Dear Family and Friends:
We have had a very wonderful month of June and here are a few hi-lights:
On June 5th we left Kampala for the District of Soroti in the Northwest part of Uganda to distribute some of the items from the ten emergency relief containers sent by the Church. We invited President and Sister Christensen and two of the men from public affairs to accompany us. Ecweru Musa, Minister of State for Relief and Disaster for the Country of Uganda also went along with his driver and body guard. We had turned these containers over to him when they arrived in Uganda and he was to determine where they were to be distributed. He is a very “big drum” in Uganda and has the ear of the President. There are only two Ministers of State in this country and he is one of them. He had arranged for three schools in Soroti to receive the sanitation kits and rice. This is the area where he was born and grew up and has many family members and friends there. He had arranged for us to stay in The Soroti Hotel, which he said was more in the expectations of Muzungas. It was OK.
The area is very pretty and quite mountainous and we took a small detour to see Sipi Falls and ancient caves, which are featured on many post cards here. It is very close to the border of Kenya and a few times we could almost step across the border. The roads were dirt and quite bumpy, but we are use to that. As we climbed higher on the roads we could look out and see plains where the Karamojong warriors graze and rustle cattle. The Karamojong are fierce warriors and still dress and keep the culture that they have had forever. They wear very little in the way of clothing, but wear a lot of beads, earrings, tattoos, etc. They raise cattle and think that all the cattle in the world belong to them, so they take whatever cattle they come across and cause much havoc in the area.
The Soroti area is also the place where Joseph Kony, head of the Lord’s Liberation Army, kidnapped and killed many of the people. It is a story right out of the Book of Mormon and the 2000 Stripling Warriors. Kony came into the area with plenty of soldiers and ammunition supplied to him by the Sudanese to take it over. The Ugandan Army was there, but because of graft and corruption, they did not have many weapons to fight and so they didn’t. The older people in the area were so demoralized that they didn’t fight back either. Ecweru Musa, the Minister that we were with, rounded up and trained all the young people in the area and told them that they were fighting for their homes, land and families. He organized a group called “The Arrow Boys” and all they had were bows and arrow, against more sophisticated weaponry. He also supplied others of the kids with guns, etc and led them into battle. He said because they were fighting for their homes, they had a cause and they were fearless in battle and they drove Kony back up in the north and out of their villages. He showed us some of the sites of the battles and described them to us. He is a big hero in this area and everywhere we went, he was treated with great respect and adoration. He is a very charismatic and capable man. It was fascinating. The Christensen’s gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to especially read the Stripling Warrior account.
The first school we visited was called The Lwala Girl’s Secondary School. This is one of the schools that Kony raided and many of the girls were kidnapped. Many have been returned, but some never have been located. Some of these young women were raped, beaten, kidnapped and many witnessed their parents being killed. It was very humbling to look over the girls assembled and to realize what had happened to them. We handed out hygiene kits, and they sang, danced and several were assigned to speak to us. The Minister, President Christensen and Ron then spoke to them. They also had cooked a nice meal for us, which we appreciated. In the afternoon we visited another school with the same scenario. This school is located in the Amuria District. It was called the Orungo High School and had both girls and boys living there. Again most of their parents had been killed and the kids had endured and witnessed terrible things. We handed out hygiene kits and a few speeches were made and then we drove back to our hotel. We were all pretty humbled by what we had seen and heard.
The next day we visited our last school. It was called The Bethany Girl School and was located close to our hotel in Soroti town. We could tell that the Minister had a close connection with this school and these girls loved and adored him. He delivered a very uplifting speech to them and promised them that Kony would never come back to their area. He asked them when was the last time they had eaten meat and they responded that they couldn’t remember. He said “well you shall have some tonight”, a goat was then brought out and they cheered and yelled and it was pretty emotional. We handed out hygiene kits and the rice that the Church provided and I expect they had a wonderful meal that evening. We were then treated to lunch. Dessert was served in the form of a beautiful cake that the girls had made and decorated especially for us. We drove back to Kampala. It had been a very emotional, but rewarding three days.
Our water projects are proceeding very well. We are doing the second phase of clean water and sanitation in the Impigi District. It was fun to tell the water district people that the Church was not going to do the amount of boreholes that they requested, but we requested that they do a lot more and also to add on latrine covers, mosquito nets, hand washing facilities and water tanks. It was great to see their reaction. We are still awaiting approval of this from Church Headquarters, but feel it is a great project. This is a very rewarding mission.
We also arranged for the first new boreholes to be drilled in the Kumuli District, about three and a half hour drive from Kampala. We were there to witness the first new borehole find water. We stood on the road and watched the crew drill deeper and deeper in the ground with nothing happening. We watched another pipe go down and then another and almost the whole village was standing or sitting and watching. We were standing very close to the hole, when water was finally discovered and mud and water erupted like a geyser into the sky. We were peppered with mud and water and we ran for protection. It was pretty exciting. Some of the women started beating on a very large drum, which they said was telling the village that water had been discovered - their version of a cell phone. It was very exciting. Usually we have been rehabilitating old broken down boreholes, but this was our first brand new one.
We also had a very successful Neonatal Resuscitation training project in June. Three doctors came from the United States and in conjunction with a doctor here, held four days of training sessions. Two venues were arranged for and they trained many healthcare workers in Kampala and outlying districts in resuscitating newborn babies. Uganda has a very high infant mortality rate, partly because they do not have proper training or equipment to resuscitate a baby who is not breathing when born. They will not do mouth to mouth resuscitation or provide any physical contact because of HIV/AIDS, so a baby not breathing is just put aside to die. This training was so thorough, tables were set up and we watched these people practice on dolls using the new equipment. These health care workers were given instructions, equipment, stethoscopes and all things needed to go back to their clinics, villages, etc and train other people. We know this will make a difference.
At the end of the month, we had a wonderful visit from our daughter Torri. She accompanied us on our assessment tour of one of our potential projects - seven rural villages involved in the new project. We also took her to a school handover celebration, where the Church had supplied 100 new desks, chairs, tables, and book cabinets. We had a wonderful safari at Murchison Falls and she was the guest pianist at our little branch of the Church. Sandra and Torri had fun teaching the primary while Ron taught the Gospel Doctrine class, with his usual 30 second notice. She also helped us prepare and present a great family home evening lesson on Stakes in the Church. We did some shopping and visited the Source of the Nile. We really enjoyed her visit and she fit right in.
We have four new projects in for approval and are anxious to get them started. We are a little concerned though, because we understand our Stake President is coming to Uganda to check on our conduct and to find out why we are having such a good time.
Love to all.
The Beans
PS Can’t wait to see Matt and the boys.
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