Village Life

I don’t know how to start writing up the last week and a half, so much has happened and my words can will never do those experiences the justice they deserve but I will try!

Last week, from Monday to Sunday, me and Emily lived in Kuffu which is a rural village. We stayed in an unfinished guest house in the grounds of Gosham Primary School, where we creatively hung our mozzie nets (thank you Andrea and Tim!) and rested in the evenings. During the days, there were two projects we were involved in.

The first of the projects was the Primary School. I visited various classes across the school reading the children bible stories, teaching them new songs and answering questions about the UK - both teachers and children are fascinated by the concept of snow! It was helpful to build up a picture of what education in another country looks like since it fits well with my degree (Childhood Studies) and possible future plans. I have also been questioning what makes a good teacher as I have been in many different classes this summer, both in Wales and in Uganda. From what I've seen, the happiest children who are eager to learn are motivated and encouraged by enthusiastic and loving teachers. However, those who are in classes where the cane is used, just learn from a place of fear; even though the teacher may be lovely, they can believe that beating children when they are wrong is the best option… Perhaps this is because they have not been taught alternative methods of motivating and disciplining children. After an uncomfortable lesson where the cane was used, I am definitely opposed to hurting children into learning and I left some stickers behind with the teacher to encourage him to reward children when they are doing well. I believe that a good teacher will have a genuine care for the well-being of the children and a deep passion for their learning being successful and enjoyable.

A beautiful photo of Isaac captured by Emily - It sums up Uganda well!

The second project we were involved in was a Creative Learning Centre (CLC) for girls who have dropped out of education (mainly due to pregnancy or cost). There, we spent time getting to know the girls, who mostly spoke Luganda - consequently we did a lot of language learning in the week! We joined in with their bag making, taught them new crafts and painted their nails. Also, we did a life skills lesson on how precious and valuable we are in God’s sight. We looked at Psalm 139 where it talks about how God knows us completely, he loves us dearly no matter what other people say about us or what we have done. God loves us simply because we are his beautiful children and although we regularly mess up, God is prepared to forgive us when we ask every time.

“I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made”
– Psalm 139:14

The crafts that these girls have learnt at CLC empower them to earn money so that they can make a living or gather enough money to return to education. We will be taking some bags, bracelets and other carefully made goodies back to the UK to sell and send money back to these wonderful girls.

Me and Emily with Edith (one of the teachers at CLC) and her daughter Precious

On Saturday, what we thought would be a quiet day in the village soon turned into a crazy day of blessings. In the morning as I was reading my bible, I saw some little black hands holding onto the wall outside our guest house and a little face appeared shouting coyly “Good morning!” As he jumped down another pair of hand appeared on the wall and I ran over to meet them at the wall and surprise them! We had a little chat and they went on their way to collect water. The children here are so full of joy and their little faces are bursting with unique character. A few moments later, a man who cooks at the school appeared, thrilled with the gifts we delivered from Smile Charity Uganda and gave us a massive sugar cane which we later learnt to cut and chew. We then went on a lovely morning walk and played with the local kids at school. After lunch at our house, a wonderful teacher called Tendo arrived telling us that it was time to go (we knew she wanted to take us on a tour of a village so got up to go). When we saw the Boda at the gate, we knew this wasn’t a small trip… After a couple of hours of travelling via Boda and Taxi, we arrived at a town called Amata, which at first sight looked like any other. We soon learned that this was where Tendo’s family lived so we waved and smiled and exchanged names with many lovely people. We went on a walk to see the foundations of a new secondary school being built there by her brother who has seen the need for a school and is making this vision a reality. Seeing their expectancy and complete dependence on God was truly incredible. On our way back we were caught in African rain and were drenched. Upon arrival at Tendo’s brother’s house, his family washed our shoes and cooked for us one of the most delicious meals I have ever had, whilst they had some posho and beans. I felt truly confusingly humbled by their hospitality. How can people who have so little be so eager to give and welcome strangers into their home with no prior warning? On top of this, they searched their sofa for a loose thread to carefully sew Emily’s old broken flip flop back together. We couldn’t thank them enough for their generosity beyond words and felt completely humbled. These people are inspirational and I am learning a lot from the kind-hearted nature of Ugandan culture.

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” – Acts 20:35

Tendo with her brother and niece

Then on Sunday, we experienced a real African village church which is just quite indescribable really! Loud, beautiful, African voices and the rhythmic beating of drums filled the church (and the whole school grounds). We were introduced at the front, speaking the little Luganda we knew and then sung the song we learnt in a few days earlier in Luganda too. It was wonderful to see the kids Sunday Club too, where they sang songs and I told them the story of Joseph! We spent a while chatting with our new found friends as Faith (one of the girls from school) delightedly played with my hair. Before too long, Innocent arrived to drive us back to Nansana and we said our good byes.

It was certainly one of the most challenging weeks of my life, yet God taught me so much though it. I am acknowledging more and more that dependence on God alone is the only way we can stand. At the end of the day, once everything is stripped away, it is just us and God. Yet with the clutter of this world, materialistic comforts can blind us to that reality, which is that our time on earth is so short in comparison to eternity. And even though we all deserve eternal death for turning away from the God who lovingly made us, He chose to send His Son to save us from this punishment – He took our place on the cross. Jesus’ death paid the debt that we owed meaning that forgiveness is ours if only we ask, and by RISING from the dead, Jesus won the victory offering us eternal life with our God who loves us so dearly. It all comes down to this. And that is why some of the children and women we have met are filled with joy – they know their suffering is temporary and that they will one day see their heavenly Father face-to-face, and that in this world there is nothing that satisfies more than depending on the one who created you.