YCVM Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• Grace Among who hurt her back after falling off a boda boda, she has a compressed disc in her lower back.

• hope that Silver will get married.

• further studies and training for YCVM leaders.

• the children: Stella who has malaria, Jessica who has developed far-sightedness, and Martha who has a growth in her breast, hopefully not malignant.

Pictures

[Left to Right] Pastor Lawrence, Patrick Olupot (building engineer), Emma, Grace Among, Patrick Okore, Aeri, Silver Omakenyi, Okiria Francis

Aeri and Patrick Okore


Emma, Patrick, and Grace giving God thanks for their meeting with Aeri

Aeri Meets With YCVM in Kumi

July 12, 2010

Dear community,

Due to my physical state, I had to go straight to Kumi Hotel. After 2 hours of rest, Rev. Odi, the chair of the YCVM board, who had himself just returned from teaching in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) yesterday, picked me up to go to the NorthEast Villa, which by the way was where our Kumi team from last year stayed. Uncle Burt will remember: “Where is the honey, Simon?” ”The honey is ovah”. The YCVM members had been waiting there since 12 noon for my arrival. Patrick Okore is thrilled to report that he finished the final semester of his courses at the Makerere University School of Business. PTL! He is waiting for the results to come out in late October, which will allow him to graduate. He sends love and thanks to Valene and Dustin. Perhaps one of the members of the mission team from last year can tell you a small part of his amazing life story, particularly all of the gut-wrenching, and tempestuous efforts at trying to secure his school fees in order to get an education.
Our meeting began in the back yard of the villa (remember Valene’s b-day party?) with YCVM members praying and praising. Then Rev. Odi made his opening remarks, highlighting his hopes for the future of YCVM, which are, increased participation from the rest of the team members (other than Silver and Grace) in their involvement with the children, Silver’s marriage and further studies (in that order, but more about that later!), as well as development opportunities for the rest of the YCVM executive team members, even short courses or conferences that will help build their capacities for carrying out the vision and ministry of YCVM. I agree that staff training would greatly enhance and empower the running of YCVM as an organization. With the exception of Rev. Odi, who is very busy with his own ministry of traveling all over east and central Africa, in order to teach, train, and equip ministers (he works with an American based NGO called, Equipping Pastors International), and is involved with YCVM only in an advisory capacity, the rest of the members are sincere of heart and committed to the vision and ministry of YCVM, but have little experience or training in running a non-profit organization. He went on to read Pastor Emily’s letter to the group, at which point I got too sick to continue to keep my head up. I had to be driven back to my hotel.
Over that evening, while I was sick in my room, Rev. Odi went over the letter with the team once more. On Sunday morning, Rev. Odi had to preach in church, so we continued without him. I read the letter to them once more in the morning, going over and further explaining each point, and left my hard copy with the team. The two separate budget plans for the upcoming year, the $6,000 for the support of the children and other administrative costs, and the $40,000 for the school building will be worked on by the team in future meetings.
* However, the YCVM members request that the $6,000 be sent in 3 installments at the beginning of each school term: $2,000 on August 1st, 2010, $2,000 on January 1st, 2011, and the final $2,000 on April 1st, 2011.
*Patrick Olupot, the building engineer, who was present at the meeting, will work on the building budget, and send the disbursement plan later.
By the way, Patrick Olupot sends a special greeting to Peter Chu, saying with a big smile, “Send a big ‘hello’ to Peter. I liked working with him very much. He was my fellow engineer.”
Silver mentioned that the 20 plots of land the school building sits on actually is not big enough to include the 2 acres of grounds for sports and PE that is required by the government for primary schools. And that the lady who owns about an acre of land adjacent to the YCVM land recently approached Silver to try to sell the land. He did not give any response to the lady since he did not know whether he’d have the money, and also because it is not good negotiating technique to seem overly interested. But he says that if the building is completed, that might drive up the price, and that this might be a good time to start negotiating, before the building is finished. After some discussion from the group, it was agreed upon that they would negotiate with the owner and see if they can get a good price that will allow them both to finish the one wing of the primary school and purchase the land within the $40,000 budget. Otherwise, the first priority would be to finish the wing as per the direction of the letter.
Silver also shared with the team and myself a revised and concise version of the vision/mission/objectives of YCVM, and told me that they have a draft of the vision/mission/plans for the school that YCVM is building, which he hopes to finalize before I leave Uganda. We made a tentative plan for him to visit me in Kampala to bring the document, and also so that he can be video-taped for the UMTV. And he will also write out the words and meaning of the songs that Ben sent by then. He will also help me then to answer Jenny’s questions regarding Ugandan education.
He also reported on the YCVM assets, and all the new items received this time around: a keyboard (donated by Wendy), and stand, a projector for showing Christian, and other educational films (like the one on HIV/AIDS), 3 mics and cords, a headphone (now that I think about it, they might not know that it is also a mic?), one wireless mic and receiver, an extra AC adapter, and 2 small bags.
