Ekubo Ministries

So, obviously I am not a "blogger".  My last post on here was nearly two years ago. Seriously, it took me a minute to remember the address to my own blog, haha. But, I decided to write today in honor of Ekubo Ministries. Recently Ekubo Ministries was offered an amazing opportunity of a matching grant up to $25,000!  So, I wanted to write a little about my own experience with the Magera family back in 2011.




About three and a half years ago, I started feeling led towards Africa. To Uganda in particular. After a lot of research, I found an orphanage in Jinja, Uganda that cared for babies up to 5 years old. I applied online, and started the process of preparing to go overseas for two months. While doing this, I found Christie Magera's Blog online, and after finding out that she was moving to Uganda, I sent her a friend request on facebook. After chatting a bit with her, she offered to pick me up at the airport when I arrived in Uganda and drive me to Jinja. I gladly accepted, and asked if I could stay with her and her family for a week while in Uganda.
 On March 2nd 2011, I arrived in Uganda at about 9pm after traveling for nearly 24 hours. I was met by George and Christie, and drove the three-ish hour trip to the small village of Bugabo where they lived. I spent a rather emotional first night in Uganda, beyond tired from the trip and missing my family, with whom I had never been more than an hour apart. But the next morning I woke up to..... Africa. A beautiful sunrise, kids pumping water from the borehole (well) and a feeling of belonging. I had only been in the village for a few hours and I already loved it. Way too soon it was time to load back up and make the three hour trip from the village to the orphanage in Jinja. I planned on returning to Bugabo for a week at the end of the month. It would take many blog posts to describe all the feelings and experiences of the next two months, so I will attempt to condense it. :)
 After a couple weeks at the orphanage I began to seriously think through the reasons I had come to Africa. And the conclusion I came to was......... I came to love. I wanted to deepen my understanding of what it meant to love completely, unconditionally, with my whole heart. I wanted to grow, and be stretched in ways that might be uncomfortable. Unfortunately, that was not happening in Jinja. Now, don't get me wrong, the orphanage I was at is a wonderful ministry that is working hard to care for kids, and to adopt/ resettle babies with families either in Uganda or Internationally. But I didn't feel like I was really connecting to the kids or caregivers. I was having a good time, playing with babies, going to church and bible studies with the other volunteers, and meeting other missionaries that lived in Jinja, but still......There just seemed to be something missing. I felt my heart being pulled back to that little village that I had barely gotten a glimpse of when I first arrived. Towards the end of March, Christie and George came back to Jinja to this spot, to get away for awile, visit, and play with their kids.

It was a Sunday, so we met at church and I asked if I could go back with them to the village that evening. They happily agreed, and that night I was back in Bugabo.

They say a picture speaks a thousand words...... So here are some pictures from my first week in Bugabo.

 Before I left for Africa, I decided to sponsor one of the kids at the school that the Magera's run (and live right next to) This picture is of the first time we met.  Her name is Miria. I love the expression on Miria's face in this picture. So sweet. I also had the privilege of meeting Miria's family! 

 

Baby Christian. He was born the first full day I was in Bugabo. His mom had some complications and I rode along with Christie and George as they rushed his mommy and daddy to the hospital. Thankfully, everything turned out wonderful, and they went back home the next day. :)

Before and after school time, you can always find kids hanging out on the Magera's porch!

Visiting with Baby Christian's family a few days after he was born.

Me and Jessie (my wonderful traveling companion and partner in adventures) planting some squash and tomato seeds I brought from the States.

 

 

 

After the week was over and it came time to go back to Jinja....... The more I thought about it the more I dreaded leaving. My heart had found a home in this place. Christie and George decided to name the new ministry they were starting, "Ekubo" which means "The Way" in Luganda. They weren't following their own way, but God's. I could see it in every part of life there. There was definitely a struggle going on against the darkness that continually tried to creep in, but the Light was always stronger. God was doing huge things in this tiny village, and I was delighted to be able to see it. The School was one of those things. Ekubo Christian Academy. 300 children from the village were receiving an education, and learning about Jesus at the same time! Many of these kids were/are from Muslim homes. My heart smiled every time I heard them in school praying together or singing about the love of Jesus.

