home at 11:30 PM Tuesday local time.  About 26 hours later we will arrive in Portland after a 4 hour layover in Amsterdam.

We are all well and in good spirits. It has been a blessing to lead this team.  See you soon and thanks for praying for us.

Pictures will be added when we get home.

What an amazing day!

Friday morning we hit the road from Kampala and headed to Soroti.  The roads were very busy and portions under construction.  It took us 10 hours to reach our destination.

It is now 7:30 Saturday night in Soroti, Uganda.  Today we got to participate in a "goat distribution". We traveled to a small village outside of Soroti and spent most of the afternoon there.  We got to be part of a great celebration that 4 villages and churches together. 63 widows, orphans, or disabled persons were selected by the pastor of one of the churches and the village leader  to receive a pregnant goat. The villages greeted us with clapping and signing as we arrived in our van.  There were several speeches by leaders and local government officials. Our team was introduced and received a very warm welcome. Then the goats were presented by our team members to the recipient. It was a joyous celebration with lots of smiles.  The ceremony was followed by a lunch.  We were the honored guests.

Tomorrow, Sunday we will worship at Rockview Baptist Church and then head up the road for a 6 hour drive to the Nakayot Peace Village where we will be for 9 days. One very special surprise is that we will be at the village on Monday morning to participate in the dedication of the school that
Sunset helped to build. There will be lots of local government and church leaders present.  We are so pleased to get to witness this special event.

Our team is in great spirits and in good health.

Dan Carlton presenting a goat