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

We Made it

Team at Entebbe airport with luggage

23 hours after leaving Portland we arrived safely at the Entebbe airport near Kampala.  Team is healthy and in good spirits.  Dr Moses and John, our driver met us and took us to a local guest house where we got to bed shortly after midnight local time.  We will have breakfast at 8 and hit the road for a 7 hour drive to Soroti.  We are excited to be here and get started on our ministry.

Sunset 2018 Uganda Team Ready To Go

 

The first short term ministry team from Sunset for 2018 is heading to Uganda. The team of eight from Sunset will be joined by a young man from Rolling Hills Community Church. This team is going to the Nakayot Peace Village to complete construction on a medical clinic and build a nurse's hut. The team will be camping at the Peace Village. We will do our best to keep this blog updated but connections in the Peace Village are likely non-existent.  Stay Tuned!

We are home!

Keeping this blog up to date was a bigger challenge than I expected!  We had very limited access to the internet.  Morning Star Farm where we did most of our ministry has no electricity, only solar.  In order to send an email we had to start the generator and then get on line via a satellite connection.  Very expensive in this remote part of the world.

Our team did a great job.  We stayed healthy, and engaged fully everyday in the ministry opportunities that were presented.  Morning Star Farm is a peaceful oasis in the midst of a busy demanding world.  It many ways it was a place of peace for each of us.

thanks for hanging in there with us and covering us with your prayers. Some highlights from our time in Zimbabwe.

Leaving Morning Star Farm

We just completed Tuesday in Matopos, Zimbabwe.  We got started at 7:30 with a time of devotion.  Heather Witherow had prepared an excellent daily devotional that each of us took a turn in leading the discussion and prayer time. Breakfast was at 8 and most of the women left at 8:30 to spend the day in a local school training teachers in early childhood development techniques.  The guys along with Susan Payne spent the day installing “wicking beds” for three widows.  These beds have been developed to help them grow vegetables. The travel to the sites was as much work as preparing the beds.  The dirt roads are in terrible shape because of the torrential rains they had recently.  We road in the back of a pickup.  Tomorrow we will finish some of the projects we started on Monday.  Monday and Tuesday morning were cloudy and very cool with quite a bit of wind. Tuesday afternoon the clouds cleared and it was comfortable warm.  Our team is feeling great and in good spirits. 

Wednesday was a pretty physical day for most of us.  We dug a lot of post holes and installed 6 more posts for the “goat race” that will be used to hold a goat in place while it is being sprayed for ticks.  Several went to visit a nearby preschool where they read to the students.  Others attended a local Bible study in the afternoon.  The weather was beautiful today and we will be able to have our evening meal outside. 

Today, Thursday we left Morning Star Farm and are currently in Bulaweyo. We will head to the train station in about an hour for an overnight train ride to Victoria Falls. The team continues to be in great health and unity.

We have had an amazing time here in Zimbabwe. It is such a peaceful place.  Watch for a time where our team will share after church.

We made it to Zimbabwe

We have arrived safely in Matopos, Zimbabwe.  We flew from Johannesburg on Friday morning, John Witherow met us at the Bulawayo airport and a couple of hours later we were at Morning Star Ranch which is operated by Chris and Norman Ferguson, ministry partners of the Witherows.  The weather is beautiful.  A little warmer than we expected.  After a wonderful dinner we went to bed pretty early after a long couple of days traveling.  Most of us were up around 6 AM Saturday and had a great time of catching up with the Witherows and Fergusons.  After breakfast we enjoyed a time of devotion and prayer.  Then we took a 2 ½ hour walking tour of the ranch.  John and Heather built a fairly quiet Saturday into the schedule to allow us to catch up to the 9 hour time difference and jet lag.  The team is healthy and enjoying our time here at the ranch.  We appreciate your continued prayers. Today (Sunday) we worshipped at a local church where our team did ministry with the children and Dan and Jim got to share a message with the adults.  Tomorrow we will be doing projects on the farm.