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Child Soldier Drama Team from Pilgrim on Vimeo.

 

This powerful video, produced and donated to Pilgrim by Tricia Manning-Smith and her husband Paul, won 2 top awards from the prestigious National Telly Awards.  These Awards honor outstanding local, regional and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest video and film productions and online film and videos.

 

Related Links: Beacon Of Hope Secondary School

Dear friends,
The school is alive again as students are reporting for Term ll at Soroti Municipal Secondary School (aka Beacon of Hope College.) Most of the students reported this week. The recruiting process for incoming sponsored Senior 1's (7th grade) was completed over the school break and 26 of the 40 have reported. The remaining 14 have a few more days to report before those on the waiting list will be called to fill their places.
The criterion for accepting sponsorship is based on poverty/need of family, orphan status (single or double orphan) and their scores on the Primary 7 national exams. Primary 7 is the last grade of primary school before entering secondary. Student application forms were collected in specific areas of this Teso region and from these applications students were selected t fill a specific number of positions assigned to each specific area.
All students, even those sponsored by the school, are required to bring certain things. Students come with a metal box that locks with a padlock, mattress (foam), basin (for washing clothes and bathing), jerican (jug to carry water), plate and cup and maybe a spoon. When they report, their box is checked by the matron or warden, and all their street clothes are given back to the parents to take home as only school uniforms are allowed at school.
Some of these new students come from far in the bush and are overwhelmed with the city. One girl traveled alone with her belongings from quite a distance away. She didn't know Soroti but found another student to help her walk downtown for the necessary school requirements. What a brave girl!
I had a father and his daughter come to my office to pay for the uniform. As he saw me, he quickly motioned for his daughter to join him. He asked his daughter to translate our conversation and we struggled to understand each other. I don't know anything about this family but was touched when the father opened a plastic bag and counted out 110 coins (each worth about 25 cents) to pay for his daughter's uniform needs. I imagine how proud he was both to have his daughter qualify for sponsorship and in his ability to pay the additional requirements for admittance.
I have been getting to know students as I help them through the registration process. I have been told that for some of these students, I am the first white person they have interacted with so it takes time for them to be comfortable with me and understand my American English. I find a smile is the same in any language!

Related Links: Beacon Of Hope Secondary School

In May we have been busy weeding and watching the crops grow. The rains have been very good and the crops have benefitted greatly. Harvest of the sunflowers may begin in late June. The maize harvest will begin shortly after that.

There have been many happenings at school since my last update. Let me share a few.

The soccer team went to the quarter finals in the Soroti area soccer competi¬tion. It was an eight day competition with our boys playing daily at the soccer fields which are just down the road. Meanwhile, at school, students are dis¬tracted awaiting game time to cheer our team on to victory. It's basically a lost week to academics in all the schools in the area. The school is proud of our team!

Last Sunday held a second Prayer and Fasting Day of this term with the theme "Enemies of the Cross". The teachings were wonderful and worship was full of passion. Can you picture 90 students in one classroom singing with everything within them?? My ears are still ringing!

On the other side...life on the ground...after a wind and rain storm, the pit la¬trine (outhouse) at school collapsed. Not good...quick action opened an old latrine that had been sealed. Relief. (No pun intended...)

For 8 days there was low voltage or no electricity so we depended on the generator for stable electricity for the photocopier and computer.

A fact of life at a private school is school fees. Most of the students are spon¬sored by donors but we do have a few private students. This far into the term, fees of private students should be paid in full. Another fact of life here is all students are required to have uniforms and compound wear. Again, this far into the term, all students should have purchased their uniforms. Last week, many students were not compliant and were sent home to get money for school fees and uniforms. Needless to say, the office became busy with parents paying fees.

Meanwhile, the white rats (purchased for national exam practicals last October) in the lab are reproducing, breakfast, lunch and supper are being pre¬pared, daily, a few students are treated for malaria, daily lunch hour worship continues encouraging students, chalk is being used up as lessons are taught, and teachers are preparing final exams. Life at school continues.

