On August 6, 2007 , Mike and Jean Mueller of Hope Seeds, Inc traveled to Uganda for a fact finding mission trip. Traveling alongside another Christian organization, “With God's Little Ones”, visits were made to several villages in southern Uganda . Should you decide to read no further than this paragraph, allow us to sum the trip up in these words: The physical and spiritual needs of the children of Uganda are critical and real… and we have what they need. The question?… How and what do we contribute to make a lasting difference in their lives? Christian's sharing goods and knowledge will encourage them far more than just a meal or even a season…it can change their entire life. Christian's sharing the loving truth of Jesus will change them for eternity.

August 7 – Upon arrival in Uganda at Entebbe International Airport we loaded our bags into two vehicles, taking the team of seven on an hour drive to Kampala , the nations capital city. We checked into a comfortable hotel as our base of operations for four of the seven days. By US standards, Mosa Hotel is comparable to a Holiday Inn with an African touch… and the price per day comparable as well.

Our travel time to Uganda from the states was a total of 18 hours. Departing from Newark International, to Amsterdam about 7 hours later, a 4 hour layover, and arriving in Entebbe another 7hours later, it was a real comfort to check into the Mosa Hotel and rest for our weeks work.

August 8 – The team of 7, along with our host facilitators, loaded up on a more than adequate bus for our first village visit… Kateete. Rev. Charles Bameka of the Lutheran Media Ministry – Uganda , acted as our trip coordinator and translator. We soon learned that each village we were to visit were homes to newly organized Lutheran congregations in places where no other Christian denomination congregation had been established. Personally, I found this very encouraging… it was not a matter of denomination competition… it was all about sharing Jesus Christ with those who needed to hear the good news.

When we arrived in Kateete, we were welcomed as visiting dignitaries of the highest order… and they had been waiting for hours for our arrival. Hundreds of smiling faces, clapping and dancing children, women giving their excited African trilling, and men waiting with extend handshakes of welcome… a very warm reception. The women and men were dressed in their best clothes… particularly the women in their beautiful African robes. The children were in quite worn out and dirty clothes… and we found out that they had few other clothes to choose from. What the children lacked in fine clothing was hidden from our eyes by the radiant smiles and welcoming eyes… a memory not soon to leave our hearts.

The other members of the team had objectives for each village we went to visit, while Jean and I were there to distribute Hope Seeds garden seed and present a simple gardening seminar. This was a very cost effective method for multiple opportunities of service within one mission trip.

As we traveled the paved roads between our hotels and villages we were tourists looking out the bus windows. Some of the things we saw are presented in the photos with this report, but some views do not photograph adequately. Many thousands of acres of sugar cane production over rolling hills prove there is agricultural industry. Also, many hundreds of acres of tea leaf production, and almost every where we drove each usable piece of ground had corn (white kernel maize), coffee, bananas, sweet potatoes, cassava, tropical pumpkins, rice, cabbage, beans, and other vegetables. The market places we drove by ranged from modern type grocery and department stores to open air markets to roadside stands.

Butchered meat (unwrapped or refrigerated) was being sold in the open air markets, right alongside chickens with their feet tied and ready to sell. Nursery and landscape plants were available in every town we went through – everywhere there was electricity and modern traffic and homes. It was only when we left the paved roads that we began to see the great and desperate needs.

Water in the city was available in bottles and in our hotel sinks and hot showers, while in the villages people had to walk miles to the closest hand pump to fill their containers and carry home on tops of their heads.

Bicycles are a very popular mode of transportation for the poor, and we saw few if any horses or donkeys. Cattle and cows were common, and goats seemed to be in good supply with chickens roaming where they would. We were somewhat surprised to see as few dogs and cats as we did, but even more surprised to see so few pigs, though we did visit villages where pigs were penned. We learned that pigs are quite valuable for the poor as a source of income, selling them for the people of the city to eat. Goat meat and chicken is the meat for the poor, and they do not eat much of that during the week.

