Esther and John

 

When I began working at Kibaale Children’s Centre in 1993, I met Esther and John, two small children who lived on site with about 30 other orphans.  Esther was about 2 years old and her brother,John, was about 4.  They had lived at the centre since their mother died when Esther was 5 months old.  They had no other traceable relatives at the time.  John was severely malnourished when he came to live at the centre—showing typical symptoms of kwashirorkor.  Good care and feeding saved his life, but he was very lethargic and it was heartbreaking to watch him often sitting alone staring off into the distance while the other children played.  Both Esther and John completed preschool in our nursery school at the centre and began primary school with us. Learning was a real struggle for John, probably due in large measure to his poor start in life, but he pressed on.  Eventually, their elderly grandmother was traced through the child probation office and they left part way through their primary schooling to live with their grandmother about 30 km away.  When John completed primary school, he came back to our area with Esther and they lived with an older brother so he could attend our secondary school and Esther could finish her primary schooling.  With much determination, John completed his secondary education (being sponsored through our child sponsorship office).

This is John today.  He is a soft-spoken young man who is working hard to make a living for himself.  Karl has hired him as part of the landscaping crew at the Timothy Centre and it is wonderful to see him active, happy and productive. 

And Esther…

…is a lovely young lady who is learning tailoring in the vocational school in Kibaale.  She is always happy to chat and also has a soft and gentle demeanor.  We thank God for the opportunity to see Him at work in the lives of these children who seemed so hopeless many years ago. 

Servant Leaders

When we were at Kibaale Community Centre today with the team of men from Broadway Church, we introduced the men to several of our staff members who were once students in the Kibaale Community Schools.  We were reminded of the way God has used the schools over the past 17 years to help develop young people with a heart for God and for serving the community in which they have grown up. Meet some of these staff members:

Job (working in community development clean water projects and managing the farm’s fish pond)

Mugabi (working in the child sponsorship office)

Moses (working in child sponsorship office)

Elkanah (farm manager)

Dominic (working as assistant to site manager)

Godfrey (Primary 5 teacher)

Emmanuel (Primary Kiswahili teacher)

Jessca (Primary 1 teacher)

Samuel (Primary 6 teacher)

Margaret (Primary 1 teacher)

Florence (Kindergarten teacher assistant)

Mariam (Primary 3 teacher)

It is encouraging to see many of our students choosing to stay in Kibaale when they could find work in the city and use their training in more lucrative jobs.  Many have expressed that they feel a strong sense of commitment to serve in Kibaale because they are grateful to God for the help they received when they were needy students.  They are demonstrating the servant leadership heart we aim to nurture in our students. 

Inspirations

What a  wonderful surprise on Friday to find two amazing old friends staying at the same guest house in Kampala where we planned to overnight.  Pastor Mutebi and his wife, Lovincer, are true saints of God who reflect the joy and strength of God in unusual measure.

Pastor Mutebi is the superintendent of the Full Gospel Churches of Uganda, and his character has been forged in the fires of persecution and trials.  As a young pastor in the 1970s he was imprisoned with several members of his congregation after Amin’s soldiers shot up his church.  His trust in God during this time gave him strength to lead many other prisoners to the Lord, and his faith sustained him as he endured the cruelties of prison.  Lovincer has been a model to many as well, and has a deep faith and love that has blessed many.  They have known many heartaches in their family, but continue to shine with a calm, joyful and humble witness to God’s faithfulness through everything they have faced.

What an encouragement to meet them unexpectedly.  It has been several years since our last time together and it was a breath of fresh air to have time together.  God sends inspiration and  encouragement in ‘chance meetings’ like this often and we are grateful.

Broadway Team

We are pleased to have a volunteer team of six people from Broadway Church (our home church in Vancouver, Canada) who are doing a variety of jobs to help get the school buildings and furniture ready for opening next year.

    Not only have they been busy constructing and assembling things, they were able to encourage our Ugandan construction and landscaping staff, sharing personal experiences in their journey with God.  Every Wednesday a group of our workers meets during their lunch break to learn more about God’s Word and pray for each other. 