All of the outreach ministries of the band and the team during the past year were reported on as well. They tried to show the ‘Jesus film’ and the educational film on HIV/AIDS on their laptop at these events where there were hundreds and sometimes thousands gathered! Some of the members mentioned that the mission team from CCUMC would have enjoyed ministering with them… I think they were saying that they miss you guys.
Grace Among reported on agriculture and on the children.
*Of the 200 orange trees that had been planted, 196 survived and are growing. They plan on planting 100 more trees this year.
*They currently have 9 children in full sponsorship:
John Opolot, the brother of the girl who drowned in the YCVM well, is now at Mary Marquis Primary School, P3 (3rd grade) and doing well.
Shiela Kedi, is in Aciisa Primary school, P5 (5th grade). She has been able to stay in school without getting sick and having to drop out this year.
Grace Among (she is from Miroi, which is the village that Grace (YCVM)is from, and she (little Grace) changed her name to our Grace’s name (Among) because she wants to emulate her), is in Ngora Girls School, P6 (6th grade).
Martha Among, is in Ngora High School (where Grace teaches English, and is very academically prestigious, I might add), S1 (7th grade). She is the one that has developed a lump in her breast. The doctors have yet to determine whether it is cancerous or not. Please pray for her.
Jessca Among is also in Ngora High, S1 (7th grade). She was home with Typhoid and Malaria, but has now recovered and returned to school.
Stella Among is also in Ngora High, S1. She also had malaria, but has recovered and is back in school.
Raymond Okello, is also in Ngora High school, S3 (9th grade). Grace reports that he is academically excellent, receiving very high marks. (University material, maybe?)
Mary Accio, (you remember she was the one who was raped by a teacher when she was in P6) is now in Geresa High, S4
Aturuke Moses, will be finishing at St. Kizito technical School in Soroti with an advanced certificate in ‘Brick-laying & Concrete practice’ after this year.
Alice, who graduated with a diploma in early childhood education last year, has found a life mate and is now married.
Susan Achom (who everyone in the CCUMC team thought was ‘Suzanne’) has graduated from nursing school last year and has set up and works in her own little ‘drug shop’ (pharmacy) in Serere (a small town in western Tesoland).
Helen Attai, who was reinstated to sponsorship after a year, has again got into trouble with a boy, and was suspended from Ngora High. She now attends Kobwin High, S4. YCVM members, particularly Silver and Grace are still trying to counsel her, even though she is not officially being financially sponsored by YCVM.
Grace proposes that they continue the sponsorship of those 9 children for this coming year, especially in light of the budget of $6,000, and that they consider adding on more children next year, perhaps at some partial sponsorship with some of the financial responsibilities being covered by the guardians. No doubt that there is a LONG line of children in need…
It was interesting to note that the letter from Pastor Emily was treated like some kind of sacred scripture, being read over and over, words being interpreted and mulled over, and some of the fine points being debated… or maybe it was like some alien communication….
Speaking of which, Grace commented that when she read the part in the letter that said something to the effect that ‘reality in Uganda is something we can’t really know’ (I can’t remember the exact words Pastor Emily used), she wished that we could send ambassadors to one another to stay for a while, instead of just one day a year, more like for a month or so to see how reality is indeed on the ground every day for YCVM, or for CCUMC. To be sure, what I observe in my once yearly visits or even what the team observed for two weeks is not the typical ‘everyday’ reality for them. And for YCVM, none of whom had been to the US, they could not be expected to have any idea of life at CCUMC.
And yet, the miracle is that we have in fact made a connection, even, a deeply human and spiritual one in Christ. I have cried with Silver and Grace in prayer over the lives of the children, and over their own personal struggles and challenges. Our Kumi mission team members have shared ministry miracle moments and heard and empathized with all the heart-wrenching stories of the YCVM members. We were all deeply moved when they sang a very tearful song to bid us ‘good bye’ before we left Uganda. They broke out into instantaneous prayer over the Sunday school series that was to begin on Sunday the 11th. They prayed over it on Saturday night, when Rev. Odi read about it, and they prayed again, when I mentioned on Sunday morning that it was led by two high school girls named Wendy and Jenny. So, Wendy and Jenny, know that you have friends in Africa praying for you and your ministry by your names. And I know that they will continue praying for you. Prayer and fasting is a regularly (and really seriously, I might add) practiced spiritual discipline among YCVM members. For example, did you know that Silver had been fasting and praying for 7 days when God gave him the vision for YCVM? Did you know that each member of YCVM took turns fasting and praying for us the whole time the Kumi mission team was there? Did you know that while Silver called every few hours to check on my safe arrival back to Kampala, the YCVM members were in prayer? Wow, do these people know how to practice prayer!!
Finally, Pastor Emily, YCVM members send their love to you, and would like to extend their invitation to come and preach the Good News in Uganda. They are also thrilled that ‘Mama Becky’ is the mission coordinator, and that they get to write to her regularly. “She has a truly gentle and humble spirit. She is a mama to us” Grace says. In fact, they recalled each one of you by name and fondly remembered ministering together. It seems like I’ve run out of space.

