Final Thoughts

As we close our blog, we wanted to share some of our most prominent memories. We feel blessed to have had the opportunity to serve in Uganda and thank all our supporters for making it possible and praying alongside us. We hope you enjoy the photos and videos we have added throughout the blog.

Here is a collection of the things we will never forget:

•Waking up to the squeal of giant pigs

• The smiles on the children's faces (especially the younger ones) as they donned their new tie dye shirts that they had designed themselves

• The corporate prayer. Each child sending praise to God in their own little voices, barely above a whisper, but which combined together to be a moving and powerful call to God.

• The children crying out and wailing while watching the crucifixion of Christ in the Jesus Film.

• The excitement of the children to open up the letters from their sponsors. We, as sponsors, need to make every effort to write to our children whenever possible. It truly makes a difference to them.

• The packed out church on Sunday morning and the Karamajong people's desire to know more about God

• Watching the primary children load in the back of a pickup to leave the retreat. Many were going home to difficult situations with families who can’t afford to take care of them, temptations to go back to the streets to beg or get involved with raiding cattle to support their family, and sometimes pressure from their families to help with the family rather than return to school.

• How proud Esther was to show us her small hut where she lives with her grandmother and two siblings

• Repairing a blown out radiator hose with no tools (and making it work)

• Getting to Nakayot and realizing that all the work and promises to the people in this new village were so tied into the availability of water. And how quickly things can change when the water is no longer there. We take so much for granted here.

• The hardship of life in the peace villages, yet the people endure with faith that God will provide peace in their land

• Hearing about other families' Thanksgiving traditions as we prepared that (fresh!) turkey and other foods with Val at her house

• Understanding Val's work better, both the difficulties and joys. What an amazing privilege to support Dr. Val all these years, God is doing amazing things through her obedient and very brave heart.

• Meeting the wonderful people Val works with. It was a joy to hear their stories and see firsthand what God is doing though them.

• How awesome God is to bring together a group of nine at the last minute with such loving, servant's hearts and to bind that team with the CLIDE team, unified in bringing the love of God to the children and in furthering the work among the Karamojong.

• Driving home from the Portland airport thinking, "what a smooth road!" and "there's so much room in this van!"

“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it”
Proverbs 22:6

We're Home

We're back and it's great to be home. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support while we were gone. We had an amazing trip and can't wait to share with you in person when we get a chance. Below are some of our team's initial thoughts upon arriving home.

Bryan


I woke up this morning and looked around. The mosquito net over my bed was gone. The room was not warm and stuffy. In fact, I was shivering in the coolness. The dark faces with the bright eyes and smiles were gone and were replaced with light faces. My body was here in this room but my heart and soul were still in Uganda.

I wondered – Did the food shipment that was late in being delivered make it to the hungry people in Nakayot Peace Village? Did the water pipes get extended to reach down to the water table which had lowered because of the drought? Are the crops dying from lack of water? And, above all, what about the children? Has Douglas gone back to sobbing instead of continuing to smile? Have all the scrapes, boo boos, and infections that were cleaned, treated and bandaged healed nicely – including Simon Peter’s eye infections? Is Ken, who wanted so desperately to “go with the white people to America” still wearing the same tie-dye shirt he wore every day?

With all these questions – and more – I realize there is so much more work to be done in Uganda and ask myself how I could leave. The answer comes to me. God is moving in Uganda. HE is in charge and HIS work will go on with or without me. God is in control and as much as I love these people, HE loves them even more! The CLIDE team is made up of various instruments each having their own special part. God joined them and together they play a beautiful symphony orchestrated by HIM. I am privileged to be used as HIS hands and feet.

These things and more come to my mind as I try to process the events of the three weeks in Uganda. My heart aches for the difficult lives these people live. My prayer is that God will continue to cause my heart to ache. With a heart that remains broken there is little chance that it will become de-sensitized to what it has seen, heard, felt, breathed and tasted. Only then can it remain effective.

Love in Christ, Arlene


I woke up this morning in a queen-sized bed with white sheets. In a room filled with clothes… and pictures… and stuff. A far cry from the dirt floor huts of Africa. I am so privileged. I don’t know what it is like to live with nothing, just like they don’t know what it is like to live with everything. We are content with what we know – that is, until our reality is shaken, our world changed. On this trip to Uganda my world was shaken. I knew I would see children with ripped and torn clothing, sick children with no medicine or medical care, and people who have no access to what we consider basic necessities (water, food, electricity, etc). What I didn’t expect was to be so touched by the Karamojong people – by their love, their faith, their determination, their strength. I didn’t expect the children to be forever burned into my heart. I feel like I got so much more than I gave. I was going to inspire, but I was the one that was inspired. I hope you will join with me in continuing to pray for the Karamojong people and Timothy Project children. God is healing a nation, one heart at a time.

