AIA East Africa Tour 2010 – Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda
UGANDA:
Our mission was clear; provide first class basketball instruction to coaches and players. Provide humanitarian aid and reach out to the oppressed. Share the living hope of Christ through the Gospel at every event to all people.
What I didn’t expect was to see the hope of Christ already in so many of the people we met. It is true that many know about Jesus but don’t know him in a personal, saving way, but what was amazing was the willingness and eagerness to be taught the truth. Athletes In Action has full time staff and volunteers in each of the countries already, and they are able to get into the lives of the athletes and others in the community. They have a desire and compassion for their people that I wish we had here in the US. Cyrus Muwanga and his wife Pauline are AIA staff in Uganda and are young, but passionate believers. With limited resources and money, they are spreading the Gospel amongst the sporting scene, schools and humanitarian charities. Cyrus was an athlete himself and represented East Africa in table tennis at the 2008 Collegiate Games in Thailand. That is where he met an AIA missionary and was lead to Christ. He said, “I must bring this back to my country”, and he did. Our AIA team in Uganda was able to help him establish deeper relationships with the Ugandan Basketball and Volleyball federations.
Through Cyrus’ hard work in promoting our trip, we had over 50 basketball coaches attend the coaching clinic daily. I was able to share with them a presentation on sports injuries, training and nutrition. I also evaluated some of their athletes and made recommendations for treatment. Many of these coaches were already on fire for the Lord. By their request, after lunch we started the teaching session with praise songs, one coach even brought his guitar. As one of our AIA coaches said, “I have been doing coaches clinics for 30 years and have never started a session with praise and worship.” Teaching basketball was a major objective of ours, but even more were the relationships we were able to establish. Cyrus will now be able to follow up with each of these coaches and through his AIA volunteers will continue to water the seeds that have been planted.
Pauline is responsible for reaching out to the schools and places of need in the community. During our time in Uganda we were able to visit a primary school for very poor children, an orphanage of former street kids, and a pregnancy crisis center. The school we visited is where Cyrus’ mom, Mary, is the principal. She started the school 20 years ago because there were so many kids not attending school since many families could not afford the school fees. When we arrived at the small two room school the kids were lining the dirt road entrance and singing a welcome song for us and made us feel very special. We brought basketballs and soccer balls with us and donated them to the school. We broke up the 180 students into groups to play games. I had about twenty 4th graders with me and we played basketball for about an hour. After that amount of time in the hot sun I was ready for a break, and so were the kids. We found a shady spot on some steps and began to talk. I felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit to engage these boys in a conversation more substantial than just the weather. I asked them if they liked to read their Bible. Many nodded their heads. I then shared with them who Jesus was and that He is the creator of all things and how he loves his creation, especially us who are made in His own image. They asked very good questions and I could tell that they were well educated in the Bible. But when I asked if any had Christ living in their hearts, they became silent. I shared with them how they can pray to receive Christ, but they were reluctant to do so. Not wanting to push it any further, I trusted that God will use that conversation to spark an interest in going deeper with Him.
Visiting the pregnancy crisis center, called the Comforter’s Center, and the Peace for Children Africa orphanage were uplifting experiences as well. Going in I was not expecting there to be so much joy and hope in these places, but it just proves that Jesus is enough. All of the mothers at the Comforter’s Center went into the building expecting to abort their babies who they felt they could not support. But what they received was counseling, financial support and most importantly, the Gospel. The founder of the center is Veronica, and she said that last year alone they saved 400 babies and lead 800 mothers to Christ. What an amazing woman. She herself is the survivor of her mom’s botched abortion and has dedicated her life to saving babies and moms (many mothers die from abortions in Uganda). We got to hear many of the women’s stories and we shared with them ours as well. One mom shared how the Comforter’s Center gave her enough money to buy two chickens. Those chickens laid eggs and had chicks which brought the total up to 20 or so chickens. She was able to sell those for a couple pigs and one of the pigs had 24 piglets. Through that small amount she is now able to support herself and her baby and has even helped her grandma put a new roof on her house. It reminds me of the parable of the talents that Jesus told written in Matthew 25, turning little into much and being good stewards of what God has blessed us with.
