Then…

In 1992 my husband and I attended a meeting that would change the rest of our lives. We decided to spend a saturday learning, instead of playing. We headed to a training session at Good Samaritan Ministries. There were two sessions going on at the time; one about programs in the US and the other about programs in Africa, in particular Uganda.

Being the young adventurers that we were we went to the Africa portion. The subject was Uganda and building a winning team. The person sharing had been to Africa more times than we can count, so as she related the stories it was as if we traveled with her. Her greatest assest as a teacher was that she didn’t just know about the projects and programs, she knew the people. And, she knew them at a very profound level.

She introduced us to Stanley, Osborn, Dithan, John Tinka & Richard Ziwa. We had traveled with her and met these men face to face.

Our decision and that class lead to a personal connection with Osborn in 1994, then a trip to Uganda in 1997 and a move to Uganda in 2000.

2009

It is now 2009 and once again we are heading back to Uganda. Back to a country we love and a people we love even more. To children with eyes bright and beaming, little black faces with infectious joy spread across them. To a courageous people who looked in the face of 30 years of brutality and said “No More”.  And, back to the simple pleasures of life, community and the transforming power of gratitude.  A gratitude that comes from realizing once again that indeed even food and water are great miracles not to be taken for granted.

It is time for us to once again learn profound lessons from simple people. It is time for us to return to a place that lets us know that no matter how bad life seems to be there is still a thing called hope on the horizon.

We thought it would be fun to post a ‘then’ and ‘now’ gallery in two segments. This first one is the ‘then’ and once we arrive we will post the ‘nows’. So you along with us can be amazed at the transformation.

The Masaka School we think this was 1997…

 

 The children attending school…all of them had lost at least one parent to Aids.

During the 80′s in Masaka 60% of the adults and 40% of the children had AIDS.  Osborn buried at least 10 to 12 members of the community every week.  He was their pastor and he did not leave them to suffer alone.

Nambarizi 1997, this was the communities water source for drinking, cooking, cleaning, bathing and growing.

The water they were drinking. We thought this was terrible…and it was…but then we visited them again in 2000.

We learned they were dying, and walking 12 kilometers a day for water only to be turned away. We called everyone we knew.  Our dear friends Bryanne & Chris, Jackie & Fred Cooper heard the call. That same year we put in a well that is still functioning today.

 Keep an eye out for our now photos in about a week. If you would like to subscribe to this blog, click the subscribe to feed button…a yellow box appears, click the subscribe to this feed and you will begin receiving our blog. Or you can bookmark this page and visit us regularly. 

If you would like to contribute to our current trip please send donations to:

Mark & Jennifer Metternich

1310 Red Gable Lane # 102

Las Vegas, NV 89144

Or you can click our paypal link. All donations are tax deductible and 100% will go to the work we are doing in the field.