Empower

Hey everyone, sorry for the delay in writing an update.

Since I last wrote my previous blog we have all pretty much recovered from the sickness we were all feeling.
Except for Ethan getting a nasty rash that has lasted three weeks, we are all feeling on top of it.

If you read my last blog I talked about a few people with serious illnesses.
Thank God that Esther, the women with cancer in her arm, managed to get more medical help, and hopefully will make a recovery.

The young baby that was put on oxygen has also now been discharged from the hospital and is doing better.
Thank you for your prayers.

We recently ran an empower trauma rehabilitation program with our tailoring girls.
It was an interest time, and full of both joys and challenges.
All of the young women expressed how helpful it was for them to be able to share their stories. Many of them forgave people in their life that they had been holding anger towards.
We also had a few of them wanting to surrender their lives to Christ.

The challenging part about empower was the fact that it is very difficult to help someone heal from trauma, when the situation they are in right now is incredibly traumatic.
Without giving away their personal stories, we have some girls that are in rather dangerous, abusive living conditions.
It raises a bunch of questions for us, in what is our role, how do we best support these girls and do we take any action.
Please pray for the young women, for their home lives, for protection, and for wisdom for how we deal with them.

So just a short update for now! It feels like the rains have kicked in, thunder storms all morning and it has not stopped raining yet!
That usually mean lots of power outages as well though!

More sickness and observing suffering and death.

Hey everyone.

I guess we have still had a sick household here at YSU over the last few weeks.
Since I wrote my last blog I talked about how Aggie's back was in a bad shape, and how I had malaria and tonsillitis.

A few weeks back we ended up taking Ethan to the hospital at about 8 pm because he had a very high temperature and he was clearly distressed.
The nurses really struggled to find a vein to take blood from Ethan, so they actually got the Turkish manager of the hospital to come and get the blood (he seemed to be the one who knew how to get blood from a baby the best)
It was a bit of an uncomfortable experience, as it took about 10 minutes of getting enough blood from Ethan (they took it from his foot) and as he was screaming and kicking, I had to pin him down and hold him still .. Which Ethan hates.
Ethan ended up having the same infection in his throat that I had, and so he was put on lots of medicine in syrup form.

After a week or so of recovery I actually ended up getting an incredible amount of pain in my right chest and back.
I could tell the pain was deep inside, and it felt like my lung. So last Wednesday I ended up going back to the hospital (my second home by now ... all the doctors know us by name)
The lining of my lung was inflamed, and so whenever I breathed in or twisted my body, the lung was pushing against this inflammation and causing a lot of pain.
So back on strong med's and told to rest.

That night I was awoken around 2 am to banging on my door from Beatrice (Farouk and Beatrice live in the same house as us with their children).
I could hear her crying, and also Farouk asking for my help. In my medded up state I was quite confused and got dressed and ran to their room to find Meshach having a seizure in Farouk's arms.

So here is another reason why the new car, which people back in Australia bought for us, has come in handy.
We were able to race Meshach to the emergency section of the hospital in town in the middle of the night.
His temperature was at 40 which caused the seizure, and so he had a suppository put in him straight away to bring the temp down.
They tried many times to get blood from him, but the night duty nurse was really struggling and they could not get any blood from his veins.
He ended up getting pierced with a needle about five times ... and this is Meshach's worse nightmare.
In the car he had been completely out of it and his eyes had been rolling in the back of his head. But by the time they had brought the fever down and tried to take his blood, it took three of us men to pin him down to give him an injection of antibiotics in the bum! The boy certainly knows how to resist a needle.

Meshach ended up spending two nights in the hospital because he had a very strong infection. That infection caused the high fever which in turn caused the convulsions.
It was quite a scary ordeal, and if we had not taken him to the hospital during the night, the sickness could of killed him.
Meshach is such a small boy as well, only 12 kilos at 3 years, so he seems to really get knocked down when he gets sick.

Farouk and I were actually meditating on how God works. Before I got sick with my lung problem, Farouk and I had been organizing to go away camping for that Wednesday night (the night Meshach got sick)
But due to my sickness I had to cancel those plans. As a result Farouk and I were around to rush Meshach to the hospital.
It could of been a lot worse if we were not around when it had happened.
Some people may simply choose to see that as coincidence, or maybe luck. We choose to see it as God's hand.

