The McCalley's Visit Uganda

We were able to spend three weeks in July visiting Jade and Shelah in Uganda, which we hope is our first trip of many! We initially got connected with Jade and Shelah through Cooperative Baptist Fellowship about a year and a half ago, when we emailed them to find out if there were any field personnel working with former child soldiers. We had no idea that connection would eventually lead us to Uganda!

While we were in Uganda, we were able to experience a little of each Refuge and Hope project. We spent several days at the Center of Hope, experiencing their outreach to refugees in Kampala. Here is a picture of Stephen working on the computers...internet was a source of frustration, especially after the July 11th bombings damaged the cable!

We traveled to Greek to meet members of the community and do a little construction on the community center. Here's a picture of Courtney with students at the school in Greek. We were the ones taking a break from the soccer games.

We then went to visit the widows and Arrow Boys' gardens in the Kaberamaido district. We enjoyed working side by side in their fields and seeing the how hard they've worked to support themselves and their families. Here is a picture of us, members of Riverside Baptist Church in Alabama, Jade, Harriet, Pastor Julius, and the widows holding some recently harvested cassava!

Finally, we met with Pastor Stephen Bamoleke to discuss the DRC education project. Our church (First Baptist - Winchester) has been involved in sponsoring the students in the program, and we were able to discuss ways to develop our relationship with the students. Unfortunately, we were not able to meet the students on this trip, but I'm sure we will be able to get to know them in a future visit!

We are so grateful that we had the opportunity to visit Uganda and build on the relationship we've started with Jade and Shelah! The highlight was meeting with Pastor Bamoleke about the DRC project and being able to give input into the project's development.

Three Countries in One Day!

That's right - we hit three countries in one day!  It might just be a world record.  Or a record for Refuge and Hope, anyway!  

Counseling Conference - Rwanda

The journey began in Gisenyi, Rwanda, just on the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  Last week Refuge and Hope was pleased to host a conference in Gisenyi on counseling people who have been traumatized by war and conflict.  About 40 pastors and other ministers from DRC and Rwanda joined us to participate in this two-day conference led by Dr. Scott Christie and Dr. Doug Dickens from the U.S.  

We are very grateful to Scott and Doug and their wives, Susan and Sherri, for coming out and doing such a fantastic job at the conference.  The participants received much-needed instruction in counseling people of all ages dealing with traumas ranging from the loss of a parent to rape, and we hope that this will be the beginning of a continued relationship with these ministers.  We are also extremely grateful to our partner, Pastor Stephen Bamoleke of Shalom Transformational Ministries, who worked very hard to coordinate logistics and get the participants there.  We could not have done it without him!

Dr. Doug Dickens leading a session at the conference

The Amazing Race - Rwanda, DRC, Uganda

After the conference was finished, we woke up in Rwanda and quickly hopped across the border into DRC to visit our student sponsorship project there.  We only had a few hours to spend in the town of Goma there in Eastern DRC, so it was quite a whirlwind of activity.  We were very excited to first visit with some of the students we are sponsoring in secondary school and see the Shalom Church in Goma where they are receiving support from the pastors there and where they have become involved in the choir.  

We also met a women's group that meets at the church, the local health clinic the church supports, and a rape center where girls and women of all ages who are victims of rape can come for treatment and rehabilitation.  Needless to say, all of this was a lot to fit into one day trip!  But we are grateful for the opportunity to visit and look forward to returning and continuing our involvement in the Goma area with our wonderful partners there.

Shelah with some of the students and pastors

So after spending a few busy hours in DRC we hopped back over the border into Rwanda and then drove up through the beautiful, hilly countryside of Rwanda to cross the Ugandan border.  Then, after adding many miles to the odometer, Refuge and Hope's version of The Amazing Race was finished!  We had successfully completed a two-day conference in Rwanda, a good visit in DRC, and a long journey across bumpy roads, national borders, and lush landscapes.  And even though the travel was a bit exhausting, it was a blessing to go - and we are already looking forward to making another Refuge and Hope trip there soon.  So stay tuned!

(Map courtesy of Lonely Planet)

Baptist Team Visits Uganda!

Over the past month, Refuge and Hope was pleased to host a fantastic team from the United States to join us in offering a Refuge and a Hope here in Uganda.  Three students from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's Student.Go program - Carson, Anna and Abby - joined us for three and a half weeks in June primarily to distribute treated mosquito nets to help fight malaria and to do sports camps/VBS activities.  We were also happy to welcome my mother, Debbie, who came out to join the team, travel with us and support all of our ministry ventures.  Carson, Anna and Abby have worked hard these past few months to raise money for the nets and to collect sports equipment, VBS items and other donations for the trip.  We were so excited to welcome the team here and connect them with many of the areas where we are working, and we are extremely grateful for their willingness to come and serve!

The team had a very packed schedule during their few weeks here, so there are lots of stories to tell!  Be sure to keep an eye on this blog in the coming days for more updates from their trip.  And in the meantime, you can check out one of the team's blog entries written during the trip for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship blog.

The team from L to R: Carson, Abby, Anna, Jennifer, Debbie

The team leading games with local children just outside Greek, Uganda