Trip Impact
As we look forward to the increase of trips deploying in 2022, we still rejoice in the few that were deployed in 2021. One of those trips sent out was a small group of counselors from Lynchburg, Virginia. These counselors went to Uganda with the purpose of training the staff at Christine’s House and Nicki’s village in trauma response, specifically in young girls and in family units.
Deploying trips are an essential part of Sports Outreach. They get people from the U.S out of their comfort zone, into another culture, and serving alongside the staff overseas. It is a common belief that missions trips only impact those overseas, but really, the impact from trips happens most on the trip takers themselves. Read below from Elizabeth who shared with us how the trip impacted her much more than she imagined it would.
With both full and heavy hearts, we are home from Africa. We want to start by thanking you for your generosity in supporting us on this adventure. Many times over our trip we stood in awe realizing just how powerful the body of Christ can be, the body that provided for us to fly across the world and minister to others. The Lord truly did many miracles throughout our trip and even beforehand, exemplified by an emotionally excruciating 10 days leading up to our trip when Liz contracted COVID-19. She only had mild symptoms, but the heartbreak came when she found out you can test positive for COVID for 90 days and that she would have to test negative on day 12 after showing symptoms. God showed up and on days 10, 11, and 12 Liz tested negative. The enemy tried to attack again when Kevin’s grandfather passed away one week before their departure date. With low spirits, Kevin left for Florida, but this also provided him the safety of not contracting COVID from Liz while living in their one bedroom one bathroom apartment.
With negative PCR tests in hand, the 5-member team from Lynchburg departed for Uganda, Africa. Upon arriving to the airport after 18 hours of flying, we traveled to Kampala for a night to rest and prepare for the 7-hour journey to Gulu, Uganda, where we were stationed for the week. During our travel time we got to know our driver (Wilfred) and trip coordinator (Sam). We slept, took in breathtaking views, and realized that we were actually in Africa. We somehow, Lord willing, got here though we were convinced just days before that we would not be going. We came in as strangers unaware and unsettled in a new place. When we arrived in Gulu at Koro Farm, we were welcomed with smiles, African dances, the Acholi celebration sound, and were told that we were the pioneers- the first team to arrive in over two years since COVID began. We met the girls at Christine’s house who are survivors of sexual abuse and briefly got to know the staff before turning in for the night.
The next day it was the first day of training and Liz taught about 30 staff members. Her part in the training was to introduce what trauma is, explain symptoms, and to normalize talking about mental health and self-care in a country so war-torn, permeated by abuse, and ripe with poverty. Most of the staff seemed somewhat distant and reserved in hearing what she shared on day one. However, it started the ground work and soon staff members were coming up to Liz stating “I’m going to turn my phone off at 8pm tonight for self-care”. Others identified that though they were ministers and helped people through difficult times, they now had a name for the word for what they had been through as a child solider or after living in the slums.
Starting in the evenings, Kevin began working with Richard who runs the sports ministry side of things at Koro farm. Though programs don’t start until 4pm, the children walk for miles from their homes to Koro farm and begin to arrive early out of anticipation in playing a sport they enjoy, hearing the gospel, and finding relief from their poverty-stricken reality. On day one, Kevin began building relationships with the 75 children who lovingly called him “mono” (white person) and later on “Jesus” as he was the first male they may have met with long hair. Kevin also interacted with the sports staff and joined everyone in a game of soccer. He began building himself into their day-to-day activities. Other days Kevin taught the children American games, and on a particularly memorable day he taught them baseball. Kevin shared with the children how playing baseball taught him lessons and connected him with people who helped him develop a serious relationship with Christ. Later in the week Richard shared with the Koro farm staff how Kevin’s teaching of baseball helped him to see that our walk with Jesus is similar to this game. We start at home plate (God’s creation) and we go around the bases of this world (exploring and seeking safety) and ultimately search for home plate (God’s love and protection). However, along the way we run into danger (the other team) that threatens to keep us from returning or being in right relationship with the Lord. Home is where our team wins. We find comfort in coming back home and returning to where we started. Making it home means God captures an eternal life spent with him.
Most afternoons, Liz would join the other counselors and would spend time visiting the girls at Christine’s house, Nicki’s village, and going to home visits within the community. Endlessly, the girls would dance their traditional dances, welcome us in, and spend time playing silly games with us. We shared novel things with them like pop rocks, glow sticks, and s’mores over a fire one night. However, our main purpose with the girls was encouraging them and praying over them after some of them chose to share their most vulnerable and upsetting stories about their sexual abuse. Some of our impactful time was spent reminding them of the value of their own bodies and their right to feel safe. We read a body boundary book and engaged them in drawing on a piece of paper the places on their body that felt safe to be touched and places that they did not want to be touched. We gave them feminine hygiene products and other normal body care supplies to help them to feel back in control of their bodies.