There has actually been a number of stories and experiences I have had over the last few days that still bring the reality of death and suffering close to my mind.

While in the hospital the next day to check on Meshach, an old pastor was rushed into the hospital in a critical condition.
We were actually in the next room and we could hear the doctors frantically working on him, and the sound of the heart monitor.  We heard the heart beat stop on the monitor, and then the wailing of a woman in grief echoed down the hospital corridors.
It is interesting to note the difference in the culture here. While the sick man was being worked on, the hospital filled up with family, friends and people from the pastors church. They were all waiting around seeing what would be the result.
After the man passed away, the hospital was full of almost 100 people, wailing and grieving and praying.
It was a sombering experience to sit there and watch it all.
Farouk I discussed how there is no escaping death in the end.

In the end all of us will face death.
The only thing we can really do is prepare our soul to meet it's maker. Have you?

In church yesterday a poor young widow who is a member of the church, pleaded with the congregation for help.
She had recently had her arm amputated due to cancer, but the doctors were now saying they needed to take off more of the arm because the cancer had not been fully removed.
The government hospital here said they were refusing to work on her because she did not have the 50,000 that they were demanding (about $20)
The woman had absolutely no money, so she had sold her only bed for about 20,000 ($8) to try and raise some, but she was still 30,000 short.

What a desperate condition to be in.

I was then moved by this woman, when during the offering for the church she was the first one up to place a small amount of money in the offering basket.
It reminded me of the story in the bible of the poor widow who gives a small amount of money (all that she owns) in the form of a single coin.

Let that be a lesson to us in wealthy nations.

Of course, everything in me wanted to get up and reassure the woman and give her some money and help her out and let it be done.
But I actually felt moved to wait, I wanted to see the church body come around and support her. It could be easy for me to just give the money and let it be done with, but I may be stepping in the way of a God given chance for the church to be a blessing to this woman, and in turn be blessed back by God.

Sure enough our pastor got up and called for the church to do whatever they could for the woman. And so people got up and placed the small amounts of money that they had, in a basket to help her.
Aggie and I knew that we would help top the bill (we are in fact the wealthiest people in that church) but it was moving to see the people in the church, who are also very poor, coming together to help each other.
In the end the remaining 30,000 was collected by the members of the church, and this woman will now be able to get her operation.

Aggie and I did make a decision that we will get her a new bed, since she had to sell her old one.

It was a beautiful reminder that the poor do not always have to rely on the rich from wealthy nations. That they are not totally helpless, and that the body of Christ can always come together to help each other, even if that particular body is very poor.

The desperation that people feel, and the reality of their situation still hits you though.
And another reminder of the pain people go through was about to come.

Near the end of the service another woman from the church who we know, came rushing to talk to the pastor. She had left her baby, who is only a few months old, in the government children's hospital, to ask for help from the congregation.
The child is in a critical condition and needs to be placed on oxygen.
It can be so frustrating here in Uganda, in a government hospital were things are meant to be free, they were still refusing to treat the baby until some money had been paid.

When we inquired what was wrong with the baby, they couldn't say. Another aspect of government hospitals here is that they just treat you without giving you a diagnosis, or I should say the doctors know what is wrong with you, but they don't have the time to explain that to you ... only to treat you.
Often the dignity of the patient is not thought of, there is no thought to explain their condition to them, or to even explain the treatment they will be getting.

Aggie and I were able to contribute something to help the situation because everyone in the church had just used up their money to help the woman with the amputated arm. Our pastor told us this morning that as soon as they reached the hospital and were able to pay for treatment, the doctors started working on the child.
There is still a high chance that the baby will die.

All of these events and stories just help to remind me of the fragility of life. Suffering and death is real.
We may try to paint a picture of living happy adventurous lives on social media, but the reality is we will all go through suffering, we will all see people we love die, and we will all die ourselves. It is not just the poor in other countries, but all of us.
And so I reflect on my life and all that is given to me. Yes the Lord gives and he takes away, but through it all we can praise Him because of the great promises of hope He gives us. And because He Himself entered into our suffering and chose to identify with us.

