This was my seventh time in an African country, but the first time to spend more than a few hours in the village.  Our week in Kayebe, about a three hour drive from Kampala, Uganda,  changed my understanding of life in the village and the great opportunity to serve the people if you’re willing to go.

As we left the main road from town and turned toward the village, things changed quickly.  Power lines vanished, block houses were replaced by clay homes with thatched roofs, and small stores became sparse to non-existent in some places.  Few to no cars travel to and from the town to the village, so roads were not built for cars.  In fact, the last turn off before arriving at the church was merely a foot path with just enough clearing on each side for our van to squeeze through.

We did notice a few people on motorcycles and more on bicycles, but most of the people walked.  They walked carrying 20 liters of water on their head and/or in each arm.  Even small children in tattered clothes, some too large and others to small, carried smaller water containers.  Others carried logs, kindling, bundles of bananas, or other produce.  Bikes loaded down with banana stalks, huge bags of charcoal, wares to sell, and even live animals were also traveling the road, along with the goats, cows, and chickens.

Thankfully, a king in the 1800s built a large lake out of rock to collect water in rainy season.  Otherwise, this area may not have water today.  It turns out, even though it would be possible to bring water and electricity to these areas, there is none.  The  pastor we traveled with told us, “No one has taken an interest, neither the government nor those that have been able to study from the village.  The people who get an education leave the village and don’t come back to help their people.”

The remoteness of the church surprised me.  Other than one house across the street, the next closest house was several hundred meters away, and the hills were only sparsely populated.  In one direction, I saw large group of almost strategically aligned pine trees, to another a banana plantation, to another more open areas for cultivating and raising.  We were only nine miles from town and life had changed dramatically.  Those nine miles were like a huge chasm separating the villagers from the people in town and from the services provided by the town.

I learned much from my week in the village.