Brief Visit to Greek

Earlier this month, we were able to visit the Greek project in eastern Uganda. Below are some pictures...

The valley just near Sipi Falls in Kapchorwa. It was a breath-taking view and great reminder that we serve the Creator of the Universe!

On the road to the Greek village...

This is Greek. There are a few vegetable and fruit stands...

Peter, Missy, Jade, and Shawn shared in this church. Here Peter is praying for Greek and the churches in the area.

The Greek project has hit a few bumps in the road but the Lord remains faithful. We trust Him in all that is being done in Greek!

Please continue to pray for the village of Greek and the Refuge and Hope project there.

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.

Update: Community Center in Greek

This is more than just ground breaking.  We've moved past the ground level and the multi-purpose resource center in Greek is actually going up!

I traveled out to Greek recently to see the progress that's been made in constructing the center, and it's coming along very well.  For those of you who may need a refresher, Refuge and Hope has partnered with the community of Greek in eastern Uganda just near the Kenya border to build a multi-purpose resource center.  People in this region were victims of years of violent cattle raids by a neighboring tribe, displacing nearly everyone in the area for many years.  Peace has recently returned to this land, though, and people are beginning to resettle.  The village of Greek is being repopulated rapidly as people who fled are returning with their cattle to work the land.  Refuge and Hope is working with Thomas Godwin, a local bishop, and other local pastors to serve Greek and help build a center which will serve as a site for meetings and projects in the community, education resources, and a place for the local church to use for worship, among other things.

I was able to speak with the designer and engineer of the building and with the team of local community members who are working to construct the center, and they are dedicated to seeing that the work is done well and quickly.  The photos below show the progress that was made by the end of "Phase One," and the team hopes to continue at a swift, steady pace and get the center completed soon, which is wonderful!  

We are excited that the center is coming along so well, and we will keep you updated as the work continues!

Update: Kapchorwa

As mentioned before, we spent the greater part of June hosting a small team from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's Student.Go program in the US, and one of the first places we took them was Kapchorwa.  There we met up with Bishop Thomas Godwin, who assists us in our work around the district, and a team of pastors and health workers he put together to accompany us to Greek and other rural villages.  Then we all hit the ground running hard for three straight days of mosquito net distributions, sports, games and Bible stories.  

It takes about two hours to drive out to the villages around Greek from Kapchorwa town, where we stayed, so we left out early each morning toting several hundred treated bed nets.  Our first net distribution was in Greek, where hundreds of people gathered to hear us talk about malaria, the team that brought the nets and what compelled them to bring them.  We then moved just across the Greek River to an area they call Locales and distributed nets there, as well.  The people there were very pleased that we had also come to see them across the river.  They are mostly Pokot, of a different tribe than the other Sebei people, and we wanted to be intentional about going to see both people groups - particularly in this diverse community of people who are emerging from years of tribal conflict and making great efforts at peace and reconciliation.

Demonstrating how to use the mosquito nets

The second day the team returned to Locales to lead a sports camp for local children - and adults, as it turns out, since we got several of the local women involved, as well!  The day began with a dramatic narration of the Bible story of Jonah for several community members, then we moved outside for games, soccer drills, and other fun activities for the little ones.  The headmaster of the local primary school (which meets mainly under trees with volunteer teachers) came out to watch, along with several community leaders, and we were able to leave the sports equipment behind so the school could continue to utilize it.

Small children lining up for soccer drills

Ladies enjoying a relay game

The following day, on Sunday, we headed out to a small village on the road to Greek and joined the morning service at the local church.  There we also handed out mosquito nets and prayed with the people.  We noticed that each net distribution went progressively better, and each new group we worked with seemed more and more organized.  After that visit we hopped back in the van and drove out to Greek to also attend church service with the people there and shared another Bible story with the church.  Finally, we stopped at another village along the road back to Kapchorwa for one more net distribution before heading back to town.

All in all, we distributed over 500 mosquito nets in Kapchorwa and completed one day of sports/VBS.  As we made our way around to different villages those few days it was so exciting to see people walking around carrying their mosquito nets or to spot a net already hanging up in a home!  And it was a blessing to get to speak to so many people about how God and our team cared for them - as whole people - and that we were interested in preserving their life both physically and spiritually.  We are also very blessed to have great partners there in Bishop Thomas and the other pastors, and I am so grateful that we can have a part in strengthening the local church's efforts in Kapchorwa.

To see more photos from the team's time in Kapchorwa click HERE.  

And also, I have plans to travel back to Kapchorwa with three friends who are coming to visit in just a couple weeks.  We will be going to check on the progress that has been made so far on construction of the community resource center and to take even more mosquito nets to new communities, so be on the lookout for that update soon!

JUMP!

Update: Kaberamaido & Greek

Things have been rather busy around the Uganda Refuge & Hope office lately!  A few of us recently returned from a trip out to our project sites in Kaberamaido district and Kapchorwa district.  David Harding, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's International Coordinator for Emergency Response, also accompanied us on the trip.  He is an agriculture and water expert, and he gave us (and the people we serve) some great advice along the way! (see photo below)

David Harding showing a group of widows the health benefits of a local tree

In Kaberamaido, we met with two different groups that we will be providing agriculture training and implements to.  One is a group of ten widows, and the other is a group of ten "Arrow Boys," former village defenders against rebel attacks who have now been demobilized and many of whom returned home to great losses of property.  There are also women in the Arrow Boys group who were either fighters themselves or are widows of Arrow Boys.  The meetings went well, and we hope they will be able to begin training/planting in the next two or three months.

In Kapchorwa, we met up with one of the local bishops, Pastor Thomas Godwin, and went out to a village of formerly displaced people called Greek.  I first visited Greek less than a year ago on a short-term visit to Uganda, and I was deeply impacted by this community and its lack of basic necessities such as clean water, health care and education.  Seeing Greek was actually what prompted me to pray about returning to Uganda to volunteer with Refuge & Hope.  I am happy to report that there has been good progress in Greek these past few months, including a health center that is being built and four water wells.  Refuge & Hope plans to join this progress by helping the community to build a multi-purpose community center to serve as a church building, school facility and community center.  We hope construction will begin in the next couple months.

We are also busy making arrangements for a small group of students from the U.S. coming to do sports ministry, VBS activities and mosquito net distribution for three and a half weeks next month.  The team will be ministering in both Kaberamaido and in Greek, and we appreciate you joining with us in prayer for their safe arrival on May 31 and their ministry while they are here with us.

Click here to see some of my photos from the recent trip to Kaberamaido and Kapchorwa!

P.S. - We still need to raise a bit more funds for the community center in Greek.  If you'd like to contribute, please email jade@refugeandhope.org or donate through our Facebook page!