I am thankful and grateful of so many things. Things that I recognize are not my right! but purely grace.
I am thankful to have access to money and a support system in Australia who would always help my family and I if we were in need. I am grateful for educated human minds who create modern medicine to treat diseases that would of killed us a few hundred years ago.
If I was living a hundred years ago I am sure my family and I would be dead 10 x over.
What right of it was mine to be born into an era of sophisticated modern medicine?
I am grateful for access to that modern medicine and that my family and I are supported enough to get good medical treatment.
I am grateful for a car, so if there is an emergency late in the night I can easily rush to the hospital.
I am grateful for my life, for my health and for my families health.
I am grateful for the local church here, who can come around a sick woman and help raise money for her treatment.
I am grateful for getting sick, so that I was around to help drive Meshach to the hospital on Wednesday night.
I am grateful for the poor, who continue to inspire me with their tremendous acts of faith, courage and love.
I am grateful for a sovereign God, who works all things for the good of those who love Him, even if we cannot understand what He is exactly doing during our moments of pain.
And I am grateful for salvation, that purchases for us access to God and His kingdom. For the hope of the new heavens and a new earth, where every tear will be wiped away in the presence of God.




YSU:
I know I have not given much of an update on YSU, so here is a short one. We are doing well with our tailoring girls, they continue to be committed and love learning. Our house is always full of young men who we are discipling (especially with the holidays on) and we love sharing our lives with these young men.
We are preparing for an empower trauma rehabilitation program with the tailoring girls next week, so please pray for that.
Ethan will also be going for his dependent visa this month, so we also pray for smooth interactions with the immigration officers who will make the call.
Thanks everyone and God bless.

Sickness

So we are a month in to our time back in Uganda and our house hold has been whacked with a serious case of sickness.

Agnes has done some damage to her back, she has a compressed spine, where her vertebrae are compressed against each other pinching the nerves. This has caused her serious pain, often her back will lock up and then she is totally immobile.
The doctor is a bit concerned about it because if it gets any worse she may need surgery on her back.
So we have gotten a new orthopedic mattress for Aggie to sleep on, anything to try and help the situation.

Last Saturday night I started experiencing a strong fever and headache, so after a sleepless night I went to the hospital and got tested positive for malaria.
It has really knocked me around a lot, especially because I had a bad case of the flu to go along with it.

We have been pretty miserable actually, and it has been a struggle to take care of each other and also to take care of Ethan.

Aggie cannot lift Ethan up out of his bed to feed him during the night, so I have had to be doing it. But this is happening while I am shivering and sweating and almost passing out from an incredibly strong fever.

It has been a few days now, and although my fever has reduced and the headaches are gone, my throat has been so sore. It has gotten to the point where I can't eat or even drink water because it is too painful to swallow.
So back to the hospital this morning, and sure enough I have a strong infection in my tonsils/throat.
So more medication and more rest. But at least the malaria is gone.

Please pray for us as we are struggling to do our work here at the moment, we both feel totally immobile at times.
Thankfully Agnes' brother and our maid Zaina have been helping to take care of Ethan, which has relieved us a bit.

Otherwise we are just waiting for our strength to come back to us so we can continue our work.
We continue to run devotions and classes, as well as discipleship for the young people here.

We have started taking youth (mainly from the Village of Hope) in pairs of two's, to come and share dinner with us every week.
We often do all our work through programs and set classes, but I have always been convicted of the idea of bringing the young people into our house, to share a meal with us so they can see how Aggie, myself and Ethan operate as a family.
We feel like this is an important aspect of discipleship. And the Christian virtue of hospitality is something not to be missed and forgotten.
We hope we can also be an example to the young people on how a family can love each other and sit together around the dinner table and share a meal and pray together and read the scriptures together (you would be surprised how much this is lacking in families and marriages here)
I think inviting young people into our homes, to help them grow, and to try our best to be a good example for them, will hopefully have a positive impact on them.

