Saturday, May 28, 2011

Gulu

Hi everyone!  I am writing this from the Gulu in northern Uganda.  My team and I made it up here on Monday afternoon- it was quite the road trip.  We crossed the Nile river, saw baboons on the side of the road, and had what felt like several near death experiences as we passed big trucks within inches!  Our driver is excellent though, and he has done a great job.
We stayed at the historic Acholi Inn in Gulu for two nights.  For two days, we traveled out to Bul Kur and saw the brand new Galileo School!  It is a beautiful white building with a blue roof.  We were greeted there by all the children (about 150 of them), who lined up along the yard of the school and clapped and sang as we drove in.  The community also prepared a welcome ceremony for us, including speeches, testimonies, singing, and dancing.  Some of the women sang original songs about the Galileo School and Pastor Jackson (the country director).  We were told that when the Acholi people put you into a song, it means you are in their hearts.
During our time in Bul Kur, we had a field day with the children filled with fun games.  We also did Bible lessons and health lessons with the children there.  I taught a health class to about 100 parents, and we did a short health clinic one afternoon.
On Thursday morning, we departed from Gulu for Apac.  We explored the community there as a potential site for the second Galileo School.  The hotel we stayed in consisted of about 7 round huts.  Each room contained a bed with a mosquito net and a bathroom where the shower water covered the entire room!  Our liason there was Pastor Steven, a very nice man who showed us a primary school and a half-built school where we planted trees in honour of our visit.  We met with the church of Apac and shared testimonies with them.  The next day we did games, Bible lessons, and health lessons with the children in the primary school.  Afterwards, Steven took us out to visit a school of about 400 children, and then to a remote village (we drove our van down a bicycle path to get there) where we visited with the local church and ran a short medical clinic.  I tested about 9 people for malaria and gave out malaria treatments to 4 of them!
This morning we came back to Gulu and checked into the Pamelo Crown Hotel- we couldn't use the Acholi Inn tonight because President Museveni is visiting Gulu and booked the whole place!  This afternoon we went back out to the school in Bul Kur and did more medical clinic. 
Tomorrow we'll get to go out to Bul Kur to worship with the church there and then do more medical clinic.
So that's the scoop!  Thanks for your prayers- we sure appreciate them!
Love,
Katie Joy

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like things are going well! Enjoy the rest of your time in Uganda!

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  2. I just read your blog post out loud for the family to hear. We are just envisioning you there and thanking God that He is able to use you with all your medical training and love for others.

    Thank you for keeping us informed,

    The Pittman clan

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