During this trip we distributed over 600 Family Packs and held five 2hour presentations about the seeds in the Family Packs and the nutrition they provide. Hope Seeds Family Packs contain 11 varieties of vegetables along with Devotional and Nutrition pamphlets. The varieties included in this distribution were: Detroit Dark Red Beet, Fordhook Swiss Chard, Bloomsdale Spinach, Duke hybrid Tomato, Homestead open-pollinated Tomato, Italian Parsley, Charleston Grey Watermelon, Black Beauty Eggplant, King Arthur hybrid Bell Pepper, American Flag Leek and Flat White Squash/Pumpkin.

During the course of our first distribution of seed and presentation in the village of Nakabango we were glad to field many types of questions. The women were especially attentive – most gardens are planted and worked by women. The men present were interested as well, but they were more interested in the more marketable types which they might grow in larger plots and sell at the market place for cash. It was interesting to observe the cultural perspective and priorities of women and men – women wanted food and nutrition for the needs of the household, while the men were seeking ways to make money. Perhaps, this is not so different from other areas of the world… whether poor or not… but it is worth mentioning that when we touched on the subject of nutrition that the women seemed more receptive to the topic.

Moringa Oleiffera is a tree which we saw quite often. Originally from India , it has been in many parts of Africa for centuries. The leaves of this tree are especially nutritious and can be included in our diets as a leafy vegetable or food additive. It contains all of the essential vitamins needed for good health and bodily growth… comparable to mixing most vegetables for a salad. Not as tasty as good vegetables, but readily available, we recommended to those present that they use the Moringa leaves as a food additive on a daily basis, especially for small children. They seemed receptive to this advice… but only time will tell if they choose to do so.

We returned to our hotel in Kampala shortly after we finished the presentation, arriving about 7pm . The traffic is quite heavy, with smog very prevalent. There are no emission controls on vehicles so the air quality in the city is poor. Traffic is hectic and nerve wracking for Americans used to our more organized laws and traffic lights. The roads are rough, but paved, with many main arteries under construction improvements. After a good meal, a hot shower it was off to a comfortable bed for a secure nights sleep… dreaming of all of the little faces beaming up at us… and wondering if they were fed that day, and just how they would sleep.

Bulumwaki is about 30 miles from Jinja, the last several miles along a dirt road which eventually becomes only fingers of trails leading off to many small hamlets. It is a community connected by these finger-trails, connecting thousands of people to the main artery back to town and the local markets. No electric lines are to be seen, nor do you hear the drone of generators. Very few organized ministries or government offices serve this area… the needs become quite evident. Until just two years ago there was no local well for this community… they had to walk over two miles to get their water from a hand pump, women and girls carrying the water on their heads in rectangular containers. The organization, - With God's Little Ones - our companion and host for this trip, had financed the drilling of a deep borehole well in the village, and now many hundreds of people do not have to walk far for water, and since it is a deep well the water is of good quality free of disease and harmful bacteria.

As we arrived in the village, again we were greeted with the same huge and joyous reception of the day before… only more people. And, they were especially happy to see the leaders of With God's Little Ones – Rev. Rudy and Dorothy Schaser. They have been quite active in this community for several years. In addition to the good water now available, they have been providing food for children, clothing for orphans, materials for a school, sewing machines and materials so the women can make clothes, and health and nutrition programs… the first continuous and steady source of encouragement this community has ever seen.

At the end of our presentations we were invited to a special room set up with a meal for their honored guests. We felt quite conspicuous sitting down to a feast of local favorite dishes and in abundance… while hundreds of children were sitting within arms length having not yet been served. Though our first impulse was to serve the children the food, the culture of the elders and women of the village made this meal as a form of gratitude for our visit. We would have insulted them if we had not eaten thankfully. After we were served the male elders and then the women leaders came and consumed what was left. The children get served a separately prepared simple meal… they expect to sit and watch the adults eat first. The cultural expectation or what is normal is sometimes hard for us to accept, but we are the visitor and need to adapt lest we insult and lose the opportunity to help and serve.

After a long day of distribution and sharing, we boarded the bus for the hour drive back to Jinja and our comfortable lodging – this time more like a Super 8.