One of the most enjoyable times for me was at the Peace for Children Africa orphanage. There are about 25 kids from ages 3-19 who live at the three bedroom orphanage in Kampala, Uganda. They are almost all former street kids rescued from the slums by Paul, the founder of the orphanage and an orphan himself. He has provided not only a safe haven for these kids, but has given them a chance to thrive through education, art, music, dancing and gymnastics. They are all performers in some way and put on shows for schools and churches as a means of fundraising and sharing the Gospel. Yes, all of these orphans have come to know Christ in a personal way and love to share how He has brought them out of the darkness of the slums and has given them a new hope.
At least once a week the orphanage hosts street kids as a part of their slum outreach. We were fortunate enough to be there for that. Not only were we there, but we got to share with them Bible lessons, first aid and hygiene clinics and soccer. My job was to teach the kids proper hygiene and the basics of first aid care. Well when we got there we found many of the street kids had wounds and other injuries. Our classroom turned into a walk-in clinic. We treated kids that had been injured while living in the dangerous streets of the slums. One boy had multiple wounds from being hit by a motorcycle. Others had injuries from playing sports while not having shoes. It’s hard to leave when you know that these kids have medical needs that require more than just a one-time treatment. But I was able to give the orphanage a suitcase full of first aid supplies donated by the Portland Pirates and our team physicians. I gave one young lady who lives at the orphanage a crash course in first aid, and included a first aid text book for her to keep. I am comforted in knowing that these orphans are a priority to AIA and we will continue to support them in any way that we can. We were humbled to be a part of what Christ is doing in Uganda. We were only there for a week, but the relationships we have established will keep bringing AIA back to Uganda.
RWANDA:
When we first arrived in Africa we were one large group of 50. After a couple days in Nairobi, Kenya, half of us went to Uganda while the other half remained in Kenya for a week. At the end of that first week we met up again as a large group for a safari in the Maasai Mara of Kenya. It was a great time to recharge our batteries, explore the beauty of God’s animal kingdom, and to hear the stories of the Kenya group. It truly is an experience of a lifetime to be surrounded by lions, hippos, zebra, elephants, giraffes, and other native species in their natural environment free from the fences and borders of a zoo. If you are up for an adventure, be sure to make this a part of your bucket list.
From there we boarded planes provided by the African Inland Missions and flew to Kigali, Rwanda. I didn’t really know what to expect in Rwanda. I had read some stories of the genocide but hadn’t read too much about the present situation. Not only that, but a grenade had been set off in Kigali two days prior to our arrival after presidential elections on August 9th. As we were descending into Kigali for landing, I couldn’t get over the beauty of the landscape of Rwanda. It is the “land of a thousand hills”, and coming in a by plane is a great way to see why the country has been coined with this moniker. Driving to our hotel I could see a real pride in the people for the country. The streets were all very clean and landscaped, and the traffic was orderly and controlled. To give you another perspective, plastic bags and smoking are both illegal in Rwanda, this was a stark contrast to the trash and litter lined streets of Uganda and Kenya.
We arrived on a Saturday and on Sunday morning we broke up and attended four different churches in Kigali. Each of our groups enjoyed a unique worship experience; some were in French and others in the native tongue of Kirwandese. I attended an Anglican English service and enjoyed hearing about how the power of prayer was going to change the nation. A nation that has been forever scarred by a genocide that occurred in 1994 and left over 1 million people dead, thousands permanently maimed and countless children orphans. I thought that I had prepared myself for our Sunday afternoon excursion to the Kigali Genocide Memorial, but I was wrong. That was a very emotional experience in the sense that I felt so many different emotions. I certainly had a quiet respect for the memorial when we first arrived, especially when we were told that it was the site of a 300,000 person mass grave. As I walked through the museum, I felt deeply saddened for the people of Rwanda, but also anger towards the Europeans who had created the Hutu and Tutsi tribes back in the 1800’s that played a major role in the genocide. Also, there was so much that could have been done to stop it, but the international community and UN fled the nation and turned their backs in fear and ignorance. Sixteen years later things are much more peaceful. There is a reconciliation that has included getting rid of the tribal names and they are now all one people: Rwandese. The physical scars are still evident in some, but the joy on their faces and love for all people tells me that there is a hope for the future in Rwanda.