Needless to say, I did not return to Jinja. I prayed about it, and decided that I would stay in Bugabo. I spent the last week of March and all of April 2011 in the village. It would take quite a few posts to write about everything that happened in my life in that month, so I will conclude the post here, but if you want to read about a few of the things that took place during that time, you can read this post, "A Basket of Avacados" and this post, "How I Arrived at this Place"  

 

 

I have continued to watch God grow Ekubo Ministries in the last three years. They have expanded the school, built wells to bring fresh water to those in need, started community programs to help moms earn money to support their families, built a children's home, provided discipleship programs for local pastors, and much, much more to help their community and to share the Gospel of Christ! Please prayerfully consider joining in to support this Ministry. Pray for the work they are doing in Uganda, and if God leads you, give financially. There are 7 days left of the $25,000 matching grant, so if they get that by the end of the month, they will have $50,000, and every bit will be going towards their school, Ekubo Christian academy. To learn more about Ekubo, visit their facebook page or their website- www.ekuboministries.org

How I arrived at this place

If you would have asked me, a year and a half ago, what I wanted to do "with the rest of my life" I would have probably given you a smile, shrugged, and said one of several "Safe" answers that I had come up with to deal with this question when it arose. Which was quite frequently. I would have then either quickly changed the subject, or else just avoided talking to you until a more safe subject came along. The truth was, I had a good idea of what I "wanted" for my life. But it was not something that I  usually felt comfortable with bringing up in casual conversation, because of the reaction I knew I would get from most people. I mean, what exactly would you say if a teen-age girl looked at you and said that what she wanted to do with her life was to be a missionary in a third world country? I got enough strange looks just telling people that I was going to Uganda for two months.  And besides, I wasn't sure...Not 100% anyway.  I knew that God had told me to go to Uganda, and I was hoping that He would tell me to stay. I trusted that once I got there, He would show me the next step. But most people didn't seem to understand this. I would tell them that I was walking by Faith, that I wasn't sure what the "next step" would be.... And they would give me a blank look, and then ask..... "Yes, but what are you going to do when you get back from Africa?"  At which point I would decide that the conversation was completely hopeless.  I got discouraged a time or two..... Because I knew in my heart that if I waited and listened that God would show me where to go.  I don't think that God hides His plan for us... But I do believe that He reveals His plans in His time, not ours. I knew that it would NOT work to tell people what I "wanted" to do with my life before God had revealed to me what HE wanted me to do with my life. I knew that whatever His plan was for me, it would be better than what I could come up with for myself. I wanted to make sure that what I wanted was the same as what God wanted for me.  So I would smile, and give a vague answer, and know that I was driving everyone (including my mom) completely crazy. All of these conversations took place time and time again leading up to the day I left for Africa. At which point I had nobody to argue with but myself. Which I did plenty of. It seemed that, the moment I left American soil, all the doubts I had from all of those conversations came crashing down.  I wondered what exactly I thought I was doing, traveling thousands of miles away from home just because I believed that that would be where God would show me the "next step". Couldn't He just let me know while I was in the comfort of my own home? It certainly would have been nice, in my mind, to know exactly what I was getting myself into, BEFORE I actually got myself into it. But, I was in Africa by that time and there was no going back, I just had to trust that God would indeed show me what in the world I was supposed to do. So I decided to just close my eyes and trust. Trust that God would NEVER leave me nor forsake me, and that as long as I was following Him, everything would work out for my good and His glory. One morning, about two weeks after I arrived in Uganda, I received my "answer". And it was one that I did. NOT. Expect. At all.  