August 10 - Again, after a good breakfast, we headed off to Bulumwaki. There we visited a piece of property now owned by the local church, financed by With God's Little Ones… approximately 2 acres. We were also shown an additional 1.5 acres immediately behind the 2 acres, which the church has an option to purchase. The plans shared with me for the first two acres called for a church building and school building, with several housing units to be built for orphans. The types of structures planned would be of locally made bricks, with wood truss roofs and sheet metal roofing… simple and inexpensive by our standard, yet out of reach for their income and local economy. The purpose for these buildings is to provide security for the orphans, a dry place for worship and education, and a setting for community learning and support. A well would be built on this site as well.

While in Bulumwaki we were approached by a young woman with a 2 month old baby boy with a severe cleft palate. She was seeking some help – and we found that for under $1,000.00 surgery could be done in Uganda . Within our group the funds were immediately made available, and we prayed with the mother for her and her baby. And, now we await the story and praise report, rejoicing with the mother upon looking upon the whole face of her son. May God bless this miracle of modern surgery and medicine!

August 11 - We traveled to another community – Bugono. In this small community there is a Christian Lutheran school with the same local problems as we observed the previous days. A group of about 35 women and 10 men came together for seed distribution and presentation. We talked about many things, and came to an agreement to develop a community garden on land owned by the leader of the congregation… a retired Uganda Army captain. We will be sending a designed garden with some new varieties of tomatoes and cabbage for them to try, as well as an assortment of other vegetables. This small garden project has the potential to help them feed more local orphans and children at the school, and it promotes the concept of cooperative volunteerism. We will be following up on this during the year(s) ahead.

While on this trip we also stopped at the home of a local Lutheran Pastor who is training local young people in agricultural techniques… including dehydrating fruit and vegetables for later use during the dry seasons. He also had housing set up for about 10 orphan teenagers and about 15 orphaned girls of varied ages. He and his wife were very busy being Dad and Mom to a large family alongside all of their other obligations. A very energetic couple doing what God told them to do.

We then made the 3 hour bus ride back to the hotel in Kampal where we were the first two nights… a good meal and a nights rest at about 9 pm .

August 12 - Sunday in Kateete, worshiping with the congregation we first visited… and they were just as excited as they were the first time. It was a pleasure to worship with them, hear the choir sing in their native Ugandan language, and be present as over 20 new members of the community made their profession of faith.

After the service, we had a large group of over 70 women and 20 men for seed distribution and presentation. The discussion was active and informative… and we learned much from them as well. We learned the local names of several vegetables and fruits. They shared with us some of the local techniques for growing, harvesting, and cooking. And one of the leaders of the congregation who lives next door gave me a tour of his large garden plots where I saw great horticultural examples of African Tree Basil, Tobacco specifically being grown for insecticide use, Lemon grass grown for medicinal teas, and several different gardening techniques. A real learning experience for all of us.

August 13 - Our last full day in Uganda – we drove to the village of Bufuulo about two hours from Kampala . This village is similar to all of our other visits in many ways, but the distinction was how much they were doing with the little they had. A small piece of property – about ½ acre… a rough 30 x 30 tree branch structure covered with tarps served as both church and school, and this is where we were presented with reports from the congregation and local leaders of all they were doing because of the support of With God's Little Ones and the church… School enrollment of 62, a church membership of 46, an HIV education program to the local community, a pig and poultry project, and over 100 local orphans who come to them for food and help. They solicited help with books, garden tools and seeds, outside investment to help with a school building and orphanage shelter. The overall needs seemed quite small in comparison to their potential to do great things in their community.

The cost of the trip and lodging/meals, approximately $7,000.00 for the two of us… and the value of the seed, about $12,000.00… when added together show a cost value of approximately $20,000.00. The estimated number of people we serve with the seed distribution is 2,400. If this is the only time we were to make the trip or provide seed in Uganda then we would consider the cost of about $8.30 per person well worth it… for the quantity of seed given to each has the potential to grow over ½ acre of nutritious produce. But it does not end there… we shared knowledge and we spoke of the love of Christ – giving all involved great hope and encouragement. The investment we made in this trip will pay big dividends for years to come as we send more, and return to help in new and exciting ways… May God continue to grant us his Grace, Joy and Peace. Plant a Seed! Feed a Soul!

Thank you to all who helped fund this trip by your prayerful financial support!