Update of July 23, 2009
Bishop for the day! That’s right. I had the honor of taking Bishop John Baptist’s place and “handing over” a heifer cow to a newly trained family today. It was part of a beautiful community celebrating the beginning of another family’s journey out of poverty. This family worked for over a year to prepare for the cow becoming part of their family. It was quite a community celebration, with singing, dancing, drum playing, food, talks, and finally handing the rope for the cow over to the family. What a thrill! This is the first of the 125 cows that MPA has funded that will be given out to families trained and waiting for their cow. We, MPA, were thanked repeated for our generosity and our willingness to give a hand “up” to the people in Uganda.
It has been delightful to have Heidi Schlatter with us once again, working on our next DVD which will be on the cow project. There is so much to tell and share with you about this project. What I told you about the project was based on what I had learned last year. I realize now that there are even more wonderful components of the project to share with you. It will be well worth the wait to see the DVD.
Before going to the “hand over” ceremony this afternoon, we spent the morning with Ester, whom I had met last year. She just beamed with joy when she saw us come to her farm, not to mention that the Bishop was with us! Her energy came through so strongly as she talked about how the “cow project” changed her life, fed her family, educated her children, give her a savings, and will continue to make for them a sustainable future. She will be one our stars in the DVD. She also took us step by step through the process of making the bio-fuel, and spoke of all the advantages there are in having it: saving the trees, saving the environment, and saving so much time, not to mention the advantages in the cooking and lighting.
After Ester’s, we went by the dairy where all the milk comes from the “mooing members” in the cow project, and we enjoyed some of the best yogurt I had since last year when I enjoyed it there. Then off to “be Bishop” and the handing over ceremony. We followed the ceremony by visiting a member and his family to see how he has learned new ways to use the cow manure to fertilize his banana and coffee trees. Quite impressive!
Our last stop was to a community of about 40 members: some who had their cow, some who were in training to receive their cow, and some who were growing in their interest to become members. Two highlights for me were visiting a mother of triplets who uses some of the milk from her cow to feed her children since she was not able to nurse them after their birth. Another highlight was meeting a young woman who is blind yet completely cares for her cow by herself, and does it quite well.
My friends, there are so many miracles happening here, and you are a big part of making them happen! In one of the talks I gave, I told our friends here that we are one family, and we care about one other very much. What they asked me to do over and over again is to “thank you” – to thank their U.S. family for all their love and support. I wish you were here!
Update from Africa: August 3, 2009
Dear Friends,
Mary Lou and I have safely made it back to St. Louis. We had a safe trip home. Mary ... Update from Africa: July 29, 2009
29, July 2009 African update (via poor phone connection to Uganda)
Greeting from Kampala! We are happy to know that Heidi ... 
