We left Masaailand with sad hearts, and left the parents and support team in Narok with even more sadness. A sponsored night at decent hotel made it a little better. We arrived in a village in the West of Kenya just before dark. This is one of the legendary stops in Explore Africa: the Simple church planting movement of Mount Elgon.
Mount Elgon was opened to GCEX during a Luke 10 journey in 2007. The Explore Africa team of 2009 did Simple Church Training, then working with another contact. M***, was the translator at that training. A team member wrote all the teachings down for a deaf conference attendee. After this training the team moved on, but M*** heard a new calling from the Lord. He took the notes and started training people. A Church planting movement started. Three years later there are more than 10 simple churches, and a group of leaders that visit and encourage those churches. We had the privilege of visiting those churches, having Discovery bible studies, fellowshipping and prayer together – giving and receiving prophetic word.
The highlight of our time here was hearing the stories of these pastors. It was as if we were sitting in front of apostle Paul himself as they tell of being persecuted, sleeping hungry, moving every few months for the safety of their families and seeing God do miracles - true modern day heroes of faith. The book of Acts is very much alive here on the slopes of Mount Elgon. In true East African fashion the food was always prepared in excess. One day we were complaining that our stomachs are already full. The pastor looked at us intently, leaned back and asked “Have you ever gone to bed hungry, without the ability to get food?” Confidently one of my team members answered, “Yes, in our training we played survivor for three days, and we were hungry” I realized, we haven’t got a clue what it means to suffer for the gospel. We haven’t got a clue about living on the bread line, let alone living under it. He didn’t ask because he was curious, he asked because going hungry is a way of life for him, and if there is food set before you, you eat because you might not know when the next plate of food comes. Pastor E seemed a strange character sometimes, but his humility commands authority because he has paid the price for intimacy with God. Sadly M*** could not spend much time with us, because of various personal circumstances. Yet we were inspired.
We crossed the border into Uganda and journeyed around Mount Elgon on dangerous and slippery roads visiting different churches with mamma Ann and mamma Rose - who founded those churches together with M***. This was our own chance to risk and suffer for the gospel. When it rains, the road becomes a mudslide and public transport cannot travel there. We got a lift with the border official who helped us into the country. Sitting at the back of his Nissan Hardbody, with our luggage on the roof, we had ourselves a hardcore 4x4 adventure - an adventure that could have gone terribly wrong had the Lord not intervened a number of times. Once we were about 15 cm from the side of a bridge (without a railing) when there miraculously were three men that pushed us back onto the road. That was about the only pedestrians we saw on the day. Another time the car almost rolled – with Nolu still on the vehicle. But God was faithful.
As many times we stayed with the locals, but one night when the host said, “the room is not good,” we did not quite anticipate the night ahead. When going to bed, the widow explained that there are rats, “I don’t know, maybe they are demons, I can’t get rid of them.” I don’t think it was demonic, but horrible it was. The men were sleeping on the floor, following the rat along the wall with a flash light. The four ladies were sleeping on a bunkbed barely fitting into the small room. We did not sleep much, but rather lay awake listening to the sound of rats nibbling and running around…
At the following church we had the privilege of praying with a lady who came to commit her heart to God.
These two weeks was an incredible time; hard and challenging, financially demanding, relationally stormy and spiritually revolutionary. We will never be the same.
We arrived in Tororo, tired and a little traumatized. The taxi dropped us at the children’s village, and it felt like a different world. 80 Orphans greeted us and we had the staff quarters to stay in. This felt like luxury, having my own bed with a mosquito net, a kitchen and a shower with water falling from above – and a western toilet!!!
But more amazing than the circumstances and the scenery was the people we met there. The project is run by a Dutch-Ugandan married couple that are dreaming big and loving deep. This is their second children’s village and definitely a strategy to learn from. All the children are orphaned, yet they go to visit family to keep their cultural input. Yet home, where they are loved and cared for, is at the children’s village. They worship God with an intimacy that I have rarely seen and pray in a way that makes me feel most unholy. They understand who God is, and they have seen His power to set free from spiritual bondage. We spend our days playing games, doing dramas and giving spiritual lessons to the kids. We even had a sports day. This was also a time for us to regain our strength, process what we have experienced and rebuild team relations.
In Tororo also saw the build up to our Luke 10 journey. The team prayed about where to go and what to take with them. They drew straws to decide teams, packed their bags and together we left for Jinja. Arriving at the backpackers in Jinja, each team had their day bag packed with a toothbrush, one set of clean underwear, necessary medication, passport and bible for each member. We watched the rugby, ate and prayed together and off they went. I proceeded to the campsite, feeling a little empty. Trusting God to take care of them and provide for them. My week was spent resting, praying and catching up on admin. I went to Kampala for two days to try and sort out next visas. With great disappointment I had do hear that we cannot obtain a visa for Egypt in either Uganda or Kenya. Four days later the team returned, with great stories. Willy and Ilze saw God provide good lodging and new clothes, ministering with a local ministry. Nolu, Annie and Tienie had a harder time and testified of God’s protection. Both teams mostly met people who already knew the Lord, but they could give valuable input. God had His way and we trust that He will continue His work in the people’s lives.
Our last week in Uganda was spent in what felt like an exposure trip. We were overwhelmed by the hospitality of our host. The church service felt refreshingly like ours back home and the guest preacher gave a very challenging sermon on missions. (Do you have a calling to stay home? Then why are you not going out?) Out host helped us obtain our South Sudan visas, and took us to Mbarara where they have a project rehabilitating street children. As randomly as things happen on our journey there was an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the West of Uganda, while we were in the country. In Mbarara we were amazed to see this project and hear the testimonies of children who went from being glue sniffing runaways to being rehabilitated and reunited with their own transformed family, in only three years. We visited an AIDS support organization, TASO - doing amazing work. It was started and is still run by Ugandans. I am always amazed to see Africans helping their own people with their own limited resources. Lastly we visited a very big refugee camp. It stretches over 100km and has different sections for people from the DRC, Rwanda and Burundi. Life in these camps is hard. It seems like the world has forgotten them. There are no schools, one healthcare centre, no jobs, very little land to farm and no hope. There are a few churches and our host is trying to establish a school. For some of these refugees the circumstances back home is still not safe. Others simply do not have the means to travel back and start from scratch. Others, I suppose, simply do not have the guts to face the same circumstances and environment where they experienced so much trauma. But here they don’t live; they exist – on diminishing hand outs from the WHO.
After all of this, we had two days to rest and shop, before embarking on the adventure to South Sudan.
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