What will have a lasting impact?

The Dilemma: 

Here’s the way I see it: We can focus on issues, or we can focus on people. We can focus on projects or we can focus on hearts. 

Both are good, don’t get me wrong. But when it comes to sharing the Word of God, the people need to precede the issues and the hearts need to precede the projects. Would I like to see change in Uganda? Oh, how I would! Here are a few things I would like to see change, both here and around the world: 

• less corrupt government
• people being honest about themselves and one another
• parents believing in the abilities of their children
• no more abandoned children
• less theft
• people not sabotaging a place when they leave it
• no witch doctors
• better education
• access to clean water for everyone
• less poverty
• more respect

Those are just a few. Now, I can choose one or two and try to tackle it on my own, but I can see problems with that. For example, I wouldn’t know where to start when it comes to making the government less corrupt. I know what should change, but how does a foreign white girl go about changing politics in Africa? There are so many people involved and I don’t know a single one. I could picket I suppose, or do some sort of protest, but that’s not really my style anyway. 

Some things would be possible to handle on a smaller scale. Theft, for instance. I have had children steal from me. I have known children to steal from others. I can reprimand them and punish them so they are scared of stealing again. 

Or I can discuss with them why it is wrong. 

When it comes down to it, most things are heart issues. Look at that list again—if everyone obeyed Jesus’ commands (without focusing specifically on any of those issues), how many would no longer be issues? No more theft. No more corruption. More respect. No more abandoned children. People being honest. It is my belief that once people’s hearts are changed, they will address the issues themselves. After all, someday the youth and children are going to be running the nation. If they learn how to follow Christ while they are young, then when they become old and enter government they have a solid foundation on which to stand. 

The Question: 

With that in mind, I ask myself: What will have a lasting impact? 

Years ago I got together with a friend at a coffee shop and spent a good portion of the conversation telling her why I wanted to go to Africa and how much poverty there broke my heart. After my friend left, a woman from the next table over tapped me on the shoulder. She said she had been eavesdropping (finally, someone who admits it) and wanted to tell me about a program she had heard of, or maybe one she was involved in. It involved providing food for starving Africans, which sounded great! 

As soon as she left I got out my laptop and looked up the program. On the one hand, it had a compelling and impressive video illustrating the amount of food given to refugees or people in need in different parts of the world. It had statistics about the number of people who die each day from starvation and how many airplanes they could fill (because numbers on their own never mean much to us). And it said lots of good things about the food packets given out daily in these places. 

Now, I am all for keeping people alive, and I know food is a necessary part of that. But this “solution” was only a band-aid. If you feed them today, chances are you will have to feed them tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. What is the saying? “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” 

There are a lot of relief organizations that do a lot of good things. The problem with those, however, is that they address problems that already exist. What if we were to be proactive and try to attack these problems at the root so they fall out of existence altogether? 

Like I said, it’s a heart issue. 

Jesus was a smart guy. Sure, he fed masses of people at a time, but even then it wasn’t about the food. It was about Him. It was about what He was doing and what He could do. The food was merely an illustration of that. It was never His goal. 

Jesus, God-on-earth, spent three years pouring into not the whole world, and not an entire nation—twelve people. I know families here that are bigger than that. He did not make campaigns and hold protests (unless you count turning the tables in the temple, but I would call that more of a fit of righteous passion), He did not start food banks and He did not become king or president so He could change the world from the top down. 

Jesus ate with sinners. He healed blind men sitting by the side of the road. He taught the truth. And He spent most of His time educating and discipling a select few. Twelve, to be exact. A select twelve. 

Jesus taught them how to do life by doing life with them. 

Maybe you have seen those charts that show if you make two disciples, and they each make two more, and they make two more (so on and so forth), how quickly disciples can multiply. The chart makes a big, beautiful pyramid. And maybe you know someone (or maybe you are someone) who looks at that and says, “Yeah, but not everyone is going to make more disciples. The numbers will never add up like that. You can’t expect people to do so much.” While that is sometimes true, I ask you to look at Christianity. Jesus taught twelve. There are a lot more than twelve Christ followers in the world today. Something in that system worked. Jesus figured out how to have a lasting impact. 

The Point: 

This post began as an attempt to flesh out a personal vision statement for my ministry here, so let me finally get to the point with which I intended to start: education and discipleship. 