So, until next time, Aeri

Pictures AND an Update

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Dear church family,

I am just learning the technicalities involved in inserting pictures into documents and attaching it in email and sending it via my blackberry. So consider this a test. Here I am standing proudly in from of my hand-washed clothes... haha.

By the way, yesterday, I had to take Modeste to a nearby clinic when I found him in his room with not only a swollen foot, but swollen lymph-nodes and a fever. They cleaned his wound and poured some kind of inky purple stuff on it. When I asked what is was, they couldn't tell me. Anyhow, they gave him some antibiotics to take. He seems much better today and the swelling and the fever is down. Thanks be to God. However, Ndatwa Jean-Claude, another Rwandese student is sick with malaria. I'd appreciate your prayers for him as well...

And this is Susan, who cooks all my meals for me at the guesthouse. She manages to churn out three meals a day using exactly what you see on the shelves for spices: salt, vinegar, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, and cooking oil. She looks like a young girl, but she is mother to 2 teenage girls and one 5 year old boy. She also happens to be from the same tribe as David Ofumbi.

I have not remembered to take pictures while I'm teaching, but I will send some your way when I can manage it.

Aeri

An Update from Aeri

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Dear beloved community,

Classes began since Monday, and though it’s only been 2 days, it feels like I’ve been teaching all day everyday for a while. I taught advanced music theory and musicianship on Monday morning, choir and group vocal training in the afternoon. This morning was Christian worship: history, theology, and practice, and in the afternoon, Intro to the history of western music. Each session lasts from 3-4 hours, so I end up teaching the whole day and spend the evenings marking papers, and preparing for the next day’s classes. I have to get up extra early if I have to do laundry before classes. Hand washing all your clothes takes longer than one would expect. And right now, I am itching all over, I think because I did not wash all the detergent out of the clothes in order to save water. Hmmmm… maybe I should use less detergent next time. I have to use an old-fashioned chalkboard for the lectures, so by the end of the day, I am covered white from head to toe in chalk dust. So it’s a cold water shower every night, the kind where you use a small plastic hand-basin full of water and pour cupfuls on yourself. Even as I am shivering from cold, I am gratefully aware of the fact that it is a luxury and a privilege to have water available for me to wash in the midst of this dry season.

