Camp week 4

Sunday morning it was off to Retract Uganda to speak to the boys there. Since I was not going to be there on Christmas I gave a message on it. We had the boys act out the story as we read it. We had 6 angels, 10 shepherds, which turned into 5 shepherds and 5 sheep as we went along, 4 Marys, 2 Josephs, and 2 who played baby Jesus. It was quite funny as we went along. We talked about having Jesus come to life in our life each day. After finishing at Retract I met up with the others at church. We had a chance be at home before the bus picked us up and got the boys on the way to Buyobe. The ride takes close to 2 hours. When we got there we unloaded and set up as was the usual routine now. The boys had noticed that there was a nice soccer field down the road so most of the boys went to go play. Ryan, Katie, and I decided we would go for a walk down the road in the opposite direction. Our fan club of 4 kids went with us arguing over which hand they would hold. Buyobe is a poorer community but everyone takes pride in their home. We really could learn a lot from this. Although the house is made of dirt and the yard is dirt it is swept, pick up, and kept “clean” at least twice a day. As we walked along, I saw several kids playing cards who stopped to stare and laugh at me as I walked by. I decided that I should go and play cards with them. They thought this was great as did the adults who were watching from the porch. I played about three games with them, and as I left we all laughed. Guess that happens when you are filled with the joy of the Lord. – Now this may not be a fair comparison at all, so I am careful in making it. People in the villages rarely see white people and have a very inflated opinion of them. They yell for their kids to come see you and to even touch you as if you are someone special. I imagine people treated Jesus in much the same way. Now seeing people on the road and walking up to them to talk or touch them makes their day. It brings out these amazing smiles from them and from me. People were always coming to Jesus. I imagine he had a lot of fun walking along and making them smile.

Monday morning the kids were slow in arriving. At 9:30 we decided to start and split into three groups and then have everyone join me at the end for games. Well by the time we got to chapel we had 110. We did decide to continue doing the schedule with games coming first each day and one group having the day off to help others. After we finished many of the kids stayed around to play and just hang out, Some of this is because the community well is right in front of the school. That afternoon we walked down the road to go play soccer. The game drew quite a large crowd of people from this next village. People were smiling and yelling to all of us as we started the walk back. I found out later that the boys had arranged a game for Wednesday afternoon with the community team. I knew this was going to be a big deal for everyone. Earlier in the afternoon I had the time to talk to some of the boys and that conversation had moved into girls and sex. We had been questioning whether or not to have an organized talk with the boys about this. The girls had gotten into similar conversations that day. So, that night I told the boys that Tuesday I would talk with them about anything they wanted to know about sex and answer their questions. Oh Boy! Monday also gave me time to hang out with Phillip. Phillip has autism. He always hangs around the school and usually gets picked on by everyone. My experiences at Camp Barnabas have prepared me for these interactions and have given me knowledge and a heart for people with special needs. I called him away from everybody and just gave him the opportunity to sit and take it easy with someone loving on him. Katie started playing a song so we sung to him which relaxed him and he just smiled a smile from God as he held my hand. That night Katie and I addressed the boys about what was up with Phillip and why he acted the way he did. The problem is that no one here understands that and so they treat him horribly. Truthfully, people in the US understand something is wrong, but still treat people mean who have special needs because they are scared and don’t understand.

Tuesday went by pretty smoothly. The kids were having a blast and were very friendly. This week I decided that I would do singing during my class and try to teach Jesus Loves Me. The first day I had 30 or so 4 and 5 year olds. I decided to teach the first part in English, cut it in half, and do the chorus in Lugandan. It worked for the most part. That afternoon we got the boys to together to have the sex talk. I thought it went well. After I finished we called the girls in so they could ask them questions and hear a girls prospective. They had a lot of questions for them. One thing that was great to see on this day was how different the boys treated Phillip. They were inviting him over and teaching him things. You could tell the kids were looking at them weird for doing it. That evening we again made the trek to the soccer field for a game. I think there were even more people from the community that day and I knew there would be a lot tomorrow for the game.

Wednesday morning Katie and I got up and ran the road. It is quite cool here in the morning. 60’s for sure. We headed in the opposite direction that we normally walked. Again it is funny to be running along and have people see you, and then yell for everyone to come out and look. What is more startling is when you are a long way from the school and someone calls you by name and says hello. It is very humbling. The day at camp went by smooth. Around 80 prayed with John Paul when he gave them the opportunity to accept Christ. I like letting him be the one to finish up and make that invitation. I can tell that God has gifted him with speaking and I sat him down this week and told him that. His response was simply, “Well glory to God then!” Right on! Again we praise God knowing he knows what is going on in that room when we pray and it’s just up to us to be faithful. It had been another hot day as if someone had turned the temperature up another 10 degrees. Most of us just hid in the coolest spot we could find and took a nap. We had to drag the boys down the road for the game which is a real surprise since they always want to play. When we got there the community was a no show. We waited as they got on their phones and bodas to go and pick people up. About an hour later their uniforms and coach arrived so we could start. These games are very serious and quite dangerous. There is not a good referee and it’s more like streetball with spikes on. No fouls just craziness. At halftime it was 2-0 in favor of the home team. There had now formed quite a crowd. Several of the people from Buyobe had ridden the bus down with us and others had walked. As the second half got underway and the game became more intense the crowds were yelling at each other. When the final whistle blew it was 3-2 Abaana. The boys yelled and ran around. They started wearing these huge smiles and even the locals clapped for them. Some of the people asked if we would be here for Christmas. We told them that we wouldn’t and would have to leave. They said that the whole community would miss us. I don’t think the guys on the team will miss us, but maybe we gave the community something to do each day, so I could see that. As we got on the bus to drive back to Buyobe the boys were cheering and hanging out the window yelling. The locals from Buyobe who were on the bus were chanting the whole was back. I had the chance to play sports all my life and I remember when we played away games against our rivals. I always loved the rides back because you felt like kings of the world. These boys had not had the chance to do that. This was their king moment. They would have never thought a few years back living on the street that they could have this. There smiles showed the joy. As I sat there and listened and watched, I thought about how God had pulled them out of such horrible circumstances. For four weeks we had worked with them and helped them lead. They had grown so much and learned so much. Now here was a reward for their efforts. Even as tired as I was I couldn’t help but smile and wave to the people on the road cheering as we drove by.

Thursday may have been the smoothest day of four weeks of camp. Guess that’s what happens when you have all this practice. It was tough saying good bye to Phillip. The boys were sad to say good bye to. I think they understand now. The way they treated him later in the week was noticed by the kids too, and no one was making fun of him when we left. Sometimes it takes someone special to help us realize things about ourselves and I think Phillip’s smile did that for them. Some of the boys even gave him some of their stuff.

4 weeks have come and gone. There have been many moments that I still can’t describe on paper. There are things forgot to write. I may never know the impact we made on the communities. Each week as we leave we are told it’s a lot. God knows, and I think he is smiling. I have learned more about Ugandan culture and ways of life. I have had so many meaningful conversations with the boys. I have tried to pour myself into them through my words and my example. I will miss having them around to ask questions of me and make me smile at the crazy things they do. I won’t miss their snoring or texting during the middle of the night. I thank God for the opportunities we has had. I know 12 Ugandan and 4 American lives are different, and that makes it worth it.