Women Come 4th

One of the missions we came to do was spend time with Pastor Jimmy Kiwanuka 's wife Helen and a group of women from their church. What we had in mind for our time here and what they had in mind ended up being two different things! We already knew to expect the unexpected, but we were taken aback when we found out their plan for us was a two day women's conference in three different villages, all three weekends we were here in which Ashlee and I were to be the guest preachers both days!! They requested that we feed the ladies lunch both days and also bring them gifts. We sat with Helen and her friend Susan and made a program (as they say here) or a schedule Thursday morning, we told them we couldn't go with them on Friday because we had already made a program to go with Lyzette to the hospital, but we would go on Saturday. They were very gracious and excepted our plan, so we told them we would go shopping for the gifts and food before they went to the village and we went to the hospital. We had no idea we would be funding the entire conference, but we had money to spend. So we bought rice, beans, some little meat and some vegetables to put in the beans, along with panties, tooth brushes and tooth paste, soap and salt to give as gifts.

 

Since we couldn't go Friday, Justin went with Jimmy and the ladies out to the village of Lwanika that was an hour and a half away. They call it the place where the dogs turn around because it is so far away. While the women were meeting, Justin thought they would just sit outside and visit with the men. As they started talking, Jimmy told the men that Justin was there to preach to them or give them a word. Surprise!! The Bible says that we should be ready to give an answer at all times, but that really caught him off guard. They said he did great. They talked about being men of God and how they should treat their wives and family.

It ended up being a women and men's meeting both days! We all went back on Saturday and Ashlee and I spoke and gave our testimonies and then we had lunch, which the men served all the ladies and even washed the dishes. This is such a big deal here because they say that men think that women here are a little higher than a goat and lower than a human and that is not a man's job to serve, he is there to be served. It was a wonderful thing to see!

After lunch we broke into groups. Jodi was with the married ladies, Ashlee was with the single mothers and younger ladies and Helen took the widow ladies and they were allowed to ask us questions and we answered them the best we could given the different cultures through an interpreter. We were so surprised at the nature of the questions they asked that were very personal about their bodies, and their relationships with men, whether it is their husband or other men, raising their children, friendships with each other and last but not least, their finances. Jodi talked to the marrieds about raising a new generation of boys to be Godly and breaking the generational practices that have been handed down, even if there is not a born again father to take the lead. A born again woman can and must be responsible to raise her son in a different way, so he knows how to treat a women and take care of his family in a Godly way even when he has no role model to follow. It was a wonderful day and the whole village was so grateful that we came. They said " now we know God has not forgotten about us.

 

 

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Jinja Main Hospital

 

Friday morning we went to the hospital maternity ward with Lyzette, Paul and Peter. There were two women there that qualified to receive help from "Women In Crisis Ministry". We met a young girl of sixteen that had just given birth. She wasn't the one we went there to see, but there are no accidents and God had a plan! When Lyzette talked to her she said the father had just gotten her pregnant and left. She didn't know where he was. She had no money and no one to take care of her. Lyzette told us that it is very common with young girls in her situation to throw away the baby in the garbage to die after they left the hospital because they know they cannot take care of them. After they were finished talking, the girl decided to give her life to Christ, so we all laid hands on her and Peter lead her in a prayer of salvation! She promised us that she would not throw her baby away and that if she needed help she would call.

We moved on to the other case which was a mother that had been at the hospital for three days after having a c-section and had no medication for pain or infection. Her baby was wrapped in a few strips of cloth with no clothes on. After we found out from the doctor what she needed, we left and went to the pharmacy to get her medicine and back to the compound where we are staying to make up a bag for each lady consisting of a bar of soap, baby wash and clothes, a wash cloth, tooth brush and paste and a baby quilt. When we got back to the hospital, Lyzette was talking to the sixteen year old mother and was going to help her get the baby dressed, when Ashlee pulled the blanket back she discovered this beautiful baby girl was lying in her own waste. We told the mother she needed a bath and she told us she couldn't bathe her because she had no money to purchase a jerrycan of water for a bath. We gave her 500 shillings (approximately 20 cents) to get the water she needed to give her baby a bath and arranged for food to be brought to her. These mothers were so happy!

 

 

 

Both babies fresh and clean in their new clothes and blankets!

 

 

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Catching Up!!

We were greeted at the gate by Paul, Pam, Robyn, Raoul and Peter. After discovering that one of our totes was missing, we stood in line to report it and almost got left since it took so long. They thought maybe we had missed our flight. Besides the missing tote, the outside of Ashlee's suitcase got destroyed. Luckily every thing inside was in good shape. Needless to say she will be using a tote to bring her things home.

When we woke up, we spent time on the veranda sharing and and catching up. Recently Pam's phone had been stolen, so after we were finished Justin, Paul, Raoul, Peter and Jeff played detective with the police and solved the mystery. The thief was apprehended and the phone was recovered and he is now in the hands of the authorities. What a fun and exciting first day!!

