
First hand account of the refugee situation

Planning for arrival of the Bishops!
We took a bit of time out today as it’s Adrian’s last day and we all have a busy week ahead. At 7.30am, we set off in a taxi for Calvary Chapel, which is on the other side of Entebbe. The church website said the first (English) service started at 8am but when we got there, we were told it was 9am on the first Sunday of the month.
With time to spare, we set off walking down the road and came to an area of abject poverty with people barely scratching a living together by selling things like home made charcoal or chabatis. As two well dressed white guys with cameras, we felt quite self-conscious and recognised once again the fantastic privilege of living in the UK where we are at the extreme other end of the materialism / poverty scale. We walked back to the church and experienced the most amazing welcome, as well as some full on African worship! We had to leave at 11am as our taxi was waiting but the service continued.
The afternoon was spent writing notes and Adrian packing ready for his flight back to the UK tonight. Tomorrow the senior leaders of CRESS in South Sudan arrive for three days of meetings.
One small reflection from the trip last week that we reminded ourselves of this afternoon goes like this:
Did you hear the one about the Bishop, the Chairman and the two Operations Managers in a Toyota Land Cruiser on a journey across Uganda? They were discussing who would get the front seat (which is by far the most comfortable). Everyone thought the Bishop should have it as the most senior, but he declined and sat in the back. This reminded us of Jesus’ disciples who were arguing about who would have the best seat in Heaven. Jesus reminded them that “the first shall be last and the last shall be first”. A great example of true humility was set for us by Bishop Joseph (especially as it was his car!).
So who did get the front seat? That would be telling!