I have been here for over two years and been thrown into (and volunteered for maybe one or two) lots of different roles: librarian, reading tutor, head of the holiday program, cantata organizer, small-ish-part-time youth leader, disciple-maker, art teacher, dance teacher, guitar teacher. Some I like, some I don’t, some I am still doing and some I am not. Some days it is rewarding and some days I fail to see the point. Honestly, I think it’s like a lot of normal jobs. 

As I was trying to come up with a succinct way to say all that, I realized everything I do falls into one of two categories: education or discipleship. That doesn’t mean everything I do takes place in a school or a church. It does mean every craft, dance class, reading student and cantata performance is a method through which I get to teach and/or disciple the next generation so that (hopefully) someday they can tackle those bigger issues we all wish we could solve. 

(Keep an eye out for my next post to see what that looks like on a practical level.)

what of the cross?

Today the cross

  is a symbol

to be

         worn on necklaces

            tattooed on ankles

               stuck on bumpers.

It stands for “Jesus”

or sometimes just “church”

(meaning the building and service, of course)

But what of the cross? 

the real cross

the bloody cross…

Jesus’ cross? 

What makes me think my sin

is to black to be hung on Your

             torture device? 

What makes me think my problems

are too heavy to be added to 

            the weight of the world? 

What makes me think my failures 

are something special to me

and haven’t already been added

by another person

              at another time, 

                    in another place? 

What makes me think I should

hold on to anything
          when You died for everything 

             I don’t want to hold onto? 

Through forgiveness, You gave us the freedom 

to forgive, 

so what makes me think I cannot

forgive myself? 

I don’t rejoice in the cross because

it is a shining beacon

of hope and life. 

It is not shining.

It is bloody

                      splintered

                      heavy

                      dirty.

I rejoice in the cross because

there I can leave the worst parts of me,

the pride

                          anger

                          self-deprecation 

                          ugliness

                          selfishness

                          gossip
                            greed

and then I can turn around

and walk away

free

for Christ.

around the world

With 200 children on the compound, and close to 150 of them in the holiday program, it is hard to find ways to travel. That is why this holiday (May 6-28), we visited many countries—most without leaving the compound at all. 

Our theme for the three weeks was Around the World, so every activity came from a different country. From some we played games, some we did crafts, and some we even learned dances and went on outings. It was an affordable way to teach the primary children about different cultures and travel. 

At the beginning of the holiday, each child made his or her own passport. They wrote in their name, birthday, country of origin (or country they wish they were from), favorite food, favorite color, and had to draw a picture of themselves. There was also a box for their signature, so when they asked what that was I told them to write their name as fast as possible. They were illegible as any true signature. 

The children had to remember to bring their passport to every activity so they could get a stamp from that country. It was good practice in being responsible for something of their own, since most of what they have they share with everyone. And practice they need—out of 21 first grade students, only three still had their passports at the end. Good enough they aren’t really traveling yet. 

Here are some of the places we visited and things we did on our journey: 

Games in Pakistan

I knew almost nothing about Pakistan before coming across some children’s games from there. Now, I still know almost nothing about Pakistan, but the games are fun. In “Oonch, neech,” we play tag on a playground or big climbing structure. One person is it, and gets to decide whether the safe zone is oonch (up, or on the structure) or neech (down, or on the ground). Every time “it” shouts a different safe zone, the others have to try to get to that zone before they are tagged. 

Movie in Germany

Well, we watched Tangled. Which is about Rapunzel. Which is a German fairytale.

Craft in Holland

I know Holland itself is not a country, but that’s what the children here, along with most of the rest of the world, call the Netherlands. So we made windmills! Christian led this craft, for obvious reasons, and played Dutch music while they worked. I also learned how to make pepernoten, a Dutch treat that is only supposed to be eaten in December and resembles a small gingerbread cookie. 

Malaria in Kenya & Tanzania

Don’t worry, we didn’t give them malaria, as many of the children suspected when they saw this activity on the timetable. We used it as a time to teach them more about the disease and how to prevent it. In the end, they made malaria prevention posters about why it is important to use a mosquito net. 

Swimming in Honduras

Apparently in Honduras people can swim with dolphins, so what better place to visit than a swimming pool there? Of course, we had to pretend to be the dolphins ourselves, but the kids were quite good at it. 

Craft in South Africa

The younger children made paper hens because South Africa is either the biggest chicken exporter in the world or has the most chicken farmers or something like that. A lot of people have a lot of hens. 

