Thursday in Uganda

Ironically, I haven’t been able to post to my blog as often since I’ve arrived in Uganda. It’s ironic because, as I sit in the wonderful home of Mark and Abby Bartels, I have access to a wireless network! That network, however, has been down ever since I arrived.

The other reason I haven’t been able to post is that my schedule here is much more full than it was in Kenya. Frederick has been such a gift to me! The people I’ve already seen and the places I’ve visited have all happened as a result of his care for me. Thursday afternoon I had an excellent meeting with George Tibeesigwa, principal of Bishop Barham University in Kabale. I am supremely impressed by this man; he is a unique integration of the gifts of pastoring, teaching, and administration, and crowns them all with a wonderful sense of humor. Through him I learned that I have severely underestimated Bishop Barham, and I’ll write more about that later when I tell of my trip to Kabale.

Thursday evening I had the pleasure of having dinner with Stephen Noll and his family. Dr. Noll is Vice Chancellor of Uganda Christian University, a fast growing and increasingly influential university situated in a suburb of Kampala. Through Dr. Noll, his wife Peggy, his daughter and son-in-law Abby and Mark, and the school’s basketball coach Jason, I learned a lot both about life in Uganda as well as the status of education here. Three insights in particular were helpful: 1) I should not expect to be mentored here in any formal sense. Shaping will occur as I work alongside people. 2) My fears about whether Leslie would have the freedom to choose simply to be a wife and mother were somewhat quieted. Not only are expectations of western women different, but the reality is that many African women would choose the same if they could afford to do so. 3) It will be the challenging for Leslie to connect with women since they are so busy.

The UCU campus where I am staying is beautiful, but it is rather western in its environment. People are very busy, the students are quite stylish, and white people (both staff and students) not uncommon. It is an exciting place, but one in which there aren’t many needs for more teachers of theology. They do have strong connections with other schools, however, and I’ll introduce them to you in upcoming posts.