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I successfully “survive drowning” in River Nile-By Eddie

On Thursday last week, I was invited by a group of friends to spend a night at the world waters Lodge. (www.wildwaterslodge.com) The lodge is located on an island on River Nile about 25 kilometers outside of Jinja town. It costs an arm and leg to stay on this island; cost per night is $340(shs.1, 241,000/=). There is even a heli-pad (for helicopter landing) on the island, a strong sign that well resourced people come here a lot.
With my current state of financial affairs, the temptation to ask these guys to just give me the money or let me stay at a nearby cheap campsite was strong, but I eventually overcame it. Sometimes in moments when we are low on resources, it’s easy to think that we don’t deserve certain privileges.
I spent the night in one of their hats, which is right next to the falls, so all night I could hear the strong sounds of the falls.

Here are my observations about the wild waters Lodge and how i survived “drowning”.

First the customer care was superb, the lodge is owned by white South Africans, part of the Adrift Company, but all the staff at the lodge are Ugandans. Since the beginning of this year, I had not come across any Ugandan with good customer care skills as these ones. Ugandan business owners may have to get in touch with the person who trained these guys to treasure a customer. Very few Ugandans practice good customer care skills.

Food and drinks are included in the cost. You can eat or drink anything while at the lodge. For dinner, they served us a 3 course meal, It had been almost 15 years since I last had one. The eats are very delicious and tasty- it’s hard to resist them. However, one thing I have observed over the years in almost all expensive environments is high amounts of junk food on their menus. It’s sweet and tasty but adds little value to our bodies. Many Ugandans ignorantly associate eating junk food with being modern and stylish, but it comes with health complications. In any case, it’s the major cause of non-communicable diseases (cancer, diabetes, etc) No wonder most of the expensive clinics in Jinja and Kampala are frequented by the so-called rich people, why? They are the biggest consumers of Junk food.

Two, the lodge is located on a “wild and bushy island”, but that notwithstanding, these foreign owners transformed it into a modern lodging place that attracts people from all over the world. It’s amazing how foreigners can come here; add value to a remote bushy island, then starting charging heavily. They saw potential value in a bushy isolated forest island that we the locals could not see. Why? Probably due to lack of exposure, that’s why it’s important that we travel to places in Uganda and outside of Uganda for exposure and learning purposes. I have come across some people who think life only happens in urban areas, it’s a false belief in my opinion. There is life in places all over Uganda.

The following day, still my friends asked me to go with them for white water rafting with Adrift, a company just like the lodge owned by white south Africans. A very challenging but exciting activity. I fell off the boat two times, good enough the safety kayaks where nearby to “rescue” me. The owners of this rafting company take safety of its customers seriously without any excuses, because if something bad happened, that would be the end of their business.

Blessings – Edward

Life inside Transform – The Leader’s Gathering- Part 4.

This is the last post of my experiences at The Leader’s Gathering which was held at Worship Harvest Ministries in Nalya Kampala.

I had two teams; one was traveling on their own, while another team traveled with me in the car. We thought about hiring a place to stay for the night in Kampala, may be on airbnb. But on closer look, we discovered that fueling our cars would be far cheaper that a paid night stay in Kampala, good enough we didn’t encounter the usual crazy traffic jams.

On day two, I was invited to attend an early morning pastor’s meeting. There was a lot of sharing which I enjoyed and learnt a lot. We were also encouraged to connect with one another, sometimes our breakthrough could only be a phone call away. And Leader’s Gathering like this present opportunities for establishing new connections, sharing relationships and networking. It’s not easy doing kingdom work alone.

Registration to the Leader’s Gathering was initially at 120,000/= (early bird) then moved to 150,000/=. To some, it may have looked like too much money, but I can assure everyone that it was worth it. And I would like to urge Ugandans to learn to invest in continuous learning. What we put in our heads, is what comes out of us. In much of Uganda, lack of knowledge has contributed so much to the high poverty levels.(Hosea 4:6)

A team from the Fearless Institute in Nairobi attended too. Some members of this team cared for me while I was in Nairobi in June this year, so I invited them to Jinja to visit. Somehow they failed to make it, but if they had come, I would have taken them around including to places like the source of the Nile, Itanda falls,Kyabazinga palace, etc.

Every time I go to a conference, I carry along a note book and take notes so I can capture new ideas learnt. I also try to put in practice new ideas I learn, otherwise I would have wasted my time going. “Break out” was the conference theme.One speaker pointed out that the first place to break out is in our minds. The limitations on us are in our minds! Even the Bible says that as a man thinks, so is he.