Pilgrim has many Aid & Relief Program events to report. William Omara, the Director of Aid & Relief has been arranging the distribution of emergency food relief in several districts in NE Teso, verifying situations where food is needed and distributing emergency food supplies. The food distributed is from the container of emergency food packets from Feed My Starving Children that was donated to Pilgrim. Another container of that same kind of food, enough to provide 270,864 meals, has arrived in Zimbabwe for distribution by Paula Leen's ministry in Murwira. Her feeding program covers four local schools where 1200 students get one healthy meal per day. She also cares for 36 orphans at her own orphanage and provides emergency food and medical transportation as well as a myriad of other social services to her surrounding community.

Pilgrim has another container is on the way, also donated by Feed my Starving Children, to Zimbabwe. Thanks to all who donated towards the transportation costs for these two containers of food.

Another area of Aid & Relief for which William Omara is responsible is the distribution of a containerof medical equipment and supplies. This container was donated in late 2009 to Pilgrim by Charity Services International / World Children's Fund, and is enough to supply many clinics. William is travelling through the Teso region visiting the clinics, assessing how the donated materials can help each individual clinic, and supplying what he can.

Related Links: Emergency Food Relief

This June Pilgrim will once again offer an important training opportunity to human service workers serving the Soroti, Uganda area. A team of experienced trauma therapists from the Trauma Studies Center (TSC), a division of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy in New York City, will be training pastors, teachers, health care workers, first responders and others how to recognize and respond effectively to those suffering from psychological trauma. Pilgrim has several counselors trained in this specialized counseling  who work with the numerous Ugandans severely impacted by the combined effects of war, displacement and differing kinds of loss, and is eager to train more through this team's visit.

This is the third time the TSC has visited Soroti. The team will be visiting schools and government offices, as well as health centers and hospitals, to become better informed about the mental health needs of the Teso people. The week in Soroti will culminate in a 3-day conference sponsored by Pilgrim, titled "Restoration and Renewal." In addition to basic trauma therapy, sessions will focus on the fundamental principles of trauma counseling, and conclude with approaches to nurturing the community of care givers. The conference is for all locally involved with trauma therapy.

Prior to coming to Soroti, two members of the TSC team will be in Kampala, where they will offer training in specialized treatment techniques to members of the Uganda Counseling Association. Two members of the Pilgrim counseling staff will take part in this training.

Many of the students at Beacon of Hope College are healing from the wounds of abuse, war and abandonment, and are now thriving due to the extensive long-term therapy available through the counselors at Beacon Medical Center. Pilgrim's goals are to infuse the Gospel into modern accepted trauma therapy, to heal the wounds of trauma with a powerful Christian foundation, and provide more available therapy to the community at large.

Sunday was a day of fasting and prayer at school. It began with the morning service and for those who choose to participate continued till 4:30. The theme of the day was "God Will Restore Our Hope". The schedule was orderly with times of worship, teaching and prayer. About 130 students participated in the fasting and prayer program.

The first speaker shared how when we expose ourselves to sin and the lies of Satan our hope is lost.

The next speaker (me) shared the story of the Israelites worshipping the golden calf. They had lost hope when Moses did not return soon enough and in losing hope they looked back to life in Egypt...the life they didn't like but a life they knew. Moses interceded on behalf of the people and their hope was restored. I challenged them with Moses prayer in Exodus 33:13 "teach me your ways so I may know you" and from verse15 "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here". God is the restorer of our hope as we seek out His Presence and follow Him.

The third speaker read Genesis 12:1-2 where Abram was told to leave "your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you." Then God would bless him. He challenged the students to spiri¬tually leave their land, their tribe and father's house. They need to leave the worship of idols, leave witchcraft practices of the Teso region, leave the tribal and family practices which do not please God and commit to follow God's way and receive His blessings. Teso region needs God.

Prayer time began with a powerful time of students forgiving each other of any offenses. There were many tears shed and hugs given. Next, they repented on behalf of themselves, the region and country of Uganda. Then, they prayed down their prayer list as follows: students, school and Pilgrim at large; families; prisoners, sick and those still in IDP camps; orphans, widows, etc; against temptations for both students and Pilgrim workers. It was an awesome day.