The leaders of the team are David and Ruth and we thank them for their help in keeping the men organised and well fed!
Here is a glimpse of the school buildings as they are taking shape…

Dormitories

 Dining hall

Administration block

These will be beautiful facilities for the girls who attend Timothy Girls’ College.  We thank God for all He has provided.

Gafayo Memorial Orphanage School

On Saturday we went on an adventure following a long and scenic road…

…and met a fascinating man named Gafayo. Three years ago he donated 4 acres of land to his community to start a Christian primary school for orphans in his home village of Endiizi in Isingiro District.  The school is located over 2 hours from the Timothy Centre.

  The land he donated had a simple wooden building on it that had previously been used as a secondary school.

Land is highly prized here as part of a family’s inheritance, so it was an amazing gift to this community to receive this land which normally would have been left to his sons after his death.  The school committee members who met with us quoted a Ugandan proverb that says “A man is thanked after he dies,” but told us that in this case they wanted to express their appreciation to him by honoring him while he was still living—hence the name “Gafayo Memorial Orphanage School”.

The reason we visited this school was to help conduct a seminar for teachers and parents.  We were invited by the head teacher, Bernard, who is a former teacher from Kibaale Community Primary School.

After receiving basic training in Christian schooling and biblical integration, he returned to his home area and began heading this orphanage school, applying the ideas he learned in Kibaale.  He is working to mobilize other small Christian schools in the district to come together for training and encouragement.  There were six other schools represented on Saturday in the seminar, and they were all keen to learn how to teach from a Christian perspective, inspire hope, and instill the values of integrity and love for God in this new generation of students.

The team that I traveled with included David and Ruth Frith (visiting from our church in Vancouver, Canada) and two teachers from Kibaale, Allen (our primary head teacher) and Kenneth (our secondary math/physics teacher).  It is great to see our Kibaale teachers willing and able to share their passion for Christian schooling with other schools.

 

 

This quote from Martin Luther was displayed on the school office door, reflecting their passion for the Word of God.

Passing the Torch

Over the years in Kibaale, we have been working towards passing on the leadership responsibilities of the schools to the Ugandan teachers and administrators.  A big step in this direction was taken about a year ago when we formed the Education Committee, comprised of all the administrators in each of the four schools.  Arleen chaired this committee and helped them to take on the decision making and policy development role that she had filled previously as the Director of Education in Kibaale.

Last week, Arleen ‘passed the torch’ to the committee as she handed the chair to Kizito Stephen (who had been serving as vice chairman). 

Stephen has taught in Kibaale for many years and has shown himself to be a creative and capable teacher and administrator.  Please pray for him and the other members of the Education Committee who will lead the schools forward.  They are keen to see they schools continue to fulfill our mission statement: “To develop the whole child through Christ-centred education for a life of creative, passionate service to God and to the needy”.  Members of the committee include:

Peter (Director of KCC)

                  

Eva (Head of Nursery)                             Ronald (Director of Studies,

                                                              Primary School)

                            Allen (Head of Primary School)

                            Susan (Deputy Head of Primary)

                           Sarah (Deputy Head of Secondary)

                          Gorreth (Head of Vocational School)

Friends

The support of faithful friends from home is vital in the work here in Uganda. This past week we have been encouraged by a visit from our good friend, Ken Drisner, who is the director of the PAOS Uganda projects.

The week was full of meetings, planning, and clarifying the way ahead for all the programs here, as well as good old-fashioned visiting :)

Ken was also able to meet Lesster, who is helping us with the apiary project (and who will be starting the honey harvest here at the Timothy Centre very shortly).

We also put Ken to work one night helping to fight another bush fire that was burning out of control in the (dry) wetland on our property threatening our apiary. 

Also, our good friends David and Ruth Frith from our home church in Vancouver, Broadway Church, arrived on Sunday.  They are preparing for the arrival of a volunteer men’s work team that will be coming next week from Broadway to help with various handyman jobs that need to be done before the start of the school year (Feb.)