Prison Ministry

Last week we visited the prison OC (officer in charge), and he appointed a contact person for us.  This week President Museveni opened the Ugandan economy, lifting all corona virus restrictions.  We called our contact and she told us the OC was among those in Arua meeting to discuss how they were going to go about reopening the prisons of West Nile region to visitors and to ministry.  While we wait for the decisions of that meeting, we met to continue our study of the gospel of Mark.  Afterwards we talked about a few business items, such as how to prepare team members that joined after the prison was closed (team members who have never been inside).  We also discussed prison ministry in general and the team expressed interest in learning more about Kairos’ prayer and share model.  (Kairos is an international prison ministry.)

Hospital Ministry

The prison ministry team continues to visit the Koboko Hospital on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month.  We were invited to do this when some of our members expressed an interest in doing something to help one of the other ministries until the prison ministry could re-enter the prison.

Our numbers are down, mostly because several team members are in school now that the schools have re-opened.  Four of us went and prayed for the patients.  We served in two teams of two.  The other member of my group is well versed in translating to and from Kakwa.  We were able to respond to specific prayer requests and share encouraging words of hope from the Bible.

Internet

I am used to having internet access when I want it.  Even if it is not a high bandwidth Wi-Fi service like I enjoyed in the USA, still hotspot my phone access whenever I want.  That is not the case here in Koboko.  The reduction in service providers in Uganda from three (MTN, Africell, Airtel) to two (Africell closed their Ugandan operations) means a reduction in service in my region of Koboko.  The closest tower was operated by Africell (no longer operating in this country).  It provided reasonably good service, although there were times when there was too much traffic, and I could not connect.

MTN has the reputation as the best service provider in this part of Uganda, but its data service was frustrating me year ago, so I switched to Africell for internet but kept MTN for voice and text.  Now I am using MTN for everything and their data service is frustrating me again.  I have noticed a pattern, but it is a pattern that is not convenient for me.  In the morning when I am busy preparing for or participating in ministry activities, the service has been usable.  (During those in-between moments when I can try getting on the internet.)  In the evening, when the daylight is fading and outside activities come to an end, the service deteriorates.  This is the part of the day when I have opportunity to attempt using it, so it frustrates me not to have service then.  It is also the part of the day when I might attempt zoom calls with contacts in other parts of the world (due to time zone differences), but MTN’s service is not going to support that.

I have been asking people about Airtel.  The quick response is they are the worst carrier here.  In the South, in Kampala, they are good, but here, in rural Northwest Uganda, they are the worst.  Still, a few people are encouraging me to buy into their service and give it a try.

Projects

There are a couple of church projects I have been involved with.  The first project is the latest in a series of projects that St. Andrew, Seattle has been doing with and for St. Stephen, Nakiwogo.  (Nakiwogo is a neighborhood or section of the town of Entebbe, Uganda.)  I grew up at St. Andrew’s and met Frederick when he was in Seattle in 2010.  Now I am in Uganda, so I am serving as a local representative for St. Andrew’s and helping put the new clergy members of St. Stephen’s in contact with the project contacts in Seattle.

The second is a project of the Women’s Union attached to St. John Birijaku.  (Birijaku is a neighborhood or section of the municipality of Koboko, Uganda.)  St. John’s is my church home in Uganda, so I naturally supported this project.  The Women’s Union has been eager to show me their progress and to make known their desire for support.  Even though they do not know about the project at St. Stephen’s, they desire support that would be similar.

In August 2021, the trenches for the foundation were dug.  They wanted to make sure I saw the work before I traveled to the US for the first time in two years.

When I returned in January, they wanted me to see that the foundation had been laid in the trenches and the dirt filled in.

Dina, head of the Women’s Union, and Charles

As additional funds are raised, the foundation will be filled in and a slab poured.  The walls will be built using the rest of the bricks (same type as those in the foundation but not in the picture).  When completed the building will serve as an office for the church (currently St John’s only has a nave), a place for meetings with small to moderate numbers, and as a guest house.

Kingaba

As a member of the Truth is Light board, I traveled to Kingaba in response to an invitation from evangelist Stephen’s to join them for a service.  The last time I was there the service started around 10 a.m.  This time it was starting at 8 a.m.  Last time the service was three hours and included several scripture readings and travel (by foot) to the local stream for a baptism.  There was a sermon about baptism before the trip to the stream, and a separate set of scripture readings and sermon after we returned from the stream.

This time the service was less than an hour.  There was only one scripture reading.  I had been asked in advance to prepare the sermon which I did.

Weather

January is supposed to be hot in Koboko.  It is the middle of the dry season; however, it is not dry.  It has rained several times in January including twice during the week since my return.  The weather has been cold enough for wearing a sweater or a jacket most of the day.  Is the wet season beginning early?  The first couple of days after my return people were out digging in their gardens, preparing the soil.  Something they do after the first rains soften the soil. 

However, they are not digging now.  The weather has started warming up.  It is not January temperatures yet, more like mid-December temperature. 

