Today was a wonderful day of celebration at Erute Farm Prison, which started their first Hands Across Nations (HAN) “Ber Atek” literacy program in the Lango Language in January 2017.  As their work at the prison includes 6 days a week working in the prison farm from 7:30 am to 2-3 pm, it took them a year to complete their primers and graduate in January this year.

Erute Prison Literacy Graduates, January 2018

Immediately after their graduation, men who had completed the program wanted to become teachers for the next class.  Twelve of them completed the intensive Teacher Training Workshop this past week.  What was different  about the class was that our Head Teacher Trainer, Peter, was out of commission with Malaria, Typhoid and Brucellosis, and had a neck and back injury.  He has never missed training a new class of teachers.   The four remaining teachers in the prison, didn’t miss a step in preparing and training the 17 student-teachers on their own.

I  visited their class twice and found they were quickly becoming proficient in the techniques used in the “Learning to Read to Read the Bible Program”.  Peter was quite pleased with the student-teacher’s level of ability to teach a full lesson without his oversight!  These were the very first teachers in the entire Hands Across Nations literacy program that were not taught by Peter.  That is quite an amazing step forward as Peter has been responsible for being a part of the training for over 3,000 teachers since 2014!  WAY TO GO ERUTE PRISON TEACHER TRAINERS!  We are proud of you!

George Lameck, ESL Teacher-Trainer Extraordinaire

Secondly this past week, Lameck George, our best Teacher and Teacher-Trainer in the HAN English as a Second Language Program (ESL) in both Lira and Oyam Prisons was scheduled to be transferred to Erute Prison to train New ESL teachers.  Instead, he was suddenly exonerated and released!  Within a week he volunteered to return to Erute Prison, as a free man, to train 5 new ESL teachers!

Happy New ESL Teachers

     Congratulations to the new HAN Literacy and ESL Teachers!  They’re #1!

A new “Ber Atek” literacy class and the first ESL class will begin at Erute in 2 days!!  The effort these men have put into teaching their fellow prisoners to read and write in their tribal language, especially after a full day of digging in the prison gardens, is truly a labor of love and compassion.  They are the living example of doing what Jesus said was the second most important of God’s laws after loving God first – “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

In the Bible, Matthew 22: 37-40 says:  ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

We are seeing men and women, through “Learning to Read to Read the Bible” whose lives are radically changing as they learn of God’s love for them and the joy of living for God by loving their fellow prisoners.

Currently there are 20 released prisoners who are voluntarily working with Hands Across Nations in their communities, and/or returning to the prisons, training literacy teachers and coordinating classes for their neighbors and Parish Churches.  We are seeing God’s hand in using the “least of these” to elevate their own people in reading, writing and knowing God’s Word.  What a blessing to be able to see it happening right berfore our eyes!  Halleluiah!

Several days ago, Richard Otim, HAN Bible translator, requested a day off to handle an important matter and was willing to miss a day of his pay to do it.  We had no details of what he was planning to do.

A few nights before his day off, near midnight, Richard was suddenly awakened by a barking dog nearby.  As he left his hut to see what was disturbing the dog, he was surprised to find a young man, who had wandered into his “compound”.  (the word Lango people use for the area where a family lives, consisting of several huts, a latrine and areas for cooking and eating)

He appeared disoriented and frightened with a possible mental disability.  In Richard’s neighborhood, anyone out at night is considered a thief.  But Richard is a believer in Christ, covered with the Armor of God, and he gently questioned the young man, to find out how and why he had come to his home.

What he found was that the man, spoke only limited English and his tribal language, Ateso.  He was 24 years old, named Ewoyot Patrick, and was from a neighboring tribe in the town of Katakwi about 4 hours from Richard’s village.   Due to his mental limitations, he had been tricked into riding with a stranger who promised to take him to the nearby town of Soroti approximately 15-20 miles away.  Richard believes that the stranger might have been intending to use Ewoyot for human sacrifice.  When the trickster discovered that Ewoyot was “mentally preturbed” he most likely decided that he would dump him out as he would not be a worthy sacrifice.

