My Gratitude

Well, almost home. I'm sitting in Schipol International Airport in Amsterdam waiting for my connecting flight to Newark and then to Calgary.

I have had a very meaningful and productive trip and I want to say thank you to all who have been involved with me in so many ways.

First off, I could not have gotten here without the support and backing of those who supported this mission financially. Thank you so very much and I am looking forward to sharing with you all that was able to happen because people like you responded generously and contributed towards this trip.

I am anticipating much more to develop out of this trip in terms of ministry and opportunities and you have invested in those things that will live on in a multitude of ways. Very key relationships have been made that will last a lifetime for us and for what we see God bring about as a result of those relationships.

Along with that, the support and enthusiasm Lisa and the kids gave was the deciding factor for me to feel at peace going and being away from the family for three weeks. God made things clear to Lisa and I that I was to go on this trip and that was very important.

Next, I want to extend my thank you to Sophie for connecting me to the "Pearl of Africa" and all the Ugandans that welcomed and hosted me. It's one thing to check into a foreign hotel and live in a bubble for the time one is there but it is quite another to live with people and be a part of their lives, their circumstances and their traditions. So thank you to my hosts too numerous to mention but they include Douglas, Owen, Justice Ogoola, (and all his staff at the High Court!!!!) the Bishops and clergy of the Church of Uganda that I met and in whose churches I was welcomed, Catherine, Edreda, Penny, and of course all the Correctional staff and the O.C.'s who facilitated our visits to the Prisons.

Thank you to Prison Fellowship and Ron Nikkel for steering me into some key people in Uganda (Like Tim and Cornerstone Developments).

Also a big thank-you to Daniel Zopoula and Bridges of Hope together with the Bridges of Hope staff who assisted the administration of this trip (Marshall, Mary-Gail, and Rick). I am pretty excited about the opportunities we have together now in Uganda for the work that makes Bridges of Hope such a meaningful and important ministry and organization. It looks like we have some pretty cool opportunities ahead of us. it's time sit down with pen and paper, to roll up the sleeves, fill the coffee cups and plan to make an impact on people.

Also, Sisters Joan and Clotilda for holding down the fort as well as the staff at the Correctional Centre especially those in Programs looking after anything that comes up in my absence. Thank you.

Perhaps some of you are the ones to begin thinking about coming with me next time to see for yourself and make an impact firsthand in this friendly place and amongst these wonderful people. So stay tuned, I don't think Chapter One has even been finished yet and I think there is much more to come, and written by many authors who should come and experience this place and it's opportunities firsthand. See you soon.
Darrin

p.s.
If I have left out anybody deserving thanks please know that I am very grateful for your support.

Last few days before homeward bound

Here's a pic of our new partner Catherine Piwang -Natabona founder and director of ChildReach together with Justice Ogoola. (Natabona is the female designation of the clan she is part of which is the same clan Justice Ogoola adopted me into as well. The male name for us is "Omutabona") Therefore I am Rev. Mangeni Omutabona or ...Rev. Fish!)

She is showing me crafts, sewing projects, and artwork made by the formerly abducted girls of Northern Uganda in Gulu's IDP camps that she works with. I will bring these ones home for people who might want to adopt a girl (and with her the children she might have) and receive a profile and the story of what she had lived through during the rebel abductions. Whichever girl makes the apron, or purse, or hand sewn card has her name stitched on or printed on so that she is known and so that whoever buys one of the crafts (in this case I've bought them for friends back home) ends up supporting her way of making a living. The sale money of an apron or card or whatever goes entirely to that girl and any children she has.

When crafts sell, Catherine goes to Gulu and brings money, supplies, support, and training to the girls in their little new economic enterprises. She can hand them the proceeds of the sale of numerous items usually in the amount of 10,000 shillings at a time (about $6). That's when they break down and cry as it's the first time they've ever seen a 10,000 bill and are able to buy food, material and keep themselves and their kids alive.

Here is Edreda. She's another friend and partner who together with Penny run "Helping Hands" with the school project where I met the little girl with the water-head problem. She is happy to be about to complete last payment for the latrine hole being dug and they can then begin the very needed project of building the washroom (latrine) structure. Government authorities insist on proper latrine facilities when you operate any school for children.

