Saturday, May 29 was a BIG day for the Kyamukama Church of God, hosting the campmeeting-style event for the Mpigi District. I don’t know from how far the people came, but they just KEPT coming in from every direction, all during the day. My best guess is there were around 400 men, women, youth and children all together. The church building was not nearly big enough to hold everyone, so the general worship services were held out under a huge tree that stood beside the building. What a BLESSING this tree was!
The other buildings on this three-acre (thereabouts) plot of land that had been donated for a church/school, were the half-finished school building (also mud and sticks, with a tin roof), and a couple of round mud huts with thatched roofs. One thing interesting … they clear a dirt area around each building and keep it swept clean so they can clearly see any snakes that approach! I was invited to look into the “parsonage” where the pastor and his wife live. There was no door, just a white curtain over the opening, but the inside was BEAUTIFUL. The ceiling was all woven grasses with inlaid patterns. There was a trundle bed with a locked cabinet underneath, one chair and mats on the floor, and that’s it. Very nice, but very small and very sparse.
So, the very first event of the day was quite a shock to some of the group who had never been around a farm. One of those long-horned steer was led in on a tether and “sacrificed” to feed everyone. We watched as they slit its throat and it gave up the ghost. I had been around “hog-killing” times on my grandparent’s farm, but it was still a little disconcerting, though just a necessary part of life, I guess. I wish I remembered the name of the woman who had come from Kasubi with us. She regularly cooks for the 650 students and teachers at Kasubi and was in charge of the cooking here in the village for the weekend … over open fires. Amazing. She turned that butchered cow into lunch and dinner that day, and breakfast the next day. At lunch, it was a bit tough; at supper more tender and the next day, VERY tender. Served up with the staple rice, cabbage, posho, matoke, squash and beans. I chose to just put a little of the broth over the rice and mainly stuck to the cabbage and squash.
This is a picture of the pastor’s home and the cooking area. The young man who is the pastor at this church was a true example of a servant-leader. I witnessed him pouring out what had to be every bit of his energy making sure everything went well and everyone was taken care of. I saw him doing everything from leading elderly women to find a seat, to herding kids to where they needed to be, chasing down goats that were to be given away, wrangling a cow to keep it from going into the church, participating in the conferences, playing drums in the worship service, and on and on. And he did all of this dressed in a suit. I was so impressed with him, and told him so before leaving.