We laughed, oh did we laugh. It’s amazing that the people who have been hurt so badly can still smile the most beautiful smiles in the universe. They are like no other. Liz got to learn some African dance moves, how to do hair, and was given an “African blessing” (being peed on by a baby) by one of the babies of the girls while Kevin got his hair done and purchased a shirt made by the girls in support of their studies. We spent time playing “Rugby net ball” with the girls and saw many aspects of their daily lives on Koro Farm. At the home visits we met the girls’ families and other community members who Sports Outreach ministers to and we were able to again hear their stories, give them a word of encouragement, and pray over them.
One of these was particularly difficult. We sat on a mat that the family brought out, which is often what would be equivalent to “come in and sit on our couch and we will feed you a meal” type of hospitality in the USA. Surrounding us was the most beautiful scene we had ever seen, with sunflowers, maize, green grass, clear blue skies, farm animals, the most beautiful bird sounds, and a luminescent glow. It was also the most horrific scene we had ever seen as we saw extreme poverty and were convicted of all of our typical American ways. There were infants with worms, without clothes, hungry, covered in dirt, and falling asleep in exhaustion. We saw the hurt, and while we were able to leave some clothing and food with them at a later time, we were broken as we drove away seeing such a big need. This was just one of the many families who live without basic necessities every day. We cried, oh did we cry. How could a people struggling so badly rejoice so greatly?
EVERY morning began with a devotional. The leaders, girls from Christine’s house and Nicki’s village, and our team met in the chapel to give the Lord the first of each of our days. EVERYTHING was dropped. It was set down and each morning the music began. The voices rejoiced at how good God is. In light of how loud the need is in this beautiful place, their praises are louder. That broke us. We came as “missionaries” but we left ministered to. We may have given them trauma training and taught them baseball, and while that impact has been great, their impact on us was greater. We are convicted of how weak our faith and hope are. We are convicted of how we fail to praise even in our need. And we are convicted of how poorly we use our testimonies. Two or three people would share their testimonies each morning at devotions about the Lord working in their everyday lives. While this seems mundane, the impact was incredible. So, this letter is our testimony. It is how God has transformed two Christians (really our whole group) to have a heart for the Ugandan people. He transformed Liz into a person who believes in miracles because the Lord performed a miracle in her just days before we left. He transformed Kevin into a person who believes that his testimony about playing sports can be used for God’s glory. He transformed us into people who believe his love is bigger than the pain of this world. As was so aptly stated by one of our group members “The Ugandan people are rich. We are poor.” You can learn about poverty like this in history class, but you don’t understand it until you have an experience like this.
On our final days we traveled back through Kampala, this time visiting the slums of Katwe and seeing poverty in the tightly packed city instead of the rural areas. Again, children ran through the streets smiling and waving, having so much joy even with so little. It was here where the foundation of the new Sports Outreach Chess Academy is being raised from the ground to serve a larger need for children living within the slums. While the overall goal will be to expand the capacity for children to be taught Chess in a safe environment, the project will develop the area for children to learn important life skills. It will provide them greater opportunities in the fields of computer resources, apparel, and other livelihoods. Near the end of our trip, we debriefed and did a day at a safari, which was beyond our imagination, but also came at a difficult time. After seeing such tough things in this country, we were then ushered through the beautiful waters and grassy plains to see lions, a leopard, elephants, giraffes, buffalo, many birds, deer of all kinds, warthogs, hippos, crocodiles, monkeys and the beautiful surrounding land. We tasted amazing Ugandan food throughout our trip and hope to receive recipes to make in the states!
Out of our experiences we hope to return to Uganda in the future, possibly regularly with a group from our church or from the counseling community to continue to bring education and the Lord’s love to his people across the world. We also will begin sponsoring one of the girls and her daughter from Christine’s house so that they can return this next year to Nicki’s village. This will give them a place to live, food to eat, a safe place away from further abuse, and education at the school where she can learn a trade. When she graduates, she will then be able to provide for herself and her daughter. Her story is heartbreaking. We want to give her a chance to know the Lord and walk with him. We will also begin sponsoring another boy from the soccer community who has a large need. The sponsorship will provide his needs as well. We understand that not all of us can support financially. However, all of us can support through prayer. If the Lord were to lay sponsorship on your heart, we want you know that we have direct connections with at least 5 others (individual children/mom and daughter pairs/families) whose stories hit us in the core, but whom we cannot support on our own. We would love to share their stories with you and show you a picture of these individuals who he put on our hearts if you’re interested in continuing to support the people of Uganda.
Again, thank you so much for your support thus far. YOU made an eternal impact!