A week in the life of a volunteer in Uganda 16/01/07

Monday
This day began with our main weekly meeting with all team members present with the exception of Jake who was still away at the Africamp Conference. Lucas Parry tour was discussed with dates for the publicity to be put out agreed upon. The ministry activities for the week ahead of us were also agreed upon.
The meeting came to a close with a word of prayer just after lunchtime. The rest of the day was used for individual ministry interests or responsibilities. Jenn visited the ‘Need for All’ babies’ orphanage; Alex joined Sports Outreach Ministry and played with the Hearts United team. Wilson went into town to follow up on the Lucas Parry tour, with Flic staying behind to do some administration and send emails to Colin and Lucas.

Tuesday
We joined our friends at Kyambogo for the launch of their week long missions week titled ‘Rescue 911’. It was a day purposed to train and equip the young people for the week ahead of them. Aaron was one of the providers (and so was Wilson as he came to find out later on by reading the day’s program) and he talked on how to effectively bring the gospel to the contemporary youth. After speaking, Aaron caught us all off guard when He asked us to come and share with the young people an approach to evangelism which we have each found to be successful. Despite the initial surprise, we went up to share some words of great wisdom! Jennifer and Flic left shortly after lunchtime for the Remand Home. Their mission was to speak to as many of the youths there as possible in order to get a better understanding of where they were coming from, what their hopes were for the future( and hence how we ca empower them) and also what issues we needed to be dealing with in our ministry time with them on Thursdays. They managed to speak to 16 of them, and the rest were reached by the team on Thursday. Back in Kyambogo, Wilson and Alex shared on the characteristics of a good youth leader and the privileges and responsibilities that come along with the role. We left Aaron there and joined the rest of the team in the evening for a visit to the Karamoja camp. This was a place filled with karamanjos that had fled from the North to Kampala looking for any sort of refuge. Their living condition from young to old was something that moved us all and left us with the desire to be able to help in some way. Will be discussed in our next meeting.

Wednesday
Morning was left free for any individual ministry interests or administration.
We got together at midday and planned the program for ‘Kids in Need’, a home established to care for street kids. Our teaching focused on the person of Jesus, highlighting Him as a friend, counsellor, father, saviour and judge through the use of a few short skits. The kids really engaged with the skits and at the end showed a good understanding of the traits we were trying to show.
The evening saw us gather (including Jake fresh from Africamp) for the 2nd of our weekly ‘birds of the same feather’ bible study group. For the 2nd week running, the study was on an event that took place at the very beginning of the ministry of Christ, baptism and its meaning and relevance to us as Christians.

Thursday
We got together to get the report from Jennifer and Flic about their mission at the remand on Tuesday and also to plan a long-term program of issues to base our themes on for the remand home. We also agreed that there was a need for us to be a lot more accountable as a ministry team and talked about the need for paperwork and files.
The afternoon saw us at the remand continue the good work that day been started on Tuesday. 

Friday
Friday saw us back at Rescue 911 in Kyambogo sharing the gospel at two of the gathering points in and around Kyambogo University.

Sunday
5pm on Sunday evening will see the beginning of the volunteer training course- Living a lifestyle of Worship taught by Alex, a former student of the course himself.