Come Let's Dance, Kampala

My stay at CLD, a report on the murders of Mwera and an overview of Farming God's Way

This report can be a little graphic.

Well, I have a lot to report... my stay was not without incident or excitement; riots in Kampala, a witchdoctor's killing spree in our village, rice, posho and beans every day for lunch and supper, not to mention the wealth of knowledge I obtained about Uganda, farming and myself.

First Day and Evening Routine

To begin with, when I got dropped off, it was raining heavily and Chris's truck got stuck. The road company, having done a little grading, had removed the tough level of compact soil and we had nothing but disturbed clay and mud to slide on. It took us, about ten man hours to get him out and then when we were almost out, Chris's starter broke off, and the back left tire was shredded to the wires. Even earlier that day Chris had tried to wire all the money in his pocket to his wife, so she could pay some emergency bills... only the money got lost in cyberspace. Then another truck got stuck, up past us a ways.

It was at that moment the uncannyness got to me and being deeply immersed in the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, I figured a witch has cast a spell on us. I asked Chris if we could come together in prayer.  Witches and wizards, although reduced to fantasy and marketing in the US,  practice more widely than I would have believed, having been told before coming out here. There are several per village. (We have one right by Chris's house in Jinja. He has a small shack, a big black sign, and a waiting bench, peopled by customers in line for what exactly I don’t know. I try to say a prayer, combating the forces of darkness at work there, when I pass.)  We, a few of the students, Chris, and I gathered together. Chris prayed with commands for Satan’s angels to take their hands off his car, off his family, his wife, his children, me, the teacher Chelsea, off the students of CLD, the farm and me. In Jesus's name he finished. I was struck by the commanding force of his prayer.

I remained to eat a late, late lunch of rice and beans and posho (flour put in boiling water until it becomes clotted evenly).  When I returned to the action it just so happened that the other gentlemen stuck was a bush mechanic. He fixed the starter and we then unstuck Chris's truck and changed the tire with a spare, that due to the condition of the roads I had been wondering when we would use from the time I arrived in Uganda. {note to the Wise's}. I said goodbye to Chris as he was journeying to South Africa for an annual conference of Farming God's Way leaders for two weeks. That is why I was staying at CLD near Nansana, Kampala in a little village known as Mwera for this time.

I had no objections to this; in fact, I was looking forward to it. He was the last white person I saw for a week and a half. Yes, the prayer worked. God got us out of this mess with His All Sufficiency; all we had to do was ask. If you remember the story of Job, Satan had to go before the Lord to ask to touch one of Gods people. I believe this is the case now as well. This is my Father's world. As we were dislodging the other truck from the clay bank, a man staggered down the road. He had red bloodshot eyes; a sign of bad heath or many severe fevers says Chris. He picked a fight with one of the CLD students and was wrestled to the ground. He lay there a minute and shot up, trying to attack the man again. "Is he mad?" I asked. "Yes, he is mad," said one of the students. I jumped down out of the truck bed, where I had been bouncing to give the back tires more force, to between the two men. The mad man’s eyes never met mine; they were locked on the other gentleman. I put my hand on his shoulder. I grabbed a human skeleton, laminated in black skin. I wondered how often he was able to eat, or if anyone took care of this mad man. All the while he was making animal like sounds - grunts, growls, and murmurs, not imitations of any animal directly. I assumed he was deaf from an early age, but emotional groans. He went about his way and we got the African mechanic’s truck free and on its way. Later I snuck the mad man a bowl of our famous rice, posho and beans. He smiled and quickly downed the food like a beverage. He has been back every other day since and the camp cook, of his own accord, feeds him the leftovers. :)

The residents of CLD are:  the manager, Josh, 26, a loud powerful Ugandan man, who loves to praise Jesus with the power of his lungs; the camp cook, Fredrick, 17, the most jolly man I have ever met, usually seen in purple pants, one leg rolled higher than the other. He had an ear to ear grin peeled right off the Cheshire cat; Emma or Emanuel, 23, a smart, witty, humored young man always quick with an African saying or a hilarious comment; Steve, 18, the youngest of the lot, sporting sports tees and listening to music on his radio, he clung to Emma a lot the two being best friends; Joseph, 25, from the northern areas of Uganda. A very happy man, I cannot say he is the most educated as he said "It was been ten years since I held a book." but most assuredly the most, how shall I say it... the most praising person I have ever met, a truly Godly man; Tony, 25, another man from up north speaking the same native language as Joseph and from the same darker skinned tribe, a people pleaser, but good nonetheless; and Godfrey, in his thirty’s, the only man with a wife and the only other introvert besides myself, always quiet, the hardest worker, but when he did speak it was always hilarious, dry humored; and a few farm hands who kept to themselves, the majority with mental problems.

