Typical Day…

                          

Often I get asked “What is your typical day?” Amazing how my mind goes blank and I mutter something about not having “typical” days. Not a good answer.

I guess the problem is, deep down, I only feel like I am doing our ‘real’ work when it is something that has appeared on the program on our website and blog…..

So, here is a real life, typical account of a day that never gets on to the program:

06:15. Tumble out of bed, switch on computer and go to make coffee… It is just getting light. The dawn chorus of tropical birds, FM radio, Taxis and crying babies is just starting up outside. It is still cool after a night of rain. Maybe more relevant to me at this point is that it is early enough that the internet will give at least acceptable speed. For the next couple of hours I will try and get up to date with admin, general correspondence and attempt to get my sleepy brain around different exchange rates as I check my accounts.

08:30. Shower and a quick breakfast. By 9am other YEA team members will be invading the office, and my shower room is an annex to the office…….

09:00. Meetings with Collin (to make sure we both know whats happening today) and Ray (to discuss the campsite) and Eugene (to discuss the fundraising event) and I am ready to go out for the day.

10:00. First stop is to catch up with Prosper. The Coffee shop set up is in full swing and we need to go through the accounts to make sure we are sticking to budget and also decide what work to do next. This leads into a rush to the bank to access money and to the paint store. By now I realise I am getting late as the Kampala traffic makes ‘quick’ things ‘slow’.

12:00. Meeting with programme committee for Uganda Youth Forum to start work on the plans for the January National conference.

13:30. Quick snack and read the local paper….

14:30. By now the heat is building and any sensible human would be planning a siesta. Instead I am chairing a meeting for the UYF conference. It is evident that we are all lethargic. We sluggishly respond to the minutes of the previous meeting and try and get our brains connected to the matters in hand. The ceiling fan is a multi directional one. This means that every 30 seconds you get a little respite of cool air. It then moves on to revive your neighbor. The meeting ends at 16:00 hrs with a surprising amount planned, all things considered.

16:00. Before leaving the UYF I have a brief meeting with the 1^st ladies PA. 10 minutes of discussion on how to set up national consultation on youth issues. Something as potentially important as this squashed into a sound byte. I go on my way with ideas buzzing in my mind!

Not the best time of day to cross town. Too much traffic and searing afternoon sun. Stuck in the jam in Wandegeya my right arm and right side of my face gets toasted. I am offered the usual intriguing selection of street trade. Baskets of oranges and carrots, ‘made in China’ toys, ornately framed mirrors, a set of garden shears. For the thousandth time I try and convince a young guy that I only need 1 car phone charger so don’t need the one he is dangling through my window !

17:30. Meet with VOW leaders to plan the upcoming mission to Mwanza in Tanzania. We conclude its best for the team to go across the lake by ferry to avoid the 2 days of bus travel. The more we discuss the more I feel I want to be part of the team. The trip is at Christmas. Do I want to spend Christmas at a youth conference in Tanzania?? I’m too tired to make that decision today.

19:45. Home at last and time to cook supper and relax…..

A typical day?? Well yes actually.

Journey to the ” Green city in the sun”…

By Ian Wardle

Twelve hours on the bus. Dull beating behind the temples; sore backside; slight twinge in the lower back. My usual sensations on arrival in Nairobi!!
Hoisting backpack onto my shoulders I jostled through the rush-hour throng to “Hotel Diplomate”. My hunch is they don’t host many diplomats but the shower is hot (even if it squirts in all directions), the bed is well…..horizontal……. and its within easy walking distance of good eateries, so all my essential creature comforts taken care of.
There are 2 main reasons for being here:
We have begun to develop a network of Youth Workers in Kampala with the aim of fellowship, support, a unified vision and seeing how we can work together. NAYNET was begun with similar aims by friends of ours in Nairobi about 8 years ago and has now developed into an effective city wide network with 1000s of members with a joint strategy to reach the youth of the whole city of Nairobi.
In the course of the few days I was in Kenya I managed to meet with 4 key leaders of NAYNET and have now got a clear picture of how they have brought this from a group of 3 guys up to what it is today. We have been able to candidly see the weaknesses as well as strengths and now have a much clearer road map of how we can take our Kampala network forward. It is also encouraging that within their strategy for the next 5 years they would like to see similar networks set up in cities across Africa. This means that we can anticipate their support, advice and encouragement as we go on.
The key areas where NAYNET have been effective are:
• Fellowship, prayer and support for Youth workers who were previously isolated in their work.
• Being able to speak as one voice in the city on issues concerning the Youth.
• Building a bridge between young people and Church leadership
• Sharing of resources, especially training for youth workers
• Synchronization of calendars so that there is not a clash of youth events and so that all churches can support each other’s initiatives.
• Joint activities such as camps, conferences and consultations.
I was also able to meet with the youth leaders of Parklands Baptist Church to discuss how our partnership can develop:
In discussion we noted that in Kenya the greatest need for development of Youth ministry is in the up-country area not the city. We felt that we could best partner with Parklands by working in the border regions (more easily accessed from Kampala than Nairobi) responding to training and mission needs known to Parklands and NAYNET. Youth volunteers from Nairobi would join us in those areas. This will need more discussion but is an exciting way that we can partner together.

