TIA!

A phrase heard often over the last couple of days and seen in full force today. See, TIA is This Is Africa (sometimes followed by a wry “Baby”).

We started the day with worship at New Life Baptist, a real “experience” for most everyone. African worship is lively, energetic and very active. We got a chance to sing, dance, laugh and worship. Our very own Doug Schneider delivered the message and was very well received. After about 2 ½ hours of church (yes 2 ½ hours) we proceeded to work through clinic set up which is where it got very interesting.

After months of planning, suggestions, guidance and answering questions over email, Facebook and Skype we thought we had worked out a very good plan with our African team. Upon beginning set up, it became clear the “plan” may not have been so good. Not because it was a bad plan, but because a lot was apparently lost in cultural translation, even though we speak the same language. There is way too much to write here, but suffice it to say, our day gave new perspective to the meaning “patience of Job”. Our team performed admirably and closed ranks to get the set up done, although almost 3 hours later than we thought. Let’s just say this, we have had a full on experience in cultural interaction and are quickly earning advanced degrees in the real life lab of “When Yes means No”.

We left Nakawa about 6:30 for our dinner at the Ndere Cultural Center for our reservation which was at 6 pm. Needless to say, we were dirty, smelly and tired although we looked like a million bucks in our church clothes! This is a cultural dance and music center and dinner theater which highlights the tribal and cultural arts customs of Uganda. We enjoyed another wonderful African meal of Matoka, green stuff, brown paste, some kind of bean cream, rice and meat knuckles. This is not to degrade the food, only to say we have no idea what it was. Overall the food has been pretty good, and we are all seemingly still healthy.

We returned home about 9:30 to close with worship and team time which revealed another good time of sharing observations and getting ready for bed. Upon trying to write this blog, we have learned that our hotel did not pay their Internet bill, so I am writing this now in a Word document hoping to get it cut and pasted into our blog when they decide to pay.

Tomorrow the clinic starts, which will no doubt be an adventure of its own. Apparently we have 986 patients registered although that could actually be anywhere from 75 to 2000, we are just not sure. Government officials are supposed to be attending as well, to open the clinic at 9 am. That means we likely will not start seeing patients until late morning. Yep, that’s right arrival at 9 am, and not starting for several hours. Just a lot to explain, but a great cultural experience for our team (This is one of may surprises we encountered during setup).

Prayer Requests

1. That the clinic would be allowed to open and at a reasonable time and that the government officers would be helpful and not a hinderance.

2. Continued good health. So far, no one is noticeably sick

3. Pray for the patients at the clinic and the Uganda workers. Pray they would be open to receiving the Gospel message and that our work would lift up the community.

4. Pray for Nakawa. We learned today that it is very likely that Nakawa will be bulldozed by the government in the next 12 months. We learned that a portion of Nakawa has been sold by the government to an Islamic School who want to develop the land. This will leave 10 ,000 – 20,000 homeless with no place to go and will give Satan a new place to work from.

5. Pray for patience, grace and perseverance for our team. We are working in a very frustrating cultural experience and they are holding up well. We have nearly a week left, and will need all the prayer we can get to keep our momentum going.

Thank you all for reading. Until later…..

Team Woodlands Uganda 2010