October Issue This issue highlights two stories: Our Journey Toward Solar and a praise story from the Shalom Widows Hope Fund. a) When the Lights Went Out: Our Journey Toward Solar A few years ago, we brought electricity to the community we serve through advocacy. See the previous blog on electricity here . It was a big moment, and yes, we still celebrate it. Since then, though, Uganda has struggled with an unreliable power supply and poor management of it for the past three years. In June, the problem hit close to home. The transformer serving our community blew. The government says it is waiting for a replacement, but no one can tell us when it will come. Months later, we still have no power. This has made our work much harder. Our work with the school has been disrupted, and much of our office work has stopped. Anything that needs electricity now means traveling elsewhere, which costs us time, money, and energy that should be going into the c...
As a community project dedicated to development work in our community, we endeavor to develop a holistic view of development. We offer a Christian-integrated approach to development that does not separate the spiritual from the community's holistic development. Community Leaders Workshop 2012 The Namutere Shalom community church began as an outcome of the annual community leaders summit, where we brought all community leaders together to discuss and build their leadership capacity. A large percentage of the leaders who attended were church leaders, and yes, this community is deeply Christian. Small group discussions As we continued hosting missionary volunteers who served in the project as medical workers and teachers, they initiated evening Bible study, mostly with young people. This evening Bible study grew steadily, and by then Pastor Patrick, our project coordinator, was completing theological education. After completing it, he began providing leadership and insi...
In my last two episodes, I shared my childhood experiences first, during the war and after the war. Today, I'll continue with the third episode, "Beyond the Village." With no high school near me, it was time to leave home and head to the nearest "big town," Jinja, Uganda. I had never imagined myself in a big town before. Jinja, an industrial hub, was unlike anything I had known. After enrolling in high school, I needed to find somewhere to stay. I ended up sharing a small hut with a classmate who had already rented it. I remember looking up at night and seeing the sky and moon through the roof. We had to sleep in shifts because there wasn't enough room for both of us simultaneously. As hard as life was in my village, I missed it. (This is one of my first ever pictures taken)!!!!!! Back to the story!! To make ends meet, I worked to pay for my school fees, accommodation, and food. I enrolled in a carpentry apprenticeship and worked with a carpenter, d...
Comments
Post a Comment