We were all filthy and removing the clothes I grabbed a basin, a bar of soap, water and shampoo, went into a small cubical for some cold bucket bathing. It gets the job done.  It is quiet refreshing. We ate more rice and beans, had a small devotional led by each of the students one day of the week. Then the Ugandans sang African songs of praise, and then prayed each one all talking at the same time. When this happened, I jumped in my skin a little, being used to letting prayer be a time of silence. Then we all went to bed, sleeping in one room, six of us, three bunk beds draped in mosquito nets with one tiny window. The nights could get a bit loud and, if the window were closed, very hot, but I found putting in my ear buds and listing to an audiobook did the trick. In this way I completed The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Heart of Darkness, A Journey to the Center of the Earth and the beginning of The Divine Comedy. And that was the evening routine.

An Overview of Farming God's Way

The next day we woke around 7:30, prepared ourselves and I went to my Well Watered Garden to place inputs in the grid of holes I had dug a few weeks earlier. I had nine rows, three of maze with manure, three with diamoniumphosphate (DAP) and three furrows of beans, one with manure, two with DAP. Then I covered them, leaving 5cm for the maze seed which I soaked, to awaken the seed from hibernation. Then I planted three maze seeds in each hole in a line and the beans in the furrows four fingers apart each. I covered the holes without packing. I slashed grass stalks and laid them horizontal to the slope of the land to catch water running downhill. This mulch layer we call God's Blanket, because He often has a layer of decaying matter on His garden as well. Have you ever felt dry ground? Chances are it was exposed to the sun with nothing to cover it. Now place your hand under some leaves and feel the dampness of the soil. It retains water by preventing evaporation and the more seasons you do this, soon you will have the ground become a sponge from the plant matter. It is a way of ensuring good yields for the poor of Africa. The holes are measured carefully and to high standards, so it may be repeated year after year in the same spots, so you don’t waste your materials. Farming God's Way is taught with three key pillars of success: technology, management, and biblical principles. The loss of any one of these is like taking one leg from a three legged stool. You need technology, such as tools and knowledge to plant the garden; you need management to be to high standards and on time with accurate measurements; and you need to remember the biblical principles. They are:

1) Acknowledge God and God alone

2) Consider your ways

3) Understanding God’s All Sufficiency

4) What you sow you will reap

5) Bring the tithes and offerings to God

6) Stake your claim

 

These six each address a real world problem for the poor and offer God's solution.

The curses of sub Saharan Africa are many. A man may go to church on Sunday claiming to be a Christian and then go to the witch doctor on Wednesday for advice. Or one may claim to be a Muslim to Muslims and Christian to Christians, but God cannot be mocked. He sees the heart. “No one can serve two masters,” said Jesus. There are more "saved people in parts of Africa than people, suggesting people have gotten "saved" time and again, more often to get something. Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep. God is a jealous God he doesn’t bless those who mix his name with demons and false beliefs. Without discipleship, obedience and a relationship with Christ you do not experience the fullness of life promised to those who turn and follow him, though you have salvation.

Consider your ways; Africa has three main curses:  bloodshed and violence, the curse of a short life and the curse on what the land produces. African farmers will burn last season’s crops, instead of putting that nutrition back into the soil, then till the soil and plant in a scattering of seeds. The first year you may have alright crops, but the second will be significantly less and the third is almost worthless. Then the farmer will slash and burn somewhere else and start the process all over again instead of taking care of the land, putting in inputs and rotating crops. The way a person was taught may not be the best way.  Consider your ways. 1 Thessalonians 2:12 "Walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory."

Africans are dependent on governments, white men and NGO’s (nongovernment organizations) for sources of money and food. Giving is not a bad thing, but over time if we are not wise with giving, we may create dependency syndrome. Africans view farming as a deadbeat’s job. They have it in their mind that, if they can just move closer to the city, then they can make it bigger in life. This, however, is the opposite from the truth. Understanding God's all sufficiency breaks the dependency syndrome, in realizing that what you have is enough. God has given these men land, the ability to have cheap inputs of composted brush, and God’s blanket. In the beginning Adam and Eve had nothing but the land to work. God has given man everything he needs to live a full and prosperous life. He also gave man authority over all His creation to rule over it. As we rule the living creatures they should not only be protected from destruction, they should flourish under our faithful stewardship

What you sow you will reap, 2 Thessalonians 3:10"If a man will not work then neither should he eat." So many people here will not work. Some don’t do a good job, if given the opportunity, partly out of a lack of knowledge, but mostly out of a lack of caring. God’s solution is contrary to the worlds. We need to give rather than receive. When we give, His irrevocable laws come in to play once again and He will cause even greater measure to be given back to us. Acts20:35 says "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Malachi 3:7-12 “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you” says the Lord of hosts. “But you say, “How shall we return?” “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, “How have we robbed You?” In tithes and offering. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this, ”says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes, “says the Lord of hosts. “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts.”