We also want to pursue the idea of Parklands sending us Youth Interns from time to time to help us with work in Uganda while giving them useful ministry experience.

A useful trip with the opportunity to meet many old friends and make new ones.
The return trip was by overnight sleeper train to Kisumu then on to Kampala by bus. This was less stressful even if the rail track had many glitches and kinks! I plan to use the services of Rift Valley Railways again.

THE BULIISA MISSION:From missionaries to mechanics to fancy tourists

THE BULIISA MISSION:
From missionaries to mechanics to fancy tourists
The mission to Buliisa proved to be a lot harder than we all had anticipated. Well like they say, 60% of all success depends on the preparation: It always comes down to the preparation. Having worked in different rural areas for years now, Ian and I had the upper hand at least when it came to the difficulties that we faced along the way. Preparations and organisation of the trip were mainly through Collin and a ‘certain Kwesiga’. Collin did not make it for the trip so we were left in the hands the locals who we had only held a few technological conversations with in form of mobile phones.

The trip to the western Ugandan district of Buliisa was not as smooth as we had anticipated it to be. For cutting down on costs, we were to go to Hoima district first to pick up documents from the Church of Uganda in order to ease our work there. Thanks to the recent constructions on the Kampala-Hoima Road, having left off at approximately 11 in the morning, the 14th hour found us in Hoima town. After picking up the papers and getting a lunch break, we embarked on the shorter yet ‘longer’ part of the journey as we quickly discovered on the second part of the trip.

The road from Hoima to Buliisa is the furthest a road could be from a tarmac road. It’s a dust road through and through and the once in a year grading seem to do more harm than good. However, thanks to the 4X4 Land Rover, we seemed to fly through most of the port holes in the journey. But as fate my have it, an unfortunate occurrence befell us when a metal went through the tyre leaving us with a flat tyre. At least an extra 30 minutes were spent on the road between trying to fix our non-cooperative car Jake and stopping passing cars for help with the tyre and Jake. While this was all going on, we had received a few calls from our hosts giving us sketchy directions to the church and them trying to find out what’s happening, Last thing we needed at the time. When we finally hit the road again on the spare, it was all smooth apart from us driving past the church twice before being stopped by one of the youth who recognised our ‘lost’ faces from back in the days.
As custom holds it in most Ugandan rural areas, we were held to a heroes welcome, fed on all the year’s village savings and given 5 star VIP treatment as the situation allowed it. Buliisa, being a district next to L. Albert, a major water body separating Uganda and Congo, attracts a wide range of people and tribes. The area in which we worked is specifically known as Bugungu, occupied by the Bagungu people, who speak, Rugungu: A language neither me, nor Ian, for obvious reasons, spoke. It is important to note that the main reason for my handling the work in this region is my ability to speak and comprehend at least all the western Uganda languages. Here was I, faced with a language I did not even know existed in the country. But thanks to the few multi lingal people we had on site we later found out the language would not be a problem after all. My Rutoro speaking skills still proved useful as the difference was discovered to be minimal.
Through out the three day conference, we took a high of about 200 youths and youth leaders though the basics of youth ministry. We went through topics like servant leadership, dealing with relationships and coping with peer pressure, the concept of HIV/AIDS which is still a major problem in Uganda and the day to day concepts of Christianity. We worked with youth from about 10 sub-parishes in the Masindi-Kitara dioceses, 18 of whom had travelled with Reverend Kwesiga from (Masindi town) whom we got to know very well after the trip. We got to expand YEA work with a tentative program in Masindi Disrict which will be directly under Kwesiga.
All in all, the Mission ended up being of even greater success than we had imagined. Let alone the hard rock ‘kalo’ which is a compulsory staple food served on every meal and the late night musical crusades that went on outside our sleeping window, everything went on perfectly. Ian gave the local church a ‘special message’ in form of the early Sunday morning sermon before we were sent off later that afternoon.
The return journey seemed a lot easier for two obvious reasons. First, we used the Masindi rather than Hoima route which is a fairly better one. Secondly, we broke the journey in two and travelled to Kampala early Monday morning. This allowed us to spendb the journey in a Masindi local guest house. With a non-working television set and electricity in the room, Masindi still felt like heaven. Ian and I could not help but laugh to ourselves when we finally got the luxury of drinking hot coffee and a cold coke. We felt guilty when we ordered our dinner plates of chips and fish, feeling extravagant and spoilt.
On the down side, however, working in Buliisa is not the easiest of jobs. Apart from the obvious distance and language barrier, we found a difficulty with the people themselves. With lack of a clear contact person, the work in the region may prove slower than expected. Rev. Kwesiga is from a different Parish and thus can’t coordinate all the work. The Rev. in charge of the area was not as enthusiastic and understanding of our work as we would have liked. While all the other work in western Uganda keeps looking more and more promising, a few questions still need to be answered about the Buliisa region.

