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A Letter from Larry Bradley.....
November 18, 2009
Is my Africa trip over already?
Man, where do I start?
It was a long trip. Forty-four and a half hours total one way including driving, layovers, flight time, a fuel stop in Senegal, the subway in Chicago, and Amtrak.
David Headley and I got to the Entebbe, Uganda airport after dark and waited for Pastor Ben to arrive in a couple hours on a later flight. The rest of the team arrived about fifteen minutes before Ben. Lee, Jerry, Margaret, Donna, Susan, David and I then loaded into a couple of vans and headed for Kampala where we stayed the first night.
I was glad it was after dark as we drove to Kampala. Looking out the window, it was like looking at a continuous ‘bad part of town.’ At least in the dark, the scope of the living conditions were softened somewhat.
But, Ben put us up in a real nice bed and breakfast the first night called the Eureka Place.
In the morning we met up with Ben again and we headed for Mbarara where the Children’s Home is. It was about a four-hour drive. It was more than a little over-whelming to see the living conditions of the average Ugandan. But after the first couple hours, a Still Small Voice said to me, "It’s ok. This is how they live."
I was able to change my focus after that.
Herbert, Ben’s nephew who drove us around the whole trip, later said, "Why do all Americans think everybody lives like Americans?"
I guess we equate riches and America’s comforts with God’s favor.
We got to the Children’s Home and unloaded our supplies. The children sang for us and we got a tour of the facilities. What I saw there was a group of happy, active children; well fed, healthy and attending school in Jesus’ name. Children who had been rescued from a life of hopelessness and poverty.
Possible project: Kitchen upgrades. The room for the kitchen was never completed all the way. They do their cooking in what country folks would call a "summer kitchen," which is just a shed out back with a campfire in it. Since it’s right on the Equator in Africa, and it only gets 80 degrees in the winter, it’s do-able, but…(maybe a women’s group could take this on.)
Kishanje is very much unspoiled by progress. It was like stepping back in time a couple centuries or more. Women with baskets balanced on their heads, small children seven or eight years old with dirty bare feet leading herds of goats to find grazing land, tiny mud houses with thatch roofs dotted everywhere on the mountain, with patchwork gardens creating a quilt like appearance over the landscape.
Ben has built a guesthouse on the side of the mountain overlooking the valley’s incredible view. There I discovered peanut sauce. It’s a warm sauce that can be poured over food like gravy.
After supper, a young man named Patrick and I played guitars and sang worship songs out in the back yard till pretty late. He had a pretty nice guitar, and my friend Harold from Northwoods Church had given me a classical guitar to take with me and donate to the ministry. Patrick knew all the contemporary worship songs. He said he was a student and worship leader at the Christian College in Kabala. Another young man who is a Bible student named Charles showed up. He is a guitar player too. After I went to bed several hours later, I could hear them playing and singing praise to God. I don’t know when they stopped, as I fell asleep listening to them.
Sunday morning, a few of us were standing outside admiring the view. The sun had just come up, and we were up pretty high on the mountain, about 7000 feet. The morning air was pleasantly cool and fresh.
We could see Lake Bunyanyi off in the distance. There were roosters crowing, and a mist was hanging over the valley. The whole experience was just surreal. Drums could be heard coming from various parts of the valley. Donna said they were coming from the different churches. It was a call to worship; similar to the way we would use church bells.
After a breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, tea and bananas, we walked up the dirt road about an eighth mile or so leading to the secondary school, where they had converted one of the classrooms into a chapel. There we found some lively enthusiastic singing had already begun. Although no instruments were used, one of the students was accompanying the songs on a drum. Some of the songs were in English, some of them were in Lukiga, and some of them were a combination of the two.
Dancing and hand clapping abounded. I was directed to a seat in the visitor’s section with the rest of the team. Lisa and I support two girls who are sisters at the secondary school, and I looked around for them. After a few minutes I saw Brendah, one of my girls, come in the door. Then she walked to the front and joined in the ‘front-line’ worship team. I later learned that she is a student leader at the school.
After quite a bit of lively singing, we were asked to introduce ourselves. When it was my turn to stand, I was pretty choked up by the whole experience, and I asked whether Brendah and Angella were there. Angella had been sitting behind one of the teachers so I couldn’t see her. They both stood up then.
