Can we put a roof on this church? The blog has several pictures but not much text. Here is the story...
Last week I was approached by one of the askaries (guards watchmen gopher people) who are here at the hosp. He told me of his church in Ambala that the roof had blown off in 2008 and they were having a fund raiser to put the roof on again. The church was built in 1995 by the people, meaning they made all the brick by hand, dried them and laid them to be the church. Then the roof went on with the lumber under it The people of the church had done the original work and when the August winds blew in 2008 one end of the church roof collapsed. The estimated cost of the new roof is 14 mllion Uganda shillings which translates to $6ooo.ooUS. They have raised 2 million and had a fund raising event that was the congregation going against each other in pairs to see which of the pair could raise the most money in a given time period. Sunday, everyone turned in their money and they raised another 2,750,000 so they have 4,750.000 UGS ($2022 US) for the project and rainy season is coming in April.
They have tried to raise money before but they can never get enough to do the whole project and something else comes up and it doesn't get done. They are a 500 attending congregation, you can see the mud benches in place for them. They do 20 baptism's a year and 1 or 2 weddings. ( Wedding means your first wife) There is a lot of polygamy here and it is part of the culture. Not just for the Muslims but Christians too. Burials are done at a persons home not the church.
They rented a car Thursday and took me to the village and showed me where they lived and how they lived. You can see from pictures that houses are built in the traditional way of mud bricks in a circle and a cone thatched roof. Nothing fancy, very functional. The people have land given by grandfather and divided and divided and divided for family's to live on with gardens that looked to be cooperative to save on space and energy where more then one family tends the plots. Not many wore shoes and most looked like they were wearing their siblings cloths. At the church service I saw a handful of women with dresses made the rest wore T shirts with yardage of Congo cotton fabric wrapped around them as a skirt. Poor? No, they have land to dig (grow vegetables on to feed their family. The poor are the school teachers who live in town and don't have land to grow on and the wage is barely liveable. Returning from the church I was shown the Congo border and some different landscape and invited to return Sunday for the fundraiser. I agreed to come back on my bike Sunday. I got lost and rode my bike up ad down Herman Hill several times before someone spoke poor enough Lugbara to understand where I was going and guided me across 2 goat paths in fields to the right road to get to the church after 1 ½ hours of hot sun and a breeze at my back. The ride was beautiful but tiresome. We were having company for supper and I needed to leave before the fundraiser was done so I excused myself and the elders insisted I take tea. It is very rude not to. So I sat for tea and they brought beans, rice, cow, and enyasa (local bread dough stuff made of cassava and it tastes like sand to me). After eating I was shown the right path and told not to “branch” just stay straight and I was home in an hour.
I have been advocating the book “WHEN HELPING HURTS” which I am trying to use a guideline for making decisions when it comes to $ and time. I did explain, as I always do that we are volunteers and are not to donate, loan, or give funds. Our job is to bring knowledge to assist with what people feel is needed. The elders understood this, but asked it there was anything I thought I might be able to do, they would be most grateful. There is much skimming off the top of any funds here and the church is not different. If any are willing to help with this I would only think 1/3 should be put forth and that spent directly on tin for the roof.
Am I giving to God or a project? Well, I think about it like “helping avoid temptation” by not making it available... Other thoughts are welcome so this is the story and today's photos are of what the church is to look like when completed. It is to be done by professionals so it won't collapse again. I think the 14 covers that expense too. From the West Nile, Marc