Hours later, at night, in the dark, they arrived in Lira, the headquarters of HAN, and Ewoyot was left there, alone, stranded, without money, a phone, or knowing even where he was.  The road out of town going North apparently looked similar to the road that leads to his home town, now many miles away.  So he started “footing” (walking on foot) down that road which led to Richard’s village, 6 miles from Lira, wearing only a ragged shirt with blue “trousers” and  barefoot.  The man had seen a group of people with guns and quickly “branched” off the road onto the forested path to Richard”s home.  Armed police are out at night, so Richard surmised he had avoided being caught by a nearby Police patrol, as he ducked into the trees at Richard’s home.   As Richard questioned him, he prayed and felt that the young man was not harmful, and allowed him to stay the night in a small mud hut on the property.

Richard and his wife Hannet allowed Ewoyot to remain with their family for 3 days while contacting his family who had feared the worst for their son.  Eventually, arrangements were made for Richard and Ewoyot to travel by bus and taxi to Katakwi to return the young man to his overjoyed family.

The next day, Richard and Ewoyot, boarded a bus to Katakwi and arrived to a large group of family members and “well wishers” who came to see who the man was that was willing to bring home their mentally disabled son who they feared was lost forever.  It was a shock to them, that Richard was also a “disabled”, who was missing his right arm!  3 times they asked if he was the “very one” who had contacted them about their son.  He answered 3 times that he was that very person, and invited them to call the phone number they had used to communicate with him.  As his phone rang, they all erupted in exuberant shouting, crying for joy, singing, dancing, stick shaking, blessing Richard and praising God for the safe return of their son by this “Good Samaritan” who would not take anything for his services.  Unfortunately we have no photos of Ewoyot and his family with Richard.

As Richard was questioned about his family, ancestors, and why he did this wonderful thing, they found that Richard’s grandfather who was a well known evangelist for the Pentecostal denomination, knew their grandfather very well, and they had much in common.  For hours they celebrated and finally allowed Richard to leave on the bus to Lira late in the evening.  Once in Lira, he was able to contact a trusted motorcycle boda (taxi) well after midnight who was willing to take him back to his home.  God is good!

Today, we discussed this living example of the scriptures in Matthew 25: 31-46 about Jesus rewarding people for “doing for the least of these my brothers and sisters”.  We also discussed the story of the despised Samaritan man who took care of the man who was beaten, stripped naked, robbed and left for dead,  though a priest and a Levite (temple priest) had walked past doing nothing.  Those words came alive, and the immense joyfulness we all felt at seeing the results of stepping out and DOING what God asks us to do was tremendous!

Yes, it takes us out of our comfort zone.  Yes, it is very inconvenient sometimes.  Yes, it costs us something to be faithful to Jesus’ calling to “loving our neighbors as ourselves”.  Yes, they might not even be thankful for our efforts.  And because we do it for these people, we are doing it for Jesus and He is the One who will say,  

“Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Just so you know, Richard did not lose his day’s wages.

One young man, Amos, was a dejected and lonely inmate in Lira Main Prison.  He had committed a crime, and was convicted to several years in prison.  He admits to having done many wrong things and deserved prison.  We met him several years ago as he was trained to be one of our initial Literacy Teachers in Lira Main Prison.  At that time, it was a way to have something positive to do.  Through teaching the other inmates in our “Learning to Read to Read the Bible” classes, he was introduced to Jesus in the lessons and came to know that he is a unique creation by God, made for a special purpose.  He also recognized that everyone is created by God for a unique purpose.  Not only did he discover that He is loved by God, but that he could be forgiven for all that he had done that was wrong, and begin again.  Amos eagerly dedicated himself to living the rest of his life in service to God and those around him.

After teaching prison literacy classes, Amos volunteered to become a teacher of English as a second language as he was fluent in English.  Jean Homer, formerly Jenkins Middle School Principal, Chewelah, WA, and Nancy Burke from Pagosa Springs, CO, taught nine men how to help their fellow inmates to speak, read and write in English, Uganda’s national language.  For 6 months Amos and the other teachers diligently worked 2-3 hours a day, 5 days a week to teach over 50 men.  With several other literacy and English teachers he was suddenly transferred to Erute prison, a small cotton farming prison on the outskirts of Lira.  They had no literacy program but the Officer in Command and the Welfare Officer were open to starting classes.  The transferred inmates were the core of the Teacher Training Workshop HAN held at Erute prison, in which 18 new teachers were trained.  Seventy eight inmates signed up for classes.  There were only 128 total prisoners, so more than 75% of them became part of the new literacy program!

