Hilman Mann, a Long Hollow member, has given two months of his Summer to service in Uganda. Here he gives a detailed account of what a week looks like in Mbira, Uganda. Grace Christian school in Mbira, Uganda is supported by Long Hollow’s Love a Lot program and is a product of the Crazy Love offering. Enjoy learning more about our giving at work!
Sunday:
Church starts at 10:30AM and usually lets out at 1:30PM. The seats aren’t soft, but no one seems to mind. It’s 90 minutes of praise and worship, 60 minutes of preaching (with translation), and 30 minutes of testimonies. In the left-hand picture, Pastor JJ is on the right; Ben, who translates to English is on the left. It’s a full house, as usual on Sunday morning!
Sunday Afternoon: It’s time for football! Soccer that is! The school is in red jerseys with white striping. For reasons of their own, barefoot is preferred to shoes here. Ben serves as referee, too. He is on the far right with the whistle and says all he needs now is a red card. The game goes on until dark. Here’s the Ugandan sandlot version of a free kick. Notice the ‘wall’ wisely faces away from the kicker (red shirt/black shorts), who in this case was just fouled and is looking for some serious pay-backs. The girls play a slightly different game. It seems to be a variant of dodge-ball, with a very hard ball of wound bags or banana leaves. The girl in the middle (pink skirt/black shirt) must avoid being pegged by the two throwers (blue shirts)on either end. And they throw hard! Ouch!
Week Days: Each day starts around sunrise, or whenever the rooster decides it’s time to rise and shine. Near the equator, sun-up/down is about the same year ‘round ~7A/7P. There’s no doubt when the students get up, you can hear the excited chatter and laughter all over the grounds.
Morning Assembly & Chapel Service:
Weekday mornings at 8am, the students assemble to sing the Ugandan National Anthem and then have chapel service/bible study.
Breakfast:
Breakfast is at about 10Am. It is a large serving of posho (pō-shō), which is basically a very fine grain form of grits. He’s squinting because of the sun, not the food. 🙂
Technically, GCS is a ‘boarding school’. But the reality is, the boarders are orphans. They have no parents, and most often have been rescued off the street. Every boarder has someone, somewhere that is their legal guardian and they usually go to stay with them on holidays. However, in some cases the guardian conditions are not very ‘wholesome’ or perhaps even dangerous. So, a handful of the students may seldom, if ever leave the school. Still, it is important that most go to visit their guardians on holidays so the school maintains its boarding school status. The day-students walk to school each day from nearby villages.
Please keep up with the Love a Lot blog as we continue to share information from Hillman’s trip. We are excited to give a glimpse into everyday life at our home in Uganda.