CMS Ireland Feed

Prayer Request: 09 February 2012

2011-11-29T11:35:42Z

UGANDA, The den Breejen Family: Give thanks for bonds between churches in Ireland and the Netherlands with the Diocese of Madi West Nile and students at the College. Recent team visits and activities in various churches have helped to develop these relationships in Christ, which has been very encouraging.

Prayer Request: 08 February 2012

2011-11-29T11:32:22Z

UGANDA, The den Breejen Family: Pray for Geesje as she works alongside the mothers on the
HIV/AIDS programme. Pray not only for financial empowerment for these women but for fruits of the
Spirit showing in their lives.

Prayer Request: 07 February 2012

2011-11-29T11:31:40Z

UGANDA, The den Breejen Family: Please pray for Aart and his team at the Vocational Training Centre. Pray that the staff members will be good examples of followers of Christ, so that students are impacted and graduates go home not only with a certificate, but with and experience of Christ in their minds and hearts.

Prayer Request: 06 February 2012

2011-11-29T11:30:53Z

NEPAL, SD Church: Give thanks for the partnerships that SD have with CMS Ireland and other partners throughout the world. Pray that God would bless these relationships and that they would bear much fruit for all involved.

Autumn leaves - such fun

2012-02-06T00:00:00Z

Many people have a favourite season of the year. I confess to having a soft spot for Autumn. Swishing ones feet through heaps of leaves has some therapeutic effect subliminally associated with the wanton playfulness of childhood.

Its been fun this January as the trees have been shedding their leaves to have heaps of detritus to agitate as I pass by. It has been a rather hot month though – in fact the hottest for a long time with temperatures of 100 in the shade most days (our Celsius thermometer packed in, so we’ve gone back to Fahrenheit.)

Explaining the seasons as they are in Europe to Ugandans can be difficult. Being almost on the equator we have ‘seasons’ – wet and dry – twice a year. Things like the passage of Le Quattro Stagioni is such a normative part of life in Bangor that until I came here I never really considered that it might happen differently in different places. Discovering that the seasons were ‘back-to–front’ in New Zealand was a surprise a few years ago – but makes good sense with minor reflection. But imagine the leaves and bare trees of autumn because of the extreme heat causing the trees to defoliate? A combination unlikely to occur in Bangor even with extremely rampant global warming!

So many of our assumptions about what is ‘normal’ in life are based around what we commonly saw in our youth, or commonly see around us today. Often we think that alternative practices are inferior to what we are used to – be it how many meals one should have a day; what one should wear to church; normative family size; styles of worship; traditional walking routes; planning for the future; timekeeping…….

It is a blessing to at present live in a culture and environment quite different to the one I grew up in. It is useful to be able to reassess many of the quite silly assumptions that I had subsumed about how things should be understood and done. It can be hard at times not to make valued judgements about the culture I grew up in, or this culture I am now living in, but it is well worth wrestling with those challenges.

For those of you Autumn lovers envious of my piles of leaves to fustle through, let me confess that it’s actually so hot these days that I can’t wait for this season to pass.

Cheers for reading
lots of love
Rory

Prayer Request: 05 February 2012

2011-11-29T11:30:35Z

NEPAL, SD Church: Pray that through the work of SD church and the Saathi Sewa programme, people would come to know Christ as their saviour. Many people arrive to the church compound with tears and sadness. Pray that they will leave with joy, smiles and laughter.

Prayer Request: 04 February 2012

2011-11-29T11:30:17Z

NEPAL, SD Church: Pray for the Building Project of SD Saathi Sewa. As work continues and the prospect of a new premises becomes a reality, pray that the church leaders and the staff will be humble and that they will rely fully on God. Pray that this project would glorify God and would transform lives.

Prayer Request: 03 February 2012

2011-11-29T11:29:46Z

DR CONGO, Kindu Diocese: Give thanks for two large church buildings that are currently being completed in Kindu. Rejoice in the generosity of the Christians who give sacrificially towards the building and pray for God’s continued provision to ensure its completion.

Prayer Request: 02 February 2012

2011-11-29T11:29:33Z

DR CONGO, Kindu Diocese: Please pray for Bishop Masimango as he leads the Diocese of Kindu. Pray for the safety of the bishop and other diocesan staff as they travel by motorbike on difficult roads and tracks to minister across the diocese.