Michaella


Journal Reflections on Uganda
My highest Lord, we've been home from Uganda now for four days and I still wake up at night or in the morning thinking I'm still there. We saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt some amazing things.

The best thing You showed us was Your overwhelming faithfulness and loving kindness. You provided guidance when we were uncertain, strength when we were weary, patience when we had to wait, cohesiveness as a team and with the CLIDE team, and abundant love in our hearts, more than enough to share with everyone we met.

Lord, You also showed us how rich and materially and spiritually blessed we are. We have everything and more than we could ever ask. Yet I also saw how difficult it is for many Americans to realize their need for a personal, intimate relationship with You. Without all these things in Uganda, needs are beyond what can be attained on your own, leading to a softness in hearts toward You. Lord, you broke my heart especially when the first small group of children responded to the call to give their lives to You at the primary spiritual retreat. If nothing else had happened in Uganda while we were there but this, it would have all been worth it. Thanks You, Jesus (Yesu)!

Lord, we immediately fell in love with the CLIDE Consultancy team, not just the three we already knew personally from contact in the United States, but also the others we met in Uganda, beginning as soon as we met James. Lord, you have woven together an incredible team of talented, multi-faceted men and women who work effectively together to reach out to and serve their fellow countrymen. I am proud and blessed to have ministered alongside them. The young people we met were amazing as well. Their friendliness and awareness of You stood out strongly. Their spontaneous worship in song deeply touched our hearts.

Now my Lord, I commit these people to the care of Your loving hand and pure heart to meet their daily needs, which are many, and to prompt them to live in peace with each other and with You, and to reach out to others around them with the truth of Your word and the gospel of peace found only in personal relationship with You. Amen!

Steve



The people of Uganda have captured my heart. When I hear anything about Uganda now (and it seems so much more often than before we went), I am immediately drawn to listen and to learn more. Their challenges are continually in my thoughts, and I am prompted to pray for them. The homes, the roads, the mountains, the boreholes, the plains...but especially the people, the children, their smiles...together they are painted on the canvas of my mind.

What a joy it is to have had the privilege to meet them, and to still grow in our friendship even when we are separated by miles. It is wonderful that we can bless one another as we each seek to bring glory to our Heavenly Father.

Laurie

Heading Home

Day 19

We have just arrived in Amsterdam. A bit tired, but doing well and we're all ready to come home. We have a 5 hour layover. Arrival in Portland at 12:40 pm Saturday and then back to the church between 3:00 and 4:00. Lots more to tell. God has shown us some amazing things. I believe we'll sleep very well. It's been a very good trip.

Bryan

Hope Children's Home

Day 18

Today we spent about six hours visiting the children at Hope Children's Home on the outskirts of Kampala. As our van rolled onto their property, we were immediately surrounded by dozens of children, ranging from a few years to young teenagers. They almost literally pulled us out of the van, took us by the hand, and led us into their main building. Very soon we were each sitting with a group of children, reading them stories, showing them pictures we had brought, supervising coloring, playing card games, and generally holding and loving them.

When I sat down, I had three boys around me. When I asked them their names, two of them were named Steven. I (Steve), of course, said that's my name too. I then asked if there were any other Stevens in the over one hundred kids who lived there. Off the two Stevens went and came back with two more. So, naturally, the five of us Stevens (I was the only Stephen) had to have a picture taken of all of us.

Hope is sponsored by Show Mercy of Albany, OR as a home for orphaned children in the area. This is the same place that the Biornstads and Hoffmans visited last December.

Back in the main building we had a nourishing lunch of beans (sort of like pork and beans without the pork) and rice. Tasty and nourishing. We also had some amazing hot tea. We don't know exactly what spices were in it, but we think it had cinnamon, ginger, and cloves plus some others to be determined.
In addition to the main building, we got to see their school room (for levels P1 to P6), their church building, and several outer buildings, including, of course, some rather primitive bathrooms. I asked two of the Stevens where they lived and they took me about 50 meters (~50 yards for you US types) up the hill. Each of them had a cot on which to sleep. Above each of their beds was a picture of them and a statement like "I am a child of God. I want to be an engineer when I grow up." The other Steven wanted to be an airplane pilot.
I heard music coming from the church and went in to look, only to see a boy about eight or so playing a keyboard. His name was Jeremiah and he was fantastic. Anyone could start singing a song and he would start playing the chords to go with it. He had been taught by one of the older orphans, Vincent, whom Bryan had befriended on previous visits.

