Mityana, Uganda

Andrej and I spent 5 days in Mityana, Uganda. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of our whole trip so far. I will do my best to tell you all about it, but I am afraid that my words won't do it justice.

A little background: As I mentioned before, I had met a man named Patrick at a Rotaract meeting last winter in Minneapolis. Patrick is a Ugandan Rotarian, Pastor, school director, and parent. He talked a little bit about the schools he runs in Uganda, and I thought that it would be fun to visit his schools if we went through his area. It turns out worked out for us, and that is what brought us to Mityana. We were strangers outside of our brief meeting in Minneapolis, but that didn't seem to matter much once we arrived.

I will do my best to describe the situation around the schools and the churches. I apologize if I get any information wrong, but I will do my best with the swell of information I received over the past week. At the center of everything is Patrick and his wife Eva. Patrick is a generous and friendly man with an easy smile. Eva is a confident, warm, and outgoing woman. They both have theological training and work as pastors (or other duties within the church) in Mityana. Soon after their marriage, they were called to be pastors in a new church in this small town. Their main church began quite small, but has grown considerably over the years. Somewhere around a decade ago, some of the church members began to die of AIDS. Unfortunately, this began to leave a number of children as orphans. Patrick and Eva were approached by these members of the congregation who were worried about the futures of their children, and they were charged with finding a way to take care of them. Between family members and the church, the children were looked after. However, education here is not free, and these children were often turned away from schools because they were unable to pay their own school fees. So, Eva decided they needed to start a school to help these children. The school started in the garage with Eva as the teacher. Word got out that these children were getting taken care of and we learning and succeeding. Soon, there were many more who wanted to be a part of it.

To make a long story shorter, they have, I believe, 4 schools now- 3 primary and 1 secondary school. And these schools are growing fast. They have around 1000 students total now. The students come from the local community. The students who have parents or relatives to stay with commute from home. However, they were recently able to build a dormitory, and now I think there are over 100 students who board at the school.

The mission of the school, outside of providing a quality Christian based education, also includes feeding the kids. They are fed porridge for lunch every day, which is made in a huge cauldron over an open fire.
The school cafeteria.

Once a week, they also get beans or eggs to supplement their diet with some protein. If need be, some students also take breakfast and dinner at the school. For those students, the school can become their home. Also, they seem to be involved in the health care of the students. Students with HIV/AIDS are taken once a month to a British hospital in the capital for treatment. So far, it has been quite beneficial.

Now that you have the background, I will tell you a little about the experience:

In our communication before our arrival, we tried to decide when it would be best to visit. Patrick told us that another group from the U.S. would be coming to help build a classroom block at one of his schools on March 18th. It seemed like a fun project, and we thought it would make things easier for him if we joined in with the group, so we decided to tag along. We ended up with some wonderful comrades for the week. Andy and Arik (father and son) are from Colorado. Their friend, Chris, from D.C., was with them. These 3 people are some of the most generous and genuinely kind people I have ever met. Just being around them was very uplifting and inspiring. Also joining us on occasion was Brian, a volunteer from California. He is interested in starting his own NGO for missionaries in war torn countries, such as Sudan. Right now, he is in Mityana helping Patrick out.

The first day we were in Mityana, Patrick took us to the schools at Mizigo- a primary school and secondary school. Their main church is also on that campus. Patrick seems to make a point to greet all the children in a way that makes them feel loved and special. It was after school, but we got to see some kids practicing drumming and dancing for a school competition- they were really good! We also got to take a tour of the new dorm, which looks great. The kids there have nice toilet and shower facilities as well. Afterwards, we were invited into Patrick and Eva's home for a wonderful dinner (or feast more like it) with lots of great local foods.

The next day, we wanted to get to work. Patrick took us out to the primary school in Kigalama, a small village. That school has exploded population wise, and desperately needed more buildings. Andy's family had raised the money for the building of a new classroom block (quite the feat if you ask me, but its not the first time they have done this), and we were hoping to get the chance to work on it. We found out the construction had already started, and they were moving really quickly! It is all brick, and the walls were almost done! After getting introduced to each of the classes, all of them with wonderful welcomes, often including songs, we put ourselves to work. We weren't sure how the 'real' workers felt about this, but they tolerated us at least. We mixed mortar and laid some bricks. I mostly did a little bit of brick laying. I was very slow at it, and probably didn't lay more than 15 bricks :-)
Jill the brick layer.

Afterwards, we got to visit the Nkonya primary school. This school is on a lake in a small fishing village. The school is smaller there, as the locals don't value education as much as they feel that they can just make their livings fishing. The children who do attend school however are very sweet and quite motivated. We met one child who is struggling with AIDS but desperately wants to become a doctor so he can help other people with AIDS. His father died of it, and his mother has it as well, so I would say he knows the tragedy of AIDS better than anyone. Patrick said this little guy comes to school whenever he can, even if they think it might be better for him to stay home and rest. He said that when he is in the hospital, he always somehow makes a recovery, and when he wakes up, the first thing he always says is that he can't die, because he needs to become a doctor someday. In my opinion, I think his dream might just come true.

That evening, we attended a staff meeting of the Mizigo primary school teachers. They did a short Bible study, then discussed the students. Each teacher reported if there were any students missing or sick. If they didn't know where they were, they were told to find out. These teachers really are like parents to these children!

