responsible irresponsibility: July update

Okay, it’s been way too long since the last update, and I’m sure I’ll not be able to give accounts of all that’s happened since March (I think that was my last post), but some reporting is in order. First the excuse: most of the time I haven’t felt like posting. Between the schedule we keep, and the things that happen here, I haven’t wanted to post, though it may have been therapeutic… Here’s some things that have gone on:

Homes of Hope: I have nearly completely removed myself from the program, and, though not because of that, it is not going well. There is not enough committed staff, so keeping the program going locally has been fitful. There is still the insistence on using foam blocks, but it’s rather difficult to manufacture them when the molds were stolen, presumably to be sold as scrap. (They were manufactured and shipped here at great expense, and each is made of machined cast aluminum with steel hardware, and weigh around 400 lbs.) There is an ongoing effort to duplicate them locally and produce new blocks, but there are still pre-existing technological challenges, as well as some new ones which have prevented that from happening. The team which was scheduled to come next month to build the next house has cancelled, citing security concerns…

I have spent much of my time doing a bathroom remodel, effectively building a new one actually. I have done most of the work myself, and it has been fun to take on some new ways of doing things; learning and occasionally teaching. Progress has been painstakingly and frustratingly slow, but I think the end is near, maybe even by the end of next week?

Beth continues to be involved personally in many of the lives of other staff members, some of the students, and even with some of the visitors who pass through. It’s really a gifting, and I know a big part (probably the most important) of why we’re here. We’ve become aware that most of the staff have very little financial support and struggle to get by. We’re thankful that they have places to stay and food to eat, but they all struggle to pay staff fees (most can’t), school fees for their children, or for their basic needs. Most teams and visitors, especially those from ‘the west’, come to Uganda and see poverty and needs in the surrounding communities, and want to ‘do something’ to ‘help’. They don’t recognize the people who are serving them at the place they are staying have many of those same needs. Beth has nearly completed interviewing our staff, and is putting together a binder where visitors can go and see what some of the needs are, and help out, if they feel led to do so. No pressure, just awareness.

In the middle of June the girl’s VTS graduated, then two weeks later the SBS (School of Biblical Studies) graduated. Meanwhile the DTS (30 people) was away on outreach, and the base was down to a skeleton staff and their families, and was ghostly quiet, and nature was taking over. But within the last week a team of three families arrived for their outreach, the DTS returned, and a new family of five from Korea has joined the staff. The place is bustling again, maybe nature can be held at bay.

With the departure of the girl’s VTS (we miss those students, but get updates and occasional visits), we’ve been focusing some on the upcoming boy’s VTS. So far it’s weekly meetings as well as some personal time spent, but I’m beginning to feel it’s a reality. We’re shooting for beginning in September, with an initial group of no more than ten students. After my experiences in building and maintenance, the program will be ‘general construction’. There is growing interest, and we’ll have to turn away many who want to be students. The same can’t be said for staff, so far it’s me.

Rainy season has pretty much come to an end. For me it was very interesting to see the cycles of insects during over different periods. There were days of different flying ants (termites), various crawling bugs, flying bugs, a week of millipedes, then later centipedes. And the soldier ants, also known as ‘no pants ants’. You’d wake up one morning and there would be a new column of thousands stretched in lines over several yards. The columns would last a few days, literally carving out paths through the mud and grass, then abruptly disappear. Then a new column(s) would appear somewhere else. The reason for the name ‘no pants ants’ is that if you stepped or paused on or near a column you would have dozens of them from head to toe in and out of your clothes biting fiercely. People will strip off their clothes to remove the ants. Beth had the experience one early morning in the kitchen as she was going to help prepare breakfast, and I think everyone can report being bitten on several occasions. There were a few times where I found myself rescuing some small children as they stood screaming amongst a swarm.

In May we went to visit a YWAM base near Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with a boy’s carpentry vocational school, and a successfully operating clinic. We took the opportunity to travel by ferry to the island of Zanzibar for a few days rest and leisure. It’s a beautiful place, and we enjoyed nice accommodations and good food, and hope to return someday. We also had the opportunity to treat one of our staff to his first plane ride, and a much needed break from his duties here.

Kailey was able to visit us for the first two weeks of June, and we all enjoyed her time here. Because of the limited staff and our obligations, we weren’t able to get away as much as we would have liked, but being together is what was important, and we were able to visit Musana and go to town a few times. From here she went to Paris for a few days to be with her friend, Lauren, then home.

Beth will also be going home next month. She’ll be spending time with family and friends, and someone named Lucy. (Okay she’s family, too, but it’s different.) I’ll (mostly, hopefully) be preparing for the upcoming VTS, and doing other things, but will be there in spirit, and via Skype.

Much more has happened, and continues to happen. Please remember us in your prayers.