It didn't come the way I expected either. It came in the form of a facebook message. From a young man who I had only accepted a friend request from because I knew his mother from when I was a little girl. You might be wondering, at this point, what in the world was in that message that I would have such a strong reaction too.... If I knew I would tell you. The only thing John Paul said in the message was that he was interested in what I was doing in Uganda and would like to get to know me better. That was it. But that message, coming when it did, was the "answer" that I had been looking for. I remember that morning quite well. I had gotten up early (6ish) to eat breakfast and catch up on facebook and my email before I started the day. I remember opening facebook, seeing that message, and sitting and staring at the screen for a good 10 or 15 minutes. My very first thought was "God wants me to marry this guy." Followed by several minutes of sheer panic, which was followed quickly by "I'm just over-reacting. I'm going to close the computer now, and pretend that I did not see anything." Needless to say, it didn't work. So later that day, I wrote an email to my dad. Without going into details with him, I asked what he thought of this message from John Paul, and what he thought about me messaging John Paul on facebook for awhile and getting to know him better. Unfortunately, my dad had just gone out of town for work, so it would be three looooonnngg days before he sent me a reply.  I used that time to try and calm down a little.... And spend LOTS of time in prayer and reading my bible. I wanted to reply to John Paul, but I was determined not to message him back until I was sure of the reasons why I was doing so.  My thoughts kept going back and forth between thinking that I was seriously over-reacting to this whole thing, and a continued nagging in the back of my mind that this was going to be the guy that I would marry and spend the rest of my life with. The second thought completely freaked me out, since I didn't know John Paul at all. I didn't want to question God's plan for me, if this was indeed His plan but..... Really??  It didn't help matters that whenever I flipped open my bible, it would open to a passage about husbands and wives, or marriage and family. Eventually, my dad emailed me back and said that he trusted my judgement about talking to John Paul on facebook until we had a chance to meet him in person. For the remaining six weeks that I was in Africa, I messaged John Paul whenever I got a chance.  I managed to push the "marriage" idea into the back of my mind for awhile, as I spent the rest of the time in Africa in a small village with no running water and only occasional electricity.  I through myself into my life in Africa, knowing that eventually I would have to return home to the American world, and leave the children that I was falling in love with and that small corner of the world where I felt so much at peace.  I won't try to describe my emotions the day I left Africa, because I'm not sure that I could explain exactly what I was feeling that day.  After I returned home, and was over-run with excited parents and siblings who refused to let me out of their sight for the next several weeks, I begin to slowly settle back into my life. Which meant that the "questions" resumed.  From everyone I met. "Would you want to go back to Africa now?" "Where are you going to college?"  "You ARE going to college, aren't you?" "What are your plans..... For the summer/ next year/ the next 5 years....." And so on and so forth. And I found myself in a rather odd predicament. I met John Paul a couple weeks after I got home, (although he had already met the rest of my family while I was in Africa) and was getting more and more certain that this was indeed God's plan that He was revealing to me.  Which made for an awkward few weeks, as I completely ignored any sort of questions people would ask me about the future. I was pretty sure at that point that I would not be returning to Africa anytime soon, which I had mixed emotions about, as images and faces that I had left behind continuously flashed through my mind.  I decided pretty quickly that acting uncertain of my future, when I finally knew for sure what God's plan for me was, was NOT something that I wanted to do. Evidently John Paul had the same idea, and we got engaged 7 weeks after I got back from Africa.  Three months later we were married. When I went to Africa, I was ready to say "Yes".  But what I thought I would be saying yes to and what I actually said yes to turned out to be completely different things.  But it turned out that what I said "Yes" to was what I really wanted more than anything. Because God's plan is ALWAYS better than mine. I can't even imagine life without John Paul, and I am SO ready to meet our baby.  I still miss Africa.  And yes, if the opportunity arose to go back to Uganda with my family, and I believed that God was leading me, I would go.  But for now, I rest in the knowledge that I am exactly where God wants me. As a wife and mother.  And there is NOTHING better in this world than knowing that you are in the center of God's will for your life. Evan if it is not where you expected it to be.

A Return to Blogging

I wanted to make a return to the blog world..... But was not sure how after being absent for over a year. In the end, I decided to just jump back in. This last year has been crazy, but in a good way.  After returning from Uganda a year ago I met and married the Man of my dreams (that deserves its own post) and now am only a couple weeks away from meeting our 1st baby. I originally began this blog to keep friends and family updated about my trip to Uganda, but now I think it will mostly just be a journal of everyday adventures as I continue to Seek His Kingdom in this season of my life, where the Lord has planted me. 

A Basket of Avacados

(Most of the wording in this post came either directly from Miria or from her mom.  I just filled in the gaps.)