We have also been enjoying our car, as I said in my last post, it certainly makes life much easier here (especially when we are sick and need so many doctors visits)

There is not too much more to write about for now, and I feel my medication kicking in which means I will need to lie down soon.

Please keep us in your prayers.

God bless

Back in Uganda

So we are back in Uganda, and settling in.

The flight over was pretty rough! Ethan was very restless, and so Agnes and I barely got any sleep (about two hours within 24 hours or so)
By the time we were in the car heading to Wairaka, we were all exhausted. Ethan had even stopped crying and was just whimpering.

The big trip was hard on Ethan, and for a few days after he was very unsettled. The change of environment and perhaps the jet lag had him very grumpy for the next few days.

But he has settled right in now, we have a routine going for him, and he is finally sleeping well through the night. All our friends and family have been very happy to see him as well.

Coming back here it was great to see things running smoothly. Our YSU team really worked well together in our absence, and there was nothing in particular that we had to address or fix.

The chicken project ran by Farouk has been making some small profit, and the tailoring class has been running well, with all girls participating and improving in their skills greatly.

We were also very blessed to start driving our new car. To be honest, I don’t think I have ever been to town so many times over the course of a week! This is because in the past, if we needed something from town, we would have to wait for our big shop at the start of the month (where we could pay for a personal taxi) or wait a few days for a list of needs to accumulate before we take public transport in (which can sometimes take over an hour to just get into town and back).

We also managed to purchase a small car seat for Ethan so he is nice and safe.

I do have to say, driving in Uganda can be stressful. Not only do you have to make sure you are always doing the right thing … your eyes need to be on everyone else (motorbikes, pedestrians, cars, trucks, busses) to make sure THEY are going to do the right thing.
Already I am sure, I could have killed a few people if I was distracted … largely because pedestrians are so lax and careless when crossing the road .. They just walk out in front of you, or take their time to stroll across the highway.

Pray for us, and pray for me, that I will always be alert on the road. To be honest, I am not worried about being hit by another car, but rather myself hitting a motor bike or a pedestrian who carelessly crosses in front of me.
I tend to drive rather slowly here, my thoughts are that I’d rather arrive safe with no accidents, then rush to get somewhere.

We have started organizing a bit of schedule to get back into things here. I will be doing lots of personal training stuff with the leaders, and with the young men.

Agnes will continue to work with the young women here as well. We were again reminded of the massive need here, a week upon arrival back home.

One of our old tailoring girls, whose name is Rose, recently had a loss in her family with her auntie dying while giving birth from home. Uganda has a very high birth mortality rate, and a lot of people give birth from home without thought about how they would get to a hospital if something went wrong.

Fortunately the little baby survived, but no one in the family wanted to care for it. This new born child was abandoned by everyone, including the father of the child who said he had no way, or idea, to care for the baby.

Rose, who is a struggling single mother herself, offered to be this child’s mother there and then on the spot.
Rose has always had a kind heart for helping others, and we told her that God will greatly reward her for such a compassionate act.

In her ignorance though, she had been feeding the baby cow’s milk, mixed with sugar and glucose. Again this is because people just have no source of education in these matters, and she was doing the best she could with what she had.

It was the other day she came to us for advice, when the baby was one week old. We quickly rushed to town (again this is another reason why the car is so helpful) to buy baby formula and some other needs for the baby.

We told her we would help her and support her where we could, and she was very much relieved and thankful for the new advice. She really wants to do what she can to help this little baby.

Please pray for the baby his name is Eric, he is very small, but we were positive with the way he was responding. He was feeding from a bottle very well, and his eyes were quite active and looked a bit lively.

This is just the usual for us in Uganda, we hear stories like this all the time. It makes us particularly eager to join in some training in November based around a biblical understanding of marriage, sex, reproduction, family and health. This is health education in reproduction, with a holistic spiritual world view.

This training will help us greatly with dealing with such circumstances, and to help educate those effected.

Again, we thank everyone who has stood with us as we continue to work in this community in Uganda.

We look forward to the year ahead, as we continue to try and reach the youth here with the love of Christ.

God bless

Back to Uganda!

