Katakwi Visit - January 2011

Katakwi Report – January 2011

Gospel Sharing

In both villages, Alelesi and Appeleun, I shared on Exodus 14 and 16, the story of how God freed the Israelites out of Egypt, led them across the Red Sea and how He provided for them time and time again. However, as we see through Exodus the Israelites continue to doubt God and at times wish they had never left Egypt. I talked about how many people give their life to Christ but when difficult times come they quickly doubt God and resort to complaining and other ways of dealing with the situation. Witchcraft and worship of ancestral spirits and culture are very common in Africa and I encouraged them to look at the Israelites and check their hearts. We don’t want a faith that is an inch deep but a faith that goes deep. We want to put all of our faith and trust in God alone.

We ought to not judge the Israelites but take the time to check our faith and assess if we turn to God during the tough times or if we complain and resort to other means. The people of both Alelesi and Appeleun spent upwards of 40 years living in camps because of the violence and attacks from the Karamonjog people. Despite the current difficult situations I encouraged them to look back on how God has provided for them and turn to Him in their current situations. Many people are returning back to the villages, starting gardens and living without fear, the very thing they wanted for years. God provided a borehole in each community that has allowed them to build homes and has improved their health drastically.

I also talked about how God provided for the Israelites out of love. He did not provide for them out of obligation or because the Israelites deserved it, he did it because he loved them. We also looked at Luke 12 about how God provides for the ravens and how much more God loves us than birds.

A message we continue to share when we go to these villages is that we come out of love and we feel the most important thing we can bring is the Word of God. We continue to encourage them to come together as a community and worship, pray and read the Word together.

Below are a few details on our visit to each village.

Alelesi

The people of Alelesi seem to be doing well. When we first visited this community about 200 people had returned to the villages and now that number is up to almost 600. It is a great sign that people are leaving the camps, rebuilding their homes and starting to plant crops again.

We heard from many people how the bibles and borehole have really impacted the community. We heard stories from the community how many people have started going to church and both the local Catholic and Pentecostal churches are starting to construct more permanent buildings.

We also heard how the overall health of the community has improved drastically b/c of the borehole. They said that there are very few cases of diarrhea and skin rashes. They also said that they are able to accomplish a lot more during their days since they spend less time fetching water. We heard from one woman that her health has drastically improved with the new borehole b/c she is living with AIDS and previously the long distance to fetch water would make her extremely tired and she would have stop several times on the long trip. She is so grateful that with the clean water and easy access she is in much better health. We also heard from many people that abuse in the homes has decreased since the time it takes to fetch water has decreased. The several hours that it would take before would cause fights in the homes between husbands and wives and there would also be fights at the boreholes due to the amount of people waiting to get water.

We gave the community the bicycle that was donated and they were very excited. They are going to elect a committee to oversee the maintenance and operations of the bike. Since the bike will be available for the entire community to rent at a very small cost, the committee will oversee the scheduling and collection of money. We told the community that the purpose of the bike was 1) for emergency situations when somebody got sick and needed to go to the clinic and 2) for people to rent, as they need to go to town for the markets to either sell their crops or buy supplies. They were very receptive to this and the committee will put together rules and regulations for the use of the bicycle.

The borehole committee has collected over 300,000 shillings from monthly collections from the community and is lending out the money to the community, as they need it. Many people have been able to take their sick children to the clinic with this money and some have started small businesses.

Lastly, our relationship with community leaders continues to be positive and we are learning more and more about the community.

Appeleun

The village of Appeleun is doing well and people continue to be relocating to the village from the camps. We saw several new homesteads as we drove through the village and many new gardens growing cassava and greens.

It is clear that the community continues to put forth effort in their new church. As we saw from last time they have constructed a shelter with a grass roof where they meet for church and we learned from some church leaders that they will be making bricks in the near future to construct a more permanent structure. We were able to meet the layperson pastor they have selected as well as a few church leaders and elders. They have also a woman from the community that leads Sunday school for the children and the church has a choir as well. As we arrived we saw many people bring their bibles, which is so encouraging to see.

We gave the church the bicycle that was donated and they were very excited. They were going to elect a committee to oversee the maintenance and operations of the bike. Since the bike will be available for the entire community to rent at a very small cost the committee will oversee the scheduling and collection of money. We told the community that the purpose of the bike was 1) for emergency situations when somebody got sick and needed to go to the clinic and 2) for people to rent, as they need to go to town for the markets to either sell their crops or buy supplies. They were very receptive to this and the committee will put together rules and regulations for the use of the bicycle. We made it very clear that the bicycle was a resource and tool for the church.

The borehole committee has collected over 90,000 shillings from monthly collections from the community and is lending out the money to the community, as they need it. Many people have been able to take their sick children to the clinic with this money.

Lastly, our relationship with community leaders continues to be positive and we are learning more and more about the community.

Prayer Requests

Alelesi - Unification of the community, especially between church leaders in the Pentecostal and Catholic churches

Borehole and Bicycle committees for wisdom and leadership in the community. These committess are responsible for community money and we need to pray that they handle it in a responsible manner.

Good weather conditions for optimal harvesting of crops – appropriate amount of rain is key. With too much rain the crops rot while they are in the ground and with not enough rain the crops fail to grow. Both situations can lead to famine.

Appeleun – wisdom and discernment for the church leaders, continued development of disciples within the church and outreach to the community to bring people to Christ.

Safety from attacks and violence. While we were there 6 cows were stolen and this tends to lead in increase violence when the Karamonjog raid the villages for their cattle.

Increased hope and trust in God, deeper faith and relationships with Christ – that the people would not resort to witchcraft or other cultural traditions that go against God and the Bible