Prayer Request: 01 February 2012

2011-11-29T11:28:58Z

DR CONGO: Presidential and regional elections in DR Congo took place in late November. Pray that those elected will lead the country towards a lasting peace.

Prayer Request: 31 January 2012

2011-11-29T11:28:00Z

UGANDA, The Wilson Family: Pray for Dr Peter and the rest of the team as they prepare to take on extra responsibility and a heavier workload in Rory’s absence.

Edward "the Confessor" has left his world

2012-01-30T00:00:00Z

For the past two and a half years, we have been keeping chickens at Jericho (the name of our compound.) Our first cock, James, was a real gentleman and would call his subjects when food was to be found, would let the small chicks go first if they were there and would warn in case of danger.

Edward the Confessor, King of Jericho, ruler of the Mvara chicken-hood lost his last war with diarrhoea. He was a nice king to see but his rule was short (about 3 months). He has joined his predecessors John “the chicken” and James “the gentleman” in the after-life for Cocks.

Initially, I (Aart), wanted to name them (the cocks) after the apostles but later found it more appropriate to name them after the English kings. I sincerely hope not to have offended anyone.

If so here’s your chance to get even and let me know what we should call our next cock. A proposal from my side:
William “the flying Dutchman”!

Turkey from Rwanda, New Year in Uganda and 3 years in Burundi

2012-01-29T00:00:00Z

Happy New Year. I trust you had a blessed Christmas celebration. I had a really good time at Church and at home with 7 friends to lunch. Steve and Lucy stayed for 4 nights. One friend found a turkey in Rwanda so we ended up having a traditional British meal and listened to the Queen on the internet! I was very encouraged by her reminder that the world needs a Saviour not a general or a philosopher and the message of forgiveness Jesus brings.

I spent New Year with Tim and Sarah, fellow iNet missionaries, at their home in Masaka, Uganda. We had a fantastic time together. I had a night with Rosie in Kampala, a friend who used to work for Alpha.

On 21st Jan I celebrated 3 years living in Burundi! Some days it feels like it’s been much longer and other days it only seems yesterday I was leaving to move here but I praise God once again for all He’s done and ask that the best is yet to come.

Abel, my colleague, shared with me that over Christmas he went to find the killer of his father and told him that he forgave him, to the man’s amazement. Abel was so excited as he shared with me. He plans to visit this man each time he returns to his home area. Hallelujah!

This month is another busy one. 10-12th Jan my colleagues and I trained pastors in Kamenge in trauma healing – I’ll update about this next month. My parents arrived today for 10 days. I am so looking forward to having time with them.

Then at the end of the month, I’m going to the first week of the Reconciliation School in Rwanda with Cyrille, Abel and hopefully Jean Claude—see below.

Onesphore, my boss in Harvest, has asked me to invite you to contribute towards the funding of the trauma healing programme. This year we are expanding the work and have set a budget at approx. £1655 (or £138 / month). This is the cost of running 5 trauma healing training events of 3 days each, for around 22 pastors each time, plus follow-ups. (We will also be working with Flame International and probably Christian Prayer Ministries again plus the summer evangelistic campaign but they don’t require extra funding.) It would be amazing to have some people commit to giving monthly as this is long-term work and not just for the next year. However you are also welcome to give a one-off gift. You would give via Great Lakes Outreach but please contact me first for the info and so I can keep a total of how much is given. Thank you so much!

We are what we wear...

2012-01-26T00:00:00Z

One of my first jobs when we arrived was to turn Paul’s long sleeved shirts into short sleeved ones – extremely important in order to work all day in 30 degree heat.

Of course short sleeved shirts are really part of the dress code here at Kiwoko. All the doctors and male staff wear them, almost like a uniform. Which is in keeping with the fact that the rest of the staff all wear uniforms. The student nurses are in blue, the staff nurses are in white, the canteen staff are in purple, the maintenance team are in khaki, the security guys are in navy.

Wearing a uniform gives you a status. It is clear to everyone who sees you what you do…

Wearing a uniform gives you a status. It is clear to everyone who sees you what you do, therefore immediately giving you the level of respectability that comes with your job. When someone is trying to sneak into the compound and sees a security guard they run away. He does not need to shout ‘Hey I’m a security guard’; the perpetrator knows by his uniform.

