2011 08 i55 newsletter .pdf

UPDATE

GOD’S PERFECT PLAN, W ITH OUR IMPERFECT HANDS.

i55

travels to

Uganda

June & July 2011
Six weeks have come and gone and i55 International is back
in the United States. We wanted to share with you some of
the highlights of our trip to Uganda in the hopes that what is
written can give you a better picture of what we captured with
our own hearts eyes.

Mission
i55’s mission in Uganda this June and July was to connect
with and serve the people. We also focused on developing
our network of partnerships in an effort to determine the logistics of our goal to create holistic spiritual communities.

Team members
First half of trip

Second half of trip

Deborah Eaker
Esther Bickell
Cassie Eaker
Brian Puckett
Erin Dickert
Jordan Chilton

Deborah Eaker
Esther Bickell
Gary Eaker
David Eaker
Chris Crutchfield
Rick Wolford

Who, What, Where, When, Why
seen in Uganda and left us speechless.
In this highly overcrowded shack city
there are nearly five thousand inhabitants and not one bathroom. Human trafficking and prostitution are just two of
the atrocities that are daily occurrences
here. At this point we were able to meet
five widows and their children. Three of
these people had AIDS. We could not
turn our back on this place and these
The first two weeks of the trip were
spent in the eastern part of the country,
near the border of Kenya, in a town
called Busia. We partnered with Willy
Ouma, a native Ugandan, who is a graduate student at Moody Bible Institute in
Chicago. While in Busia, the i55 team
participated in several outreach ministries, including visiting an elementary
school, two high schools, a small crimes
prison, door knocking in a small village,
an open air crusade and a three day pastor’s conference. We were able to provide the prison inmates with some essential items like soap, sugar, bread and
even bibles. They were overly thankful
to receive these small gifts as they don’t
have many visitors and some days do
not have any food available to eat. Several gave their lives to Christ. Willy was
also able to speak about living peacefully and not fighting as they usually do.
We’re praying that the seeds planted
will keep growing and lives will continue to be changed. During the crusade
and door knocking, we were able to
make friends with the local people and
show them Christ’s love through words
and actions. Deborah’s group met a
pregnant woman needing medical help
named Rosemary, who they led to
Christ. For a very small cost (less than
$20), we were able to get her an ultrasound and medicine for an infection.
Before we left the country she called us
to let us know she delivered the baby
and they were both doing well.
After a four hour drive back to the
capital, Kampala, we were able to meet
with Doreen Nambuya, the sister of
Richmond Wandera, one of our partners
in Uganda. She took us to a place called
Katanga, a slum in central Kampala.
Katanga was worse than anything we’ve

people. Near the end of our time in
Uganda we revisited three of the widows. We decided to give immediate help
to one of the families giving them six
months’ rent, roughly one hundred and
fifty U.S. dollars and purchase the eldest
son a small motorbike so that he may
help support his family. A women’s bible study of twenty has been started
there and i55 is hoping to continue
working within this community.

We stayed just outside of the capital
for the remaining four weeks. During
this time we were preparing for the annual PDN (Pastor’s Discipleship Network) conference, however, we learned
of an area called Nakawa, which was in
need of immediate aid. These families
were living on government land and
were told to leave immediately with no
compensation or assistance offered. We
were saddened to find that no NGO (non
-government organization), government
aid organization or church was present

during this time of eviction. Because
these families (approximately 2000)
were in shock and felt hopelessness, the
i55 team decided to offer them some
staple food items as a small gift to those
who were desperate. We handed out
soap, salt, beans, sugar, rice and posho
(corn flour porridge cooked to a doughy
consistency) in packed bags to families
that the team visited and felt needed these immediate necessities. The families
who received the food were very grateful and thanked us for helping them.
While there we attended a church and
were shocked to see it had been bulldozed the very next day. We met a paralyzed man there and provided him the
funds to hire a truck to relocate his
shack to a friend’s property before it too
could be bulldozed. Four women and
their families also crossed our path, with
whom we also provided the funds to
procure rental housing. As for the
church that was bulldozed, an i55 donor
generously contributed the funds to rent
a tent to conduct services in that could
be erected outside of the pastor's home
and a substantial contribution towards a
new location for the church.
Once final preparations for PDN's
annual pastors' conference were complete our team was involved with many
rolls at the conference, including media
coverage, medical assistance, and administrative help. Deborah was even
able to reconnect with some of the pastors at the conference who she met in
her previous trips to Uganda. David
Eaker (Deborah and Gary’s son and an
RN) assisted in helping the pastors who
needed medical attention and took them
to the clinic for checkups. Chris Crutchfield and Esther Bickel also assisted
with audio visual for the conference.
The i55 team also visited Bukeka and
served there with a medical team running errands, playing with children and
testing for malaria and aids. We were
able to utilize Deborah’s Ugandan sponsor student Mercy to translate as well.

Partnering
Rick Wolford with FAME (an organization focused on medical ministries) joined
us in Uganda to explore creating future partnerships with medical mission work
and medical scholarships they offer. We are hoping to connect FAME with scholarship candidates that we feel will enrich and empower Uganda. We were unsure
if we could offer a compatible partnership with FAME. But we made a great connection. Rick will be presenting this partnership to the FAME board and we are
excited to continue in our dialogue towards future work together.
Two university students in Uganda will be provided financial assistance by i55.
This is an investment towards empowering Uganda and i55’s endeavors.
Doreen Nambuya has joined the i55 partners and will be continuing research and
work for the slums of Katanga. She has reported back and is very excited to continue her work with i55.

Future Plans
i55 is currently considering the lease of
a 5 foot by 10 foot office space in Katanga to be used by i55. This space may
be used as an i55 office, for community
spiritual development and training for
the community.
i55 U.S. team plans to travel back to
Uganda in October. The focus of this
trip will most likely be to scout and develop the creation of a community center in Uganda. While there we also hope
to provide more aid and a women's retreat in the slum of Katanga.

www.i55international.org
P.O Box 1328
Cornelius, NC 28031

Deborah Eaker

Phone: (704) 488-4664

Email: deaker@i55international.org