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the long break away from my blog. The last two months has been a refreshing time of catching up with friends and family here in Australia.
Agnes and I had a great time in Australia, especially visiting our church community and spending time with the people we love in Australia.

Although it has been getting cold, I have also enjoyed getting out in the water for a surf as well!!

My whole family has had a great time with Ethan in the house, but there may be a few broken hearts on Tuesday night when we leave to go back to Uganda.
We were also blessed to have Ethan baptized at our family church at One Hope while we have been here in Australia.

We have also had the chance to catch up with sponsors, supporters and donors, as well as evaluate our plans for the next year on the ground.

Agnes and I are very excited about returning to Uganda to get stuck into the work over there.

While we have been away, we have had a great leadership team running YSU. Agnes brother Dauglas has been so valuable to us, as he managed the project in Uganda.

When we return we look forward to investing more into the tailoring girls, including the running of an empower trauma rehabilitation program.
We also want to continue our relational discipleship and mentorship with the young men and women in Uganda.

This includes inviting young people into our house, so we can invest in them, and so they can also see a family dynamic that hopefully reflects what God desires for family to be.
We are well aware of the many broken homes and families that people come from, and the young people who have witnessed marriages full of brokenness and abuse.
And although Aggie and I never claim to be a perfect family, we recognize the level of stability and love that we can show to young people. We always pray that God will use our marriage and family to be a light for the world

We also are excited about doing some training with a group called Wise Choices For Life, which helps men and women learn about reproductive issues, family issues, pregnancy issues and more.
This is a great program that we are excited about. We look forward to being trained in the curriculum so we too can pass on this knowledge to our young men and women.

I would also like to start up a boys holiday camping program, which will take troubled young men away on a camping trip that involves a lot of self development and discipleship.

We have also been excited to see our chicken project making profit, and so we want to continue to develop this into a reliable source of income.

When we return we also have a car waiting for us!! Andrew recently purchased our new car while he has been over there. This is going to make life so much easier in Uganda. No longer will we have to rely on dangerous public transport, or expensive private taxis.
We want to thank all those people who contributed to make this a reality.

We request that you pray for us as we go back to Uganda. Pray for strength and motivation to get back into our work. Please pray for visa situations as well, as we start to organize Ethan's dependent visa.

We thank all of you who have been involved in supporting us and our work in Uganda.
We always say that we could not do this without you.

I will now try my best to get back into blog writing, so you can all be updated on our progress in Uganda.

Thank you and God bless.

Coming home

For those who don't know, Agnes, Ethan and myself will be travelling to Australia today!
So we will be back in Australia this week!

We plan to spend some time resting with family and friends, catching up with our church community and also touching base with our sponsors and supporters!
We look forward to this time of reflection and time of fellowship with our much beloved friends and family.

The last few weeks have included lots of preparing for our leaving! But we are confident with the team we are leaving behind to manage YSU.

We have also enjoyed Agnes birthday, and Farouk and I have almost completed our walk from Kampala to the Kenyan border.

Please pray for us as we travel! We are a bit nervous to see how it will be flying with a baby, and on top of that Ethan has just started to teeth and can get quite distressed.

If you would like to catch up with us when we are in Australia (We arrive this week, and leave at the start of July) then please send me a message on my facebook or and email to ooeeluke@hotmail.com

We would love to catch up with as many friends as we can.

Thank you and God bless.

March

It has been a long time since I last wrote a blog. Sometimes the time can slip by and before I know it, one month has passed before I have updated anyone. I apologize for the long delay.

Basically here at YSU we have been preparing for Agnes and myself to leave for two months.
Agnes and I will be coming to Australia (with Ethan of course) on the 25^th of April, and then returning back to Uganda on the 6^th of July.

We are very excited to come back for two months. We look forward to family and friends getting to meet Ethan! We also look forward to catching up with our sponsors and all of those who have supported us.

I’m particularly looking forward to seeing my church family at one hope again! I also look forward to some peace and quiet. It seems to be that after a year here on the ground I get a little bit weary of living in a full community house with all the issues that need to be dealt with.