 

Aaron Ruud farms 30 acres at the Dakabela Farm, close to Soroti, Uganda. He raises crops for Beacon of Hope College, which as you can imagine has a large food budget for 500 people onsite. Watch a video of Aaron

Missionary Farming from Pilgrim on Vimeo

"This has been a frustrating week. It started out poorly, got worse but finished well. Last Saturday, I was on my way back to town with a load of sweet potatoes for the school when I heard a load bang. I first thought it was a flat tire, but after seeing the trail of water I looked under the hood and found that the upper radiator hose had burst. Not just a short crack but actually split from end to end. On closer inspection, I saw the alternator belt broke too. The only thing I can figure out is, when the belt broke, the end came around and struck the hose which was weakened from age. I was fairly close to town so it didn't take too long to get another belt and a hose that wasn't an exact fit but was close enough to work. But then I saw that when the hose broke it also broke the short tube on the radiator the hose connects to. Here is where things start to get worse.

 

With the help of Julius, the engine room operator at the school, I got the hose on well enough to get the pickup to school. We got some 3-ton epoxy and reattached the tube to the radiator, waited a day for it to harden and drove home. Apparently, the hose exerts more than 3 tons of pressure because by the time I got home the tube was bro­ken again. Now, the only option was a new top for the radiator. This is not easy to find because the pickup, a Mazda, is not a common vehicle in Uganda. There was nothing at all in Soroti. We tried for several days to locate something in Kampala, the capital, but the most common suggestion was, "go to Kenya."

 

(In the US, with the help of a phone book and the internet, it is easy to find almost anything. Here, there are no phone books and most businesses do not have websites. So, the solution usually is to take the broken part to Kampala and ask around until you run across someone who knows someone who might know where to find what you need.

 

If you know exactly what you want and know where to go it is also possible to buy it and have them put it on the bus. Usually this takes about 12-24 hours for delivery. There are two problems with this, first, I wouldn't want to ship anything obviously valuable and, second, someone still has to physically go to the store to pay cash for the item.)

 

Finally, we tracked down someone who would fabricate the part from scratch. In the US, having someone build a part like this would be pretty expensive but here even skilled labor is pretty cheap, so this turned out to be the best option. I questioned him carefully and he assured me he would do the whole job for 50,000USh (about $25) and that it would be done the next day. So, I gave him the radiator.

 

So far so good, but in typical Ugandan fashion, he called the next day to tell us he wouldn't be able to come until the following morning. When he did come, about 1:00pm, he had the repaired radiator, but, in typical Ugandan fashion, the price had changed. Instead of 50,000, it was now 60,000, plus 20,000 for cleaning the radiator, plus10,000 for 2 small bolts, plus 10,000 for his transportation.

 

Still, the week ended well. I got the pickup back. It took 6 days to find a part and 2 hours to install it, but I'm happy to be driving again instead of walking.
This has been a frustrating week. It started out poorly, got worse but finished well. Last Saturday, I was on my way back to town with a load of sweet potatoes for the school when I heard a load bang. I first thought it was a flat tire, but after seeing the trail of water I looked under the hood and found that the upper radiator hose had burst. Not just a short crack but actually split from end to end. On closer inspection, I saw the alternator belt broke too. The only thing I can figure out is, when the belt broke, the end came around and struck the hose which was weakened from age. I was fairly close to town so it didn't take too long to get another belt and a hose that wasn't an exact fit but was close enough to work. But then I saw that when the hose broke it also broke the short tube on the radiator the hose connects to. Here is where things start to get worse.

 

With the help of Julius, the engine room operator at the school, I got the hose on well enough to get the pickup to school. We got some 3-ton epoxy and reattached the tube to the radiator, waited a day for it to harden and drove home. Apparently, the hose exerts more than 3 tons of pressure because by the time I got home the tube was bro­ken again. Now, the only option was a new top for the radiator. This is not easy to find because the pickup, a Mazda, is not a common vehicle in Uganda. There was nothing at all in Soroti. We tried for several days to locate something in Kampala, the capital, but the most common suggestion was, "go to Kenya."