I had thought of a few friends I want to ask to donate to this project, and then the idea came to me that we could name the latrine after the donor!!! How perfect! Then it hit me who the donor should be.....the sign will read, "the Dana Karapita Outhouse"

Here is my colleague Rev. Fred Komunda the Chaplain at Luzira Prison. He is the Rector of St. John's Church in Luzira town where the Correctional staff live and go to church. I preached the African service and the English service Sunday the 13th for him. I got the biggest compliment when they said I preach like an African! Maybe they were just being African nice and making me feel good.

Even after all the hard work, long days, and many sermons (10 in about 10 days) I will miss this place and these people. I can't wait until the next stage occurs when I bring people from home here to experience this place as well. Stay tuned...

Mixed Feelings

It’s the night before I fly home and I have mixed feelings. I miss my family and can’t wait to get back to them. On the other hand I have fully and completely enjoyed my experience here in Uganda and it has been rewarding in terms of the things I have seen, been a part of, and most importantly, the relationships I have made. I have new friends, new acquaintances, new partners, and even new family!! It’s hard to leave.


You may have heard me say that Ugandan’s are extremely hospitable people. They are. They welcome you to their country in very warm, meaningful and genuine ways. They want to share their culture with you and are happy to do so, then do not want to let you go home when it its time to go. A few have asked to be able to confiscate my passport.



One of the surprising things I have seen and one of the things I will reflect on for a long time to come is the deep friendliness of these people. Rich and poor alike they are a people who are gracious perhaps even to a fault. I haven’t yet put my finger on it entirely but there is something that infuses the entire character and personality of Ugandan people that is very unique and it’s something we are losing (or maybe never really had) at home in the Western developed societies. Even Canadians who are seen as friendly people are losing something of this quality.



Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy at home, and will comfortably and happily settle back into the routine of life I know in Canada, and be relieved to be back in the familiar, as well as within range of Tim Horton`s.



Also, every society is made up of people who share the human condition, including Uganda. That means that one cannot be naive to the reality that there are negative and destructive aspects to Ugandan society. When Edreda dropped me off last night after dinner she had her two sons walk me to the door. I was taken aback by this and almost offended. “Don’t you think I can handle myself in a situation?…” was the thought that crossed my mind. But it reflected their care and concern for their guest and so being offended is absurd, and points once again to their kind nature. Also, her son Paul said that two days earlier a couple of thugs robbed him and took his money and cell phone! So much for idealizing these people. Human darkness and ugliness is present in any society including this one that has made me feel very welcome.



But having said that, there is something else going on here that is still different. It’s different from what we are living out even back home in friendly Canada. You may remember I made mention of the driving here and the way in which traffic is a free for all and that it is literally a game of inches at high speeds. Despite this, I saw only courteous interaction even when people cut each other off which it seems here is an art form. No road rage, no flipping the bird, no cussing, etc.



Maybe it is because they are African. That’s partly true. But if you listen to Ugandans it is partly false because they will be the first to tell you how they are more friendly than the people of neighbouring nations which shall remain nameless and of whom Ugandans say that when you visit those nations the only thing that will happen to you is that you will get robbed! Of course, that’s a very obviously partial and subjective belief and delightfully self-serving! It’s no different than us when we say to foreigners that they should come to Canada because we are friendly unlike those greedy Americans who will rob you and send your sons to war as you are forced to wave their flag! These are statements of our truth as best we want to know and shape it. There are some areas where we are entitled to embellish and shape truth to suit our preferences and reflect our appropriate prejudisms, false as they may be.



Whatever this Ugandan personality is and wherever it comes from, it grows on you. If you have a heart at all, being here sets it on fire and causes it to warm your soul.



I don’t quite know what it is, maybe a deep sense of brotherhood, sisterhood, or a deep sense of belongingness to the human family that is characteristically African. Maybe the old African saying that “it takes a village” applies here, but I’m hesitant to use it because when it is mentioned North Americans remember the title of Hillary Clinton’s book and the comments she has made in the past. For me, that turns it cold and shrill and ruins the saying completely. But there is a very civil and loyal connectedness between people here that is evident in so many layers of society. Somebody once said that if you want to measure the goodness of a society you can merely look at how they treat their prisoners. If true, what I observed take place between Prison Guard and prisoner suggests that this is a society with no equals in it’s goodness. I asked a Prison Fellowship board member about this and he explained that the brotherly bond between the prison keeper and the kept partly emerges out of Ugandan’s understanding that here in Uganda anybody can go to prison regardless of guilt or innocence. It’s past is full of political enemies being wrongly accused and avenged by authorities being bribed into jailing the innocent. It is part of the darkness in African society that manifests in political corruption.