I am also looking forward to some soul filling, spirit refreshing times in the Australian bush and by the ocean side. I would be lying if I said that I don’t miss the ocean. These will all be times of rest for my soul! What great peace I find in God’s good creation! No wonder the Psalms describes God’s rest as Him ‘laying us down by green pastures’. 

And as last time, I also look forward to coming back to Uganda, refreshed and with some new perspective.

There is always something valuable about taking yourself totally out of the ministry environment to be able to have some reflecting and introspection on all that you are doing.

So for those who would love to catch up with us! Be known that we will be around for two months from the 24^th of April!

In regards to YSU running on the ground while we are gone, we feel confident about the team we are leaving behind.
We have a new team at YSU at the moment, with two extra teachers. Agnes’ brother Douglous, who has studied community development and is a very faithful friend, will be taking on a management role while we are gone.

We are confident with Douglous management skills, faithfulness in handling money and ability to sort out issues and conflicts.

We also have a new older woman teaching our tailoring girls alongside Beatrice. Christine is a tailoring teacher, but has also studied social work, so she is very capable of running classes while we are gone.

The next month will involve sitting down with Farouk and Douglous and training them up to be able to take control over the months that Agnes and I are in Australia.

The tailoring girls are also doing very well! They are very committed, and because of the structures and policies we have put in place this time around, we feel that this tailoring class is going to be our best yet.

With new teachers, new contributions, new policies, new areas of learning, we see this class as a very holistic way to help break the cycle of poverty in these young women’s lives.

Even simple little things that we are doing differently will make a big difference.

Previously we had supplied everything for the girls in the old tailoring classes. This was due to the fact that the girls were extremely poor and so we thought we should just provide all the resources.
A negative result of this was that we created an environment where none of the materials we provided were treated with respect.

Materials and tools would go missing, and girls would just expect new things to be provided for them.

This time around we are making the girls provide simple materials (books, rulers, pens) for the course.
It may be a bit of an effort for the girls to search for the money to provide this simple things … but it is certainly not in the realm of impossible.

As a result, on the first day of class, every single girl came with a new book and new ruler and a new pen.

They will treat their materials with much more respect now.

They also know that if any of the materials that YSU provides get broken or lost, the girls will have to replace it themselves.

These are the just some of the small and simple changes we have implemented.

The whole idea is that instead of creating a class where we are doing everything for them, we want to create a class where we partner with the girls and work together for a new future for them.

The last few months have included lots of paper work as well, as I have been organizing Ethan’s Australian certificate of citizenship and his passport!

I am happy to announce that Ethan is officially now a citizen of Australia, and his passport is about one week away from coming.

Agnes has also been granted her partner visa which has been a great blessing!

At the property we have also started a new lot of chickens! We have changed breeders and are getting our chickens from Kenya now.
So far so good, these chickens look much healthier than our lost batch (which had a lot of stunted sickly chickens)

God has been very good to us, from all our legal documents being taken care of and approved, to seeing young people being changed and healed through YSU.

We continue to see young men growing passionately in their faith! I have one particular young man I am discipling who finishes his high school education at the end of his year.
He’s hope and dream is to go to bible/theological school next year. He has such a passion for the word of God and I see this young man as a very strong leader, with a very humble character, who God has a strong calling on his life.
It would be very difficult for him to afford bible school, but perhaps if anyone ever feels the heart to help him, he will be able to pursue his dream.

We also continue Wednesday fellowships here, and more and more people come for simple worship and bible readings.

Ethan is also doing well! The boy keeps growing and is getting very fat!
The other day he got his vaccine for TB, and we were at the local medical clinic. A little 16 month girl was also there getting her injections, she was walking around and talking and quite developed. When they asked to weigh her she was 8.5 kg’s (quite small for her age) then when they asked us to weigh Ethan (who is 2 and a half months) he weighed in at 7.1 kg’s. We all had a laugh in the hospital room, and the nurses joked that Agnes must be providing good milk.

It does get a little bit heavy to carry him around everywhere though! He certainly is a big boy.

All in all, we are a bit busy as we prepare to come back to Australia. We ask for your prayers as we continue to prepare, and that we have a safe trip back to Australia.

We do look forward to seeing you all when we come back.