Members of Hands in Service, USA head for Uganda this month to enjoy the company of their hard working Uganda HIS staff and board members. Traveling from Nashville is Alfred Farris, Meredith Flautt, Evelyn Raines and Holden Thompson. They will be sending pictures and updates from the field over the next month. Please keep them in your prayers!

RIGHT – Opiai has added a piggery!

BELOW - Evelyn inspecting Citrus trees at Opiai orchard with a local farmer, James Patrick, and Hands in Service New Eden Farm manager, Geofrey Elou.

In 2005, a four-acre tract was graciously provided by the Lord on the outskirts of Soroti town, only 2 kilometers from the Hands in Service office and workshop.  Within days the work of restoration of the land began, land worn out by decades of over grazing and continuous cropping.  Protective fencing was built, compost added and a 42 meter borehole dug with an amazing output of water, enough to provide drip irrigation for vegetables and trees.  A solar pump and elevated storage tank was built and installed by young men who had learned welding skills at the HIS Jubilee Workshop.

Today citrus trees and vegetable gardens cover this organic market garden as well as Neem trees and other hardwoods which provide shade and leaves for preparing organic pesticides for the citrus and crops. Agricultural practices such as cover cropping, mulching, composting, crop rotation and animal husbandry have been implemented with the hope that the farm’s success will demonstrate to other Ugandans a way to farm sustainably, support their families, and nurture God’s beautiful earth.

Through the sacrificial giving of Hands in Service supporters and a dedicated Soroti staff and the local leaders, the secondary school building and teacher housing were built and featured the first working light bulbs in Kapelebyong, powered by solar panels.  The first class commenced in 2007 with 35 students, 5 teachers and a volunteer Headmaster. In 2010, the school graduated its first class and in 2011 had a young scholar attain highest marks on the National Exam. The school has become a remarkable source of community pride, accomplishment and hope. The school was established to develop a community modeled after the life and teachings of Jesus and help bring reconciliation to the Iteso/Karamoja region.  Its motto is “Enter to learn.  Go out to serve.”

The school was named in honor of John Eluru, who faithfully served as Chairman of Hands In Service Board of Trustees during the difficult years leading up to the1986 insurgency. John was tragically killed in an ambush in 1987 as he was returning from the final translation work on the Jesus Film in which he spoke the part of Jesus in the Ateso language. As he was dying he repeatedly asked God to forgive the ambushers.  What he said with his lips, he did with his life.  He rejected violence as a means of settling human conflicts, choosing the way of Jesus to repay evil with good.  He did not die in vain and left his family, his friends, the Church, the people of Teso and Uganda a wonderful legacy. We miss him and rejoice that the John Eluru Memorial Secondary School carries the legacy of this remarkable educator, friend and follower of Jesus.

NEXT, READ THE PROJECT UPDATE ON THE NEW EDEN FARM.

As these skills are developed we hope to establish an agricultural training center or institute to teach and demonstrate the sustainable organic methods of caring for God’s precious earth, utilizing cover crops, composting, rotations and mulching, thus becoming nurturers of the soil, not exploiters.  We hope to demonstrate practices that enhance and improve the life of the soil to benefit the plants and animals and ultimately the health of the people.  In short, as followers of Jesus, to care for His garden.

The farm manages livestock including cattle and goats and grows a large market garden along with rotational grain crops. A portion of the farm has been designated for agro-forestry and plant propagation projects for trees and garden plants.

NEXT, READ THE PROJECT UPDATE ON THE CORNER HOUSE.