ACF 2010 SUMMER MISSIONS - SUMMARY REPORT

Fort Portal in Uganda

After the first week of missions work in Kumi, the   missions’ team held two activities in Kampala on August 7, before travelling to Fort Portal, the second site of the summer missionary work.

 

Leadership/Pastors Training:

The ACF leaders had one day leadership training at the Good News Ministry Church. The conference was organized by the Good News Ministry Church where Pastor Solomon Mwesige is the senior pastor.    The conference was attended by pastors and church leaders from Good News Ministry Church and several other churches.

The training covered various aspects of church leadership and management including: why some churches grow, leadership concepts such as traits, ability, relationship, leadership skills in the church etc; signs of leadership potential, biblical leaders, styles of leadership in the church, church strategic planning, and resource management.

In the area of resource management, we talked about church budget and financial management. We emphasized that when church leaders don’t manage their personal finances well, it may lead to financial abuse in the church. The discussion on budgeting and personal financial planning led to a lengthy discussion based on questions from church leaders present on family planning and budgeting. It was determined that several church members in Uganda have between five to eleven children while their incomes are very meager. The instance of large families means that if there is a disaster such as loss of the father, mother, or both through war, diseases, or any other life event, the children are left very vulnerable.

Lunching of ACF Kampala Office:

The day was a busy day for the ACF Mission team.   The ACF Kampala lunched their office in the evening.

There were singing, dancing, refreshments, ribbon cutting of the ACF Kampala Office and the dedication of musical equipment purchased by ACF Missions Inc. Some representatives from the community attended the launching, and had a walk through of the office after the official opening.

Missions to Fort Portal:

The next day, August 8, the Mission team left for Fort Portal in the western part of Uganda. It was a six to seven hour drive from Kampala.

Meeting with ACF Sponsored Children:

The team had an all day conference with all the ACF sponsored children in the Fort Portal area.   The children looked fantastic. They looked well groomed, fed, and totally different from other children we met either in Kumi or other schools we visited in Fort Portal area.

At the conference in Fort Portal, one of the young adults from ACF East Region, Sister Chichi Ebiringa preached a powerful message that got to the heart of all in attendance.   Several of the sponsored hildren gave their lives to Christ.

Academic Success:

It was refreshing to see several of the ACF sponsored children who have excelled academically. Some with academic distinctions, grade 1, and grade 2s in the Ugandan national exams.

Counseling sessions:

The mission team along with the ACF Kampala team, and graduates of the ACF Child Sponsorship Programs had one-on-one counseling session with all the students currently in the program.   The goal was to determine how the students are doing at home, at school, and where they are spiritually.   They were prayed for individually.

It was determined that several that live in the boarding school have most of their challenges during vacations because ACF sponsorship program does not cover home expenses during vacation.   Some of them have challenges getting food to eat or personal care items such as female hygiene items, tooth paste etc.

School Visits:

On our second day in Fort Portal, we visited various primary and secondary schools where ACF sponsored children go to school.   We met with school administrators and in some cases with teachers.   Overall, the schools reported that our children are doing well academically and have good behavior except few who had behavior problems. One of the ACF boys in secondary school was expelled for rioting with other boys.   A few of the schools complained about school fees for the sponsored children being paid late. They asked ACF to ensure that school fees are paid on time to avoid expelling the children from school.

Visit to Government Officials:

On the same day of our visit to the schools, we also visited the office of the district health officer of Fort Portal.   We met with the Health Education Officer and a Health Inspector.   We shared with them ACF health programs in the Kigarama.   They provided us with guidelines of the various types of health center certificates that ACF can get.

Medical Missions in Kigarama:

We had two days of medical outreach in Kigarama, Kabaroli District of Western Uganda.   Data for the Kabarole district shows poor health and development indicators, including high Infant and child mortality (86/1000), maternal mortality ratio (498/1000), doctor patient ratio (1:19,179), HIV/AIDS prevalence rate (13‐15%), adolescent pregnancy rate (35%) etc.

The two days medical outreach in Kigarama was at the ACF Health Center.   The turnout of the villagers was quite high.   There was not enough room in the ACF Health Center to accommodate all the patients.   Several of them had to sit outside in the heat of the sun.

As a result of the large turnout, we ran out of medications.   We were forced to use money budgeted for food for the people to buy more medicines.   We were therefore able to feed the people for only one day instead of two days.

Community Leadership Meeting & Health Center Inspection:

On the second day of the medical missions, the ACF team met with the community leaders of Kigarama including district councilors (equivalent to US state assembly officials), local councilors, pastors and other leaders in the community.   The community leaders were challenged to step up and take actions about various challenges facing the community including high rate of promiscuity leading to high HIV/AIDs, child marriages with children in elementary and secondary schools getting married thereby perpetuating high poverty rates, lack of water in the community etc.   The ACF East Region Missions director asked the community leaders to be servant leaders for their community. The community leaders accepted the challenge of assisting ACF to make the health center a success.   The district councilor agreed to lobby the district health department to contribute either in medicine or staff to the ACF Health Center.    He also asked the community leaders to assist ACF with the security of the health center.

While the meeting was going on, health inspectors from the district health department arrived at the ACF Health Center.   The health inspectors joined the meeting and shared with the community the expectations of the district health department.   Overall, the health inspectors were impressed with the ACF buildings and the progress made so far.   They had few minor recommendations which our building engineer will have to correct on the property.   They suggested that one of the ACF buildings could be made a maternity center because the nearest health center was about seven kilometers away and difficult for village pregnant women to reach.

Tour of ACF Land and Agricultural Project:

Towards the end of the second day of medical missions, we had a tour of the ACF property (close to fifteen acres) where the health center is located. The land is huge and amazingly very fertile with natural water flowing at one end of the land. Almost every crop grows well on the land.

The ACF Kampala had a trial farm on the property and the trial came out very successful. The area has three planting seasons. An investment of $2,000 in farming (corn and cassava) yielded close to $6,000 within one year.    The return on the investment was used to offset other ACF mission expenses in Uganda.  There is a suggestion for ACF to raise some money for farming in the land that can reduce the financial requests from the Uganda office to ACF Missions inc.