We spent 18 days in Uganda and so much happened while we were there. The first four days of our time in Uganda was spent in a fishing village by Lake Victoria called Katosi with a man named Timothy Kazosa who is a pastor. He also works closely with a boarding school/orphanage that is in the center of the village. It is quite a large village with over two thousand people. We arrived at the airport on time with everyone’s luggage to see Pastor Timothy waiting for us with a huge smile. As we left the airport I was so happy to see so much flourishing foliage and the sound of birds and bugs in the warm night air. It was a nice change to be in a tropical climate. While we were in South Africa it was winter time which meant that everything was dry and dead, but in Uganda everything was so green and alive. We began our journey from the airport to Pastor Timothy’s house. After about a 45 min drive he informed us that the road was going to get bumpy… and boy did it! On more than one occasion my head hit the roof of the van. It was such a new experience for us, but we were so tired that it seemed so funny that we laughed most of the way. It was like a crazy carnival ride. Finally we were experiencing real Africa… and that was just the beginning.
The extremely bumpy roads were quite an adventure, but when we got to Pastor Timothy’s home and were directed to the toilet… that was a whole other situation in itself. In Katosi there is no running water, so everyone has an outhouse. Using an outhouse isn’t that bad, we go to porta-potties all the time. But in Africa there isn’t a toilet seat, just a square hole in the cement floor where you squat to do your business. Up until that point I hadn’t had to deal with any real culture shock, but this was really a challenge. I could talk so much longer on this one subject, but I guess all you really need to know is that after about a week I got used to it and it wasn’t that big of a deal… sort of.
The four days that we spent in Katosi was packed full of activities. Pastor Timothy said that since we were only there for a short time, he wanted to get the most out of our visit, he wasn’t joking. The first two weeks of our outreach had been mostly doing manual labor in South Africa, so when we learned about our schedule in Uganda we really weren’t mentally prepared for what was ahead. Those four days were like all of us getting out of the boat and trying to walk on water. It was our first time stepping out, but God was so faithful and met with us every time. Our days consisted of three parts. In the morning we would go into schools and teach, then after lunch we either visited more schools or some door to door ministry, and we would finish in the evening by having a service for the youth at the local boarding school. Many times we would come to a school and they would divide us into classes and tell us to teach on whatever we wanted. It was so on the spot… (in season/ out of season) and so we would teach, about Bible stories or our home countries. We probably visited 7 or 8 primary and secondary schools in 4 days sharing songs, testimonies, and teaching. One evening I had the opportunity to lead a Bible study for a group of young adults. It was great being around people my age who shared the same heart for God as I do. It was a bit difficult at sometimes with the translation, but overall that was probably one of my favorite moments of my time in Katosi. We also went to another small fishing village to talk to people about the gospel. It was crazy because we each had translators and our translator would say to the people, “This is Rochelle, she is here to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ…” and then look at me and expect me to take it from there. So often in the States we want to build a relationship with the person before we go dropping scripture bombs on them, but here I was introduced to my second case of culture shock. Our translators wanted us to be so straight forward, which seems inappropriate, but the people responded really well. One woman I talked to said that she had know nChrist at one time but felt like she wasn’t a Christian anymore. I told her that God had sent me to her just to let her know that He still loves her very much, that there is nothing that she could do to make Him love her anymore or any less, and that just like the prodigal son, her Father was waiting for her to return. After we prayed together and I told her that if in her heart she had returned, and then now it was like she had never left, she was so happy and she was smiling so brightly. That was another moment I don’t think I will ever be able to forget.
Our time with Pastor Timothy definitely stretched us in so many ways. We had so many new experiences, good and bad. We came together as a team and worked alongside one another and helped one another along. And other times we stepped out on our own, with just God by our side and the prayers of our teammates. Our first experience of ‘real Africa’, what a trip! It was breathtaking at times, demanding at times, humbling, and maturing. And it’s only the beginning!
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