"I was at school, waiting to take some porridge. All of a sudden some of the other kids ran up to me.  They were saying, "Miria!  Come quickly, there is someone here who wants you."  I ran out from behind the school to see what was happening.  I saw a white girl standing there in the yard.  She walked past all of the other kids and came directly to me.  They told me that this lady had picked me, and I was going to be her daughter, and she was my mommy from America.  Out of all the other kids, she had picked me!   .Then she told the other children "Go back! I have picked Miria, and I want to be with her now." I was so happy.  That day, as soon as school was over, I ran straight home to tell my sister and my brothers and my mama about this white lady who had come all the way from America just to see me.  A few days later, she came to my house and brought me some wonderful new toys, and a dress, and a book to write in.
Now my white mommy has been at the school for a month.  I have seen her almost everyday.  But last week the term ended for school, so I am not there everyday and I miss seeing her.  Today my mama said that I could take my report card from this term to show my white mama how hard I have been working in school. This term I finished 5th out of 40 children in my class.  My mama said that I needed to show my report to my white mama so that she would know that I am working very hard to earn the education that she is giving me.  Me and my brother helped my mom to pick a bunch of avocados and put them in a basket to bring to my white mama.  I put the basket on my head and me and Jonah started off for the school.  It is a couple miles away from our house, but I am used to walking that distance to go to school each morning, and to get water from the borehole.  When me and Jonah arrived, we gave her the avocados, and then we sat on the porch to talk.  Moses came out to sit with us and translate what my white mama said to me.  He told us that something very sad had happened.  My white mommy had a Jjajja (grandma) in America, but last night she left to be with Jesus. I was very sad for my white mommy.  I told her how sorry I was and I gave her a big hug.  I think it made her feel better, because she smiled at me a lot after that.  I asked her if she would please walk home with me and Jonah, and she said yes!    I was very happy.  I asked her a lot of questions.  I wanted to know what it is like in America, and what kinds of food she ate.  She told me that she eats chicken there the same as we do!  But she doesn't eat cassava. She said she likes Matoke, and mangoes, but she did not like Jack fruit very much.  Jonah asked her if she knew how to drive a motorcar.  He thought she would know how to drive an airplane too, because we thought that all Mzungus knew how to do that, but she said no.  Jonah wants to be a pilot when he grows up.  I told my white mama that I want to be a doctor when I grow up.  When we got back to my house, my mama was very surprised that my white mom had walked all the way from the school to come see us.   Moses had come too, he was helping us talk to each other.  My little sister Lydia came running as fast as she could and threw herself onto my white mommy.  She was very excited! We showed my white mama our new piglets, and their mother.  And the puppies, and our two baby goats.  One is mine and one is Lydia's, to take care of.  Then my mama brought chairs out, and we all sat down.  My mom prepared some matoke and yams for our supper while we all talked.  Lydia felt left out, since I had shown my report card to my white mom, so she ran and got hers too.  And she brought out the picture that her sponsor from America had sent her of their family.  Lydia is so funny.  She said she wanted to tell her family in America that she would like to send them some matoke. I told my white mommy that I had put the things she gave me in a safe place and was taking very good care of them, so that they would not get damaged or messed up. Then my mama started talking. She told my white mama how grateful she was for the opportunity that she was giving her daughter.  She said that a lot of people like to promise things, but don't help, or follow through with their promises.  But this white lady had not only provided her daughter with an education and an opportunity for a better life, she had also come all the way to Africa to see them and to be with them.  And then my white mommy said something amazing.  She told us how grateful and happy she was to be a part of our family.  My mama was so amazed by this that she jumped up off of her mat, ran over, and gave my white mama a big hug.  I am so happy that I have two mama's now, an African mama and a white mama.  I asked how long my white mama would be here with us in Africa.  I wish that she could stay with us forever.  But she said that she had to go back to America on Tuesday.  I told her that I was going to be a brave, grown up girl and that I would try not to cry any when she left. I asked her to please come back really soon to see me again, and I also told her that when I finished all of my school I wanted to come to America to visit her.  And then it was time for my white mommy to go back and get her supper, so I walked with her down to the road and gave her one last big hug.  See you mommy!  I told her. She smiled and waved goodbye, and then turned and walked back down the dirt road."    

