News from the Crawfords, Kisoro, Uganda - October 2010

It has just been 4 weeks since we arrived in Kisoro, but many things have changed already. The town is strategically placed on the borders of both the Congo and Rwanda and currently the main road from Kampala to these trading partners is being upgraded from earth to tarmac. Already this seems to have brought more economic activity to the town as its central shopping centre, a network of over 100 small shops, has largely been demolished and is now being rebuilt.

Economic growth and expansion brings great opportunities for the church to extend the gospel as new people move in, but also brings new challenges. About 16 years ago, when the Diocese was first established, the Bishop had a vision of the cathedral being the source of gushing rivers of water moving out to the people and countries around. The area was central to the Rwanda revival in 1935 and has experience of knowing God at work in powerful ways. In recent years the Diocese has gone through a period of ‘confusion’ when Christians were split over the election of a new bishop, but now sense God moving to reconcile these differences and to heal emotional and spiritual wounds. The church longs to see God at work in the town and area, to see people come to know Christ and to see God’s kingdom expand here.

Please thank God for the healing He is bringing to the Diocese, and pray that:
- Christians here will continue to grow together, to forgive past grievances and to serve God
- that the church will be a source of hope and Good News of salvation to the area
- that God will protect the church and the town from the corruption and social problems that economic growth can bring.

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland “ Isaiah 43:19

Peter’s Story


Peter was one month old, weighing about 2 .5 kg, when his grandparents brought him to the Potter’s Village orphanage for help. His mother had died from septicaemia when he was born by a caesarean operation, a problem unlikely to kill in the west . His family had tried to care for him but did not know how to bottle feed a baby, and did not have money to buy the ingredients. By the time he was brought to the Village he had lost about a third of his birth weight and was at an advance state of starvation, almost comatose, without the strength to cry or focus. Peter had also suffered because milk blisters in his mouth had been dug out with a bicycle wheel spoke to be given to the witch doctor. (In local, pagan tradition white flesh in an African is considered witch doctor material; albino babies are sometimes killed for their skin).

For the next 2 weeks Peter needed to be fed every 2 hours. Small amounts at first as he was too weak he digest milk properly but soon his strength returned. He ate more and more, recovered his birth weight and begun to behave like a normal 6 week old baby.

The Potter’s Village was built by the long term CMS Mission partner, Rev. Jenny Green, because of the large number of babies, orphaned or abandoned by their parents, who would otherwise die. At any one time there may be between 20 to 40 young children in care, some returning to their families and other’s found foster homes in the community by the time they are 2 years old.

Please thank God for the work of Potter’s Village and pray for Peter that he will not suffer any long term problems from his early experiences.

Our initial experiences in Uganda - September 2010

We are writing this on our second night in Kisoro. Outside we can hear the thunder and lightning of our first tropical thunderstorm. The annual rains only started the day we arrived here so maybe we brought them with us from England!!! If so the villagers are delighted as they have been desperate for rain so they can begin sowing crops for next years harvest. We are also writing this by the light of a candle as we experience the third power cut in 24 hours to – a regular feature we will have to get used to.

We are very happy that following a lot of hard work by the Diocese staff the house has been ready to move in to. The accommodation is basic and adequate – and there is plumbing ‘In’ and plumbing ’out’ to the shower room. Further work will be needed to convert a room to a kitchen and to provide hot water. At present we have the loan of a Baby Belling type hob and furniture.

Unfortunately, because our flight was late, we missed our connection in Nairobi, and arrived in Rwanda, the nearest airport to Kisoro, over 5 hours late. This was long enough for the staff here to get extremely concerned that something terrible may have happened to us en route, for the Bishop to be interrupted part way though conducting 2 weddings and a funeral, and for urgent phone calls to be made to England. We felt guilty that we hadn’t found a way during our journey of letting our hosts know that we would be late.

We have arrived at a busy time for the Diocese as 2nd September is the start of a 4 day ‘Convention’. These large Missions are held every 10 years or so, and attract several thousand visitors (10,000?) from across Uganda and other countries, including the Archbishop and many Bishops. We imagine this will be like a ‘Spring Harvest’ or ‘New Wine’ but with most of the meetings in the open air. Although there is rejoicing that the rains have come, there is also prayer that they won’t be too heavy during the convention.

The local CMS Mission partner is Jenny Green who has lived here for about 15 years, and is responsible for the Diocese’s Children’s work. Her main project is the Potters Village Children’s Home which looks after abandoned or orphaned children, and young single mothers. She has two adopted children, Hannah and Joseph and is currently looking after a baby, Joanne, until she is strong enough to be cared for at the Potters Village.

Prayer:
We thank God for:
- The hospitality and generosity of churches, family and friends in England during our last weeks in saying farewell to us and providing somewhere to sleep
- our safe arrival, and that all our luggage arrived with us
- for the way we have been made to feel welcome here by the Bishop, Jenny’s family and Diocese staff
- that the rains have arrived

We pray for the coming month, that:
- we are able to make our basic house into a home
- we find our way about the Town, and begin to adjust to the new culture
- we can a learn few words of the local language
- we can find out the work that God wants us to do here so we can help the mission of the local church, and so that we grow spiritually