Spiritual warfare is directly applicable to the agricultural domain, so stake your claim, James 5 :14 “The effective prayers of a righteous man can accomplish much.” Be humble, acknowledge God's ways are higher than our ways. Seek his presence rather than his blessing, confess and repent, ask and you will receive. Praying over the land, rebuking the darkness of deeds done on the land, ask for His lordship over the land, ask Him to heal the land and commit your farm to His kingdom. Take back the ground under the enemy.  God is for us not against us and he desires for our farms to be blessed. We must be faithful with the small things first, hence, starting me out on a small, well-watered garden.

These are a few examples of the spiritual side of Farming God’s Way that I am picking up from a very large book, an overview. The spiritual aspect was the most important to show you, as it has made a very, very beneficial, lasting result in my life. 

A Few Key Incidents

The Western Mind vs. the Ugandan Mind

We were asked to clear holes, place imputs, and plant/cover a large scale garden. This took two weeks, during which I, naturally, being a Westerner, tried to compete with the other workers to show them what I'm made of. Having worked with my brother Travis in his contracting company, I feel confident about my work ethics. As normal as competition is in our culture this was noted as offensive to the Ugandans, I found out a few days later. We, through osmosis of our culture, when we do not look to God for his view, we see our self worth in what we have and have accomplished. We look down on those whom we consider less than us and envy those of more “worth”. I found this in myself, but I combat it and believe myself not to look down on or envy others, but it takes constant management.

Ants!

One night around 3 or 4am I was awakened by Joseph, speaking frantically in Luganda to all of us. Believing there was an emergency, I asked Emma what he said. “He said he found some white ants.” I almost catapulted out of that bed. I was mad! Of course, I did not understand the full meaning of white ants. I thought it was a ridiculous reason to get excited and wake up six men at 3-4am, but I just endured the clamor and went back to sleep. The next morning I found a tub, inches deep with winged termites, squirming, humming and climbing over one another. Then I realized what the fuss was all about. That night I was glad to eat somthing other than rice and beans.

Four Muslim Children Come to the Lord

By far, the best part was when Joseph brought a group of three 14 year old girls and a 15 year old boy to the farm on two different occasions. Once the 15 year old boy was dressed in girls' clothing out of ignorance. That first visit I called him a girl on accident and was quickly put right. They came and Joseph explained the gospel using John 3:16, and repeating "no one comes to the Father except through me". I was present. I asked them what about Jesus they liked most. “He loves children," the boy said. ”Indeed, he does,” said I. I felt my presence as a white man to be distracting, so I went inside to watch from a window as Joseph continued talking to them. Joseph had found the girls by the town pump and had started to share the gospel to them. I do believe he is still discipling these children. I was told their dad was Muslim.

India Mark What?

I have taken a class on pumping water with Equip Inc. And so upon arriving at the farm, I was excited to see an India Mark II in its natural habitat, and not in a class room setting. The men said that the pump was broken and my fingers itched to turn nuts and bolts. I diagnosed the pump by lifting the handle a few times and listening to the sounds and symptoms of the sick pump, checking it against common problems I knew. It took several quick pumps to lift the water and it did not hold charge well, losing the water almost instantly to greater depths. Upon seeing that the borehole was only 19 meters, I understood, or so I thought. The India Mark II is a deep well pump and either doesn't pump or doesn't pump well at shallow depths. The repair would be expensive, but for now the men were content with it. A few days later I awoke to see some men lifting the head off the pump. I helped with the heavy lifting and once the MS rod was up I watched one of the men use a tree to straighten massive bends. Then to my suprise they started destroying the concrete foot pad and run off spillway. Then I had to attend to class. When I returned they were pulling up the riser main. I jumped in. It had two ropes leading to the bottom and was made of pvc instead of steel. This reminded me of an afrodev, a pump designed to work and be as cheap as possible, but not as rugged as the India Mark II. When the cylinder was up, I saw the telltale foot valve. Not only this, but the bore hole, instead of being only a few inches in diameter was closer to three feet. I speculated that they just placed this contraption over an existing hand dug well. It took about a week to repair the well. In the meantime we carried water from the church on the hill. I went without a bath for a while. When it was repaired and I bathed, I poured away something the color of water and tomato soup mixed. It gets dusty out here.