Kilombera

So I've bean a couple times now to this place called Kilombera.  It's about a 15 or 20 minute drive from Amani.  At Kilombera they make hand-woven fabric, and they use that to make things like hammocks, bags, curtains, bed spreads, etc.  It's a really beautiful place, you can take a short walk from Kilombera to a spot where you are on a cliff overlooking the Nile. The first time we went with Helene in the van, but yesterday me Jessie, and one of the other volunteers went on bodas.  Which is fun, because you can see more of the country side... Of course, that might be more difficult if you are concentrating on keeping your flip flops from flying off everytime you go over a pot-hole but still...

If you want to make taco soup in Africa...










All the ingredients, minus the meat and a bell pepper that you find in the fridge.



First you must find all the ingredients.  There is no cumin in the kitchen at Amani, so you ask if they sell it here in the supermarket.  No one seems to know...So you set out with a friend to find some.  Fortunately, all the supermarkets around here seem to be run by Indian guys, so they have lots of good seasonings.  The only kind of canned beans they have here, though, are baked beans...so you decide the soup can do without beans.  You locate a can of corn, and look for some sort of substitute for retell, but all you can find is canned whole tomatoes, so they will have to do.  But there is a plus, you find a nice frozen package of ground beef.  You need onions, but they don't have those in the supermarket, just the regular market.  So you walk outside and flag down a boda.  Your friend tries yelling over the street noise to the boda drivers that you want to go to Amani, but you need to stop first at the market.  After the boda driver nods his understanding, you hop on and off you go...straight to Amani.  You try explaining to the boda man that you need to go to the market first.  At this point, you realize that your very nice boda man understands little, if any, English.  After convincing him to turn around and go towards the market, your friend passes on her boda and yells "I got the onions!"  So you tell your rather confused boda driver that he can go back to Amani now.   Once you finally arrive back at Amani, you are ready to assemble your ingredients and start cooking! 


 







You don't have any corn bread or tortilla chips, but mama Josephine made some Chapatti earlier.











 

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Chopping the pepper and onions

I'm sorry for the rather random order of these pictures, I was having trouble getting it to post right....Anyway, stay tuned, I want to try and make my own chapatti soon! 

Sooo...I am finally getting around to answering some of these questions...


What was your first impression when you arrived in Africa?
Well, it was after dark when I arrived, so it was hard to get an accurate first impression.  One thing that I thought was strange was when Christie stopped in Kampala at a "mall" type of place, there were guards with machine guns standing around to check your car for explosives when you drove in.  Hmmmm... I'm not in America anymore!  It was interesting (to say the least)  driving through Kampala, because on the one side you have the almost "modern" parts of town, with the tall buildings and hotels and billboards, and then on the other side you have the slums with the mud huts, and trash everywhere, and red dirt covering everything.  

How is Uganda similar to the US? How is it different? 
Hmmm....I think I might have to get more pictures before I answer this one, lol.  Some parts of Uganda are similar to the US, (like Jinja) and other parts are completely different. Since Jinja is more of a tourist town (because it's located on the source of the Nile)  there are quite a few places in Jinja that are similar to the US.  Everything is smaller, though.  Like the shops.  There are tons of little one-room shops crowded together on main street.  For my family-  you know that little bent-and-dent store in Magee? I think it's called Martha's? That's what ALL of the grocery stores here look like.  Except most are smaller than that.   
The things that are completely different-   The small villages.  You drive into the middle of nowhere, and then turn left into the jungle....And you find all these tiny villages with people going on about their daily lives, with no electricity...no running water...  If you've seen Christie's pictures, than you have some idea of what it's like. 

Why are there so many orphans in Uganda? What needs to happen to relieve this issue?
This is a tough one. There are a couple different reasons for there being so many orphans in Uganda. One reason is that there has been a war going on in Northern Uganda (and several other African countries)  for about 23 years.  You can learn more about the history of the war here-  http://www.invisiblechildren.com/history-of-the-war  Or you can just look up Joseph Kony and the LRA.