Prosper

Building capacity in local churches: Masaka (central Uganda) and Masindi (western Uganda)

The local church is central to the work of YEA in East Africa. In the villages; politicians, teachers, soldiers, young people, taxi drivers, farmers etc will meet together on any given weekend for church service at the local church.

Very often in our upcountry trainings, we find taxi drivers and teachers attending our youth workers’ training events. We find soldiers leading churches. We find BODA BODA(small motorcycles) riders leading village youth committees.

We meet individuals from different backgrounds and vocations ready to learn how to be better leaders and servants for the local church.

This weekend, two YEA teams will be travelling upcountry again. One team to Masaka district (central Uganda) and the other to Masindi district (mid-western Uganda).

YEA has been working in Masaka over the last 2 years. In this time, YEA teams have been doing the majority of the work (teaching, training, games, planning etc) at the local churches and orphanages where we have been invited. Our teams have interfaced with thousands of young people as they have travelled and worked in this area.THE STRATEGY CHANGES NOW!! After 2 years, we have identified groups of young people at these local churches who have matured in their knowledge and faith in the course of our interactions with them. Its now time for us to hand the baton to them to continue the work of discipling/mentoring their peers as we move to other local churches in the same area.

This is an exciting milestone for YEA as it brings out the whole idea of building capacity and handing over responsibility to the local church.

Please pray for these young people and for our team as we continue to work in this area!!!

Masindi is a new workstation for us. The majority tribe in this area are the Banyoro people and the minority are the Bakiga. They have been fighting over land in the past few weeks.We were invited by the Anglican Bishop of this area to work closely with his youth workers in developing youth work in the villages in this district.

It’s quite a vast area and is known for being one of the districts with OIL in Uganda. We will be giving youth ministry/community action training to youth leaders/workers and school teachers in this region for the 1^st year.

We encourage you to pray for wisdom, provision and favour for our teams as the embark on these projects in the future.

GIVING PRAISE FOR A NEW NORTHERN UGANDA

The story of Northern Uganda is not new to most of us. Two decades of a vicious civil war between the LRA rebels and the Uganda army have seen communities in Northern Uganda severely destroyed, families destroyed and parents killed etc

Indeed a sad and painful history for the average 20-30 year old from this region.

Yet walking through Gulu town (northern Uganda) a few years ago, I couldn’t help but notice that the majority of the population was mainly children, teenagers and young adults.

Where are the adults? Well, many of them were killed by the rebels over the years; others died of hunger; and others stayed back in the villages but sent the children and young people to the towns to look after themselves.

Currently, peace has returned to Northern Uganda. PRAISE GOD INDEED for a new era for the North!! The people can now start to re-build the fallen walls!They can now start to build the social-economic and political systems & structures. The government of Uganda is putting billions of shillings into reconstructing Northern Uganda.

For reconstruction to be sustainable in the North, the teenagers and young adults in this region need to be given priority for they are indeed the FUTURE LEADERS of the North.

Their capacities need to be built; evangelism and discipleship needs to be stepped up; lifeskills needs to be imparted; trauma counselling needs to be given them; churches need to be rebuilt and youth-workers trained etc The work to be done is truly IMMENSE!