But rather than this suggesting that barbarism and hatred marks African society, the presence of corruption and war only emphasizes my point. With the relative ease of corruption happening, it should be a dog eat dog culture with every man for himself, and the law of the jungle ought to prevail. But it doesn’t. These people are reliant on each other and knitted together in a very civil, brotherly way even against the backdrop of a past marked by war and corruption. Much more than we are at home.



I was with my new clan-member and humanitarian partner Catherine to hear about the extent of Childreach’s humanitarian school projects in the East near Busia that I visited and of her heart wrenching work in the North of Uganda in Gulu. This is the war torn part of Uganda where the LRA rebels have torn the society into shreds for the last 20 years. It is where the IDP camps are and basically after you have worked in the most impoverished areas in Africa, when you go to these camps you are stepping down into Dante’s 5th level of hell by comparison.



The discussion was around my being perplexed about the curious situation in Uganda where most people live on less than $1 per day and know only poverty. Yet within this often heartbreaking poverty, people are basically pretty happy, industrious, and have joy. They are not seeking mental health professionals. Why not? How is this possible? She said a very interesting thing. She said the community and neighbours do the therapy for each other in their support for each other and felt experience of being connected, not alone, and having to survive together. Maybe this is the fundamental reason why North Americans are the biggest consumers of mental health services. It is because we are individualist by nature and therefore, logically, we are basically on our own and at the end of the day -alone. That experience of “alone-ness” cannot be compared to Dante’s 5th level of hell because it actually IS Dante’s 5th level of hell. No wonder we are a therapy culture! We cannot NOT be!



Anyway, this discussion did not help my idea and hope that next time I come to Uganda I could bring Lisa as well as friends of ours who are mental health professionals, counsellors and social workers, nurses and just very kind Canadians. Then she talked about one of the biggest and most important things she does when she goes to Gulu. In the midst of the medical care, blankets given, economic empowerment, and restoration of human dignity, she does one other important thing that led her to ask for help with. She deals with “formerly abducted” girls. They are the 14-19 year olds who were abducted by rebel soldiers at the age of 11 and 12 and were forced to watch their parents be burned alive or hacked up with machete’s. Now they are 15, 17 or 19 and have two or three kids (as a result of rape) and trying to cope with crushing poverty, despair, and hopelessness in the midst of the IDP camps which individually can hold as many as 75,000 people. Many people in the camps were born there, they are second generation internally displaced people.



She was working with them and their children in poverty relief when she noticed they were all characteristically unemotional and mechanical in the fulfilling of their duties as mothers and in relating to people. She began to ask what happened to them and what did they witness. At first, the girls would shut down when asked, begin to shake, or simply stop talking. After time spent building trust however, they began to open up and relate the most horrific stories of human rights abuses, murder, rape and torture you can imagine. This is then when they begin to cry (often for the first time) and simply need their hands held, prayed with, empathized with, and allowed to cry. Slowly some of them are beginning to be able to show slight emotion again in their human interaction.



What is needed is for a team of trained counsellors and or psychologists, nurses or caring individuals who can help in this process together with Catherine. It’s not complicated therapy by Western standards although knowledge and training would be enormously helpful. It is mostly human trust, empathy, love and care that can help these girls (and there are a growing number of young boys showing up now that Catherine is known and trusted) connect to an emotional life again since their childhoods were robbed when they were abducted at gunpoint at night and forced to watch their parents die, sometimes at the forced hand of their own siblings. Anyway, food for thought for the next trip and for some friends of mine (you know who you are!)



The last thing that has been a real treat for me is to have the experience of visiting people and places and then just happen to stumble upon situations where I could respond and help. When we were at “Helping Hands” with Edreda and school was over, the kids were playing and saying goodbye to us and preparing to walk home. One young boy was with his parents talking with us but he did not seem to want to play. They told me he has Malaria, a fever, and just recently has quit wanting to play but just sits there weakened by his fever. The parents cannot afford health care. Malaria however, doesn’t just go away like other fevers, it kills you. That he would not receive Malaria drugs seemed to be just accepted by the people as almost inevitable due to no option. I found out that perhaps 15,000 Shillings was what Malaria treatment would cost. That is approximately $11. I had 20,000 Shillings put into Edreda’s hand within the next hour on the way home and asked her to see to it that the child is treated.