Many people make mud bricks during the dry season because that is the time they can be molded and dried long enough to hold together.  Then they cook them (burn them) when they anticipate the rains are coming.  The recently molded (not yet cooked) bricks do not hold up to a rain.  There are many yards around Koboko filled with spoiled bricks.  Now that the rain has stopped again, people have stopped digging in their gardens and started working on bricks again.  During the wet season they will either build with the bricks they made, or they will sell them to raise funds for the family.  Either way, the weather has caused confusion and economic setback for many in the area.

Email difficulties

There used to be three phone companies serving Uganda.  While I was in the USA, one of those companies, Africel, closed its Uganda operations.

When I arrived two years ago, I was told MTN has the best network, so I bought a SIM card for MTN.  It served my needs for voice and texting; however, there was lag and re-sending data packets when I used it for data (internet / email).  I asked about this because the cell tower is just a block over and a block down the hill and there is clear line of sight.  That tower is Africel, not MTN.  The phone supports two SIM cards, so I bought an Africel SIM.  My internet and email access were good on Africel.

Now that Africel is gone I moved back to MTN only to find what used to be lags is now complete drop of service.  The icon on the computer changes to show there is no connection.  Some days it happens so often it is hard to log into email before loosing the connection.  Reminds me of my experience in the Peace Corps when I tried to add internet service to the computer lab in Janjang Burreh, Gambia.  Fortunately, I write most things off-line and just paste them in when I am online.  Still, it is proving to be a problem and I am going to find out where that last network’s nearest tower is located.  If you are reading this post, then I obviously had a good day where I could paste it into the blog and set it up for posting.

New OC

Meta and I visited Bugutu Prison prior to the prison team meeting this week.  Prior to going, I called the OC (officer in charge) to make sure it was okay for us to come by for a courtesy call.  James (the OC I had known up to now) took my call and informed me he had been transferred to a prison in Adjumani district.  Sounded like he was happy and that it was a promotion.  Bugutu Prison is on the small end for prisons in Uganda.  I do not know how large the prison is in Adjumani but moving from OC of a small prison to OC of a larger one does not surprise me.

He encouraged us to visit the new OC, even though I did not have the means to make contact and make sure it was okay.  The new OC, Paul Katabazi, has been OC for six days.  It was a promotion for him too.  Other officers at the prison told him a little about our ministry and he made it clear we are always welcome to come by.  It seems our courtesy calls over the last several years have paid off.  Uganda does not want people wandering by its prisons, so we have been careful to keep the courtesy calls to once in six weeks. 

While the prediction since last August and continuing through the team’s courtesy call in December (while I was in the USA) had been we would be allowed to resume in January, the prison still cannot accept visitors or ministry.  Paul explained the current variant, Omicron, has reached Uganda and the case numbers are beginning to rise.  Even though most of the other restrictions are being eased further (or eliminated) now that it has been 22 months, the prisons are still locked down.  He is hoping to be able to open to us in February.

Kittens

I reached home (Koboko) in the evening.  The evening of the following day Meta told me Queen Sheba had kittens and led me to the curtain covering the door at the other end of the room.  (It was after dark, and that curtain had already been drawn.)  There were two little kittens behind a fold of the curtain, one mostly black, the other mostly white.  Strange because Queenie is a mix, a tuxedo.

Back up in time.  Earlier in the day, as I started to settle in and begin unpacking, whenever I came to a box Queenie meowed and made it clear she wanted to climb in.  Not unusual for her, so I put it down and let her get in.  Sometimes she took a nap, others she just played for a while before getting out.  Back to the evening introduction to the kittens.  Queenie started talking again so I put the box down and just left it there overnight.

In the morning Queenie came over and greeted me.  Then I went to look at the kittens.  She had put them in the box, but there are three.  By mid-day she had brought out her fourth from wherever she gave birth.  It has been a few days now and the number is still four.

Arriving In Koboko

I arrived in Koboko after four days of traveling.  (That includes the non-travel day in Entebbe to attend church and make deliveries in that part of Uganda.)  The trip from Entebbe takes all-day.  The car ride from Entebbe to Kampala was only an hour because we were ahead of the heavy traffic.  The bus trip takes 10 hours, more when the stops along the way take extra time for loading and unloading.  The driver was encouraging the rest of the staff to “keep them moving” and not to allow extended conversations during loading and unloading.  It took a while, but they got the idea, so we only added half an hour before they got the process down.

Shortly after we left the station in Kampala, I received a text from a member of the prison ministry team asking where I was.  I told him.  Then he asked when I would arrive.  I knew the buses arrival was hard to predict precisely and said so.  He asked me to send him an update when the bus got close.  I let him know when we stopped at the Arua bus station because I knew the bus typically makes the trip from Arua to Koboko in an hour.

When I arrived, I did not see my texting friend at the bus stop.  I did not worry about it.  I just worked with the staff to get my luggage from under the bus and then met Peter who drove me and my luggage to my home.  My texting friend was at my house, along with several others.  The entry was decorated (ala toilet paper) and a wonderful meat dinner was being served to welcome me home.