Geoff in Uganda - busier December!

December sees the beginning of the big school break and it's all systems go across the River of Life Ministries - so Geoff was even busier this month:

Hospital ministry – this ministry has been continuing throughout the holidays and I have had the chance to go a few times. As ever there were people there in desperate situations, but through my translator we were able to bless patients with bread and bananas, and also talk to them about Jesus and what he means for the world. A few people even took the opportunity to give their lives to God which was amazing. I pray that this relationship is a close and sustained one. We also went on Christmas day to the hospital to give out fruit juice and biscuits. This was a surprisingly joyful occasion as many seemed to really appreciate the gesture and be lifted by an act of love on such a day.

The White Eagle Holiday Program – games and sports, fellowship, life skills, aerobics, music dance and drama, group discussions, revision, dvd watching, these are all part and parcel of the holiday program which is intended to give the White Eagles oppourtunity to relax, have fun, and also learn. All has been just that, and the atmosphere has been good around the home. On occasion, I have thought, ‘is this really doing work that is needed or serving in the best way’ as to be honest, it is mostly relaxing and fun, but recently I thought about what the White Eagles would be doing if there were no project or holiday program. Most of them were street children before they came to the project. So just to be able to have fun in a constructive and positive manner is really worthwhile and we hope that it contributes to them becoming good citizens when they leave, faithful husbands and wives, loving parents, and willing servants of God.

Synergy Sports Strategy – the new sports ministry of River of Life has started very well indeed. Within a couple of football training sessions the numbers were up to around 35/40 which was incredible as we didn’t even advertise much. As it is the holidays we have had four training sessions a week, focusing on technique, fitness, game awareness and a lot of other things which I don’t have when it comes to playing football! Along with this though we also focus on fostering a good team environment, and promoting good values both on and off the pitch. At the end of every session we also have a short talk which focuses on an aspect of football ie team work, which then links into life ie community, which then links into church and the gospel ie fellowship and the body of Christ. The boys/young men that have been coming to the sessions have started to respond to this a bit more which is encouraging and hopefully this input will have a positive impact upon their lives in some way. On Saturdays we also run youth club straight after training and have invited the boys to come along to that as well, a number have responded to this and enjoyed the experience, even coming to the Sunday service the next day, which is very encouraging as the main vision of Synergy - to see young people in Masaka/Neyendo come to Jesus.

Youth club – this has been going well and we have continued on the theme of salt and light. This has been a really good focus for the Youth as it has a lot of application opportunities. We also have had a couple of sessions where we have either played games or relaxed with a dvd; this has been good in introducing some of the boys from Synergy Sports to the group. A few weeks ago I did a session on light and how it casts out darkness. I tried to make the point that darkness is a deprivation of light as where there is light there can be no darkness, and to encourage the youth that if we are all lights for Christ in his world then even the corners that attempt to block the light will be illuminated from many angles, thus casting out darkness... Amen!

The Nyendo Nativity that I wrote and the White Eagles performed seemingly went down well on Christmas day. Instead of shepherds we had grasshopper sellers, instead of Magi we had Pastors, and instead of a donkey (even though there isn’t one in the Christmas story) we had a boda boda motor cycle. The performers rose to the challenge well and all enjoyed watching and performing. Hopefully also it provoked some thought with lines such as... ‘As both the grasshopper sellers and pastors left, they all wondered about the infant king, wondered what his kingdom would look like, and what would happen throughout his lifetime.’

Geoff is volunteering with River of Life for 4 months - to read all his blog posts, just click here

Geoff in Uganda - Busy November!

Geoff's been busy in November! Check out his updates below:


Schools ministry – I have been developing many sessions for the different schools that I have been visiting each week.  Some have been short sermons that have been given in the high schools, I have never preached really before so that was an interesting experience.  They went well, I preached on the Sheep and the Goats, The Withered Fig Tree, and finally on the disciple Peter and what we can learn from him. However I wouldn’t worry Rev. Hare, I won’t be looking to take over your post any time soon! This ministry however has now come to an end until February as the schools are now on the long holidays.

Hospital ministry has been continuing; it is still not what I call a ‘good’ experience, but it is certainly worthwhile.  Having to have full faith in God’s healing power is good to do, and to see the situations of some of the people there is very humbling, and also fills you with praise for the numerous blessings you have in your own life.  This week there was a child a prayed for who had cancer. To see a child there in bed overcome with cancer rather than running around playing football was hard to see. I hope and pray that God’s healing hand works over him over this next week as I am sure he could lead a happy and healthy life if cured.