Sanitation

I found a job improving sanitation at CLD. I waged war on the thick horde of flies in the dining/living/only room. I used deet spray on myself and objects the deet would not corode, smacking and snatching every fly I could. I must have killed at least twenty or more by hand. They crawl on everything - people, food, in your eyes and mouth like they do on livestock. The men here really just endured their presences. I suppose they figured it to be an unchangeable constant in Ugandan life. I, however went on the warpath. Still, I left the farm and the flies had not decreased in number in the least. The cook cooked on the ground and I often found insect parts where something landed on the food that has been sitting in the open since lunch and got trapped. A man got sick here within the first week. I remembered Chris had pruned a sprig of Artemishea, an extremely medicinal plant, found to cure malaria and boost the body's immune system. I placed the sprig in my tea one morning, and afterwards for extra insurance ate the twig. I never got sick.

I built a Tippy tap (a bush-life handwashing system) next to the dry toilets, in the fashion I copied from Equip's training facility. It is simply a post and lintel structure from the forest, God's all sufficiency. Then I placed a jerry can in suspension with ropes at first, and then wire due to the weight. A wire ran from the mouth of the jug to a stick with traction, having one end of the stick lifted into the air by the wire. This creates a peddle for pouring the water. Then, and finally, I heated a nail and punctured the soap to create soap on a rope! Then I grabbed a large lid and ran the soap's rope through the middle to act like an umbrella for the soap during rain. All in all, it works very well as a touchless hand washing station.

The Concert of a Lifetime

My first Saturday on the farm, Josh, the manager, had a relationship with a London college as a large supporter, and they were having a virginity rally. That's all I knew going in to this. We traveled to Nansana by cramped public taxi. I was able to buy a Twix bar at a shopping center and write a few letters at an internet cafe before we entered the college campus. Once there I noticed what a neat place this was. It was not a Christian school; there were plenty of Muslims here. But I followed the gang composed of Emma, Stephen, Josh and Joseph, all decked out to the nines, into an open air auditorium. The students clapped for the visitors, us, and we were ushered to the front seats. They opened with a song sung by a very nervous lady. A loud Ugandan got on stage and sung in Luganda, so that part was lost to me. The manager Josh got up and got the crowd of about two hundred going, said a few words for the preservation of virginity and the rest of this was in Luganda. I checked my watch. We had arrived at 11:55. I remembered this clearly. At 2:00 I said they must be ready to wind down now. Since the whole thing was in Luganda, I was left only to clap until my hands signed a cease fire with each other. Then we went for lunch... a large bowl of rice and beans and posho and matooke (a sugarless banana starch dish like mashed potatoes with seeds) and a little meat of unknown origin was set before me with no fork. I realized all the staff ate with their hands. I tried it, and tried again, but I just couldn't get the technique down. So I picked a flat bone out of a piece of meat and used that. We reconvened for more singing and dancing and then they played a certain popular African praise pop song. Little did I know I was sitting next to the singer and song writer himself - Joseph! He had recorded a widely popular song fused in English and his native tribal language of Luo (his and Tony's tribe being the Langi.) Joseph got up on stage and sang. “Lord, you,'re so powerful, so wonderful. I'm singing and dancing. Repeat, repeat. Jesus Christ is the Creator of the universe, He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End"... at 6:00pm we left before the rally was over. Wow! Six hours of singing, dancing, sitting, standing and continuous clapping, and one man claimed to speak in tongues, but being in Luganda it was all the same to me.

C.H.E (Community Health Evangelism) Principles

I was given one evening devotional during my time at CLD, so I posed a topic, inward disiplines, and instead of me talking the entire time and standing at the head of the room, I sat down in a corner,and asked one of the men to write on the board for us. The four columns we had were meditation, prayer, fasting and study. I asked the men what each meant to them, the scribe writing a few points then trading with another individual. We learned different methods and we each taught each other.

Journey to the Tree

The entire time I was present there, between me and the horizon standing high above all the other trees was this one thickus tree. It had branches high above the tops of the forest, spreading wide like it had grown as high as God would allow and was still thirsty to expand, developing a mushroom top out of the vine-covered Atlas's arm-like branches. I took many pictures and have compiled a video for you on my facebook, “The Journey to the Great Tree.” I must admit once the farm disappeared behind me, with the reeds scraping and clawing in retaliation of my every move through pathless marshes, I felt a little afraid, but I desired to make this journey a war against fear. I had taken the safety precautions of telling someone where I was going and marking the trail, as well as bringing a few medicinal supplies for first aid. On my way back, of course, as is custom to all tomfoolery, I got lost, but I cut across some fields and made it back to the farm covered in hitchhikers and a little wet, but wearing the biggest smile.

In Christ,

David Greene