2011 08 i55 newsletter

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