Ball-line football Academy – as in October this month I have been going down to the local football pitch to watch games and train with the boys.  There were some very good results this month and the boys seem to be developing as footballers.  However the link between the River of Life Church and Ball-Line football academy has had to officially end this month. Due to certain circumstances, the two organisations have had to part ways. River of Life is hoping to start a new ministry based around sport, so my allocated time will therefore be dedicated to that.  It has been a hard month in that respect for all involved with the organisations, but hopefully the Lord will use this as an opportunity for new growth for both Ball-Line Academy and the sports ministry of River of Life.

White Eagle Project – as stated before the boys and girls are now beginning their long holidays, which are much deserved after a long and hard working term at their various schools.  They and I have enjoyed spending evenings together, and taking part in different sessions such as fellowship, life skills and music, dance and drama. I have often been employed in the role of music dance and drama leader, and have a chance to use my experience form Spotlight performing arts to good effect.  All seem to enjoy just having a fun session and expressing themselves in different ways. I am currently writing a script for the Christmas day service which will have the Nativity story taking place in the modern day in Neyendo, Massaka, so hopefully all of the White Eagles will enjoy bringing that play together.  Also this month we have started to clear a small playing pitch which is just below the church.  All of the White Eagles, big and small got pitched in and moved rocks, sand, and mud, and with a little more work we will have a lovely area to run sports and games sessions during the holidays.

Some of the older White Eagle Lads

Geoff is volunteering with River of Life for 4 months - to read all his blog posts, just click here

The Lane's Log Episode 2 - Nutrition, Outreach and Ball Line Football Academy

We know it hasn't been long since our first email, but a lot has happened in our first week here. We are gradually finding out more and more about what life is like here in Uganda.

At the beginning of the week we were living with a trainee dietician, who has been doing research into malnutrition in the surrounding areas of Masaka. This has involved visits to local clinics and several trips into the wider communities away from the major towns. On some occassions, these trips ended in taking babies/children back to hospital due to the severity of their conditions. 70% of the population is under 24 years old and the country has high child mortality rate. Hospitals and local community clinics have large population areas and most children born in these areas won't have a birth certificate.

Community Clinic

We were able to join the final research trip to find out more about what she has been doing and also look into the possibilty of River of Life Church creating some community health outreach projects/clinics. We visited a clinic and were able to chat to a number of their staff. This particular clinic has a catchment area population of around 59,100 people, 27,500 of these are believed to be under the age of 15.

During the visit the team were told of some children away from the clinic that may benifit from a visit, as they were known to be malnourished. As we visited the families it began to hit home that we were in Uganda. I (Hannah) went into two homes, both approximately 3x3 metres in size, where the families lived, ate, slept etc. They were very dirty but this didn’t stop young children running around playing. One of the young girls we met had oedema around her face, which is one of the first stages of malnutrician.

On our trip we passed other villages along very unkept, poorly maintained roads. Whilst we were driving we passed a lady sat by the side of the road with a pile of blankets. There was a body under these blanket and we were told by the Ugandans on our trip that she would be waiting for the family to collect the body. Pretty unbelievable really!

Over the past couple of days we have been spending time getting to know the River of Life Church Projects. They have a number of ministries into the local area, including work with a number of schools and the nearby prison and hospitals. On Friday we had the opportunity to visit a school. We walked into a classroom not much bigger than our staffroom at work, where about 100 little faces greeted us with beaming smiles, huge excitement and deafening noise. We were asked if we were okay to share a little about ourselves and talk a bit about Health and God. This was/is totally out of our comfort zone, as we haven't done anything like this before but it is an area we would very much like to support! It is also an area the projects are looking to progress and develop to include additional health education. We will see how it goes!

We later walked back to the charity offices through a more deprived area of Masaka, Nyendo, an area we will be spending quite a bit of our time. The River of Life sponsors and supports a number of the local children to go to school, teach them life skills and gives them places of rest and love. This in many cases also includes giving them somewhere to live, such as the respected boys and girls homes and others at local boarding schools. All of the children sponsored are called White Eagles. One of the managers is a trained social worker, Julius (previously mentioned in our last email) and he supports children when possible to go back to live with their parents. He kindly took us to two schools to meet a number of the White Eagles. Again we were greeted with laughing, clapping and screams of excitement. What an experience! They were all so welcoming – They were so thankful that we have visited their country, so much so that it was a little uncomfortable. Andy and I stood at the front and told each class (around 7 in total) why we have visited, what our jobs are back in the UK etc. Unfortuneately we didn't take any photos as we didn't want to appear rude, but I'm sure you would have loved to have seen their faces!

