The day began very early.  0700.  We loaded the Miracle Van minus one Emmy.  Pastor Emmy had to stay home and rest as he was still really weak from the malaria.  We had a nurse at home for him.

No worries, Supermom would fill in very nicely in this leadership role.  We started our journey and noticed something……the road.  It looked really nice but it was terrible.  Nearly the whole trip was spent going over various uneven parts of the dirt road.

This went on for nearly 2.5 hours.  Bull riding with noise…..I will have to tip my hat to my 3 girls.  No one complained.  Everyone held it all day …….;o)  if you know what I mean. We would soon arrive.

My last visit to Rwemikoma was November 2008.  Pastor Hillary is our lead here.   I was immediately struck by how much more organized the school seems. They have done a lot of work.  We recently paid off the land to the surprise of all the neighbors.  For $6000 we own this property now consisting of some sloped land and an elongated building with several classroom divisions.

It is serving the whole community as a day school as we don’t have any overnight guests nor are we serving lunch.  The children bring with them what they will eat for the day and I am sure that is not much.

We were greeted first by the staff.  They were all dressed in their Sunday best.  Currently they are working for no pay.  Ouch.  Whenever Pastor Emmy has some excess he tries to send it their way. I can’t imagine how he feels some time.  We had known this and we had brought a blessing to each of the 7 teachers…….100,000 shillings or the equivalent of $50 USD. It’s about 1/2 of our Mbarara teachers but we are just getting started. What I told them is as we gather some sponsors for these children, we could talk about trying to be more consistent to our support.  What we wanted to do on this trip is establish ourselves on this land and tell them we are coming with the support. We are not sure when or how fast…….but it is coming soon….. Each teacher waiting patiently as I handed them this blessing.  None extending a hand for anything until it was offered.  It is rather amazing here in Uganda.  No one hardly sticks their hand out and asks for anything.  They are a humble meek people.  I LOVE THAT.  Next we gave them all a PCM orange staff shirt.  Oh my goodness…….every one of them put them on right away………on top of their button down shirt and ties.

THANK YOU Jeff and Stef Bice for outfitting all 43 of our pastors, and now 27 of our teachers via GoinPursuit.com.   They were a huge hit.  In fact we saw one of the Rwemikoma teachers in Mbarara the next day and guess what…….he still had his on.  Amazing……..they love em.  Thank you!!

Next up was our primary mission……pictures of all the children.

PRAISE THE LORD FOR ASHLEY FERGUSON.  She had not only made all of their name plates and decorated them so beautifully, but she put every class in a packet and we brought each class to the photo classroom and voila………we were done in no time.  WAHOO……..THANK YOU ASH !!!!  Bailey entertained the other classes while we were taking pictures.  Way to go girls!!

Next up we went outside for some fun and games.  Amazing how much fun these kids can have with nothing besides themselves. No video games, no TV, no other electronic distractions.   They are so over rated.

We heard tons of laughs and squeals.  We knew they were going to need something to refresh themselves so I sent Pastor Hilllary to the village store…… back he came with bananas and drinks for all of them in crates. Coke, Sprite, Fantas…….he bought one for each of them.

I am sure they never get one of these very often as they rather drink the water drawn from the local lakes.  What was more surprising is all the children held on to their snack until EACH child had one.  Quite a feat…….no one spilt a drop and everything was thoroughly enjoyed.  We had brought some small candy canes for each of them and shared the story of the candy cane with them.

It was a hit with many of the local town people who had begun to gather.  You see we feel a sense of urgency to spread God’s Word.  For twenty cents a day per child,  we can influence nearly 200 children with a Christian education from licensed teachers. You see one of the things I have noticed on this trip is that Islam is creeping in to the villages more than ever before.  We need to do something……….We have to act……..time is short…….

What we will take away most from this experience is what a ripe opportunity this is.  It is some major low hanging fruit. These children are beautiful and deserve to be helped.

They are not near a major city or some huge relief organization.  Rather they live in the rural Ugandan village. Not many Muzungis come here but today there were 4.    For hardly anything…….$1000 a month we can fullly staff this school, provide the needed supplies and influence the whole community for Christ.  As we grow in our sponsorships……..this work will be easily accomplished.

We gathered back in the Miracle Van after a beautiful short service at Pastor Hillary’s church.

We made it over those same seemingly thousands more pot holes and rivets in the road.  Funny,  no one seemed to care.  It was so worth it.

We are so thankful to partner with people of Rwemikoma.

Good Night

the Barrets

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