Eugene and Prosper (YEA team) are spending the whole of this week in the North exploring ways through which YEA can respond to the immense re-building that needs to be done among the youth in this region.

YEA will build the capacities of churches in this region in the area of discipleship and leadership; give training to youth and youth-workers in lifeskills and behavioural change; implement the models schools program for students and teachers and other re-building programs.

New exciting work links

Over the last 2 months, God has introduced YEA to many committed individuals in our line of work (youth work) in Kampala and the rest of the country. It’s been a joy meeting with these people and discussing and praying together as harvesters in the same field.

We are now developing a new link with Watoto Child Care ministries and Watoto Church through their head youth work managers Paul and Julius (youth pastor). Watoto Church is formerly Kampala Pentecostal Church and they are internationally known for their Watoto Children’ Choirs that have sung in many countries in the world.

We are now planning visits to their orphanages and exploring ways of how we can work together in giving training to their youth workers as well as helping develop discipleship in their ministry.

Paul, Julius and their team are wonderful people wholly committed to their church vision of ‘raising leaders’. We thank God for this new connection and the friendships being built.

Through all the training workshops and meetings held over the last 2 months, YEA now has links with over 50 youth workers in the city. We look forward to the Kampala youth workers’ Barbeque on the 8^th-August (next month) where we will meet many more individuals in our line of work.

Planning for the YEA fundraising events in September has led us to scheduling meetings with officers from the government’s youth department at the Ministry of Gender and Social development. We look forward to exploring ways through which we can work with the government in effectively planning for and developing youth in Uganda as well influencing policy.

Edgar(our guy in Kenya)is now planning for our core team trip to Kenya next month where we will be meeting with youth workers in the Nairobi area through the NAIROBI area youth-workers’ network(NAYNET).We have an already existing friendship with the leadership of this network.

YEA is committed to working through relationship. We thank GOD for the very many relationships/friendships he has brought our way in East Africa and the world over and the many more coming.

Causing transformation and enriching the education sector:YEA Model schools

The average 20 year old in Uganda has spent ¾ of each of the last 6/7 years in secondary school.

Because of this fact, secondary school is where young people should largely be equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to help them succeed academically, spiritually, socially and economically in life.

This makes secondary school such an important phase in every young man’s life.

Unfortunately, the average rural school in Uganda neither has the resources nor the manpower to effect this 4 pronged transformation among their students.

They channel most of their energies and little resources into achieving academic success and most times fail dismally.

Little or no attention is given to equipping the students with knowledge and skills for good leadership, spiritual success, life-skills, positive behavioural change, positive value living etc

The average teenager will finally leave high school after 7 years with very little to help him achieve success in the four areas.

Characteristics of the average rural secondary/high school in Uganda

-Unfinished and inadequate classrooms, Young people from under privileged families,Under paid teachers and in some instances un-trained,Under staffed,An examinable school curriculum with largely theoretical subjects i.e.  Biology, Maths, Chemistry, English, Geography, History etc,Young people willing to learn and make it in life,Poor sanitation etc

In working with selected high schools long-term, our vision is to see;

Students and teachers becoming MODELS for academic excellence, great leadership, positive behavioural change, Christian values and mentorship/discipleship in their communities

Working together with the school and local church leaderships, we will creatively design and implement youth and teacher activities during the school term that promote and teach academic excellence, great leadership, positive sexual behavioural change, Christian values and mentorship/discipleship among the students and their teachers.

This will cause transformation first among the young people in the schools and then as they reach out to others,among the community and the country at large.

This project will also contribute significantly to the education system as YEA will be enriching the school syllabus as well giving much needed training to rural school teachers in the areas of lifeskills,youth work skills,mentorship and discipleship,positive behavioral change etc.Unlike their urban couterparts,rural teachers don’t have the previlege of further training and skills development.YEA will contribute to the education sector of Uganda in a big way.

A good story to illustrate this vision is the story of Bala,a volunteer with YEA.He is now not only an influential leader at his local secondary school but a committed christian living out positive values.He’s also excelling at school and committed to sexual abstinence.

We envison the same for the thousands of young people in these model schools.

The programme is scheduled to start next month at MODEL SCHOOL 1-Kikandwa community school.

Programs in Model schools 2, 3, 4 and 5 are scheduled for the next school term starting in September.