Today (Saturday) we had our first physiotherapy clinic with the White Eagle boys. It was great to start doing some Physiotherapy, teaching and advising them appropriately. We look forward to progressing the clinics in the coming weeks.

We have also spent some time with Ball Line Acadamy, River of Life's football academy based in Nyendo. We were scoping out the possibility of doing some Physiotherapy and Healthy Living/Life Skills work with the group of boys who train and play within Ball Line. Training goes on for two hours in the midday heat. Some of these boys play in bare feet on the dry red African patchy grass. So when Andy got asked to play in his slightly too small plimpsoles he couldn't really say no! Two side-line trips to put suntan lotion on and two blisers later, the ref blew the final whistle – much to Andy’s relief! We will see how much we can do with these guys in the coming weeks when we get to meet their main coach.

Relaxing before food at the boys home

We are learning a huge amount about life in Uganda. We can't quite believe it has been only a week since we arrived! It has been a hard week but also a very rewarding start to our time here. Everyone we have had the privilidge to meet have been extremely friendly and we have been very excited to see some of the amazing work the The River of Life Projects are doing in the community.

We will tell you more when we write an update next week. We are missing people at home and hope you are all well! Lots of love and thank you so much for all of your emails/messages!

Lots of love!
Hannah and Andy x x

Andy and Hannah are with River of Life for the next 3 months. They are Physiotherapists from Newcastle, UK and are helping River of Life develop our links with the local hospitals and ROLC's Hospital Ministy. If you would like to support their work with River of Life, head over to their Justgiving page

With the World Cup round the corner...

... what better time to update you on Ball-line Soccer Academy? Thanks in most part to the efforts of manager Walusimbi, Ball-line has been going from strength to strength. With the World Cup just around the corner we dream of a day when we might see some of our talented youngsters playing in such a prestigious tournament at the highest level.

The truth is, the ability is clear for all to see and with the right investment, there is no reason why some of our players couldn’t end up playing at the top level.

Just recently Tim managed to acquire over £1000 of football training equipment for the sum of just £130! Under the watchful eye of the Ugandan Under 17s national coach, we put this new equipment to good use to showcase the awesome potential of many of our young players. He was extremely impressed with our set up, the resources we had and level of talent on show!

Over 15 of our players have now acquired football scholarships to local schools, enabling them to receive a proper education, as well as working on their football! A handful have even been scouted for possible futures on the international stage, representing their country in their age group.

With 3 titles under our belt already in 2010, Ball Line Academy is struggling to find competitive opponents these days, and are looking further a field to places like Kampala to find teams that can match us and help challenge our abilities.
We are all excited about what the future holds for Ball Line Academy, especially as manager Walu progresses in his training qualifications and rubs shoulders with some of the most influential people on the Ugandan football scene. In a recent conversation Walu smiles and says, “The future is bright, some of these boys are seriously impressing important people at a young age, even at 8 or 9 years old! Every where we go Ball-Line Academy is on people’s lips! If we can do that with the few resources we have now, imagine what we could do when we get serious investment into our academy!”

To find out more about Ball Line Academy, please send us an email.

The return of Timothy R Crow

Tim has retuned to the UK! The guys in Uganda are going to miss him hugely. Tim has been our youth worker for three years, and what a three years it's been. From being the 'daddy' to the boys through to running community-wide football tournaments and social action projects, Tim has worked his socks off for River of Life, and we all want to say we MASSIVELY appreciate it! Tim's returned to the UK to get married to Sarah, and all things being equal, they'll be returning to Uganda at some point in the future...

Tim's last experience of Uganda was to have perhaps the worst bout of Malaria he's had since being out there, but despite being given the wrong medication numerous times, he finally got the right drugs and was just about well enough in time to fly last friday. I think he's been camping out at The School of Tropical Medicine since then...

The Reverend Ragtoe & DJ Duncan

Check out Tim's latest video - a tribute to the White Eagle's spectacular performance in this year's football tournament. As an added treat, he's somehow managed to get Pastor Duncan bustin' out some beats in a rasta-wig, whilst he raps "get ready for the skill of the white eagle, the kings of football, their skills are regal".

He's a special one.

Go to the River of Life YouTube Channel, sit back, and, laugh or cry, you'll love it!