Eventually we had to tear ourselves (almost literally) away from the kids to return to our lodging. Several of us received "love" notes from the children. The only way we were able to get in the van and drive away without running over a child crowded around the van was to have someone else start passing out candy. Candy works every time!

Posted by Steve Binney

From Bryan: Going back to Hope was an amazing opportunity to spend time with the girls my wife, Barb and I sponsor. Their names are Betty and Mercy. All the children seem to be growing up so fast. It's great to see the strides they are making in learning English and just seeing them grow physically as well as spiritually.

We were able to catch up with how they are doing and it was great to just sit and talk about their lives and, of course, get caught up on photos. I let Betty use my camera and an hour later my card was almost full and now I have amazing photos of many of the kids at Hope having fun together. This is school break time, so they all have time off and they welcomed the diversion of our team coming and sharing with them. They love to be loved.

Many of these children have had horrific pasts and to see the smiles and confidence coming from them was such a blessing to me. I was disappointed in not seeing Pastor Prossy, who is an amazing woman of God who has a long list of local pastors that she continues to mentor and coach. She is the mother of all the children and is an inspiration to everyone who meets her. She was at a pastor's conference in Kampala.

Jenny was able to set up a medical triage unit and the children filed through and shared their aches and pains with Jenny, who did what she could with limited supplies, but documented the things she saw and gave that documentation to Randy and Alisa Vargas, an American couple who are helping with the oversight of the children as well as a building project that is being planned to enable the children to live in smaller family units.

Steve mentioned Vincent, who was one of the eldest of the children in the home, and is now working in a music studio as a producer of music. He has an amazing musical aptitude and has been playing keyboard in Pastor Prossy's church for quite some time. Because Vincent had such a difficult life prior to meeting Pastor Prossy, he did not have the educational opportunities that the current children have. But he has placed his entire life in God's hands and it was amazing to me to see the spiritual growth and maturity he displayed.

While many of us might think being a music producer would be blessing enough, especially in light of his difficult story, Vincent is saving his money and has already hired help and is starting a brick making business which he has named "Lamb of God Brick Making Company". It is amazing to see this young 24 year old take off on his own and follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit in his life. I believe we will see more of these kinds of success stories from the children of Hope. Vincent and I have become friends over the past few times I've been at Hope and it was such an amazing blessing to me to spend a short amount of time with him. He had to get back to work.

I could go on forever, but I wanted you blog-readers to meet Vincent. He needs our continued prayers and he and kids like him give great hope for the future of Uganda. It was hard leaving Hope, as it always is, but it is comforting to know the children are being cared for and God is working in amazing ways in Uganda.

As we were in the van leaving Hope, Pastor Prossy rode up on the back of a "boda-boda", which is a motorcycle taxi that everyone uses for transportation. Jenny and I jumped out of the van and greeted Prossy who was so gracious as always. Since we didn't have time to talk with her, we made plans to meet her the next day in Kampala, which we were able to do.

It was a very good day for me personally, and I watched our team, with tears in their eyes, leaving the children behind. These children captured our hearts again. It was a very good day, indeed.

Bryan

Jinja

Day 17

Today was our tourist day. We went to Jinja, which is a couple hour drive east of Kampala. In Jinja, we took a boat ride to an island at the source of the Nile. Forty-percent of the Nile comes from an underground spring, the rest from the Lake Victoria. We got out on the island near the spring and could see the water bubbling up and join with the water from Lake Victoria. It takes three months for the water to get to the mouth of the Nile in Egypt. We also got to see a variety of African bird life, a monitor lizard, and a few monkeys. Next, we went to Bujagali Falls and took pictures next to the roaring rapids.

We returned to Kampala in time to make the opening night of the play, Dick Whittington, by the Kampala Amateur Dramatics Society at the National Theatre. Karen Berg joined KADS upon arriving in Uganda and was playing a scrat rat in this production. It was promoted as a "magical musical family pantomime". Although none of us really understood the pantomime, it was an enjoyable evening.

