Seven Water’s Edge Church members travel to Uganda

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

A group of seven members of Water’s Edge Church in Henning couldn’t help but smile as they recalled a mission trip of a lifetime to an orphanage in the heart of Uganda. The group returned to Henning approximately three weeks ago, but the memories of an opportunity to spread the word of God and good fortune to those less fortunate was still fresh in their minds.  ¶  There were the impromptu speeches, graciousness of youth for their week-long guests and a life-sized banner that seemed to follow the group of Henning area residents around wherever they went in their adopted home, which they will never soon forget.  ¶  “We felt like honored guests and even by people who did not know we were coming there,” said Jessie Wiek.  ¶  There is, perhaps, n o two cultures more different than Uganda to the tiny rural Minnesota town of Henning. After all, one country sits on the equator and Henning is covered in snow and ice for what seems to be half of the year, and modern amenities in Henning seem about as foreign as one could imagine to local youth in the heart of Uganda.Yet, there was a common bond of God and church that brought these two cultures together. After a visit from Timothy Kakooza and his daughter on a separate occasion last year, Henning helped shed light on the continued needs at his orphanage in Uganda. A group of Water’s Edge Church members decided to raise money to spend approximately a week in Uganda to lend a hand at the orphanage. 

Even though raising the money seemed daunting at first, the group of seven Henning area residents who made the trip, including Jessie Wiek, Paige Thalmann, Dorothy Heschke, Beth Wallevand, Deb Godding, Brooke Thorson and Beck Thorson, were able to eventually raise enough money to make the trek across the globe—only to be faced with another unexpected twist in the Ebola virus outbreak in a nearby country. The group prayed and spent quite a bit of time reflecting on whether it would be safe to make the trip across the globe earlier this summer. The group eventually decided to leave the decision up to each person about whether to continue with the mission trip or not.

“It was a roller coaster,” said Beth. “We had decided every one of us would make a decision for ourselves.”

Seven of the local residents decided to make the trip and were blessed by the warm welcome they received from their new Uganda friends. 

“They recognized the effort it took to get there,” said Brooke.

That effort included approximately 30 hours of travel over three different stops, a near miss on a connecting flight on the way home (the group boarded the plane just five minutes before it backed away from the terminal) and approximately $4,000 per person to make the week-long trip abroad.

“Even if they didn’t know why you were there they treated us really well,” said Paige.

Much of their time in Uganda was spent at an orphanage that was started by Timothy Kakooza and his wife in their home approximately 25 years ago. The orphanage has morphed into a place where anywhere from 800-900 orphans or more call home on a daily basis.

The orphanage is located in the community of Katosi, which is located in the south eastern part of the Central region in Uganda. The orphanage was started as a way to improve life in the community through programs that provide both formal and informal education, health care and more. The end result is a spiritual transformation to enable orphans, destitute adults and needy child

The region is poor with a multi-tribal population that includes a number of poor peasants and small scale fishermen. There is also the prevalence of witchcraft and poor medical facilities that lack basic health education, meaning the orphanage is an important part of the community to assist the residents during a time of need.

One thing that the group vividly talked about was the happiness and thankfulness the children and adults of the orphanage showed throughout their time in Uganda. That was no-more evident than when the group purchased the requested amount of ice cream to serve children one day, only to run out with 28 kids yet-to-be-served. 

Beth said the children didn’t complain, start crying or throw a temper tantrum, yet they simply moved on and knew there was more to life than not getting ice cream one day. What made the moment even more special for the local group of missionaries was watching the older kids share some of the melted ice cream with some of the younger people in the orphanage. Even if the ice cream was melted, the older kids shared some of the liquefied ice cream with others around them to ensure as many people as possible could have a taste of the special treat.

“The older kids look out and support the younger kids, said Jessie. “They know life is hard but they are taking care of each other’s needs.

Beth said one of the highlights of the trip was worshiping with the people at the orphanage as the American guests even knew some of the songs the kids were singing during worship.

“It was just nice to see all the kids worshiping together. The kids took charge and we knew some of the songs,” she said. 

Deb said another highlight was going to the farm the orphanage operates some four hours away. She said the planning and thought process of what was planted and where was fascinating. For example, there was a process for the logic in where they planted coffee and banana trees and when. Much of the food served at the orphanage is grown at the farm, and with 2,844 meals served a day for approximately 850 children, the farm has become an important asset for the orphanage as a whole. 

During their time at the farm, the group even had the chance to harvest a banana tree and plant corn like a typical Ugandan to see how different it was there from America. 

“(Timothy Kakooza) wanted us to experience it all, so we all harvested a banana tree and we all planted corn,” said Brooke. 

In addition to helping harvest some of the food served at the orphanage, volunteers made desks for the children and laid pavers that will help stabilize walking areas in the mostly clay and dirt areas of the orphanage. Money raised from local causes helped to purchase the material for the desks and pavers.

Dorothy said she was struck by Timothy Kakooza who knew the name of every one of the approximately 800-900 children in the orphanage as he said “they all have a story.” While he admitted every one-in-a-while he had to ask another person the help him remember a name, Dorothy said Timothy made it his mission to know each child’s name and their story of how they were led to the orphanage.

The group also had a chance to participate in the ground breaking of a new vocational school the orphanage is hoping to construct. While the Henning group just assumed they would be bystanders during the ceremony, they were quickly surprised to learn they were going to give impromptu speeches to help mark the historic occasion in the program.

Brooke said it was apparent to the Henning area residents that their friends from Uganda viewed the ground breaking as an extra special occasion since they were also in attendance and wanted to make their new friends an active participant in the ground breaking.

In addition to their work at the orphanage, the group of Water’s Edge Church members did find time for some sightseeing. One thing that struck the group was how poor the residents were, yet at the same time, how incredibly happy they were with their lives. 

One thing that struck the group stayed around the orphanage, other than a few longer outings, as traveling from one place to the next was a rather enduring ordeal due to extremely poor road conditions. 

“It’s hard to tell from the pictures, but the roads in Uganda are very poor,” said Brooke. 

“It was like driving over plowed fields,” added Deb. 

Since the roads were in such poor condition, traveling from one village to another, or to the expansive farm the orphanage operates, was quite the endeavor. With large bumps on a typical clay or dirt road, a bumpy ride may not even do a typical car ride justice. In fact, Beck even found unique ways to protect his head from hitting the top of the vehicles from bounding in the vehicle so much when they would go places like the expansive farm the orphanage operates some four hours away. 

“To get somewhere that is 15 miles away was a very long process,” said Brooke. 

Unlike most of America, especially rural places like Henning, the group said buildings and homes were right next to each other with little green space in-between. Where one building another one ended and very few of them were immaculate inside, rather they were small structures that one would typically imagine in a third world country like Uganda.

Though the residents of Uganda may not have a lot in terms of physical items or money, they more than made up for with hard work and ingenuity. In fact, the Water’s Edge group said many of the people owned their own shops and stayed open until the wee hours of the morning each day.

“It almost seemed like everyone owned their own shop,” said Dorothy. 

Throughout their time in Uganda, the group said the need for continued support in Uganda was quite apparent.

“The need is just screaming at you,” said Jessie. 

The group of Water’s Edge members who attended the mission trip in Uganda are planning to have a question and answer session where they will share stories about their mission trip to Uganda and answer any questions local residents may have about their trip and the country as a whole. The event is set for Sunday, Sept. 27 at Water’s Edge Church and is open to the public.