Sometimes it can feel like an effort to set some time aside to write a blog!
I have some good news about my visa! being that I now have a two year working permit!
It took a long time to get it, and cost me a lot of money, but after all this time I finally have a legal working visa. Getting the visa is usually the hard part, but from what I hear, renewing it is much more easier.
This NGO visa will also help a lot when I try and go for a residents visa in the future. If they see I have been volunteering in the country for an NGO legally for a few years, it will help build my case when going for the long term one.
Now Agnes and I are just preparing to apply for her Australian partner visa. So we appreciate prayers for that!
God is good.
We have currently been running a leaders empower training session, here at YSU the last few days. We have selected a few people who we see as leaders in the community who are doing work among the youth. Some people participating are good friends, who are also doing their own youth ministry, and we love to support them by offering this training. Others are people that we have our eyes on to train up for our own team. It would be great to have a team of men and women who would be able to run empowers more often at YSU. So we have a mixed group at the moment of men and women.
Agnes and I have been working well as a team, running the training and empower program together. It is really nice to work alongside your wife in ministry! When you have a common goal that you are working towards, which is really important, it gives you less time to get caught up in silly arguments! .. although we are not immune from that either hehe.
Agnes and I have been working well as a team, running the training and empower program together. It is really nice to work alongside your wife in ministry! When you have a common goal that you are working towards, which is really important, it gives you less time to get caught up in silly arguments! .. although we are not immune from that either hehe.
Speaking of my wife, she is doing well now that she has entered her 2nd trimester. The sickness has mostly gone, and she is feeling much stronger, and able to do a lot more.
The chicken project is just about done, and we expect to bring the new chickens into the coop this month! The builders have done a great job, and the place looks great.
The new block of land looks better and better each day. And we have a very tough guard dog (named Spurgeon after the great Charles himself) who looks after the property.
The new block of land looks better and better each day. And we have a very tough guard dog (named Spurgeon after the great Charles himself) who looks after the property.
The tailoring girls are also on their last month, and will be graduating at the end of this month! We are organizing for some final lessons on how to repair machines so they can do it themselves without having to pay anyone. Then we hope to send them on their way to start their own small businesses, or look for employment.
They are selling some bags to help pay off their tailoring machine loan! If you are interested our team in Australia should have some to sell. These bags will be the last ones being sold for a while to come.
Instead of starting up another co-op, we have decided that we would like to invest the time and money into reviewing the tailoring class, and making it the best we can. This may include getting in an extra teacher that can specialize in teaching areas that will help develop the girls to the best of their abilities.
Please pray for these girls as they finish up their course and start on their own.
We had another experience the other week, which reminded us again of the frequency of domestic abuse in the community.
An older village women, who we don't really know, came running to our house a few weeks ago. She was clearly distressed and upset and wanted to talk to Aggie and I.
She explained that she had just been beaten by her husband who is a drunkard, and she had run to us expecting that we are close with the local police and could help get the man arrested.
This is due to the news of what happened a while back being spread around the community. If you read my blog a while ago, you would have heard the story of how I tried to intervene in the beating of a 13 year old girl, only to be beaten myself, and ended with the main culprit being arrested by the police.
This new woman was under the impression that we advocated for abuse victims and are tight with the police. The problem is we don't even have the local police phone number here, and we don't have any connection or relationship with them. It was Robert K who brought us to the police station last time, and because we were directly involved in intervening with the beating, we could make a statement.
It was very difficult listening to this woman and not really being able to help in any substantial way.
An older village women, who we don't really know, came running to our house a few weeks ago. She was clearly distressed and upset and wanted to talk to Aggie and I.
She explained that she had just been beaten by her husband who is a drunkard, and she had run to us expecting that we are close with the local police and could help get the man arrested.
This is due to the news of what happened a while back being spread around the community. If you read my blog a while ago, you would have heard the story of how I tried to intervene in the beating of a 13 year old girl, only to be beaten myself, and ended with the main culprit being arrested by the police.
This new woman was under the impression that we advocated for abuse victims and are tight with the police. The problem is we don't even have the local police phone number here, and we don't have any connection or relationship with them. It was Robert K who brought us to the police station last time, and because we were directly involved in intervening with the beating, we could make a statement.
It was very difficult listening to this woman and not really being able to help in any substantial way.
In the end we prayed with her, gave her money so she could get up to the police station to report her husband, and we called a local community leader so that he was aware of the situation and may be able to help in anyway.
The problem is we don't know these people, or what happened, nor do we have a car to be able to drive her up to the police (if I had a car, I wouldn't hesitate to personally take her myself)
I know it sounds shocking, coming from a country where police response is very good. But you have to understand there really is not much of a functioning legal system here on the grass roots level. We tried to offer the best we could. But there is still a part of me that doesn't feel satisfied, a heavy burden on my heart that I wish I could of/did do more.
The woman had heard that we are people that stand up for abuse victims and so thought she could run to us, even though we didn't know her. All because of the gossiping that went around the community after what happened last time.
The woman had heard that we are people that stand up for abuse victims and so thought she could run to us, even though we didn't know her. All because of the gossiping that went around the community after what happened last time.
In the end I heard that the man actually spent a number of days in jail, as the woman paid off the police with some money she had (perhaps maybe with some of the contribution we gave her ... :p which I wouldn't have much of a problem with)
These are the sorts of things we face daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. The ups and downs of ministry work.
There is a constant reminder of not trying to run on your own strength. Oh how so easily I would burn out here if I wasn't relying on the Grace of God. There is no other way to keep up at this type of work without relying on God.
I am but weak flesh and bone, but He is strong and wise.
There is a constant reminder of not trying to run on your own strength. Oh how so easily I would burn out here if I wasn't relying on the Grace of God. There is no other way to keep up at this type of work without relying on God.
I am but weak flesh and bone, but He is strong and wise.
Lastly, Farouk and I have been able to go on another two micro adventures! We found the most beautiful open hill overlooking lake Victoria. This small mountain range we camped on, which is surrounded by bush and jungle, is all owned by a local pastor. This pastor was the friendliest man, who felt honored that we would ask him if we could camp on his land. He also gave us a large supply of avocado, cassava and maize to cook on the fire and keep us happy.
That night around the fire we got a bit of a fright as large mongoose's kept snarling and snorting as they charged between our feet. But we survived the mongoose's and the monkeys!
That night around the fire we got a bit of a fright as large mongoose's kept snarling and snorting as they charged between our feet. But we survived the mongoose's and the monkeys!
What a great way to get a little bit of an adventure in the wilderness, and a camp around a fire.
