Lion, Mo & Flowers Adventures in Kalangala

Who’s Lion, Mo & Flower and where is Kalangala? Well Lion is Lauren, a new long term missionary for FHLM, Mo is Moses Kalumba, founder and director of African Initiative Development Project Uganda, and Flower is me, Rita Beach. Kalangala is the main town on the island of Bugala, in the Ssese Islands chain in Lake Victoria.

Well all had an adventure trip to the islands last weekend and it was excellent! Being on the water and by the beach was wonderful, but the reason we all went was to see my friend, Liz’s project. Liz had lived in Kalangala for 7 years, until moving to Masaka last year. That is when I meet her and got to know about her NGO project is called HUG (Help Uganda). Both Moses and I have been collaborating for the last 9 months or more, so it was very good to meet some of the children in her project, and see the schools they attend in Kalangala. This trip also gave us the opportunity to spend time with and get to know better, Liz’s assistant director, Pastor Fred.

On Saturday, we got to visit K Primary School where we met nine of the children in the HUG project and helped them make Christmas cards for their sponsors. We had a lot of fun with the children and Moses even got to play a little football with them. On Sunday morning, we attended Pastor Fred’s church, Kalangala Pentecostal Churches of Uganda. He even asked me to preach at the 2nd service and I was honored to do so. People say I’m turning into a pastor but I think of myself more as a teacher! After church, we were able to go to Serwanga Lwanga Secondary School where we met 14 of the youth in the project. We also helped them make their Christmas cards. I really enjoyed interacting with the youth and finding out about them.
The time in the islands went fast but it was so good to finally see the projects fruits and get to know why Liz choice the Ssese Islands for her project. It was also a great time to rejuvenate the soul by being by the water and listening to the surf. Thank you Lord for the time!