Lee from the team preached the message that morning. Herbert interpreted.
He preached from James chapter one.
After the message, the pastor had a time of ‘presentation’ where anyone could get up and sing a song or speak. Members of the team were prodding me from behind to do something, and Harold’s guitar was leaning against the wall. I’d been unsuccessfully choking back tears all morning and wasn’t sure I could get through anything. Plus my mind was in a fog and no songs were coming to mind. I was trying to make eye contact with Patrick to involve him in some kind of duet, but he wouldn’t look over at me. I was trying to remember the words to my current favorite song ‘Hosanna’ by Hillsong. I only learned this song about a month ago, and I thought it would be something new to them. But the words were completely jumbled in my head. (I’m sure that those of you that know me are not surprised) But this was way worse than normal. The next group that got up to sing had my two sponsored girls in it. Then I heard the opening lines:
"I see the king of glory, coming on the clouds with fire,
The whole earth shakes, the whole earth shakes."
The tears that I’d been choking back unsuccessfully broke loose.
They were singing ‘Hosanna!’ That’s why God jumbled the words in my head!
The part of that song that we musical types call ‘the bridge’ has one of the best prayers that anyone can pray.
Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen.
Show me how to love like You have loved me.
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your kingdom’s cause;
As I walk from earth into eternity.
After church, I got to hang out with my girls most of the afternoon. They wanted me to stay till after Christmas, or to go home with me. Before the day was over I wanted to either stay there or take them home with me, as well. (I don’t think I could have smuggled them into my carry-on luggage, though.)
The thirty dollars a month is a pretty small sacrifice for Lisa and I. But it literally makes a life-changing difference to these kids. Both their parents are dead. They were doomed to a life of extreme poverty with no hope of anything better. With Ben’s ministry, (God’s ministry) these beloved of God sisters in Christ have a home to live in, clothes to wear, food to eat, a school to attend, and they’re learning the Love of our Almighty Savior. I feel humbled to be allowed such a small part of the overall plan.
Things I’ll remember about Uganda:
The vast beauty of the land. Orchards of banana trees everywhere.
Bicycles everywhere. Some loaded down with bananas or sugar cane to the point that you could barely see the rider.
Small houses everywhere with corn growing in the front yards. Chickens and goats running loose. There were cattle even in the cities.
The grass huts we saw the day that we visited Ben’s farm. (Yup, some of the people still live in grass huts in Uganda.)
The hospitality of the people we met. The huge smiles. The fact that nobody seemed to be in a hurry about anything. (This was unnerving at first for us clock-driven Americans.)
Rough roads for hours at a trip. Herbert driving along singing songs like, "What a friend we have in Jesus" or "Rock of Ages," sometimes in English and sometimes in Lukiga, with me harmonizing in the back seat.
Two extremely grateful African sisters in the Lord who called me "Dad." The first time I heard Brendah say it I thought it was an accent thing, and that I didn’t understand what she said. When I realized what she said I got goose bumps.
Things God taught me:
Focus on what God is doing. If you focus on the massive amount of need it would be easy to be overwhelmed. Then you’ll say, "what can I do, I’m only one person."
Do what you can. What seems little and insignificant to us is life changing for one of these orphans.
James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
Go to Amagara.org and click on ‘sponsor a child,’ change a life.
Don’t focus on the 100 kids on the waiting list, or the 100 kids waiting to get on the waiting list, just select one that you think God wants you to minister to.
Small World Connections Ministry, the ministry that I’m involved with which was started by my friend Brent Ressler, is planning another trip to Uganda in May. There’s a medical clinic, a lot of construction to do, there’s some agricultural work to do, loads of hanging out and hugging that needs to be done. Let’s overwhelm them with kindness and generosity next time. Let me know if you’re interested.
Thank you to those who prayed for my trip, and to those who gave financially. I’m completely blown away at the generosity of everyone, and forever in your debt.
In Christ,
Larry Bradley
Peanut sauce:
Take ground peanuts or smooth peanut butter: mix in some water and stir (or blend) till it’s a gravy-like consistency.
(They use fresh ground peanuts)
Add some chopped onions and tomato.
Pre-boil some greens and mix in. (Optional)
Bring to a boil, and then simmer a few minutes.
Pour it over rice, potatoes or pasta; or dip flat bread into it.
A Letter from Larry