So it was not surprising then that the housekeepers wanted a part of this action. They wanted the respectability that wearing a Hospital uniform gives. It says I am employed and I bring home a wage that looks after my family. It says I have worked hard to get where I am today. It says people think highly of me to give me this position of responsibility.

It says I am employed and I bring home a wage that looks after my family. It says I have worked hard to get where I am today.

I remember at School I hated my uniform, never quite grasping the practicality of it (well short skirts in winter in Ireland just isn’t practical!). But when clothes are not bulging out of your wardrobes, you can imagine the treat it is to be handed a brand new set of clothing. No longer do you need to wear the hand me down dress or badly fitting trousers.

Scovia and Rose are the housekeepers at Kiwoko hospital’s guest house where medical students stay when doing their elective. They look after the students like mothers. When I told them I was making them uniforms they clapped like children. When I told them how smart they looked, they beamed. The uniform is the same style as the others in the Hospital so now when they walk through town everyone knows they work at Kiwoko. They love that. But they got their own colour. And if I was making them – they were going to have to be Pink!

Great expectations?

2012-01-24T00:00:00Z

Having been responsible for visitors and students for the previous five years, it is now a different joy and refreshing change for Judith to come back to Kiwoko in her capacity as Occupational Therapist. In practice this has involved working on the wards alongside the physiotherapy team. It is a steep learning curve adjusting one’s expectations and western mindset, and providing therapy that is appropriate to the local cultural context and environmental conditions.

Kato, a truly gentle and humble man has lost all movement and function from the waist down secondary to TB. His upper half is also weak and he has difficulty sitting up with no support. In a western context there would be a lengthy list of items that would be required in order to facilitate his return home and management at home. At the very least a wheelchair and a good bed. But Kato is going home to his one roomed thatched mud hut that is no bigger than our bathroom. He shares it with his wife and five children. Such items would only be a hindrance. So he goes home to be nursed on a mattress on the floor.

How did he get home? On the back of a motorbike, sandwiched between the driver and his wife with his lifeless legs strapped to his wife’s legs to prevent them from dangling into the wheels. On a follow up visit to his home with Solomon the physiotherapist, Kato’s caring wife describes the journey home with laughter.

Whilst I find myself feeling somewhat helpless and thinking this is all very unsatisfactory, I realize how different our expectations are. Despite all the pain, anxiety and uncertainty, Kato must be passing through, his only request is a photo and he simply smiles and thanks us for caring.

How often do we find ourselves in situations where we wish we could wave a magic wand and make everything better. The inability to do so can make us feel inadequate or worse still can cause us to shy away from the person or situation. Yet, like Kato, so many just long to know that we care by simply being there alongside them.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support for the work and people of Kiwoko.

Only 2 passed...

2012-01-10T00:00:00Z

We got the results from our nursing school finals last week.
A good Christmas present.

Not one of our 40 students failed. We had 4 distinctions, 34 credits and 2 passes. These results keep us amongst the best nurse training institutions in the country. Such results obviously reflect the hard work of students and staff – both in the classroom and at the bedside.

Obviously I am a little biased regarding the qualities of some of the teaching staff – but the results speak clearly for themselves.

Training health workers has been central to the work of Kiwoko hospital since the early days of health care under the leadership of Dr Ian Clarke. Such training continues to be central to what we do. Training staff who can then work in Kiwoko is critical for us – otherwise many of our posts would remain unfilled, or we would have to accept poor quality staff. Most health workers in Uganda want to work in Kampala, however most Ugandans (who therefore need health care) live outside Kampala.

In addition to those whom we wish to work at Kiwoko, training health workers to leave us and be good nurses working elsewhere is central to why we train. Much healthcare in Uganda is of poor quality – often due to deficiencies in the health workers – sometimes clinical knowledge, but sometimes their heart attitudes are the real problems that allow them to steal drugs, refuse to treat patients before being paid a bribe, or simply not being coming to work when they should. The papers have been full of such cases this year. While all that takes place in Kiwoko cannot be perfect, people know that such practices will not be found here. If they come here they will find staff who care for them to the best of their abilities within the available resources. Developing such staff is important.

So – well done to the staff of Kiwoko Nurse Training school.
And thank you to everyone who helps support them in different ways.

Rory

Happy New Year!

2012-01-04T00:00:00Z

We got the older kids out of bed (they all fell asleep just before midnight, one on the porch, one on the couch inside and one in his bed) and walked to the cathedral grounds next door where hundreds of people were gathered for “Eben Haezer”, an event organized by the church. It was great. People were singing, praising, dancing and enjoying one another’s company. No food, no snacks but people were excited anyway, especially the children.