Dancing in Mexico

Possibly the most fun I had during the holiday was teaching first graders how to do the Mexican Hat Dance and Macarena. 

Pig Roasting in Argentina

While in Argentina they roast a whole pig at a go, we didn’t take it quite that far. I was told at the beginning of the holiday that we have way too many piglets at the farm and we were welcome to eat some if we wanted. I wasn’t so crazy about eating a baby pig, but I really wanted to learn how to slaughter one! Unfortunately, the slaughtering happened while I was busy with another program, so we will have to do pig roasting again next holiday, I think. 

We had a good camp setting, all seated around the campfire while we sang songs and told stories. We cut the pork into small pieces to roast on sticks and the children had their fill. I taught them some songs my family used to sing by the fire growing up and recited Where’s My Teddy? because I’m not good at making up stories of my own, especially ones that rhyme. It was a greasy, enjoyable evening. 

Craft in China

Auntie Naigaga (a Peace Corps volunteer who also has an English name which is Maren) spent a year living in China when she was a teenager, so she shared some of her knowledge and experiences with us. We learned a Chinese song about two tigers, one with no ears and one with no tail, and then colored posters that said “Welcome to Uganda” in Chinese characters. They were beautiful! 

Games in Canada

Our Canadian volunteer was excited to share some of her childhood culture with our children, especially lots of songs she sang as a kid. I will admit when she said they were going to first paint Union Jack, I imagined a fat little fur trapper and was disappointed when I found out it was only a flag, but I got over it. We played British Bulldog, a tag game. Interestingly, the children had the hardest time remembering and saying the word “British.” When they were supposed to shout to initiate the game, we heard a lot of “bush!” and “bishel!” and things like that. 

Craft in Russia

Naigaga has also lived in Russia, so we decorated the very long words for “hello” and “welcome.” 

Games in Australia

I loved reading through Australian aborigine children’s games because most of them are based off training for hunting or other real-life scenarios but have strayed so far from the original that they hardly resemble anymore. For example, when people hunt they have to be able to throw a spear at a moving object. Children used to practice that by throwing sticks at pieces of wood floating down the river. We further adapted it to where the children threw tennis balls through a rolling truck tire. 

Food in Guatemala

As it turns out, the staple foods in Guatemala are very similar to the ones in Uganda. The children learned about nutrition: the food groups, portion sizes, and the effects of different foods on the body and brain. 

Taekwon-do in Korea

It was only one Korea when Taekwon-do started. We took some children for an outing to Kampala to visit a studio where there is real Taekwon-do training. We only had one lesson, but it was a fun and challenging start. Between the self-defense moves, strength training and Chinese “relaxation” (as our instructor called some of the ab and thigh exercises), plus a few hours in a bus, we were all a little sore the next day. The boys are telling stories of how they are going to catch thieves on the compound now. 

Easter

Easter is not just a one-day celebration here at Noah’s Ark; this time, the festivities lasted a full five days, as we had both our normal Easter programs and some fun additions thanks to a generous supporter and friend to the organization. Here is what our long weekend in April looked like: 

Thursday

10:00 a.m. ::  Easter Carols

The New Horizon schools put on Easter and Christmas carols every year as a chance to share the Bible stories with parents and people from the community. Each class gives a presentation with its own part of the story conveyed through dance, drama, songs, and poems. This year Christian and I were called upon to play music for the nursery school’s portion of carols. For a couple of weeks prior to carols, we visited the nursery school everyday to practice their song and try playing background music while they acted out the Easter story. Those little kids were pretty good actors! We then got to accompany them in the performance, which is always fun. 

After carols in the morning, the students had lunch and then school broke off for the long weekend. 

Friday

9:00 a.m.  ::  Bouncy Castles

There is a businessman from Kampala who has fallen in love with Noah’s Ark and the children and loves to bless them. As an Easter treat, he sent three bouncy castles to us for four days. We set them up at the primary school and the children were down there as often as possible in their free time. Even the toddlers, who usually stay at home, were allowed to come down and bounce in the smallest one while the older kids enjoyed the huge slides in the bigger castles. I also went down a few times—purely for the children, of course. 

5:00 p.m.  ::  Walk with the Cross

Traditionally, on Good Friday everyone on the compound from primary school up take part in a walk with the cross. This year we started near the children’s home, where Pastor Adrian told us the beginning of the crucifixion story. After hearing that, the older children carried three crosses in front of the rest of us while the marching band played as we walked. 

