A special thanks to all of you who helped to send these great Mountain Lake Men to Uganda. They range in age from 70 to 20/21 but get along GREAT!
They ate lunch at Cafe Javas near the Acacia Mall, where the men enjoyed an American type meal of burgers & fries.
Then Mike took us to an open air market to buys lots of fresh fruit & vegetables at bargain prices
Neither he or Gary would pay full price but enjoyed haggling
The 2 hour drive west to tiny Lwamasanga home of Royal School International was uneventful. Garrett even slept! All pitched in to quickly get settled so we ate dinner by 6:40
Only the 7th graders are in school. The others are still on Christmas break (yes they still call it that here). At 7 pm, at every evening they circle up to pray & praise. Their enthusiasm is contagious. I think I even saw Glen try to dance!
In our new "sitting room" Darby taught us how to play "You're Lying" card game. Several had a tough time sleeping because of what they thought was a child crying loudly all night. In the morning they were informed it WAS a kid- a kid goat! :)
Monday after breakfast the Team quickly divided up the work & started pumping out benches.
Caleb is designated "cutter" who designed a pattern with Glen
Darby was the only white guy to wheel barrow mixed cement into the auditorium ALL day! Mike and Glen quickly abandoned the work and surrendered to task to locals.
Glen appointed himself Quality Control Inspector.
Josiah and others carried the heavy benches to Gary who would sand them a bit.
Altogether they made 45 benches- sturdy and strong 7 feet long. Tomorrow they plan to make benches and chairs for the 139+ "baby class kids" who currently sit on a dirty cement floor. How excited they'll be to sit at tables like the "big kids"
Baby Class includes 3-5 year olds who are jammed 45+ in three 16x20 rooms.
After dinner we had devotions again, student-led of course! Now as I write this I'm laying on my bed having just taken a warm bath. Ours are cold water showers but there's hot water on demand. I just yelled to the ladies out in the kitchen who came running with a bucket of hot water.
The guys are sitting around the table playing cards again. No money being bet but Mike is trying to gain favor by offering snacks.
This 27-acre school was given to my wife Renae and me three years ago by a WA-based missions organization who got discouraged after the head master misappropriated funds.
We have since formed a local non-profit (here they are called NGOs- non Govt organizations). Our board includes:
1. Four Americans including Dennis Blake from Nowthen, MN who oversees our farming organization, along with his darling wife, Lynda, a retired school teacher. Dennis and Lynda are directors of our Bible studies having trained the teachers using the CBI materials.
2. Four Africans, all of whom are my most trusted teammates in East Africa. More about them later.
It's an honor to serve these sweet children, many of whom are hungry because of the drought and failed harvests.
Thanks again to Mountain Lake Alliance Church for sending these great Ambassadors to bless this rural community.
Your generous donations are enabling us to finish the auditorium by:
- Pouring the floor
- Installing windows
- Plastering walls
- Building a stage for plays and Christian films
- Making benches/tables for the baby classes as well as the auditorium.
God bless you all for your generosity.
Dan Peters
President
Royal School International
My wife Renae and I reside in Surprise, AZ
Check out the previous post with pictures from the last couple of days.
No comments:
Post a Comment