We're still Packing

Little by little it's coming together.  The community has been sooooo generous.

Here Carol is logging all the items in a susitcase.  Each suitcase can't be more then 50lbs.  Once it's all logged - the case is sealed so we don't mess with it.  We will have 40 - 50lb cases.  One ton!  You can see some of the finished totes in the background of the 2nd pic.  Here Betsy and Anne are figuring out the right weight combinations of some items.

Again - thank you to the community who have supported us in this mission!

We are Packing

We're done fund raising and now we are gathering our items for packing.

We have been meeting every week since the end of January. We have broken up in groups and meeting individually.

Living Hope Spa Days – massage, facials, manicures and pedicures
Construction Crew – construction of a swing set and playground equipment
Children’s IDP camp activities – craft projects, drama,
Discipleship – handing out bibles, meeting with new believers and going over scripture.

We are creating list of supplies needed and activities that need to be done. We have had 2 days so far set aside for packing. We have 40 totes that we can have 50 lbs in each one. Each tote has to be inventoried and weighed. We can’t go over 50 pounds. We will have 2 more packing days and hope all our donations get here and be done with this part.

Our Itinerary

2/27/10-Saturday

Depart MSP @ 3:25pm

2/28/10 -Sunday
6:40am  Arrive in Amsterdam
10:40am Depart Amsterdam
8:40pm arrive Entebbe
Gather luggage & clear customs. Ground transport to guest house in Kampala .

3/1/10 Monday
9:00am breakfast – organize bins/supplies & leave some at Gaedes
10:00 am leave for Kampala-Garden City for $ exchange. Bring XXX amount in denominations of $100.00 if possible or least $50.00. The money should be 2003 or higher.
10:30 Baby’s home
1:00 - 2:30 lunch @ Spur
2:30 leave for Suubi II
3:00 Suubi games with kids-bring supplies
6:00 Dinner in Kampala @ Café Roma—possibly preorder
8:00 Group devotions-worship—to bed.

3/2/10 Tuesday
7:00 Breakfast & Depart for Gulu (Preorder Quality subs & pick up in am)
3:00 Arrive in Gulu-settle into Acholi Unpack/organize bins & supplies
5:00 Possibly worship at House of Hope
7:00 Dinner @ Acholi
8:30 Group debrief/worship/prayer/discuss next day

3/3/10 Wednesday
7:00 Breakfast & Devotions
8:00 Depart for House of Hope-Construction
8:00 Depart for Living Hope-Women can eat at Living Hope with the women there, and men can take a break from construction and eat in town.
5:00+/- Arrive back to Acholi
7:00 Dinner
8:30 Group debrief/worship/prayer-discuss next day.

3/4/10 Thursday
7:00 Breakfast & Devotions
8:00 Living Hope/House of Hope??
11:00 Lunch ? preorder Café Cope
12:00 Depart for IDP Camp Mostly we will be observing the Trauma Rehabilitation Program graduation. We won’t be doing a whole lot this afternoon, but it will be a good chance to observe and hear some testimonials. We will give Bibles here
7:00 Dinner (Church Hill Courts, Boma, Ethiopian)
8:00 Group Debrief/ Worship/prayer/discuss next day

3/5/10 Friday
7:00 Breakfast and Devotions
8:00 Depart to Living Hope
8:00 Depart to House of Hope
Women can eat at Living Hope with the women there, men can take a break from construction and eat in town.
House of Hope –Possibly plan to just spend some time with the children, fellowship and having fun.
7:00 Dinner-Acholi Inn
8:30 Group Debrief/ Worship/prayer/discuss next day

3/6/10 Saturday
7:00 Breakfast and Devotions
8:00 Depart to Labora Village for Kids Camp & Women’s Pampering
Lunch arrangements
7:00 Dinner – Churchill Courts/Boma/Ethiopian
9:00 Group Debrief/ Worship/prayer/discuss next day

3/7/10 Sunday
7:00 Breakfast & Devotions
8:00 Church @ Watoto Gulu
10-12:00 Relax/free time/Volleyball—Get organized for IDP Camps
6:00 Dinner some place in town
8:00 Group Debrief/ Worship/prayer/discuss next day

