West Heights UMC Watoto House #2 is complete!
Please excuse the rather straight-forward entry for today – it’s been a busy day, the day is rapidly coming to an end and we need to be up at 4am tomorrow morning…
We awoke this morning to a cloudy but mild day, ready to finish the work on our teacher’s house. Yesterday, the Ugandan workers had completed placing the “beams” across the top of the outside window and door openings. The beams were really wooden boxes enclosing rebar that was filled with mortar to form a solid mass to support the remaining rows of bricks. The mortar cured overnight and we were ready to finish the brick work.
We laid brick until 10:45am and then proceeded to the other side of Bbira village to dedicate the East Heights children’s home that was completed yesterday. The dedication was very moving; consisting of an opening prayer by Robert (the construction supervisor), a song by the workers, followed by two songs from our team (with drums and other musical instruments purchased as souvenirs), dedication prayers by Watoto and Brenda Heard (East Heights UMC), comments to the workers (which Brenda did in Lugandan – a first for Watoto!), and a closing prayer by the village manager. The workers then lined up and everyone shook hands and gave hugs. That is always a special time. After many photographs, we proceeded back to the West Heights teacher’s home for its dedication.
The format was the same with our songs led by Andi Schomaker with a dedication prayer and worker comments given by me. We thanked all of the workers (our new brothers) and concluded with many pictures. The workers especially enjoyed getting Polaroid pictures of themselves with one of our team members. Even the security guard got in the act. You could feel God’s presence throughout.
We proceeded back to KPC to get our valuables to prepare for safari. On the way, we stopped to purchase a few hand brooms as souvenirs. Kids crowded/pushed around the bus to receive candy. We had quite a scare when the bus driver pulled away to leave not knowing how close the kids were to the bus. It turns out that one of the mothers complained to the police that the bus ran over her child’s foot. We stopped just up the road and spent 30 minutes or so while the bus driver and our Watoto hosts worked out the details with the police. The child will be fine and we will never know if the bus really did cause the injury. To say the least, some money exchanged hands.
At KPC, we had a debriefing and saw a newly formed Watoto Children’s Choir being instructed. We had a chance to meet them and we sang them a song in Lugandan, which they found amusing. I also met Douglas Sagali again (sponsored by Family & Faith Sunday school class) and was able to capture a video of him thanking them for the gift they sent. We went back to the hotel to prepare for an appreciation dinner given by Watoto, but once again there were water problems in the hotel: some with no water, some with only hot water, others with only cold water. At 7pm, we began dinner at Fang Fang Restaurant, a wonderful Chinese restaurant. We were greeted by Pastor Franco and his wife Faith. He is the pastor for KPC South and has been with KPC since the beginning. It was a very enjoyable dinner and celebration of our mission. Watoto is a real class act!
Now, it’s off to bed to arise at 4:00am to begin our trip to safari. Our time here is nearing an end. We look forward to coming home and being with all of you, but, like last time, a part of us will forever remain in Uganda. The work that is being done here is truly wonderful and we are blessed to be a part of it. The next entry will be from western Uganda in the African Veldt. Until then...
Written by: Dave Glover