We look forward to an exciting time as we work in these schools and see young people in these local communities growing spiritually, socially, economically and intellectually and being a light to their peers;plus not only community transformation but a transformation of the Ugandan education sector.

Model school ll.- Furthering the Model school’s project.

We got to the school at around 12:30 pm, about 10 minutes late. The headmaster welcomed us to the school and was very receptive of the work we were setting out to do. We had come to do a needs’ analysis of the school. Seeta Secondary School. 

The school has been in existence for about four years, this year being the fourth. We had been introduced to this school by Rev. Sam, one of the clergy of the church of the province of the Church of Uganda (pretty lengthy name!).

The needs analysis was going to be for the Model School’s Concept that we are starting up. 

The students that we met were very interested and asked a lot of questions about the questioners that they were filling out. We had fun with them! We met some of the teachers in the different classes teaching. But they were kind enough to allow us a few minutes of their lessons.

That made me realise how blessed we are in Uganda. I know this kind of thing may not be possible everywhere in the world, and we at YEA don’t take it for granted.

 After we had been through with the students, we went to the teachers. They were some what challenging for us. Some tried to ask intimidating questions, but thankfully, we were not that easily intimidated, and eventually, they filled the questioners and actually left the place having noticed those that we could work with a lot better! 

I guess, in every place that one goes, thing are not to be easy. So that basically wrapped up our day. We had  a fun and challenging time.

Eugene

Time To Beat Time

His head is bent forward in a concentrated mood, he typed away, making plans for the 23rd of this month. It would be a time when what we have tried to do in a long time finally comes to fulfilment. Noah was planning for the first meeting that we are going to have with the youth workers of Namungona, the place where our office is based.

A few meters away, Eugene scratched his head, trying to come up with the right concept on which the fundraising dinner will be run. It is to happen on the 29th of August, meaning he has only one month to make sure that everything is ready.

“Do you think there is a way we could get our supporters in the UK involved in this day as well?” he asked, to no one in particular.

“I’m sorry I can’t come” Collin replied to the person on the other end of the line. This was just Monday and it seemed like the week was going to be a really hectic one!

Everyone kept looking at their to-do list that hung on the wall, and couldn’t believe that all of that had to be done in one week. It didn’t help matters that there was just one computer in the office, and so Eugene and Noah had to take turns at working at it.

Plus, the internet connection was only on the laptop, as the main computer was having problems connecting so all the research had to be done through Collin who sat at the laptop.

“Guys, any ideas on how I could that?” Eugene asked again.

“Facebook” someone answered. Then there was silence again. The only sounds that could  be heard were the Donnie McClurkin song “I will Sing” playing on the main computer and typing at the keyboards

“YESSS” Eugene screamed. Noah and Collin looked at him, and (not for the first time) doubt his sanity.

“I will post it on the blog and anyone who can come up with an idea, and then we can discuss it, see!” Everyone turned back to their work, and left Eugene to upload this blog post.

So, people, any Ideas???

PS.

We will be going over to Seeta, a few kilometers outside Mukono on Thursday. Eugene was there on thursday last week.

Tomorrow we will be going to the Watoto Child Care homes to find out how we can work with them.

On Saturday we will  go to Nakibizzi, where we did the training of the Youth Leaders.

Eugene

My YEA story

My name is Noah. I am a full time volunteer with YEA.

 

When I joined Youthworx EastAfrica as a volunteer in February 2009, I had this zeal to help my fellow youths transform. I also had the desire of learning how to work with young people in a whole new way.

I remember that day when Collin told me that you are here to learn and become a better person as well as minister to other young people.A few months down the road, I have been given an opportunity to develop talents and God given abilities to serve in ministry both at church and out of church.

I remember this young teenage girl I met 2 months ago and her only desire was to commit suicide thinking that she could delete her past and make a few people happy through that action.As she sat down and cried, I said thank you God for this opportunity to help this teenager but I don’t know how to do it. Teach me and help me.

So the next day when I went to work I kept asking Collin for guidance on how to handle this issue and I am just glad for all the help he provided.

I learnt and approached this situation with care and control because the Lord had given me this strength to work it out. And two weeks down the road the young lady had given up the plan of killing herself.

What a blessing to have such an opportunity and develop experience in ministry.

YEA is more than work to me. It’s a place where I am learning everyday the principles of work, discipleship, youth ministry and Christian living.

Take heart all you who invest here in East Africa. It’s not a waste of resources, someone is being transformed somewhere.

Noah

Noah a.k.a Reality