Leaving Soroti

Day 16

Had final prayer and goodbyes with the CLIDE team this morning. What a blessing it has been to get to know them. We loaded up everything in the Land Rover and Moses drove us to the airport. He probably would have driven us right out to the plane, except it was landing as we arrived, so he parked next to the hangar. No security check on this end! We met our pilot, Brian from Guernsey (I never knew there was such a place) and loaded up to go. I love that the MAF pilots say a prayer after the safety speech. What a great way to start a flight! It was fun to fly over the beautiful countryside again. When we landed, Alex our diver was there to meet us and take us to the guest house. We were too early to check in, so went out for lunch and shopping, returning to the guest house for dinner. It seems so luxurious here: so clean and dust-free, matching linens on the beds, soft toilet paper, a regular size pillow, chocolate brownie and vanilla ice cream for dessert!

Rebecca


Video: Flying over of Soroti

Moses's Village and Birthday Party

Day 15 - from Katherine and Arlene's perspective

This morning we went over to the CLIDE office and debriefed about the Timothy Retreats. Julius from the CLIDE staff recorded for us our likes. There were several! We told CLIDE that we felt they took very good care of us and were always there to meet our needs. Their love for the children was very evident. We also appreciated having people available to translate for us during the primary retreat. And we really liked breakfast! The CLIDE staff (mostly Moses and Christine) told us that our team was very unified and very mature. Our love was evident in our interactions with the children and they appreciated our smiles. They love us very much! We also were told that we were dressed very appropriately. : ) We discussed our "suggestions" which will only make for even more amazing Timothy Retreats as we continue to send out teams to serve alongside the CLIDE staff. Maybe some of us will get to go again! : )

For lunch we enjoyed a special dish of pork and potatoes. Usually they all eat from the same tray, but they didn't make us do that. We also went bead shopping behind the CLIDE office. These are the rolled paper beads that the HIV women make. Judith from the CLIDE staff works with these women. And many were purchased to be used as Christmas gifts.

After lunch five of us were able to join Moses to visit his village where he grew up. He said it would take 20 minutes to get there. Really, he meant 20 minutes x 3. The road to his village was more like a hiking path and about as wide. Very bumpy, dusty, and dirty. Moses' mother greeted us with great enthusiasm! We met his mother, father, and other family. Outside there was cassava, sorghum and maize drying on the ground in the sun. The livestock enjoyed snacking on it, including the big fat rooster that Moses says they are going to have for Christmas dinner. Moses showed us around, including the hut he built as a young man and the grainery which was composed of three smaller huts. He pointed out the cashew, tangerine, mango, passion fruit, and orange trees. Passion fruit was dropping from the tree on our heads, and we were eating them. It looked like a Garden of Eden out there; it was so beautiful! We were informed that it was time to go eat, and his niece brought the basin of water for us to wash our hands. They brought sweet potatoes, millet bread, two kinds of chicken, boiled eggs, and borehole water. It was a feast! The family sat outside our hut while we ate. Moses told us more about his family and the many ways God has been instrumental in his life. While we ate we had dinner guests-- the pig, the cat, and the chicks. The niece came in and cleaned up. His mother told us we didn't eat enough. : ) They gave big bags of charcoal and mangos for Moses to bring back to Soroti. We took pictures with his family and said goodbye. : ( The visit was very special for us! On the way out of the village he stopped many times to greet his extended family. There were many handshakes.

Earlier in our stay we met Pastor James (pronounced Ja-mez) and we discovered that he didn't know the day or month of his birth. His parents were both illiterate and were peasants. He said he had never had a birthday celebration before and has just made up a birthday date for himself. Arlene and Katherine decided he needed a birthday party! Earlier today Moses took us to buy a birthday cake and candles. We blew up balloons and decorated the CLIDE office. After dinner we tried to put candles in the concrete frosting cake. Moses had to use a knife to bore holes in the frosting. So we only used eight candles. We came out singing "Happy Birthday!" to James, and he blew out the candles. He had been feeling sick and wondered why he needed to be there at the dinner, but was overwhelmed and speechless. He thanked us all and Moses cut the cake with concrete frosting. We really needed a chainsaw! The cake inside was "soft and fresh." We also enjoyed yogurt and flavored milks like banana, strawberry, coffee, and chocolate. We passed on the bubble gum flavored milk. Arlene gave him the game of Jacks and showed him how to play. What fun to watch him learn! What a delight for us and blessing for James! It has been such a privilege to meet James and get to know him and hear his story!