3/8/10 Monday
7:00 Breakfast & Devotions
8:00 Possibly Living Hope
Lunch
10-12:00 Depart for IDP Camp
Split into groups- 1. Discipleship 2. Kids Camp
7:00 Dinner
8:30 Group Debrief/ Worship/prayer/discuss next day

3/9/10 Tuesday
7:00 Breakfast & Devotions
8:00 Possibly Living Hope
10-12:00 Depart for IDP Camp
7:00 Dinner
8:30 Group Debrief/ Worship/prayer/discuss next day

3/10/10 Wednesday
7:00 Breakfast & Devotions
8:00 Pack/Prepare for departure…possibly pack lunches for Thursday
10-12:00 Depart for IDP Camp
7:00 Dinner
8:00 Group Debrief/ Worship/prayer/discuss next day
Load – prepare for early departure

3/11/10 Thursday
4:00 Breakfast/Departure for Safari
7:00 Safari-Murchison Falls Possibly we may eat @ Paraa Lodge before crossing the river to go to Padebe Lodge or prepare lunches to have on the bus.
Arrive in Padebe Lodge- Group 1.Chimp tracking-
Dinner-together…may want to preorder.
Group Debrief/ Worship/prayer/discuss next day

3/12/10 Friday
7:00 Breakfast (group may split)-Pre-order breakfast.
?:00 Group 2 Chimp Tracking
11:00 Lunch-pre-order early
12:00 Depart for Jinga
6:00 Arrive in Jinga –unpack & scout around
7:00 Dinner
8:00 Group Devotional/ Worship/prayer-Chillax together

3/13/10 Saturday
Leisure Day-shopping (this would be the only opportunity to shop for souvenirs) - rest - swimming – reflection
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Final Team Debriefing/worship

3/14/10 Sunday
8:00 Breakfast
10:00 Depart for Kampala12:30 Lunch @ Sam’s or Java’s
2:00 Church @ Watoto Central
4:00 Bulrushes Baby’s Home
5:30 Dinner & Head to Airport
8:00 Arrive @ Entebbe airport
10:55 Depart

3/15/10 Monday
5:35am - Arrive Amsterdam 10:20am - Depart Amsterdam 1:40 - Arrive MSP

Gulu Uganda

Click on the title for a map of Uganda.
Gulu is the birthplace of prominent poet Okot p'Bitek. It has been the location of much of the insurgent fighting by the Lord's Resistance Army and was the birthplace of both Alice Auma and Joseph Kony. Over 90% of the population has been displaced, mostly into camps clustered around towns and trading centers. To avoid abduction by the LRA thousands of children travel from rural areas to seek refuge in towns every night. However due to the improving security situation the number of 'night commuters' fleeing every night in the district has reduced from around 25,000 in 2004 to 4000 in 2006
The years since 1989 have been war ridden, with many attacks by the LRA. However, since the spring of 2007, there has been relative peace since Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA, moved to Garamba National Forest, in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, as reported in the press.

The war in northern Uganda is Africa's longest running war. For more than 20 years, the Acholi people of northern Uganda have not known peace but have seen the security, economy and morality of their homelands erode year after year. At the end of 2003, Jan Egeland, the United Nations undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told the BBC: "I cannot find any other part of the world that is having an emergency on the scale of Uganda that is getting so little international attention."
The war began largely as one of a series of uprisings against President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni's National Resistance Movement (NRM) and followed in a long series of attempts to seize power by force in Uganda. Since the late 1980's the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), professing a spiritual war against the Ugandan government, seem to have lost any real political aspirations and has preyed upon civilians.

The LRA's principal means of recruiting its forces has been the abduction of children; about 90% of the recruits are children. The LRA is composed of about 3,000 abducted children controlled by a core group of 150-200 officers led by Joseph Kony, about whom little is known with certainty, although he apparently guides the LRA with a kind of apocalyptic mysticism grounded in the Bible. Under Kony's command, LRA forces have been responsible for tens of thousands of rapes, assaults and killings of unarmed civilians. An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 children have been abducted over the years and forced to witness and commit atrocities during the conflict.