KUMI JULY 2017I visited Kumi in July with Mission Direct as part of a team of five. Kumi town is now overshadowed by a

large Mosque right in the centre of the town the creeping effect of Islaam was also noticed in the readingbooks at the school. We visited Bazaar school on our first day in the evening to find the children had stayedbehind to give us a warm welcome, the teachers had put on their Sunday best. The school is within walkingdistance from our hotel and we frequently walked back through the town after a mornings work. Thebuilding work which commenced the next day was building the walls to floor level and laying the floor fortwo classrooms. The idea being to provide two classrooms enabling one of the classes P4 which has 206pupils to be split into two. Whilst here we also took some reading lessons with the younger children in P1/2which were split up into smaller groups. In my group there was one little girl who was very bright uponasking about her I was told she started off at a private school but her parents couldn't afford the fees and soshe had to transfer to this state school. Whilst we were there P1/2 were taking their mid term exams howeverout of about 150 children only about 40 were taking the exam as the other children's parents could not affordthe exam fee (40p) this means they will not move up into P3 until their parents can afford this fee hence whywhen you look at P6/7 children are of varying age.

We took the opportunity to sit in a number of classes and even when there was as many as 200 in the classbehaviour was not a problem and whenever a child answered a question the teacher thanked them foranswering even if it was a ‘’ Thank You for being wrong’’. In nearly all subjects God came into thediscussion with the exception of Maths. On our first afternoon we visited Ngora school for deaf childrenwhere the main activities were doing crafts, watching cartoons and the expected washing of hair. There hasbeen an increase in Malaria cases amongst the children and a UK church has financed the purchase ofMosquito nets which were delivered during our stay and it is a proven fact that the use of these will reducethe number of cases.

TEACHING UNDERTHE TREES

WARM WELCOME

As last year we visited Kumi prison where we found anew Governor who is a keen Christian this could be seenby his relationship with the inmates, we each gave a fiveminute talk on our favourite verse and the prisoners sunga number of songs accompanied by the resident stringquartet. The Anglican Chaplin was present as was thePAG pastoral worker. We gave some Bibles out and at theend of the service four inmates came forward to give theirlives to Christ. Our visit lasted just over two hoursconsiderably longer than last year whilst there a numberof visitors came in and the governor requested them to not

talk so loud at one point. Whilst in Kumi we took the opportunity to visit Akubui primary school the site ofour building programme last year and also the site of the new Latrines which were built over the winter.Even though it was a flying visit time was taken to interact with the children. We also visited COHAD oneafternoon to do crafts with the children and also view what progress had been made since last year.

MOSQUITONETS BEINGLABELLEDBEFORE USE

The major change is in the utilisation of the land around COHAD which totals about 12 acres, about 40% ofthis land is now in use growing everything from Onions, vegetables, tomatoes, various peas and crops localto Uganda. As the area is now partially protected by fencing the rummaging by cows has been restrictedthough Pastor Ben told us that he didn’t take Christmas off so he could guard the crops and prevent cowsentering from the front. One evening two midwifes visited us to talk about the work of the Medical Centrewhich proved interesting. During our discussions it came to light that no painkillers are used during childbirth which surprised a local teenager who had joined us, immediately declaring she wasn’t having anychildren when she gets married!!!!! It also came to light that if a boy gets a girl pregnant her parents caninsist he is imprisoned for his actions. The following day we visited the Centre which proved informativethere are three/four wards and there were several patients in the wards.There are times of the day that there are up to hundred people waiting to seethe Medical Staff. The equipment was fairly basic but the centre provides avalued service to the community

On the Sunday we visited Nyero PAG church arriving just after the first service which was conducted inEnglish. We attended the second service. As is usual there was a considerable amount of singing and theyheld a Sunday School in an adjoining building. The sermon was on the subject ‘Nothing Takes God bySurprise’ however it was during the singing that a most humbling act occurred. The collection had beentaken and a lady came shuffling in with her flip flops on her hands and crawling on her knees, her legs werecompletely disabled. She reached out with a coin in her hand for the collection which from her appearanceand disability must have been a large portion of her worldly possessions, she arrived on a tricycle which wasdriven by pedals attached to the handlebars, it took her some ten minutes to get on and off the bike. Itimmediately reminded me of the story Jesus told of the Widows Mite. Some people bring groceries whichare auctioned off after the service though we were told that sometimes a chicken or goat are given. We hadfellowship with some members of the church over lunch which they had prepared for us under the trees,nearby was a Mango tree which the local lads were trying to knock the fruit off so they could sell them atthe side of the road.The following afternoon we visited a Village home where the Atutur PAG Church wanted to replace the roofof the family home of Deena who was in her late twenties/early thirties and had five children her husband

