This past week plus has been filled with a huge variety of activities, most of which have revolved around Geoff's leadership in the Children's Spiritual Development department and Aunt Ketty Okoth's appointments with Mulago Hospital in Kampala.
Geoff and team hosted a successful Biblical Manhood and Womanhood day recently. Of course there are some details to be worked out as this was the first one of the year, but the teachings and activities were well received and were a great start to this year of BMW days! Immediately after finishing BMW on Friday, he turned his attention to preparing to preach on Sunday and then to finishing up the details for this week's activity.
He and his team, along with some of the primary school teachers, are at Musana Camps this week with our Primary 7 students. They all left early Sunday morning and will arrive back at Kasana Thursday afternoon.
These students are in their final year of primary school--a heavy year academically as they prepare for two days of government exams which culminate eight years of primary school. Many, many years ago (1994) the leadership here changed the schedule on the very first group of primary 7 students one week when they realized as Uncle Jay Dangers said, "We're losing their hearts." Ever since that year, there has been a special week for the P7 class in which they take their attention off of the academic pressures and studies and aptly hone their "sense of purpose, camaraderie, and a desire to do their best for the Lord's honor and glory." (Quotes taken from Jennie Dangers' book, The Long Road to Hope which is the history of Kasana Children's Centre from beginning to early 2006.)
What "P7 Week" has continued to be is a time for the leadership to invest in the students in a variety of ways: skills activities, the teaching of Biblical principles, games, competitions, special meals and even line dancing, to name a few. Since that first week in 1994, the students have come to look forward to their special week, but as leadership we were coming to realize that some of the original focus and meaning of P7 week had been lost. In need of a revamp, the CSD team took the reins and decided to incorporate the thrust of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood messages while soaking in the beauty and ruggedness of the Musana Camps site. I love the fact that amidst all the hiking, pitching tents, intense teachings, skills activities, swimming and even some fasting (!), Jennie Dangers who was an active participant of the very first P7 week twenty years ago is also a core leader of the group at Musana Camps with this year's P7 students!
I've been excited as I've prayed for the leadership team in their preparations and now for the children and staff who are experiencing this major change-up to what some have come to view as a "rite of passage."Will you pray for this group of people who are part of a very new approach to a long-standing tradition? As I've planted myself in front of the computer this morning to bring you this blog, Geoff texted to request prayer. Seems this morning has been tough and they feel they are plowing hard ground.
Just as in the early years the leaders felt they were losing the hearts of the children and needed to do something to break the "hardness, coldness, and frustration," so we feel a need to do the same by intentionally focusing on the tenets of Biblical Manhoood and Womanhood in order to give our kids a fighting chance in this society. A society which touts its own "wisdom" and pits its inhabitants against the truth of the Lord God's good ways for men and women. Thank you for your prayers!
For Aunt Ketty, a woman of great faith in our good God, the past week or so has been physically tiring. The cancerous growth in her esophagus does not completely obstruct her swallowing, but it does make it more difficult. She eats as well as she can, but has still lost 4 kg! Traveling into Kampala is no easy jaunt and this, having been done 4 times since I last wrote, has also taken a toll on her fight against this cancer invasion. And, with all these journeys, she has still not started any treatment!!
Yesterday she traveled in to see the radiotherapist with the understanding that she would start her radiation treatments. They marked the areas in the morning and told her to return at midnight. Yes, midnight! It was the first available appointment on the ONLY machine in Uganda. As Ketty and one of our nurses, Kimberly, nervously wondered if the car hire they'd ordered was actually going to arrive, they received a call from the doctor. "Don't come," he said, "the machine is broken. Call me in the morning." This morning they were told to TRY again tonight. Another appointment with the oncologist this morning which we'd hoped would give the plan to start the chemotherapy asap, instead yielded the news that they want Ketty to wait to start the chemo until after they see her response to radiation. We could be talking at least three weeks! Don't just pray for Ketty and her family . . . pray for me and my high level of frustration!
Ketty is at peace and she fully trusts God. Her calm approach to all of this is very different from my dismay! Praise God for the faith, trust, peace, joy and contentment in Ketty's heart. (Lord, I confess I desperately need some of that!) Honestly, I don't have a problem with God, it's with this very inefficient system we're dealing with here!--ok, enough venting.)
As I have walked with Ketty and Okoth through this time so far, it has been a privilege. So many people helped us and stood with us during our diagnosis and treatment last year and I wanted to "pay back" though that is truly impossible! Yet, helping the Okoth's navigate this maze-like medical system is one small way I can indirectly thank those who helped us. Aunt Ketty has said many times that if I or another staff member hadn't been with her to help her make decisions and get to appointment places, she would have thrown up her hands, gone back home and said, "Take me, Jesus!" She's not merely being dramatic folks. This inefficient system is enough to drive a non-believer to say the same! So, pray with us, please. Put your faith on it! When we've hit glitches, we've seen God's hand covering the delays and bringing good from it, and we expect He'll continue to redeem these seemingly unnecessary (to us) wait times.
To end on a lighter note, the rains have made everything beautiful! Lush green, healthy crops, magnificent flowers and a sweet smell to the air. The children of Kasana are finishing their first term of studies next week which means they are in final exams these next few days. The heavy rain this morning doused many as they made their way to their classrooms. But, they weren't getting too terribly wet, as the ministry recently received a LOT of rain coats! As students and staff walked past our house it was difficult to decipher who was who. Everyone has the same color and style of coat and this morning each person looked identical with their rain ponchos zipped up and hoods down!
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