Philipians 4:13: A Week In The Village

"I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it's like to be a leader, in on Christ's sufferings as well as the coming glory. Here's my concern: that you care for God's flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way."

-1 Peter 5:1-3

These past few weeks Empower A Child has really been looking to me for leadership. I am one of the main communicators of our team. Everyday, the Ugandan staff approaches me with their announcements and I am the one who delivers them to the team. The announcements range from super important ones to something as simple as telling the team that dinner is ready to be eaten. I am thankful for the leadership that I have been given. When I was planning my trip, I knew wanted to come back to Uganda. I knew that I wanted to come back with EAC as well. But mostly, I knew that I wanted to have a role with some type of leadership. I am so blessed to now know that EAC has put their trust in me. They trust me to fully communicate the ways of the organization to the team. Just yesterday I even lead an orientation meeting all by myself. Knowing that the organization has put their faith and trust in me is a wonderful feeling.

Last week I was the leader for the team that went out into the village. This summer, we are beginning the building of the Training Center for Empower A Child. The organization has bought land in a village called Zirobwe that is located about 45 mins away from Kampala. They hope to build a school, a church, a medical clinic, and one day a type of trade school or university. So here in Uganda we have been focussing on making that happen. Each week we split our group of volunteers ( which has grown to about 25 people ) one group stays here in Kampala and the other goes out to the village for a week. We are trying to create a good relationship between Empower A Child and the people of the village.Then we all come together on the weekends to share our stories from the week.

Last week was probably the hardest week for me. The village life is MUCH different from the life here in the city. When you spend the week in the village, you spend it sleeping in a tent, not showering, and working hard.

Our first night in the village was an interesting one. Our team consisted of 6 American girls, 1 English girl, 2 American boys, and about 5 Ugandans. All of our tents were close together so there is almost no privacy at all. Our first day in the village consisted of us simply setting up our tents and getting settled in the village. We did a small amount of evangelizing to some of the families in the area, then headed back to our campsite to head to bed. In the village, with no electricity.... you go to bed when the sun goes down.

Each day in the village we would wake up, then head to the water wells for cleaning. We were able to finish the cleaning of one well in just a few hours of our first day of work. These wells that we cleaned out were more like huge mud holes. The wells that we worked on cleaning out had not been touched in 10 - 30 years. So they were overgrown and for a lack of better words - just plain nasty. So we took our slashers ( the African lawn mowers ) and cut the tall grass and weeds back. We dug all of the thick mud out, and cleared out the hole. At the end of 3 days of work, we had cleaned not one ..... but TWO water wells for the community of Zirobwe.

In the evenings we spent our time with the children of the community. We did our Empower A Child program with them, which consist of signing songs, playing games, and sharing bible stories, and doing crafts with the children. The children in the village are so amazing to be around. They are so loving and so great. The children in the village have next to nothing. They have no shoes, some have no clothes, and they are just so so dirty. But they are so filled with love it is amazing. They get such much joy out of simply holding our hands or being carried and loved by us. It is such a blessing to be able to spread God's love to them.

The week in the village made me appreciate all that I have. I was completely humbled. It was such a hard week for me, but every time I felt myself getting ready to complain I had to remind myself that this was one week out of my life. This is everyday life for the people of Zirobwe. I struggled greatly with the fact that I was so dirty and did not have even a speck of make-up on my face. I am very insecure about not having make-up on ,therefore week in the village really challenged me. I was forced to not wear make-up obviously because there were no mirrors and no access to showers.To even get water you had to walk 1/4 mile to get to the closest water well. We used baby wipes to keep ourselves clean. Every time that I was thinking to myself about how dirty I was , I immediately felt guilty. I was not there that week for me. I was there for GOD'S PURPOSE.

The week in the village really helped me grow. I had to not only focus myself and keep myself from getting tried or complaining, I also had to focus on being a leader. I had to make sure that I was also encouraging my team, keeping a smile on my face, and not outwardly complaining so that others would be lifted up. I was thankful for my role as a leader for the village team because it helped me stay on track. I was constantly reminded of how I was there for God's purpose and not mine. I was able to encourage others through the strength that was given to me from God himself.

Next week I will be headed back to the village. So hopefully God will use me in some huge ways :-)