WARD ATMEDICALCENTRE

CORRIDOR ATMEDICALCENTRE

DRIPUSINGWINDOWHINGESAS ASTAND

AKUBUI LAST YEARS PROJECTS

we were told was regularly absent. As the house was already built we had the experience of lifting thestructure onto the house which proved easier than I thought and this would be thatched at a later date. Wespent some time playing with the children and we also attracted some of the children from adjacent homes.To give an idea of the conditions of the site when we cleared some old roofing materials away a large ratscurried out from the straw. The children entertained us to some dancing. To get to this homestead anumber of trees had to be severely pruned to get our vehicle through and the road was somewhat bumpy.

We paid a visit to the Mothers Union Hostel at St Stephens which MD have put a lot of effort into over thelast twelve months and the programme is just beginning to bear fruit. The idea being to provideaccommodation for teenagers and at the same time to teach them skills which can give them a foothold fromwhich they can earn a living very similar to programmes in Egypt. At the time of our visit the main focus ison making clothes for which they had a number of sewing machines but it is hoped to extend into cateringand hairdressing. Presently there are nine girls and one boy in the programme but it is hoped in the comingmonths to increase this number. Whilst here we visited St Stephens church which is a large Anglican churchin the process of being constructed however the noticeable difference to the Mosque is that it is right on theoutskirts of the town and cannot be seen whereas the mosque is highly visible.

MOTHERS UNIONDRESSMAKING

ST STEPHENS CHURCH

LITERALLYPUTTING AROOF OVERTHEIR HEADS

KIDS ENTERTAININGUS

On our journey back to Entebbe as part of our two day trip in Murchison National Park we stayed at BoomuWomens Group Camp which is run by a group of local women. This camp consists of a number oftraditional houses similar to the one we had put the roof on, cooking is done in the open on large pots and itis guarded at night by a guy with a bow and several arrows. However when he demonstrated his archeryskills to me the string snapped. As it was raining heavily when we arrived this was an experience one couldsay was on the wild side but one not to be missed. Whilst on our river cruise the boat we were coming backto the jetty had an engine malfunction and we had to pull into the river bank and be rescued by the coachthis caused great amusement to the locals who were fishing from the shore. We did have an evening offellowship with PAG Kumi at which four people gave a word on an aspect of their Christian life and theevening was concluded by looking at Psalm 73.Apart from building at Bazaar school we spent time with the children at break time entertaining them in

numerous ways and we also got to know the teachers including the Headmistress Christine. Some of theteachers live in houses close to the school but some we were told sleep in one of the classrooms they werealways immaculately dressed when we met them. The teachers do not have a staff room but meet under oneof the trees to discuss school issues. On our arrival and departure we were greeted by the children singingand dancing to us in fact when we left some of the teachers joined in, apart from a small drum the only otherinstrument was a Yellow container that they usually fetch the water in but it proved an adequateaccompaniment. On our last day at Kumi I went for a walk round the town and it was amazing how manypeople I met who knew me. There were children from Township school who I met last year, prisoners onan outside working party who all waved including the guards. Children from Bazaar school who wanted tostop and chat the hotel guard who had a puncture to his bike tyre and was getting it repaired. Once again theoverriding memory is the children you pass whilst in the bus eagerly waving as you pass. One interestingfact no Prefects come from P7 as they consider their priority is to study so prefects come from P6

TEACHERS ON OUR ARRIVAL

SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE

ERIC ENJOYING HIMSELF ANDSAYING GOODBYE

WELCOME AT

STARTING POINTFINISHING POINT

P2 IN CLASS

BRICKLAYINGAT ITS BESTWITH PLENTYOF ADMIRERS

SCATTERINGTHE KIDS NEWLATRINES INBACKGROUND

LESSONS UNDER THE TREE FUN WITH BUBBLES

NO NAME CAFE WE ATE TWO MEALS

HERE

CROPS AT COHAD

EAGER PUPILS OF P6

THE NOTICE ON THEWALL SAYS IT ALL

PLEASE PRAY FOR CONTINUATION OFSCHOOL BUILDING THAT FINANCESWILL BE AVAILABLE TO COMPLETE

PRAY FOR PRISONERS WHO MADE A CONFESSION OF FAITHPRAY FOR THE CONTINUING WORK IN THIS AREAWE GIVE THANKS FOR SAFETY AND THE ENABLING OF THIS WORK TO CONTINUE