Helen Kiwanuka and her friend Susan came over to fill us in on what to expect when we go out with them and we made a plan. We will be going shopping with her in the morning to buy supplies for what we will be needing for the women's conference this Saturday. Ashlee and Jodi will also be going to Jinja Main Hospital Maternity ward tomorrow to visit with the new mothers.

Grace and her son Geoffrey has prepared a delicious meal of rice, beans and chipatis and she is calling us to eat. More tomorrow!

 

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Best Christmas Ever!

Don Neufeld and his family just returned from Uganda.  His sister Jean and husband Rick along with their daughter Samantha (10 ½ years old) all spent 3 weeks over the Christmas Holiday on the ground with Next Generation Ministries.  Don shared some of his experiences with us today that we would like to post for all of our Team Uganda followers.

Don says:

This was the BEST Christmas ever.  We went to Jinja Main Hospital with Lyzette with plans to participate in her ministry to the women in the maternity ward, focusing on those in crisis of losing a baby.  We took along the “baby tote” which had blankets, sheets and other items mothers would need for their newborns.  Two ladies had lost their babies and we prayed with them. One man was led to Christ.  Every day was like that, full of God’s surprises.  These people are dear to my heart.

On Christmas Eve we went to a restaurant and enjoyed a lot of singing.  Then Peter, our driver, called Paul.  His little 4-year old daughter, Precious was having convulsions.  The van was at the compound with us so we headed to their home.  There was a heavy rain storm and heavy traffic due to the Holiday, but we finally got to them and took them to the hospital.  The convulsions were from malaria.  They stabilized her at the hospital and gave her an IV.  This was very scarey.  The next day she was alert and eating well.

The first thing we did when we got there was go buy a soccer ball and went over to Serah’s Caring Place for Samantha to meet the kids.  In four days time, the ball was worn out.  They were out of school and played with it constantly.

There were times without power and water, but we adapted as usual.  It’s the way it is in Uganda.

A highlight was meeting Edgar and his bride to be, Annette and her twin sister, Janet.  The girls showed up with a small bag about the size of a laptop bag that contained all their worldly belongings.  We took them shopping to purchase a dress for each of them.  They were so happy.  Edgar is a dairy cattle farmer in Western Uganda and has been close to Paul and Pam for many years.  He’s an amazing guy.

We found out from Robert Sityo there is electricity coming very close to the Fountain of Hope School.  My dad, Ike Neufeld, sent $1,000 for seed money to get the school on-line.  Robert checked into the cost and found out it would take about $7,000 to bring electricity to the school and another $3,000 to get them tied in.  I contributed another $1,000 so we just need to raise $8,000 more!  If you’re interested in contributing to this project, please let me know.

While we were delivering a gift from Debbie Whiteneck to Shakira (the girl she sponsors) at Fountain of Hope School, a man walked up and told Paul he was tired of his Muslim ways and wanted to change.  Paul led him to Christ.  Just an example of God’s surprises.

Robert Sityo’s cancer is back.  He’s not sure he wants to take Chemo treatments again.  This is a real prayer concern.

Dereck Mombera escorted us to Kenya to visit Dominion Farms.  We had a flat tire on the way and go to experience a tire change the Ugandan way.  It definitely is different than the Ewald Brothers way!  It was impressive how they engineered and built dams for the irrigation at the farm.  Workers were walking along the rice fields shaking cans of rocks to scare off birds.  We saw the tilapia farms and processing plant along with the rice processing plant.  We got to see the farm equipment that had been shipped over, some from Fairview and Enid.

We visited Abdu’s farm and got to see the round feeder he had Patrick build for him.  It was patterned off of one Leon Neufeld had here in Oklahoma and Abdu said it eliminates waste of feed.  American ways in Uganda!  Abdu is always learning and applying modern farm technologies to his operation.

While in Uganda we got to worship at Pastor Jimmie’s church and Pastor David’s church.  Pastor David and Sarah had us over to their home and we got to enjoy singing and dancing by their children…18 of them!   We had the privilege of meeting Katie Davis, who wrote the book “Kisses from Katie”.  We took a tour of the Nile River and it poured down rain on us.  We got terribly cold and then the sun came out.  We got to see the fishing villages along the Nile.  We also spent time with some of The Island Boys and got to see how they have progressed as young Christian men and business men.  Some of our Power House kids from Fairview sent Christmas Ornaments with me.  We used them to decorate at Paul and Pam’s house and they were very much appreciated.

Our friend, Patrick (the welder), is having health problems.  He had fluid on his left lung and having difficulty breathing and has not been able to work.  This is a great concern and I suspect he has breathed in a lot of bad fumes through all his years of welding.  He and his wife Grace have a baby girl named Pamela (named after Pam Hunter) and a little boy named Don Paul that we call Junior.  You guessed it.  Named after myself and Paul Hunter.

My friends in Uganda call me Uncle Don.  It’s a real honor that they feel this way about me.  Helen (Pastor Jimmie’s wife) tells me I’m like a father to her.  Its very humbling.

Back to my first comment…it was the best Christmas ever!