This April, three staff and I led a team of 11 students on Hinkson's first ever school mission trip. We spent over a week at the New Hope Children's center in southern Uganda. New Hope was started 20 years ago by the Dangers family with the vision of "being a father to the fatherless" and providing a place for orphans from the war that ravaged the Luwero region of Uganda. Their goal is to teach and provide a Christian, Ugandan culture... not a western, Ugandan culture. The close to 200 orphans that live there are taught skills and self-sufficiency so that when they graduate, they can re-enter the community with a Christ-centered lifestyle.
The leaders of the trip, Shane, Katie, Sarah and I with our liason to New Hope, Hannah on the left.
It was quite an experience. While at New Hope, we worked during the day, doing projects that the staff at the school did not have the time or labor resources to do themselves, like painting, putting screens on huts and houses (to prevent malaria carried by mosquitos), help with water purification, tutoring and many other odd jobs.
New hope is broken up into 7 family groups. Each family group has a Ugandan "Mother" and "Father" and about 25 children from the ages of 6 to 18. After school, the family groups work the plot of land that is theirs and tend to their animals, eat dinner together, worship and have devotions and work on homework together.
After eating together as a team, each staff would take a couple of our team members to a family group and spend the evening with them. We stayed with the same family group every night and for me it was the richest and most impacting part of the trip.
One night we were playing a game and the lights in the meeting hut went out (as the electricity usually does). When the light went out, the children started cheering, a couple of boys began beating the drums and they proceeded to worship in a way that I have never experienced. These are kids that have been abandoned by their parents or have lost them to death. Some kids don't know how old they are. Some also have AIDS, given to them by their parents. But... they praise the Lord every night with all of their energy. They act out of kindness to each other and strangers, bringing encouragement to those blessed to know them.
Our team did an amazing job as they adjusted to a new culture, were pushed out of their comfort zones, led chapels, served with manual labor and worked together as a team. We were so proud of them. Every night after family group time, our team would come together to worship and process the day. We processed by using beads. We had five different colored beads that stood for different character traits such as leadership, joy, positive attitude, servanthood and encouragement. Each person had three beads that they could give to any three people in the group and would explain what they saw in that person that day. It was a wonderful way to process the day through a positive lense and to walk away having encouraged and having been encouraged by your team.
After our time at New Hope, we were able to drive up to a National Forrest and experience a 3 hour boat safari on the Nile and a 3 hour land safari the next morning. We saw an amazing animal called a Jacksons Hart Beast. It's the only animal of it's kind that can effectively fight off a lion. These animals train from birth with their parents and are taught how to fight. A lion on the other hand sleeps 20 hours a day. The Jackson is a fighter and I think gives us a spiritual parallel in the way God has designed it to fight.
Our goal was to serve and make a difference and later realized that our main role was to be taught and experience God's goodness in the international Body of Christ. We look forward to our trip back to New Hope next year!
We had two nights in the Dubai airport and we slept on this prime piece of floor! I think at the most each person slept for about 3 hours.
Our Safari guide carried a lodaded AK-47 with her for protection from the animals... so of course I had to take a picture of me getting to hold a fully-automatic rifle once again. An adventurous trip!