Amos was a model prisoner, making a significant difference in the future of so many men at Lira Main Prison and Erute Prison.  He and several other literacy teachers also held Bible Studies, prayer meetings and church services, introducing other inmates to Jesus.

Amos was released from Erute prison 2 weeks ago.  HAN provided him with a new set of clothing after his long prison stay, and the cost of his transportation home. However, before heading home to his family and community, his first request was to be baptized.  Our head teacher trainer, Peter, HAN co-director, Keith Jones and a pastor, accompanied Amos to the one local pool to complete his dedication to Christ with his baptism.

In less than 2 weeks, Amos has organized the leaders of churches in his home community to start a literacy program.  In several weeks HAN will hold a Teacher Training Workshop, and his community will be launched into their “Learning to Read to Read the Bible” program!  The community members have called him “Saul renamed Paul” remembering Saul of Tarsus in the Bible who was killing new Christians in the name of God. He became a Christian himself, was renamed Paul, and wrote much of the New Testament in the Bible!

Today, Amos is just one example of the redeeming power of Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross.  All of us can be forgiven and become a “new person” in Christ.  The old, messed up life can be wiped away, and a new life started.  In the Living Bible, 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, ^“When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!” During this Christmas time, may we have new life in the Jesus whose birth we celebrate!

Glasses for Teachers and Learners

In the past 12 months, Hands Across Nations has given out more than 2,000 pairs of glasses to people in the “Learning to Read to Read the Bible” literacy program, and over 6,000 pairs in the last 4 years.  When I left Uganda this year in July, we were completely out of two strengths of glasses.  That is absolutely no longer the case.

Mike and Helen Salapka have generously donated thousands of glasses, and we are preparing them for transport to Uganda.

Mike couldn’t decide which frames he liked the best so he tested them all!

This year, all of the new glasses had large paper price tags on them held on by strong plastic string.  That would not seem to be a big deal, but when we are giving out up to 100 pairs of glasses at a village or prison literacy class, clipping those tags off becomes a challenge and a mess of trash.

Mary Ann and Earl Ross, above, and Emily McMillan, below, volunteered to do the tag cutting for all 4,000 pairs of glasses!

All of the beautiful glasses cases seen above, were made  by our Advisory Committee Secretary Carmen Deal.  She has made several thousand cases over the years.

What a great glasses team we have!  Terry Trefz, our chef for the Benefit Dinner, is also an expert box taper – able to completely cover large boxes with packing tape and red duct tape (for easy identification), in record time, so they’ll survive at least 4 trips flying back and forth to Uganda.  Then up to 1,000 pairs of glasses are carefully packed in each box, which will weigh right at 50lb, the maximum weight limit for the airline.

On this trip, I will take 2-3 boxes of glasses and the other boxes will be ready for transport by any short term missionaries that come to visit us this year.   Almost half of the cost of shipping, $200 per 50lb box, was raised at the HAN Auction in October.  A BIG THANK YOU to all of you who raised your bidding plates at the auction in support of shipping glasses as well as books!

Glasses are given out to teachers and learners in our HAN program only when they have completed at least the first 10 lessons in Primer #1.  Previously, we found that when new teachers received their reading glasses at the end of their training……some of them never started a class!  They were willing to attend training for 3 days for a pair of glasses!  Learners have the same attitude in some classes.  But by the time they reach 10 lessons and find that they are already able to read simple sentences in their native language, they are HOOKED, and will continue to come to class even after receiving their glasses.

Dreams become a reality for

ministry in Uganda

Dreams DID become a Reality at the Benefit Dinner and Auction for Hands Across Nations (HAN).  “Under the Mango Tree, Dreams Become Reality” was an event blessed beyond expectations because almost 200 people came together to support the Lango people of N. Uganda in their struggle to rise from the ashes of war and illiteracy.

Our Auctioneer, Jay Lancaster and MC, Brock McMillan, hosted the night, keeping the focus on the ministry that has been going on through HAN over the last year, and the plans for the coming year.