At midnight, the fireworks lit the sky and somehow, this combination of Praise and Fireworks seemed a very natural way of closing the old and celebrating the New Year. At the very beginning of 2012 we all united in prayer and thanksgiving before the crowd continued with their music till dawn when many folks just stayed on for the early church service on New Years day.

Our children are only going back to the local school at the end of January, they still have vacation and with their uncle, aunt and cousins we are planning to travel west for a week before they go back to the Netherlands. On our way home to Arua we plan to pick up Elize, the new volunteer who will teach main subjects in the afternoons at the Dutch home school for 3 months.

The Vocational Training Centre (VTC) will have interviews for the new course year, always announced at the local radio stations, so that they can start their courses in February. Parents and older siblings are struggling to get all the school fees ready for their children, brothers and sisters. Hard cash is nowadays far more important than in the old days where people got by just growing crops for their own use. Although there was shortage of food then at times too. The Bishop related in his New Year sermon to a famine that was going on about hundred years ago. It was then when missionaries who were actually on their way to the Congo, got malaria, needed recovery time and were then asked stay on and help with food relief in West Nile. From that time on the church started to grow. The church is still very much alive although the Bishop stated that he found more and more mixes of traditional beliefs and Christianity in today’s church here. And there lies the challenge for us today again. What we share or add is only from the freedom we found in Christ.

That’s our New Year wish for everyone, including ourselves; to continue working with God’s plan for this world. It’s exciting to find out what God holds in store for us this year.

Aart, Geesje, Anne Fleur, Ruben, Jan Lucas and Lisa den Breejen

HIV Craft Project Christmas Party

2012-01-03T00:00:00Z

On our last Wednesday before Christmas the Craft ladies finished up early and we gathered for our Christmas lunch. This is the first time this has been done and they where very excited to see what food would be served. You can imagine their delight to find a complete feast laid out in front of them; Beef, potatoes, matooke, rice, Ground nut sauce, beans and vegetables. For desert there was pineapple, Christmas cake and biscuits.

I have never seen plates piled so high. Yet despite this there was still a lot of food left over so each lady was given a box full of leftovers to take home for their families. One of our Ugandan volunteers expressed how the ladies would talk about this feast for years.

After lunch we played games. When I had originally suggested this to one of our HIV counsellors here they were unsure that the ladies would join in as grown ups do not play games in Uganda. But I think they had underestimated these ladies sense of fun. I got reports of people at the other side of the hospital being able to hear the howls of laughter from the room where we played games I had learnt as a child. At one stage the ladies could not even complete the game because they were laughing so hard. It was hard at that moment to imagine that these women have a deadly disease and are living in bleak poverty. Right then, they were the happiest people I have ever met.

Before leaving presents were given out. The women of the 20s and 30s group at Hamilton Road Baptist church in Bangor had bought and sent over 20 packs of underpants, an extremely useful present to women whose clothes are always bought second hand – even the underwear. They also received soap, rice, sugar, salt, sweets and biscuits – a Christmas Hamper Uganda style.

All through my first year here I have worried at how I would feel being so far from home over Christmas. But I have been surprised to find that the last month here has been my favourite time so far. Kiwoko really embraces Christmas. They have a huge staff Christmas party with over 300 people in attendance, we went carol singing round the wards on Christmas eve, and on Christmas Day all the staff who had not gone back to their villages met together for a ‘bring and share’ BBQ. All these events were great fun and also a profound example of how a community can become a family.

But I think my favourite part of the whole season was the laughter of 16 middle aged women playing games like six year olds.

Crashing into your surgeon's car

2011-12-30T00:00:00Z

On the day before Christmas Eve Dr Leonard was driving to Kiwoko from Kampala. He is one of our Junior doctors whom we are sponsoring for training in surgery and he was up to help out over the Christmas weekend. A few miles short of Kiwoko he observed a motorbike coming towards him swerving backwards and forwards across the road. He stopped and watched helplessly as the drunken man crashed into the side of Leonard’s father’s car. Leonard put him in the back of the vehicle, brought him to hospital and later took him to theatre to stabilise his fractures.