We marched around the compound together, making stops along the way to hear more of the story and reflect on what this day is about. It is supposed to be a somber, meditative walk, but with so many children who don’t understand the meanings of somber and meditative it is always a bit more lively than intentioned. We ended at the church, where Piet gave a short talk and then everyone dispersed for supper. 

Saturday

9:00 a.m.  ::  Bouncy Castles

One day was not enough!

11:00 a.m.  ::  Egg Painting

I’m not sure if we do this because it is a Ugandan tradition or a Dutch one, but the children have fun all the same. This was the only part of which I was in charge this year, which was nice. We opened up two classrooms at the primary school and very nicely set out watercolors, paintbrushes, newspapers and water, which of course only stayed nice until the first group came in. 

We called in one class at a time to paint their hard-boiled eggs. The watercolors don’t work as well as real dye, but with over one hundred children painting we went with what most easily fit the bill. Amazingly, it only took about an hour for them to paint all three hundred eggs, and a few of them even looked nice! 

2:00 p.m.  ::  Bouncy Castles

Because what else would they do in the afternoon?

Sunday

9:00 a.m.  ::  Sunday School

Every Sunday morning the children from the home and family units, from toddlers up to P.7 (the oldest primary class), have Sunday school. They start as a big group with praise and worship and an introduction to the lesson for that day, and then they break into smaller groups by age for a more in-depth lesson and age-appropriate activity. Aunties and uncles from the compound volunteer to teach different classes, as well as some teenagers who are growing in their roles as leaders. It takes a dedicated group of servants to regularly teach the Bible to that many children, and Christian has been planning and overseeing all of Sunday school for a couple of years now. 

11:00 a.m.  ::  Easter Egg Hunt

After Sunday school, the children return home and we lock them inside so they can’t find the eggs on the playground. Of course, an entire wall of the living room in the home is windows so locking them up doesn’t completely help, but it’s better than nothing. 

Starting from the toddlers, we bring out one group of children at a time. They get to wander around the playground and find two eggs, bring them back to the tray and go inside. Some of the young ones need a lot of help managing that. Actually, they were hidden so well this year I think I found only one egg before a child did. It was sad. 

The found eggs are counted to make sure we don’t lose too many outside, and some are re-hidden to make sure all the kids get to find something. After that, everyone gets to eat one with lunch. 

2:00 p.m.  ::  Church

Our church services are always held in the afternoon, partly because Sunday school is in the morning and we want the older children to be able to attend church as well. The kids get to come to church when they turn six years old; everyone under six takes a nap in the afternoon. We start with praise and worship led by one of three groups: adults, teenagers, or children. After that comes testimony time, where anyone can come up and share a short story about what God has done in their life in the past week. This gets a bit misconstrued by the children, who like to come up and thank God that everyone is dressed nicely every single week, but it is also cute to hear them thank God for swimming and that we are all still alive. We often have presentations of songs or dances by groups of people, and then Pastor John gives a message. (Pastor John is also the pastor of another church down the road. He is not at Noah’s Ark during the week, so Pastor Adrian, our youth pastor, is known as the campus pastor as well. Sometimes they take turns giving the Sunday sermon, but most of that responsibility lies with Pastor John. I have learned a lot from him.)

4:00 p.m.  ::  Bouncy Castles

How did they go most of the day without them? 

6:00 p.m.  ::  Barbecue 

Four times a year the children and some staff have an outdoor barbecue together: Christmas, Easter, and Piet and Pita’s birthdays. There is a good mix of Ugandan and western food: hamburgers, sausages, chapatis, coleslaw, and soda. We set out over a hundred chairs in the playground and get to mingle with kids of all ages as we eat and laugh and accidentally make a mess. We now have five dogs (“we” meaning Noah’s Ark, not me and Christian) who very much enjoyed an outdoor meal with kids who drop things. 

Monday

9:00 a.m.  ::  Bouncy Castles

Easter was over, but the castles remained. 

11:00 a.m.  ::  Bouncy Castles

Because half the morning is never enough. 

2:00 p.m.  ::  Bouncy Castles

They were starting to get tired…

4:00 p.m.  ::  Bouncy Castles

Almost done…

Tuesday

7:30 a.m.  ::  Back to school!