Chef Terry Trefz and his team once again provided the marvelous cuisine for the night.  Fabulous desserts made by 25 local volunteers raised $2,200 for bookshelves, tables, benches, and books for a new prison library!

Every person who produced the successful evening was a volunteer, and an amazing $22,081 was the total outcome!  K.S. Brooks, local photographer, generously documented the event for HAN.

We so appreciate the people of Chewelah, Stevens County and the many who traveled from as far away as Bellevue, WA, to attend the event.  Everyone who took part in the annual benefit has a stake in the improvement of the lives of the Lango people HAN serves.  Thank you for giving to the Lord!

Sept 17, 2017

There’s an old saying “Take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves”.  10 year old Makayla Duke, of Chewelah has been collecting pennies for a full year to give them to the needy.  She calls her effort “Pennies for the Poor”.  Last year she collected pennies for several months and gave over $250 to Hands Across Nations to use for the poor in Uganda.  Makayla’s heart for the poor has not grown cold since then and she has continued her efforts quietly unbeknownst to Keith and Carolyn Jones who have been working with the indigent in Uganda.  Their mission focus is training teachers for the “Learning to Read to Read the Bible” program, and providing the learning materials for hundreds of classes of learners.

On September 10^th at Abundant Life Fellowship, Makayla presented Carolyn with a certified check for $461.00!  Makayla’s pennies became many dollars!  That amount of dollars will cover the complete costs for at least 4 reading classes of 25 inmates in a prison.  That includes their primer books, small Bibles, pens, pencils, erasers, and notebooks plus the blackboard and chalk!  In 4 to 6 months, Makayla’s penny offering to God will produce at least 100 imprisoned men and women who have learned how to read and write in their native language and to do simple math.

Another team of local people with hearts for the illiterate poor in Uganda, are planning a special Benefit Dinner and Auction “Under the Mango Tree Dreams Become Reality,   October 7^th at the Chewelah Civic Center, doors open at 4:30 pm.  Tickets are available at Akers Drug Store, in Chewelah, The Front Porch Farm in Arden, and from Michelle Lancaster in Colville at 675-5649.

It is always a lively and interesting night as the food and activities are new every year.  Come join the excitement and hear how Hands Across Nations’ work has changed the lives of thousands of illiterate people of the Lango Tribe in N. Uganda.  Many “Hands” from this small area in NE Washington have reached around the globe to fulfill their long awaited dream of being able to read.

Anyone wishing to contribute to Makayla’s ongoing “Pennies for the Poor Fund” may contact Mary Knapp at 935-0319.  Nickels, dimes and quarters will also be gratefully accepted!

Makayla Duke, of Chewelah, originally had an idea at the age of 5 that she would like to raise money for the poor kids in Uganda.  She wanted to buy toys and coloring books to send to the children so they would have something with which to play and they would know God loves them.  Being told it was too expensive to send those items, she lost interest and forgot about her idea for awhile. 

Makayla is now 9 years old and in 4^th grade at Gess Elementary School.  Her desire to do something good for the children in Uganda was rekindled recently when she was home sick from school.  Her grandmother, Mary Knapp, noticed she was working on the computer intently.  A little later, she presented Mary with a poster about her idea of collecting “Pennies for the Poor”.  She put her poster up at her Tae Kwan Do class and mentioned it to a number of other friends, family and members of her church, Abundant Life Fellowship.  

This week was the big job of rolling all the pennies and other coins donated by those touched by Makayla’s heart for the poor.  Makayla, her sister Kaitlyn, Grandmother Mary Knapp and Mom, Devan Duke, sorted through coins people had been saving “for a rainy day”.  Some had been saved for such a long time, they had to be separated from the carcasses of dead stink bugs!  Now that’s dedication! 

Makayla was able to raise $253.50 in just a few short weeks and is donating those funds to Hands Across Nations (HAN), our local nonprofit charity working in Uganda.  She will continue to collect pennies and coins over the winter while Keith and Carolyn Jones, Directors of HAN, are ministering in N. Uganda.  They will keep in touch with Makayla and let her know how her funds will be used for the poor. 

Anyone wishing to contribute to Makayla’s “Pennies for the Poor Fund” may contact Mary Knapp at 935-0319.  Nickels, dimes and quarters will also be gratefully accepted!