This was the first time AIA had been to Rwanda. We do have AIA staff in Rwanda, but we went into the week without knowing exactly what we would be doing. The Rwandese AIA staff did a great job of pointing us to the places of humanitarian need, and in setting up the coaching clinic and basketball camp. I spent the majority of the week with the coaches and helping to instruct during the basketball camp. We had over 100 coaches attend the clinic and about 150 basketball players from the ages of about 10-18. I was able to present again on sports medicine, and I focused on prevention of injuries. It was my feeling that if I could give them information about keeping their athletes more healthy that would be most beneficial.
I had a great time getting to know some of the coaches and athletes. I met one young coach and Physical Education student, named Clement, who was very outgoing and always smiling. During one our conversations he shared with me how he had been spared as a child during the genocide. His parents dressed him up as a girl because he said they were letting some of them go. He said the rest of his family did not escape. Many of the coaches we taught were like Clement, in their twenties and without family. Most of them lived together and supported each other. At the end of the week of clinics we had an opportunity to share the Gospel with them. There were about 15 who made commitments to Christ and we were happy to set them up with our AIA support staff in Rwanda for follow up and discipleship.
We did have a chance to go to a couple schools to hang out and share with the kids. They were all excited for us to be there, especially when they say the soccer balls we brought. It was harder to communicate with them because English is not taught throughout Rwanda, although it is increasing. But sport knows no language. We had a great time with the children and the Principal of the school invited us to come back whenever AIA is in Rwanda. One event that I wasn’t invited to was the women’s conference. Although I didn’t attend, the AIA women who did said it was an experience they will never forget. There were over 300 Rwandese women there, all of which are survivors of the genocide and widows. Many women they said had walked for 3 hours just to be there. As you can imagine it was a very emotional time. Our AIA women served them lunch and also washed all of the ladies feet while they laid hands on them and prayed. The women were not expecting that, and many were completely overcome by tears of gratitude and joy.
The Rwandese people are very aware of what the rest of the world thinks about them. One of the first questions I would hear from people was “what do you think of our country?”. While they admit to their mistakes, they want the world to know that they are moving past the genocide through forgiveness and reconciliation. It was really a great experience for us to be there with them. To hear of the hope they have for the future and how they are investing in the lives of the children was very encouraging. Through their belief in God and each other I know they will overcome.
During the few days that it has taken me to write this story, I have had the opportunity to reconnect with Eric, one of the AIA staff in Rwanda. I asked him how our trip to Rwanda impacted the lives of the people. He said that just our presence there was very encouraging, and that he could feel the care that we had for the people. They also appreciated our teaching of leadership, coaching and basketball skills. I told him it was an honor for us to be in Rwanda and to feel so welcome there. We talked about the youth and how they are so important in the future of the nation, both those who survived the genocide and those who were born after, into a broken nation. He said they have hope, and through partnerships with AIA and other aid organizations, Rwanda will continue to thrive.
THANK YOU:
I must admit that there were moments before I left on this trip that I was a little unsure. Just thinking of the travel alone was enough to want to stay home. But I am so glad that I got on the plane and trusted in God. We all could see how God had selected each one of us to fulfill a role on the team. There is a lot more that God accomplished through us that I wasn’t even present for and even though we are no longer there, He is. Our group of 50 was the largest AIA coaching delegation ever to visit East Africa. I would personally like to thank each one of you who contributed to my trip through financial investments and prayer and may God bless you for your generosity. Finally, if God is calling you to go beyond your borders I would like to encourage you to respond. I am thankful that God has used the profession of athletic training as a means of service to Him, but he has given us all gifts and talents to use for more than just ourselves.
Thank you again for your Support.
Sincerely,
Rob Frost Ephesians 5:1-2