Pastor Muriithi told us that everybody has a world view or of philosophy of life.
Africa’s world view is as follows according to Pastor Muriithi.
We feel helpless- That things just happen to us, we blame others, we despise our selves.

I have come across a few Ugandans who believe that the circumstances of our lives are largely dictated by our own decisions, our own behaviors and the choices that we make. Wealth, failure, poverty and good health are created by own our actions/in-actions. We, in effect, create our own destiny.John Maxwell explains it well in his law of Design.

I have also come across many Ugandans who believe that the circumstances of our lives are not determined by us, but by external factors we cannot possibly control. We, in effect, are not in control and powerless over the course of our lives and as such do very little to affect the circumstances of our lives. So we lay the blame on evils spirits of our ancestors, Colonialists, Pastors, politicians, bosses at work, parents, mentors, pastors, the international community, etc.

People with this mentality presume that some invisible forces either from God or from evil ancestral spirits are for some unknown reasons hindering their growth. As such, they run to witchdoctors, who in turn promises to “plead” with evil spirits on their behalf to bless their lives, including giving them Jobs, promotions at work, good marriages, wisdom, etc.Sometimes even ask for riches/wealth without working for it. People in this group also go to unserious pastors and people who claim to be prophets, many of whom also charge exorbitant fees (what they call sowing the seed) to supposedly “plead” with God on their behalf, to bless their lives including giving them riches/wealth without any work or little work. Enticing ‘testimonies’ are shared of how so and so just did nothing besides sowing a ‘big seed’ (read money), then boom!! Boom!!, someone just showed up with large sums of money and gave them. God is somehow reduced to a rewarder of laziness. The truth is, he is not. He only blesses the work of our hands.

Pastor Muriithi told us that to  develop a Godly world view, we need to study the word of God, study our culture and also become thought leaders.

In the afternoon session of day 2, I attend an App facilitated by renowned lawyer, Robert Kirunda on Government Engagement: How to engage movement on policy matters. This is the guy I had been seeing on TV debating policy issues. He shared useful insights on what’s going on in the country. I wish there was a way to attend all the apps, unfortunately there wasn’t.

I could go on and on about this Leader’s Gathering, but I will end these posts. I hope those who didn’t attend can now have a glimpse of what it was all about. I look forward to attending Transform of 2020 and would like to take this opportunity to thank the organizers for doing such a wonderful Job. This was a great opportunity for me to learn and be inspired. I returned to Buwenda village with new ideas and skills that will help bring transformation to this rural village. Iam now a hardened agent of change, ready to continue battling with forces of ignorance, disease,poverty,illiteracy, spiritual suffering,etc that are keeping our people in unnecessary bondage.

Blessings – Edward

Life inside Transform – The Leader’s Gathering- Part 3.

In part 3 of my experiences at The Leader’s Gathering,i still share lessons learnt and what i saw.

On the preparation side: Stage lights and all decor was well done, you couldn’t hear any chaaaa in the speakers. There was strong attempt to do a job and give people value for their money. Quality of presentations/speakers was also superb. Lunch was well parked and served in a quick and orderly way, which was good. However,  it looked like there weren’t enough dining tables for all the guests, so that area will probably need improvement in future Gatherings.

Several inspiring speakers where lined up. I went in there ready to learn, unlearn,re-learn ideas and concepts that would help me be a better leader in my community. Leaders like us who are based in remote villages of Kikubo and Buwenda need a lot of leadership skills to be able to make it. I may be wrong, but I think the burden on us leaders who serve in  illiterate communities with ancient belief systems may be heavier than our counter-parts in urban areas. It’s in that light that I will continue exposing myself to environments were my leadership abilities could be improved.

The conference organizers picked interest in our simple village economic empowerment farm model in Buwenda village, so they sent a video team to take footage of our activities. It had never even crossed my mind that these guys would take note of what I do. During the conference, the footage aired for about 5 minutes. I hope it was useful to someone. In the next five years, this will hopefully be one of the best model gardens in the country.

Morning time was for the general conference sessions, while in the afternoon, we had the APP sessions, about 15 Apps were available and participants would go to any app of their choice. On the first day, I went to one titled “Beyond Boarders: Thinking and Leading with a global perspective”. Pastor Wanjau facilitated this App,he spoke about the different stages/season of life. In a nutshell, the season are as follows, First one is the Foundation with age range of 0-10(child) years and is for about establishing values in children, second season is Education for age range of 11-25(Student) years and is about establishing positive friends, third is Preparation with age range of 25-35(Apprentice) years,main task here is finding purpose of ones life. Fourth one is about Production with age range of 35-45(Builder) and is about being focused. Fifth one is about Propagation with age range of 45-55 (Mentor) is about sharing ,sixth one is with age range of 55-65(Statesman)- Resources.While last one is with age range of 65+(sage)Legacy. He has written a book about these seasons of life.