I have 8 students who are in their second year of study and 7 in their first, all together 15 in all. They range in ages 19 – 30. My students tell me that there are 2 more that are yet to come. I have a number of Rwandese students, 1 from Burundi, 1 from Sudan, and of course a bunch from Uganda. It’s remarkable to me that the students who came last year from Rwanda with almost no English skills can now communicate in English with impressive fluency. One of my Rwandese students, Modeste Nzabonimpa, who is on a work scholarship, was locking up the practice rooms late last night as a part of his work duties, when he took a misstep and cut the side of his foot on a sharp rock. Having no resources to get to a hospital or even a clinic, he simply washed it and put some salt on the wound. When I saw him this morning, he was limping and the cut seemed to me more like a large gash of scooped-out flesh about ¾ inch wide all around and just as deep. He persisted and sat in class all day, and by the end of the day, his foot looked like a balloon. When I suggested that he should get to a hospital, all the other students (Modeste included) just shrugged and told me he’d be ok. Please pray for him. Needless to say, I am more than a little concerned.

It looks like I will be visiting our YCVM friends in Kumi this weekend. I will take a bus that leaves Kampala at 7am on Saturday morning, and come back late on Sunday night. Please pray for journey mercies. Out of all of the times that I’ve taken the bus to Kumi, I think there were more times when the bus broke down in the middle of the trip than not. I’m sure I’ll tell you all about the trip and our time together after I’m back.

During this morning’s worship class, as I was sharing the African-American gospel song, “Anointing, fall on me”, Modeste, my Rwandese student, sang it right back to me in Kinyarwanda (Rwandese language), and the whole class had a blessed time singing it in the 2 languages and discussing the meaning of the song. Surely enough the song became the prayer of my heart; that God’s Holy Spirit would indeed anoint me , to empower me to do God’s will, both at RTC as I teach, and in Kumi as I meet with YCVM.

Until next time,

Aeri

Words from Aeri as she settles down in Kampala

July 1st, Thursday

Beloved church family,

I arrived safely in Uganda yesterday afternoon, as did all my luggage, thanks be to God, via a long 15 hour flight to sweltering, as in, 109 degrees Fahrenheit at 7pm, yet extravagantly opulent Dubai , then another 7 and a half hour flight to Entebbe via Addis Abbaba. Here I am, back in my old room at RTC with my mosquito net that is full of holes, my 2 shelves fashioned out of old vine stalk, my rickety desk and chair, a bed with slats that dig into by back all night long, and occasionally stepping on dead cockroaches and lizard droppings. Nevertheless, I am enjoying my own opulent surroundings, relatively and contextually speaking of course, enjoying the sweet, earthy smell in the air that never fails to greet me whenever I land in Uganda, getting used to the fine brown dust that settles on everything constantly, and enduring the barrage of mosquito bites that have already made their mark on all my extremities.

This morning, I am waiting for the electrician who was to come and fix the electricity on my side of the guesthouse building (there is none at the moment, I am writing on left-over juice in my computer battery), before heading out to town to take care of some errands : turn on cell phone service, exchange currency, and procure necessities like TP, candles, soap, and water, bracing myself for another set of exhilaratingly death-defying boda-boda (motorbike) rides through town, all before the afternoon Sun becomes too scorchingly hot, what with it being the dead of dry season and all.

Last night as I lay awake listening to the eardrum-rattling music of crickets, and the occasional thud of avocados falling onto the tin roof of the guesthouse, I was filled with a sense of grateful wonder at God bringing me here for the 13th time since that life-altering first experience of 1997. Thinking of the depth of human connections in which I was privileged to share here in Uganda, I can only sing along with the Psalmist: ‘Lord, who am I, that you should show such loving kindness?’ This weekend, I will be sharing at a worship conference that my Ugandan musician friend and former student, Bosco Andama will be holding in Kampala. I have no idea as yet what I will say, but as I await insight from the Lord, I expect to witness God at work once again in ways that always capture my imagination anew. So here I go once more, grateful at the chance to practice the always exciting, unexpected, and scary work of trusting in God. As always, I know that I am cocooned in the prayers of my community, without which none of this would be possible. Please excuse my Faulkneresque, stream-of-consciousness style of run-on sentences. I haven’t slept in more than 2 hour stretches for the last 3 days….

Love,

Aeri