Sadly many here find the Christmas season a time for extreme alcohol consumption and many of the problems that can go with it. Thankfully we do have something to celebrate, but I don’t think that putting ourselves in hospital is how God would wish us to acknowledge such celestial occurrences. God has been one of us and understands what it is like to live here.

On Christmas Eve some staff sing carols on the wards and give out small gifts to the patients. As Asiimwe our Personnel Manager was briefly preaching to the patients on male ward including our recalcitrant motorcyclist, I was struck at the similarities between the Christmas story and what we are trying to do in Kiwoko.

Like Dr Leonard, God meets us at our point of need and wishes to treat us and heal us. Amazingly He wishes to do so despite our rebellious and even aggressive and damaging attitude towards Him. He does so at a point where we cannot help ourselves and all we can do is accept his free offer of assistance. Sadly of course there still are consequences for our actions too – just as the man has some weeks to spend in a hospital bed and in plaster cast and Dr Leonard still needs money to replace his father’s missing wing mirror, so the consequences of our sin can need more than even forgiveness to fully sort out.

So I hope that you don’t get so drunk that you crash your motorbike, or that anyone crashes into you in the next while. More than that though, I pray that you have a fresh experience of receiving freely from God in 2012, experiencing His forgiveness and real healing in many ways.

In Kiwoko we’ll continue caring for those who need us.
Thanks for standing with us to enable us to continue such work.

Happy New Year

Rory

He swims with leeches

2011-12-26T00:00:00Z

Denise’s blog last month regarding her dactylic decoration excited some interest. Gideon’s involvement in such activities didn’t pass so many by either.

So I thought that I’d better add on some more – not that I also have taken to painting my toenails as some have suggested, but that Gideon was swimming with leeches at the weekend. Not I grant you that there is a direct link with toe nail decoration and leech attraction/repulsion (as far as I know, but perhaps such research if well conducted could lend itself to publication in a future Christmas edition of the BMJ?)

Gideon and I were swimming in water which was slightly murky. For all the grandmothers reading this – fear not, there were probably not that many bugs present. He takes a few minutes to get into the water usually, but then is unstoppable. He obviously has not fully mastered things such as floating, but with his father supporting his tummy he moves his arms and legs and believes that he is propelling himself across the surface of the water. Usually his yelps of glee do not result in swallowing any of the water due to careful positioning from his coach. On returning home he demonstrated his swimming technique to Denise in the plastic basin in which he has his evening bath – and she was certainly convinced.

In case the title has you reaching for the phone to contact social services – fear not, no wound or creature made it to Gideon. However his father experienced four of the blighters latching on to his legs! One big one had a good drink and after being detached demonstrated well the anticoagulant properties it possesses as the small wound took many minutes to stop bleeding. I also noted the anaesthetic properties when a well meaning local applied some methylated spirits to the wound as his guaranteed cure for the persisting bleeding. (Which incidentally didn’t help much, although as already noted at least it wasn’t at all painful due to the local anaesthesia.)

So I’m not planning to stake Gideon out and have the leeches feed on him to help him get over the last remnants of his chicken pox. Indeed I have even used my legs as bait to see if the particular pool is now free of leeches so it will be ‘safe’ for him to swim in as I suspect he would be upset at a finger of slime attached to his leg. But just in case any of our friends/Godparents were growing concerned that his development was lopsided – it is probably just as delightfully rounded as his parents!

Many thanks from Gideon and ourselves for everyone who sent greetings or gifts. We are really blessed that so many people support us and help us care for Gideon Mugisha.

Happy New Year.

A CMS Ireland Team member reads the Bible during worship in Oltiasika, Kenya

2008-07-01T09:17:08Z

Kenyan Student gets to grips with the bible

2008-07-01T09:15:22Z

Rwandan women shade themselves from the sun...

2007-10-25T14:08:36Z

Mother and Child at a community clinic in Luwero

2007-10-25T14:08:32Z

A view of the Himalayas, Nepal

2007-10-25T14:08:31Z

Hand in hand - Fort Portal, Uganda

2007-10-25T14:07:55Z

Morning Worship at Kiwoko Hospital

2007-10-25T14:07:54Z

Rainbows arc over Victoria Falls in Zambia

2007-10-25T14:07:53Z

Sudanese Children peer through barbed wire in Maridi diocese, Sudan

2007-10-25T14:07:46Z

Ronan tries to catch the sunset in Zambia

2007-10-25T14:07:36Z