Pastor Wanjua is the senior Pastor of the Mavuno churches headquartered in Nairobi-Kenya,also spread across East Africa and several other countries. One remarkable attribute about his man is his simplicity. You hardly notice any airs of importance around him. His Ugandan counterpart, Pastor Mosze is no different-no airs of importance. I guess birds of the same feather flock together.
It very possible for one to go to a Mavuno church in Nairobi and find there permanent secretaries, celebrities, senior leaders in the government and private sector. But even with his elite congregation and immerse influence, he stays humble. No pride, No armed guards, nothing. His humility is admirable and commendable. And it was comforting to see a well accomplished African Pastor/Leader behaving that way. I had only seen this with white people. I hope our Ugandan leaders too borrow a leaf.

In one of the seasons, he spoke about the need to have and stand on the should of mentors to help us see far and avoid making many mistakes. They can see where we need to improve.

So banange, let’s get mentors to help guide our decisions in life.

Tomorrow, I will write my last post on the Transform conference.

Blessings – Edward

Life inside Transform – The Leader’s Gathering- Part 2.

In part 2 of my experiences at The Leader’s Gathering. I still share lessons learnt and what i saw.

Every registered conference participant was given a gift voucher; I redeemed mine with book titled Pieces of me by a one Catherine. I read the entire book in just one day, why? Because I couldn’t get off her powerful story and struggles with child bearing. One of the people I work with is going through almost similar experience. So after reading the book I gave it to her to read it too. By mere reading that book, she felt some comfort in her heart and increase in her hope that one day, by Gods Grace; she too will overcome her struggles with child bearing.

Breakfast and lunch was served at the conference. Everyone was guided on where to park, for those driving.Toilets were clean and flushing all the time.Ushers where spread everywhere, right from the road. They warmly, with smiles, made everyone feel welcome. Some years ago, I used to think that few Ugandans appreciate orderly life, but now I think there is quite a big group. I hope civil servants can catch up this kind attitude. I enjoy being in spaces where people do what they said they would do, without resorting to excuses. It makes my planning easy.

On day 1 of the conference, one of the main speakers was a lady called Eunice Adubango. She studied as an engineer, but it seems Engineering wasn’t her passion. She shared a story of how she struggled with studies and work at the University.University was paying her peanuts and it would take ages for the payments to come in. One day she tried out her passion, which was cooking. All she did was to post on internet that she will conduct a class for all those interested in cooking lessons. Within minutes, the class had sold out.

There is a lot of power and joy in finding our purpose and passion in life, otherwise we will live a life of boredom, and disappointments. And the earlier in life we find our Purpose, values and strategy, the better. Purpose guides our life’s decisions and also helps us endure struggles along our life’s journey.

We should not allow anyone to tell us to study medicine, engineering or any other so-called marketable courses if they don’t align with our life’s purpose/passion and values. Otherwise we will continue seeing nurses slapping their patients at the slightest mistake.

Eunice pointed out how God has gifted Uganda beyond measure, with lots of mineral deposits, good weather and natural resources. And she was right, there is alot of wealth below our soils. There are reports of mineral deposits in Namayingo district,Land in Mafubira sub-country is reported(I have not independently verified it) to be the most fertile land in the world,etc. If we all knew this, we would probably go slow on the habit of running to foreign lands for solutions to our economic,political,health and spiritual problems.The solutions lay with us,not in far away lands.
That’s why its important to attend Leader’s Gatherings like Transform,read books and also have good company to find out these realities.

In Buwenda village here where I stay, South Africans have bought a lot of land on the shores of River Nile. Many came here when they are poor, started Kayaking and Rafting business on the Rile, they are now billionaires. While we yearn to go to South African for Jobs, South Africans are seeing opportunities in rural Ugandan and in Urban Uganda. South African companies like MTN, Multi-choice, Games and others make huge profits every year that is repatriated back to South Africa while we the locals continue to complain that there is no money.

I would like to encourage everyone to find their purpose/passion and align all our life’s activities/decisions with our purpose. It will be a game changer.

Blessings- Edward
Wait for part 3