Here our money goes so incredibly far. It is a tremendous joy to simply be meeting people within the normal work of the day and then it merely happens. A need presents itself. It’s a need that is simple for a Canadian to meet because here you get a lot of bang for your buck …1,600 shillings to each buck! But even more, the need is personal to you because you happened to be the one to stumble upon it. Grace and compassion simply moves across your mind and you do a quick simple mental math in the moment of need and for the amount of your own child’s allowance, or the price of a movie, you save a kids life. Even if you forget about that personal moment of aid, the child never forgets that some person their parents met helped save his or her life. Some very simple fundraising back home and contribution of my own money put me in a position to be able, in the happenstance of walking a village, make the difference in the life of a child. I was fortunate to be able to do this kind of thing a number of times.



Remember this young girl? She was the one I mentioned we mettogether with her family. She is the one with the untreated medical condition of water swelling inside her head. She just sits here on this blanket not even able to chase the flies off her face. Before I left her home, I knelt down to touch her head, bless her, and smile at her. Well, she cracked a big smile back, obviously unafraid of the Mzungu. I could not forget that, or her.

I went to the bank today and arranged for 150,000 Shillings because Edreda and Penny (Patrons and leaders of Helping Hands) told me there is a hospital in Mbara that specializes in this condition. They can make the long trip with the girl there, admit her and the mom into a room at the hospital and have her begin treatment. They were going to plan a way to find donors to help cover the girls treatment. I began thinking I would like to be one of those donors.

Since this help is personal because I met this girl I want to contribute to her having treatment begin by the trip to Mbara and this hospital. I gave this financial gift to Edreda and Penny on behalf of the 5 God-children Lisa and I have back home and in their names. I will receive some profile information and updates on the girl as things progress to give to my God-sons, but I want the treatment to get started.

Our 5 God-sons are, Jaimin Vanden Dungen, Graeme Vanden Dungen, Jared Boras, Josiah Cullen, and Javin Vanden Dungen. You each have a new adopted sister who now can begin treatment in your name and will need your thoughts and prayers. My challenge to each of you is to pray for her and write to her.

As well, my own three children are going to meet three kids from Gulu through correspondence and have a chance to make a difference in their lives and hopefully meet them some day.

This is a very satisfying experience to help somebody like this and you would not believe how easy it is to do, and how much fun it is to do when it is personal. I’ve had to use my holiday time to come on this trip and work pretty hard day in and day out while here. But the truth is, I could never pay enough to find the even the best or most luxurious vacation spot that could deliver the kind of restful satisfaction I find in doing this. It’s the human warmth, civility, affection and Ugandan friendliness that recharges the batteries of life that a vacation ought to do.

Black Mamba's?! What about this boy?!

On this day Douglas and I went with Edreda to her project just a little north of Kampala in Wakiso. It's a school project that just got underway this year and has numerous children already registered. That's often how it starts here. Somebody sees a need and wants to help a few children with education, food, medical care, and support to their family. Then once that gets off the ground, families and children in the area begin to show up and ask to register. So without planning it you have started your own NGO. This project is called helping hands and Edreda began the work in this stunningly picturesque location if you look at the scenery. When you take a closer look at the lives of the people however, you see less of the beautiful scenery and more of the need.

We were walking along the paths of the land that the King sold to her for this project and again, as is the norm, Douglas was laughing at me because I was combing the bush with my eyes like an eagle watching for black mamba's. They seemed to not worry at all, Edreda was blazing the trail while I was content to pray for my life and launch myself into orbit at the slightest rustle in the grass.

Then the tables turned. We came out of the trees and saw this beautuful boy with his crown of horns looking at us. Edreda assumed my prayerful position and stopped in her tracks wanting to turn around and go the other way. I assumed the position of confidence and said, "oh finally something that brings me the comfort and safety of back home. Thank God, now we are fine." She thought I might be one of those matadors (I am) or one of those guys who run with the bulls in Pamplona Spain (Sunday stroll for an Albertan). Nothing like Alberta to strike confidence into the heart of a lady!

The place sits atop a hill and has a commanding view of the area all around.

The school is a two room post and beam structure with rough boards uded for horizontal siding. The floor as with all school projects is dirt and must have a layer of dry cow dung spread on it so that when the children sit on it they don't get the little bugs called 'jiggers' that burrow into the skin.

This little guy likes visitors. He will get a hold of your leg or your hand and just hang on as you walk around the school and the land


Edreda leads them in a greeting of me and the teacher (in the back) prepares to lead them in a song.




