Back to Work!

We have been back in Uganda now for 3 weeks. The construction team out at Amazima got a lot more completed than anticipated while we were in Michigan, leaving a project that is currently under budget and ahead of schedule. How often do you hear that? Needless to say, that has helped ease the transition quite substantially for me. The project is quickly working through 2 classroom blocks, a chapel, and 2 latrine buildings. All of which we hope to finish before the end of the year. We are in the planning stages to begin the next step which is 8 dormitories, a sports complex, a staff housing block, and 5 latrine buildings - breaking ground on the remaining buildings by the end of June. Building this many buildings at once is a challenge anywhere in the world, but I believe we have the right team in place and so far it is going very well.

Progress at the Amazima Campus so far

We are happy to be back in Uganda in many ways - Our week has more routine, we have a home, and we have some sense of normalcy for our family. Through our time in Michigan I realized how emotionally drained I was from day-to-day life and struggles in Uganda and I needed a bit of reprieve, rejuvenation, and a general re-focusing of priorities. We're so thankful for that opportunity in Michigan and all the time we were able to spend with loved ones that are usually so far away! 

One thing that I have found to be helpful in my daily routine is my bicycle ride out to site. Almost every morning I ride through Jinja town back roads, crossing the Nile River on a pedestrian bridge, through maize fields, small trading centers, even a small swamp on my way to site over the course of about 5 miles. As Bazungu (White people), we tend to often feel like fish in a fish bowl, constantly being stared at everywhere we go. This commute has allowed me to start seeing familiar faces, passing with a wave, or a simple greeting in Luganda or in English.

On the bicycle heading to work

Onsite Chapel with approximately 115 guys can be a bit challenging packed under a single shade structure, but it is going well. We start and end with praise music - when was the last time you saw 115 construction men and women singing praise music during work...? Yeah, me either. My first week back, my coworkers were just wrapping up "The Alpha Series" and 4 men and one woman gave their lives to Christ. What an exciting way to enter back into this work the Lord has for us here in Uganda!

Weekly onsite Chapel

Ramadan started recently, part of which means all Muslims onsite are supposed to fast during the days. When many of these men did not start fasting, they were heckled by the other men onsite saying that "The holy spirit was working in them! ....or maybe just on their stomachs at least..." Although this was done in jest, there is some truth to this. These men aren't ready to renounce their Muslim faith yet because of the greater implications in the community and they will be kicked out of their families and support networks but their hearts are being prepared and they are building new community and support within the other men onsite.

A few days ago our son Isaac asked me what I did all day at work because he wanted me to stay home. I hesitated for a minute, thinking to myself how to respond and maybe how to use it as a teaching moment. Eventually I said something along the lines of "I have the awesome job of working with a bunch of construction men and women building buildings for a great local ministry and I get to tell them that Jesus loves them too!". I didn't go into depth nor did he seem to want to ask any follow up questions. After all, he is only 3 :-). But I have reflected from that conversation that I really do love this work and we could not be here and doing this without all of you supporting us both financially and prayerfully. In God's great plan He is using each of you to show and share the love of Jesus with people in Jinja, Uganda!

One specific prayer request this week is that we have had to fire our guard. This is very hard for us because he has been with us since we arrived a year and a half ago and we genuinely care about him and his family. Our children spent hours every day playing with him and he is missed. It is likely that he will not find other work and will struggle to support his family - knowing this truth about life here in Uganda only made this decision more difficult. Please pray for him and his family as they face this difficult change and that he will use this as a catalyst to the changes that would allow him to be successful in a job and in supporting his family. It was a painful and emotional goodbye for everyone involved as he left our compound - please pray for wisdom as we navigate this loss with our children too.

Thank you to all of you!

-Matt and Patrice