 

(In the US, with the help of a phone book and the internet, it is easy to find almost anything. Here, there are no phone books and most businesses do not have websites. So, the solution usually is to take the broken part to Kampala and ask around until you run across someone who knows someone who might know where to find what you need.

 

If you know exactly what you want and know where to go it is also possible to buy it and have them put it on the bus. Usually this takes about 12-24 hours for delivery. There are two problems with this, first, I wouldn't want to ship anything obviously valuable and, second, someone still has to physically go to the store to pay cash for the item.)

 

Finally, we tracked down someone who would fabricate the part from scratch. In the US, having someone build a part like this would be pretty expensive but here even skilled labor is pretty cheap, so this turned out to be the best option. I questioned him carefully and he assured me he would do the whole job for 50,000USh (about $25) and that it would be done the next day. So, I gave him the radiator.

 

So far so good, but in typical Ugandan fashion, he called the next day to tell us he wouldn't be able to come until the following morning. When he did come, about 1:00pm, he had the repaired radiator, but, in typical Ugandan fashion, the price had changed. Instead of 50,000, it was now 60,000, plus 20,000 for cleaning the radiator, plus10,000 for 2 small bolts, plus 10,000 for his transportation.

 

Still, the week ended well. I got the pickup back. It took 6 days to find a part and 2 hours to install it, but I'm happy to be driving again instead of walking.

The first week of school has been busy with students reporting and lessons beginning.  It’s been fun to see friends reuniting and catching up after the holiday break. 

 

Teachers and Senior 4’s have been anxiously waiting for the results of the National Exams of last November to be released.  For the students, the results allow them to return as Senior 5’s in our school or receive recommendations to transfer to another school or vocational school.  For the teachers, the results show how well they were able to communicate their subject to their students.  The results were delayed but finally released a week ago. 

 

We are all celebrating because our school placed 3^rd out of the approximately 60 schools within the Soroti area and in the entire Teso region we placed 7^th.  Also, the top student is one of our students!!  We give all the glory and praise to God for His guidance, wisdom, protection and grace on all the students and staff as we endeavored to prepare former child soldiers, abductees and victims of war and poverty for a productive life.  An important part of our program includes developing Christians who will powerfully impact their world for the Kingdom of God!!

Related Links: Beacon Of Hope Secondary School

By God's grace, Pilgrim successfully completed its second Move on Malaria campaign in the Kumi district of the Teso sub region in northeastern Uganda in September. Kumi is one of the seven districts that form the Teso sub region, and has an estimated population of 358,400.

In March 2009, a review of health facility records indicated that malaria was responsible for 37% of all outpatient clinic visits in health units and close to 50% of all hospital admissions. In the age group 0-4 years, almost 70% of admissions were attributable to malaria, with malaria causing 10% of all deaths. A baseline epidemiological survey conducted by Pilgrim in the region showed a malaria prevalence of 37% in children under age 16, and 23% across all age groups.

In partnership with and under the direction of the Uganda Ministry of Health and National Malaria Control Program, Pilgrim carried out a district-wide malaria treatment campaign over the course of six weeks. All children ages 16 and under were given a presumptive course of World Health Organization approved anti-malarial medication. Adults ages 16 and above were tested for malaria with a rapid test and given appropriate treatment if found to be positive. Over 250,000 people were attended to by our medical teams. Indoor residual spraying of insecticide (IRS) was conducted by the Ministry of Health concurrently the medical treatment. Although data is still being processed, preliminary results from the IRS campaign show a remarkably high coverage rate, with over 80% of the huts in the district treated.

We are now in the surveillance phase, closely watching malaria trends in the district. Results so far are encouraging. Local health centers are seeing a notable drop in malaria cases and deaths due to malaria. We will carry out a follow-up survey in one to two months to measure the impact on malaria prevalence in the district, and then begin preparing for the next round of Move on Malaria in the district.

Related Links: Move On Malaria