History Makers in Kabale!

Starting Sunday history will be made in Kabale. For the first time in Uganda, all denominations of Christian churches will be joining together as one at the “River of God conference”. Never before has anything of this magnitude occurred. Pastors from 11 different denominational churches across Kabale have come together for this amazing event. The reason of its significance is that it is opening up new opportunities for Kabale to be changed in a big way- and from this example, and flow, one day the whole of Uganda. By having so many influential people come together, this conference will be unlike anything ever before- as many are now working towards a common goal, and as you would know, 1 ant is strong, but a whole colony of ants working together can do unimaginable things. So this week I will be working hard with many others to help organize the week-long event. During the week there will be teaching, preaching, outreaches during the evenings and workshops on various topics. There is an expectation that 3000 people across Kabale will be attending. I will keep you updated on how it goes! It’s very exciting be a part of something so significant in Ugandan history!

In other news, I’ve had a pretty great last few days. I had my first experience of shopping at the food market- its pretty cool! However the meat section was a little unappetizing! A funny event was on the way back up the mountain, when our boda boda carrying the driver, Luke and myself as well as about 10kg of groceries, not surprisingly almost blew up! There was so much smoke pouring out, and people walking by were going faster, that we hopped off and said not to bother! Quite a few other boda boda drivers were laughing as they flew past! Luke was very dismayed as he was stuck carrying the bulk of the groceries! Luckily about 5 minutes later a friend of ours drove past in his ute. Luke looked as happy as if it was a chariot to heaven! We jumped in the back [another crazy thing about Africa- absolutely NO road rules- we even had 3 people in the front of a ute at one point!] and got our ride home.

Today I went down to Akanyijuka with Luke and we hung out with the kids for a while. We then took them down to the oval and let them have a run around. They are just so cute when they go there- they just go nuts, with so much joy on their faces. We then undertook the challenge of teaching them some dances! First, the nut-bush- they picked it up pretty quick- but I didn’t have any music so I think it would be a lot more enjoyable when we do. We then also taught them heel and toe- but as they are children not accustomed to ‘Australian’ type of dance formations, I didn’t even try to put them in the circle that you’re meant to- it would have been CRAZY! So we just got them in pairs and taught them the moves, and they LOVED it! Especially the “ grab your partner by the arm and spin spin spin!” A cool part about teaching the children dances and songs is that it helps them learn English a lot better- because at the moment they only know hello, and a few songs learnt by rote, so I would like to focus more on teaching them English. So after the conference, Pamellah [the head mum of the orphanage] and I will be getting the children that are behind in their school work and tutoring them. I can’t wait! I’ll be taking about 10 of them at a time and working on mainly consonant and vowel pronunciations, as there are quite a few issues in those areas! For example, the letter ‘r’ often gets confused with the letter ‘l’. Even though it is a little amusing it can cause a few problems, as the word ‘pray’ is pronounced ‘play’- so ‘playing to God’ doesn’t make too much sense! I’m also going to try and do some classes with the teachers in these areas, so when I’m gone they can work on it with the kids.

Tomorrow I’ve got Saturday ‘kids church’ where I’m teaching the kids about Jesus, and who he says is the greatest in the Kingdom of God- ‘the little children’. [Look at Matthew 18:1-5] . Unfortunately kids in Africa are not always held in very high significance- [and this is not by all people, but quite a few]even by people in church- they are often pushed away, and children’s ministry is not really a priority, so I’m wanting to teach them that they are just as important to Jesus, as anyone else!

Also Andrew told me that the newspaper article that was written about my trip, and to recognize the wonderful company that donated my laptop, [pictured above] has been published. I’m told its been printed in most of the local newspapers across Brisbane-pretty cool!

Also a big hello and hug sent to my grandparents Nana and Pop and also to my Pa in Melbourne. I love you heaps and I am praying for you! Feel better soon Pa!

Catcha later!
Olivia