It's Wednesday morning here in Uganda and there is a busy morning ahead. Today I will take Peninah to interview at a boarding school. This is a big day for her. If she is accepted, her education will be so much better than what is provided at the public level. She is excited, but a little nervous. Maybe not as nervous as I am. This morning I have shaved, and have put on long pants.... as they say. Please join us in prayer about this.
Yesterday I finally made it to Ngariam. Thinks were really slow there since they are on school break. They won't start back until January 30th. There were, however, a handful of kids that came out to greet me. It was nice to sit there and watch them dance to Lecrae, a christian rap artist, I loaded on my iTunes before coming to Uganda. They love it.
One of the boys went to get Rose for me, and it wasn't long before the two of them came riding up on the bicycle. It is always good to see Rose. After some some talk, Robert arrived from the other carepoints. We all spoke for a while than decided that we should all load up and go and see for ourselves.
At Obulejet, things were as expected. Those guys really work hard. They have plowed additional land and we now have about 12 acres of land that is ready to be farmed. I stepped it off, there is really about 200 yards wide and 750 yards deep of land that has been plowed.
At Acanga, we arrived to see close to 10 goats that were freely grazing in the garden. This flared my temper a bit. Not in a bad way, but they needed to know that I was not happy. When we asked the workers why the goats had not been arrested they told me that the owners were tougher than they were. This really made me mad as I told them they were not tougher than the entire community. This is a community project that affects the entire community. I asked to see the LC1, which is their local official. When he arrived I told him of my displeasure. He was told that I had not, and would not spend this much money to feed goats. If they could not control this problem, I would take the money being spent there somewhere else. This was their problem not mine. The community must take action. They have decided to have a meeting. A decision will be made next week as to whether we will continue there.
Before you get worried about this. Acanga is tough! They are a very hard group to work with. They are the biggest Carepoint we have. Shutting it down is not what I hope to do. We may suspend the work being done there for a while to prove a point, but hopefully, the community will come together to rid the bullying that seems to be taking place.
Keep them in prayers. They need to find a sense of bravery to stand up as a community. Lets pray that this works.
Thanks again for everything!
Tom Cox
Yesterday I finally made it to Ngariam. Thinks were really slow there since they are on school break. They won't start back until January 30th. There were, however, a handful of kids that came out to greet me. It was nice to sit there and watch them dance to Lecrae, a christian rap artist, I loaded on my iTunes before coming to Uganda. They love it.
One of the boys went to get Rose for me, and it wasn't long before the two of them came riding up on the bicycle. It is always good to see Rose. After some some talk, Robert arrived from the other carepoints. We all spoke for a while than decided that we should all load up and go and see for ourselves.
At Obulejet, things were as expected. Those guys really work hard. They have plowed additional land and we now have about 12 acres of land that is ready to be farmed. I stepped it off, there is really about 200 yards wide and 750 yards deep of land that has been plowed.
At Acanga, we arrived to see close to 10 goats that were freely grazing in the garden. This flared my temper a bit. Not in a bad way, but they needed to know that I was not happy. When we asked the workers why the goats had not been arrested they told me that the owners were tougher than they were. This really made me mad as I told them they were not tougher than the entire community. This is a community project that affects the entire community. I asked to see the LC1, which is their local official. When he arrived I told him of my displeasure. He was told that I had not, and would not spend this much money to feed goats. If they could not control this problem, I would take the money being spent there somewhere else. This was their problem not mine. The community must take action. They have decided to have a meeting. A decision will be made next week as to whether we will continue there.
Before you get worried about this. Acanga is tough! They are a very hard group to work with. They are the biggest Carepoint we have. Shutting it down is not what I hope to do. We may suspend the work being done there for a while to prove a point, but hopefully, the community will come together to rid the bullying that seems to be taking place.
Keep them in prayers. They need to find a sense of bravery to stand up as a community. Lets pray that this works.
Thanks again for everything!
Tom Cox
Hope all went well with Peninah at the boarding school! She is such a good kiddo!
ReplyDeleteI hate to hear about what is going on Acanga. I hope the community comes together as well and straightens this out without any major probs.
Of course, I am partial to Abulejet, and glad to hear things seem well there. :)
Thanks for all you are doing Tom! Be safe and God bless you and everyone there!
Rodger