….but in the late afternoons the sports fields are full of action as they prepare for the upcoming Inter-University Games.
From December 15 – 21, Uganda Christian University will have the privilege of hosting this event, and our students want to make a good showing on their home turf! It is fun to watch the young ladies and men having a great time enjoying some vigorous exercise after hard days of studying.
This past weekend the Faculty of Social Sciences at UCU had a staff retreat to assess their programs, and make plans for improvement. I was privileged to be able to take part on Sunday, joining them for their worship service and then presenting a session on the integration of faith and teaching in the social sciences. It still amazes me that the basic principles we began teaching in our village school in Rakai, and then in our teacher training course at Timothy Centre are applicable at any level of education. The staff members showed keen interest in learning more about how to practically bring biblical teaching to bear in their courses. This retreat was a good starting point for many more discussions and workshops... as we all do some hard thinking about faith-teaching integration. We plan to continue with professional development workshops throughout next year. It seems that many lecturers are aware that the Bible has much to say about human nature, social relationships, public administration, counseling, community development, etc., and that this godly wisdom needs to find its way into their course planning... and into the hearts and minds of the students.
It was a rather strange sight to find a chicken walking to the university library yesterday. It is exam week, so maybe he has some studying to do as well!
On Thursday it was a privilege to meet the newly elected Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, who is also the Chancellor of the university. It was his first visit to UCU in this leadership capacity. As he addressed the students in the community worship hour, they were encouraged to hear his story. A humble man, he began serving as a teacher and also spent several years as a young man in missionary work amongst the Karamojong people, a nomadic tribe in the extreme northeastern part of Uganda related to the famous Masaai tribe. His main message to the students was a simple challenge to focus on Jesus and follow Him uncompromisingly so they can be a blessing to the nation.
It is refreshing to hear university students encouraged to become servant leaders, rather than to pursue ‘education’ selfishly as a means of personal advancement alone. There is much hope for the youth of Uganda and for the country as a whole if this vision is taken to heart!
I think we arrived at UCU at a time when celebration is at its height…as there seem to be so many interesting events happening this semester—centenary celebrations for the theological college and university, student graduation, student guild elections and a cultural extravaganza that took place last weekend. Even though it was pouring rain for much of the day, students representing different cultural groups in Uganda were practicing and preparing for a very colourful event that started late afternoon and went on with drumming, dancing and singing well into the night. Each group had opportunity to showcase some of the music and dance typical of their culture. What a show!
We have been very happy in our house here, but nevertheless one always expects challenges with insects of some sort in Uganda. We obviously had a lot of sugar ant colonies somewhere just outside the house and any of you who have fought with sugar ants knows that is seems like a losing battle. They are so tiny they can squeeze their way into sealed containers and will search for water even inside closed kettles. We were determined to win this one, though, and Karl found a solution online that works like a charm! We simply mixed boric acid with jam and left small blobs of the solution on cards around the house. Within minutes trails of ants appeared out of nowhere and hundreds of them gathered around the jam like pigs at a trough! They ingested it and took it back to their colony and effectively got rid of their unsuspecting friends. WE WON!! Haven’t seen any ants for several days now….so you might want to try this the next time you want to pull your hair out because of ant infestations.
We celebrated our Canadian Thanksgiving with new friends here at Uganda Christian University in October, have been invited to join others for the upcoming American Thanksgiving later this month….and UCU just had a huge thanksgiving service this past week at the historic Namirembe Cathedral in Kampala. This is the 100th year anniversary of Bishop Tucker Theological College, the institution that became Uganda Christian University in 1997, so the thanksgiving service was in celebration of God’s faithfulness for all these years. We are learning much about the work of the Church of Uganda since we have been at UCU and are so thankful that the work of the kingdom of God is thriving in many different church groups….and that there is more and more unity in love and purpose. It is easy to feel rather isolated when one works in smaller rural area (as we have done for many years), so it is wonderful to see the interconnectedness in all that God is doing in Uganda.
As the Mission Week continues here at Uganda Christian University, students are responding to the Word of God as it is being shared by Dr. Benjamin Kwashi.
Today’s message in the community worship gathering focused on Jesus’s invitation John 7 to come and drink of the living water that He offers freely to satisfy our deepest thirst for love and truth in our hearts. You could have heard a pin drop in the large gathering as students related to the message, and several responded to indicating that wanted to commit their lives to Christ and find their satisfaction in Him.
After the community gathering, there was a session in which Dr. Kwashi addressed the staff and challenged us to understand the importance of Christian education in the transformation of Africa. He stressed, “Only Christian teachers who know the gospel are able to transform Africa” and referred specifically to the need to model and teach integrity in the battle against corruption that plagues many countries. This is what the work of the Institute of Faith, Learning and Service will focus on—equipping faculty members to teach from a Christ-centred perspective in all disciplines. God is already at work laying the foundation for what He wants to do!
Some of the faculty members
