Bethany by boat and bota bota, a taste of local
flair, and farewells (with see you soons)
Greetings from Uganda!
Waking up this morning it did not really did not seem to really impress
upon us that it was to be our last day in Uganda. We woke up as we had all week, had breakfast and hit the
road around 9 am. Our plan for the
day was to visit Bethany village, visit the market, and then return home for a
meal and packing for our return journey.
A little background on Bethany village is in order so I will
take a quick moment to explain.
Bethany village is a school/home for children ranging from age 8 to 18
that have either been abandoned or their families to do not have the funds to
send them to school. The school is
a Christian based institution and, with help from their sponsorship program,
has a mission to see to it that all young people who come through the program
leave with the skills to either find a job or continue on pursuing higher
education. By age 23 they expect
for them to have grown into responsible adults capable of impacting the world
in a positive way.
So back to our day.
We left from the house and drove to the Gaba Community Church in
downtown Kampala so that we could take a boat ride to Bethany Village. Bethany village is located across the
lake and it is much faster to reach it by boat than by vehicle. After driving through a fish market
with an “array of smells” we arrived at the dock and loaded up into a boat to
cross Lake Victoria. Upon loading
up into the boat we shoved off and after riding for 30 minutes landed on the
shore across the lake.
When we landed on the shore there were a fleet of bota botas
or small, 125cc motorcycles and their drivers who were to take us the 3 km to
the village. We each selected our
drivers and held on as we took off down the dirt roads. My driver, Bruce, was a particularly
friendly fellow and we chatted the whole ride to the village. We arrived at our destination and thanked
our drivers for the transport and walked to the field that we assumed to be the
one we would practice on for the next hour and a half.
After a few minutes of waiting the young men of Bethany
Village began to show up and we were able to split them up into around 4-6
person mission team member and teach them the fundamentals of throwing, catching,
field a ground ball and a pop fly.
We realized very quickly that many of the children there were very
gifted in their athleticism and that given more time and coaching, many would
be very quick to play the game well.
After we learn those techniques we moved onto hitting and fielding while
on the playing field. All of them
learned that while in the field, they should throw the ball to first when the
ball is hit to the infield and they should throw to second when hit to the
outfield. This will set them up
for learning the finer points of the game later. After two rounds of hitting and a 40 yard dash competition
at the end we prayed with the young men and they returned to class.
When practice was over, we were given the opportunity to
tour the village and see one of the homes for children. The house mother told us the typical day of her children and said that
they begin the day with a morning devotion at 5:30, followed by breakfast, and
then chores such as mopping the floor and cleaning the dishes. When they returned from school they had
evening programs at the village and then would have an evening devotion prior
to bedtime at 9:30. The discipline
of the schedule impressed us greatly.
After this we toured the rest of the ground and were able to speak with
the administrators about their vision for each child and how to bring that
vision to life. We then bid
farewell to the people of Bethany village and loaded up into the boat to return
to Kampala.
At the end of the 45 minute boat ride (we left from a
different place on the lake than we landed), we loaded up into the van and rode
to a downtown shopping center for some Italian pizza for lunch. Since it is a trip of 7 men with 3
local Ugandan men as well, it should not be surprising at all that we were able
to devour 7 pizzas in very little time.
Being fully satiated, we headed to market for some souvenir
shopping. After we had been there
an hour and had bought some items to remember the trip, we loaded up into the
van and returned to our home for the week for a last meal, devotion, and
fellowshipping before leaving for the airport at 12:45 AM.
After meal and a devotion where we recounted our memories to
each other and what was most significant, we prayed and then prepared ourselves
for leaving by packing and showering since we have roughly 26 hours of travel
ahead of us. Some decided to take
a nap while others stayed up playing cards or reading to pass the time. When the time came and our driver for
the night, Eddie, arrived we loaded up, prayed with Patrick and thanked him for
his hospitality, and then hit the road for the airport in Entebbe. Once we had prayed and hit the road it
really hit home for most of us that we were really leaving and I know that for
me personally this made me very sad.
And so now here we sit in the Entebbe airport waiting our
flight and ready to bring more stories back home. Our time here has been amazing and it has been more so
because it is plain to see how God put our team together to accomplish all of
the tasks that were set before us.
By His provision we never felt that we were lacking and we all feel very
blessed to have been apart of this team.
We all spoke after the devotion about returning and, if the Lord wills
it, then we all hope to return again someday soon. So for those who sponsored us, Thank you! For those who prayed for us, thank you!
And for those of you who want to join us or come on a different trip, pray
about it and if the Lord puts it on your heart, Come!!!!
In closing, I hope you have enjoyed the blog and that God
has somehow spoken to you, encouraged, or a combination of both. So for the final one, God Bless,
goodnight, and know Yesu Akwaagala!
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