I'm proud of my photo taking skills for this one....Oh wait ....no, Douglas snapped this one! It reminds me of the types of situation photos Kevan Wilke snaps! A school project like this really benefits when somebody buys them a cow, a few chickens, and a goat. This school has the cow and goat. What they need now is to complete the proper latrine. Edreda had hired the guy to dig the pit and construct the shelter, but what she does is pay him in portions as the money comes in (usually when she puts it in). The 40 foot hole is ready for the structure to be paid for next. Any takers back home?



the view from the school.



The view in the school

Watch your step here, under those branches and bushes is the 40 foot hole ready for the latrine structure to be built overtop.



People make brincks all over Uganda and they are used for the construction of their homes and businesses as well as schools. These ones are dried and ready to be burned in order to be hardened.


This is a sad story. This little girl has some sort of swelling inside her head by water. It has impaired her mental and pysical growth. They are not sure what is wrong as the family cannot afford medical care.


She is pretty much confined to the blanket space for her area to exist and to play.


We met her family.



Then off on the trail to see the boundary of the roughly 10 acre property, and to definately NOT study the habitat of the mamba

-------------------------------

The next day we had re-scheduled to visit the last two prisons which were Luzira Women's prison for a service with about 80 women both sentenced and condemned. They were wonderful and could they ever sing, drum and dance!! This was followed by a visit to Murchison Bay prison and a service for about 100 sentenced and remand men.

We also presented the main Luzira Upper prison with 3 Bible Commentaries which have just been released and are in my opinion a fantastic commentary. It's the first commentary released and published with commentary by African Bible scholars. We gave one to the sentenced men (BOMA), one for the Condemned section, and one for the Prison staff.

Pics, Pics, & more Pics!

Here are more Pictures from our time with Justice Ogoola at his home in Busia in Eastern Uganda. Enjoy!

Here is a picture of Chris the death row inmate who leads the worship and organizes the men in the condemned section that I wrote about in a previous post. He is the one in glasses third from the right in this January 17th photo (permission received) when our first soap project from Lethbridge brought 2600 bars of soap into the Prison.


Here you are Sophie....This is "little Sophie" !!


In Sophies village we went to meet some of the neighbors including this elderly old man who is a local authority on the history of the people in the village. He is 82 and has spent his entire life on that 2 or so acres he calls home. Sitting out on chairs and visiting is the thing to do in the villages so we spent time visiting this fellow and his wife and family.



Here is the man's wife


The old man then grabbed his cane and said follow me and he took us down the trail to the nearest village source of clean water which is a borehole and pump put in 5 years ago.



women and girls carry water all the time and they are walking all over to bring water to their huts. They carry these big containers of water on their heads! No hands holding it too!!! I didn't believe it when Douglas told me they carry water on their heads till I saw it (and video recorded it) myself.


This dear lady was a lot of fun. I greeted her in LuSamia at the water source. Well!! You'd think I hung the moon. She loved me then and wanted a photo taken with me.


Here the children and I are pumping water together and Douglas is recording on my video camera. Then I would rewind the camera and play the video to show the children their own images on video! They squealed in delight and pointed at each other at the sight of that.



before the borehole well was put in this was the water source. Sickness and disease occurences went way down after the borehole was installed.

Here is Stella, Sierra's friend in Sophie's family. Sierra will email Stella when I get home. Right Sierra?



Sunday Morning at St. Peter's church with the Judge and their lay reader. Justice had me preach to the English service here, and then over to Redeemer church (Bishop Haddington memorial where I preached again) In Africa you just have to be ready in a moments notice to preach without knowing they wanted you to preach. Preaching the Western way with notes and long preparation doesn't fly here. You have to live by the Spirit and be ready to preach and trust that God has something to say through you. I hate notes anyway, so this works well for me. And you better not be boring or Africans will politely listen but that's it! They won't clap or cheer if your boring!



The Choir at St. Peter's Church.


Here is the judge addressing the congregation and making the announcements.


Then he introduced me and it was time for the sermon. and yes Dana, they paid attention and were spellbound because ....well,..... hey you already know it.....you have the best preacher around ...muah ha ha ha ha.


This was my favorite part of the weekend. Heidi Heavy Shield back home gave me this authentic Calgary Flames Jersey she had for me to give as a gift to Justice Ogoola. I presented it to him during the sermon and the faces of the people just lit up. It was the same for the judge. He was like a kid in a candy store! Then I turned it around and showed this....



