Wototo Church Gulu

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I have to tell you about the church service we attended on Sunday. There are hundreds of churches in the area, and EVERYBODY goes to church often for the whole day. We chose to go to Wototo Church as some of our new friends went there. I couldnt believe it, as we walked up the path I could hear very loud worship, and I recognised the songs - They were singing Hillsong songs, which some of you may know, were written and recorded by Sydney people with the Hillsong church. They absolutely worship with abandon and joy, and it was nice to be able to join them. The service by Pastor Joe was awesome, and afterwards we talked to him and of course, he said he was a freind of Dr Robi (from Buderim and the Empower program), which we hear wherever we visit. This Empower program has had such an amazing impact over here, it has provided trauma rehabilition in a way that they totally understand and embrace, particularly the element of forgiveness.
After church, we got picked up and travelled to Lira, 2 hours away to do some work with Samaritans Purse, which is an organisation which offers the Empower program, as well as HIV/AIDS education, bible ministry and alot more. We booked into the hotel, called Lillian Towers, previously the Pink Poodle. Very nice place with hot water, so we are happy. We had dinner with Susan, a young American woman who has been here for 3 years running the program, she cooked us delicious tacos, so that was a nice break from traditional Ugandan food.
Lira is basically the same size as Gulu, but the fact that the IDP camps closed 2 years ago in the this area, and the people have returned to their villages, gives it a feeling of more security and less desperation. The poverty of course, is still extreme. They depend on their crops and they are in desperate need of rain, so people are very hungry. The market place is filthy, as the rubbish is only collected once a week, and people rummage through the rubbish, you can imagine the disease. The meat is sold in open air stalls, and hangs from hooks and is covered in flies. The fruit and vegetables are beautiful, huge mangos everywhere, lovely red tomatoes, spinach, and capsicum, bananas all popular.

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Photos

Fionas test
Locals appreciated Fi's willingness to have test, and laughed when saw she had red blood too!

Testing clinic
Teaching the kids some games