So, You Know a Ugandan?

Just because I have friends in Uganda doesn't mean that I should be listened to, does it?  "Big deal, " you might be thinking.  Your friend "could be" Joseph Kony or someone like him.  The truth is that I have lots of friends in Uganda and many, many who are godly men and women, people of integrity who love me and share with me.  They help me understand their stories so I can tell them to you.
Here's one of my friends!

This is the first time I met James Oonyu!  EAFC had supported him without having ever meeting him.  Since EVALUATION is a BIG PART of what we do, we invited him to join our 2009 Vision TEAM so he could share his country and we could learn from a native citizen's perspective.  


We LAUGH NOW, but when we met him he was VERY, VERY QUIET.  "Oh dear," I thought.  "I'm spending 10 or so days with this man that won't open him mouth.  What will the team think?" BUT MY FEARS WERE SHORTLY LIVED.


The picture I have posted show James at the missionary's home DAVE and DARLENE EBY where we were staying in Kampala.  Darlene suggested that some of the Ugandans entertain us after dinner, and it didn't take James long to get into the fun of it. In the days that followed  we road across his country, and he got to see parts of it that he'd never seen., We got to hear stories  that brought to life all we too were seeing for our first time.

Here's more of James!  Oh, the pictures bring back so many stories I'd love to share, like when he worked all day for the Adam Smith International company in Kampala, got on an overnight bus so he could be in Nairobi the next day to be a part of a strategic planning session with us.  Oh, and the expense to do this was all on him.


Are you beginning to see why I love this man?  He's only one, you understand, but he does paint a picture that could be said about a lot of my UGANDAN FRIENDS.


But JAMES is the ONE I"M COMMUNICATING WITH THESE DAYS.  Actually, he's experiencing our country right now, for the first time.  He got here before Christmas and has already been back to check on "his flock" in Northern Uganda.  I got permission to share with you the story that I will put IN THE NEXT POST, lest this one get ridiculously long!