He was so impressed with this jersey. He played a little bit of hockey when he studied in New York and so he knew how important hockey is to Canadians. He insisted that I thank Heidi so deeply, and by extension, the Aboriginal people back home.





I learned the "Grace" in the LuSamia language and that really made a connection with the congregation. They loved it that the Mzungu pulled it off (albeit very slowly) in their own language.





Here's a funny story. Anglicans like to be all dignified and move around in procession. When the service was ending the lay reader and I processed over to the sacristy door to go in. When we got to the door it was locked and he had no key! We looked about as dignified as George W. Bush did in Russia with President Putin when he tried to go through that locked door just off the stage!!!


He leads his people no matter what venue he is in, church, judiciary, politics, community development, or around the dinner table.




This dear old gent has been in this church since 1951 and confiemns that i was the first visiting guest mzungu to preach there.


Here the judge presents the mother's union of the community with a series of massive pots. There must have been 15 of them in reducing sizes.





Here we are arriving at Redeemer Church (Bishop Haddington Memorial). When we got there the kids mobbed us and wanted to hold my hand as I walked into the church where, by the way, I was told on entry that I was preaching again.





This church has a very significant history. It's very old and has been around since the missionary days of Bishop Haddington in the 1860's. The Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey visited here and preached about 11 or 12 years ago.







They packed us all in, including the children and began the awesome African singing with drums.






I preached and the judge translated.


Collection plate and offering time


At the end they take the offering for today and as a fundraiser auction off all the vegtables, sugar cane and items that were donated. I and another man were appointed as auctioneers.


I bought a broom! (for Lisa... Ha ha haha ha ha ) boy I'm gonna pay for that!!!


Then we were off and walked along a trail from the church to this tree. The Bishop Hannington memorial tree. In 1885 he and 48 LuSamia Christians were martyred (speared) and buried somewhere. Two Samia escaped and came back a year later to exhume the Bishop's body to send home to England. The village people would not let them into the walls of the village with the dead body so they camped outside the walls. To protect the body from lions and hyenas they put it up in this tree until they could make the trip to Kenya's coast and send the body home. Another King claimed the body and wanted to bury the Bishop in Uganda instead of sending him home.

The villagers out of respect for the Bishop and others killed donated a large tract of land in his honor. Today descendants of these families wanted the land back. Justice Ogoola instead nogotiated with them one by one and bought all the land, the original walled fortress site and the area nearby for a memorial on which he wants to reconstruct the archeological record of the fortress, protect the Bishop's tree and build a Bible College that he one days wants to be a University for the education of the Samia People.

On july 26 here at this church and memorial site 2000 people will gather (bishops, politicians, cabinet ministers) and local villagers for the launch of the LuSamia Bible by the judge. They will come from Kenya as well as all over Uganda. The judge is working really hard with all the district governments for this historic occasion where he will also explain the vision of the University, the new church building, Compassion International's location (he gave them land there to build on). He is a visionary dreamer.



left to right; District Chairperson, Justice Ogoola, me, Speaker of the house, and Archdeacon Martin

Here I accompanied the judge to the session of the Busia District council of Uganda's Government as he presented to them the launch event of the Bible and asked for their governmental support and logistical help and involvement. The elected leaders are all going to be at the launch and have to provide for everything from seats to armed security for Government V.I.P.'s. He asked me to say something so I told them that even though the Bible in Samia launch was religious in nature, as elected officials they were part of history in terms of governing towards the preservation of the LuSamia culture.

I explained the Blackfoot and Aboriginal history of language loss and resulting identity loss and applauded them in their enthusiastic support of the launch as they sunk their cultural roots down deep in the LuSamia people who may spread out throughout the world but due to the revival of the language, they would keep their culture. I think by their applause that they liked my remarks and want to meet the Blackfoot people.

We finished that session, raced to Tororo to meet the Anglican Bishop (I had met him in Jerusalem), then the Catholic Bishop's staff, and then race to Bugiri to meet the District politicians and leaders. (in this photo their District Chairperson). We finished all this and then made the 3 hour trip back to Kampala. It was an exhausting weekend but full of very meaningful experiences.

Tuesday after I was scheduled to go with Adreda to her project near Kampala called "Helping Hands" and visit the brand new school project. I'll post mor pics later!

Sunday July 13th I am scheduled to speak at Luzira Prison's Correctional Staff and families church service, followed by an interview on a catholic radio station.....stay tuned (no pun intended)