Uganda – Page 11 – Dr Bexl Revamp

So here we are, my shoulders are full of needle-marks, my backpack is out of the attic and my well-worn passport has just come back with a Ugandan visa in it. Along with @davewalker and @lizclutterbuck I’ve been invited to come “See For Myself” by Tearfund.

What’re we going to see?

We’ll be landing in Kampala on 24th February, and heading to Soroti as a base for visits to a number of local villages (including Ogongora), flying back to the UK overnight on the 3rd March. Tearfund’s “See for Yourself” initiative

… equips local communities to literally do it for themselves, and transform there own lives. Through teaching the community leaders to identify and resolve their own obstacles the root causes of poverty are eliminated.

Now, this excites me and reminds me of the ‘ancient Chinese proverb’:

Source: michellemovesmountains.wordpress.com via diggerdawwwg on Pinterest

The three of us, along with @katieharrisonTF, will be superbly privileged to see the effect that people’s contributions to Tearfund are having in real time in this particular area of Africa… along with communities in Latin America and Asia – always remembering that:

Source: Uploaded by user via Alisa on Pinterest

and as this Nike advert seems to be saying:

Source: Uploaded by user via Blake-lyn on Pinterest

Penny Boxes

Do you remember the little penny boxes that Tearfund used to give out? We used to have them in our house … I’m not sure I ever put anything much in them as I don’t think I got pocket money til I was 13, and I seem to remember buying Christmas presents for 6 people with a £2 budget! Tearfund, however, has been a part of my life for many years, and it’s amazing to see what difference we can each make with our ‘small change’, even if it’s much easier to do it all by direct debit these days!

Telling it Like It Is

What I particularly loved about this invitation from Tearfund is that they’ve invited us in to see what they are doing, and are so confident in what they are doing, that there are no restrictions on what we might say… although we’ve had our cultural orientation as to what might/not be appropriate. We can use any range of media, and focus on any aspect, although I’m particularly interested in how the digital can impact on the way we support, how we understand what we’re supporting, and how we can tell the stories of lives transformed in a global world.

Keep Calm and Be Quiet

Now, if you follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or any of my blogs, you’ll probably know that I share a lot of what’s going on, and it’s been fascinating that we started talking about the potential for this trip last summer, have had jabs, cultural training, seen the cartoon being developed, etc. and apart from the odd cryptic tweet there’s been nothing on social media. Well, now that this is public, I plan to start blogging over the next few days about thoughts and plans for engaging in Uganda… let me know what you’d like to know!

You’ll be able to find more information from us all not only on this blog, but a fuller picture on: www.tearfund.org/bloggers. Your prayers would be much appreciated for us all, for health, fellowship, and the discernment to spot the opportunities to share stories.