The next day (still full from another great meal at their home the night before), we headed back to Kigalama. Andy, Arik, and Chris had all brought toys and gifts and candy for the children at the school. So, we spent much of the morning distributing pencils and candy. The kids were SO well behaved. They patiently and thankfully received their gifts.
The kids showing off their new pencils.
Andy and Arik handing out candy.

Later, during recess, they broke out the new toys, including balls, bubbles, and jump ropes. The kids just went crazy. When they started blowing bubbles, you would have thought they had never seen a bubble before, the way they laughed and squealed! Maybe they hadn't.
Chris blowing bubbles.

I was trying to stay out of the chaos and watch from a distance, but I soon found out that one wallflower attracts other wallflowers and I had about 20 kids surrounding me. Many of them just wanted to look at my hands and touch the skin on my arms and laugh at the freckles on my shoulders. It was pretty funny- I guess they must have thought something was wrong with me.
My funny, white hands got a lot of attention.
Yep, still white. You can't rub it off.

After a while, we got around to playing and I enjoyed having races around the school with them and swinging (and jumping!) the jump rope. The patient headmaster let them have an extra long recess, and we all got to play for a couple hours.
Playing in the school yard.

Once the kids went back to class, we tried to get another hour or two of work in. The workers had gotten so far with the brick laying that they were almost done. I scooped and delivered mortar that day.
Chris mixing mortar with the crew.
Andy and a crew member laying bricks.


The project nearly completed.
Posing for a group photo in front of our work.

After dinner as a group, Eva took us to a great little organic farm in town. We got to see all kinds of plants, mostly fruits growing here. I was really excited because they had strawberries! Those are hard to come by around here. I was so happy, and I left with enough strawberries for 3 days.
The next day was Saturday, and the work crew didn't come to work on the classroom block because they had finished the brick laying the day before. So, there was no work for us, either. Therefore, we took a slower day. We walked through town to Patrick's house in the morning. Once we got there, Eva and a friend drove us out to a plot of land outside of town in another village where they are hoping to build another school. They have a small church out there, and next to the church is a plot of land with a small tea plantation on it. The lady who owns the plantation is looking to sell her land. In this particular village, there is a lack of good primary schools. Apparently the villagers in this area see the value of a good education, and many children will run 5 miles in the morning just to go to a good school. This location would significantly cut down on the distance the kids have to run, which would be good, considering if its bad weather, they sometimes can't get to school when it is that far away. The plot of land for this school would cost about $3000, which they would have to raise.
Eva showing us the land for the (hopefully) future school.

The last day we spent with them was Sunday. Andrej and I decided that we would like to go to Patrick's church for the Sunday service, to see what it was like. The rest of our group had another commitment at an orphanage. We arrived with Patrick at the church a little after 10am. The service was already in full swing (apparently starting around 9:30). We walked in a door that led to the front of the church, and Andrej and I were seated up front with the pastors for the whole service. The service was quite the ordeal. First of all, it was the longest church service I have ever been to (including CinCC for all you Gustavus people). All in all, it was 4.5 hours long. It started with lots of very energetic music. No hymnals or programs here. They have a small band with a drum set, African drums, and a keyboard. They have a couple singers with microphones, and often a choir or dancers as well. Clapping and dancing was the norm, and there was no Lutheran shyness in their singing! Following the praise, there was a number of announcements and prayers. The sermon was long (probably because Patrick translated it the whole time), and after there were more prayers, a 'dedication' of children (like a baptism, but not), and then there was some business to take care of. Apparently a couple members were getting married, and the congregation puts in donations to go towards paying for the wedding. They played some elaborate auction-type game for this that lasted quite some time. Eventually they took the offering, and church was over around 2pm. Apparently no one has football games to go home and watch on Sunday afternoon around here.
Our group ready for church on Sunday. Andrej, me, Arik, Andy, and Chris.

We stuck around for another wonderful meal at their home. While there, I got to chat with their daughter Cathy who also translated for me during the service. She is 24 and recently married and teaches young children at the school. She is very motivated, and is working hard at further studies in fashion. Some interesting things of note that I learned from her are that primary school teachers here tend to make only $50/month. That is not enough to cover basic living expenses, and that is why she is studying for a different career. She also told me that about 15 out of her 50 students have HIV/AIDS. It really is just a huge problem here, and she told me she is worried about the future of her country considering how many children have AIDS and how many of their parents also have it as well.

All in all, this was a very rewarding experience. It is wonderful to see what Patrick and Eva and their friends are doing here in Uganda. It seems that there is always more to be done, however. For example, the school where we built the classroom block is in an area with no electricity or running water. They have to pay someone 25 cents (US) per jerry can to ride in jerry cans of water 2km on his bike everyday. That adds up when you need enough water for around 400 people for cooking, drinking, and washing hands and eating utensils 5 days a week. They are also hoping to get solar panels installed someday so they can have electricity. Other examples are buying the land and building a new school, building more dormitories, digging wells for easy access to clean water, buying text books and supplies, etc. If you would like to learn more about what Patrick and Eva do, or if you would like to help, please check out their website and contact them: www.maranathauganda.org .

Just for fun...Jill and Andrej eating sugarcane outside Patrick and Eva's house!