Immediate need: Guardhouse

IMMEDIATE NEED: Guardhouse & Security Wall

If you have been following this “Send It Ahead” project you know that the water well is in and is producing water for the school and  surrounding community. As part of the well project we have to have security at the well pump site, that’s just how it is in Africa, which is not much different than here. In order to continue with the security we have to build a guard house and a security fence around the well pump. 

We do not have the funds to complete this phase of the project, but our brother, Pastor Lewi, has started the building in faith. The local people have made the mud bricks and Pastor Lewi has hired a mason to start the building.  He has also had loads of stone delivered to build the security wall. 

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I have been working with Pastor Lewi on the budget for this project  and he is about $650 into it and praying for funds to come. I am estimating the total funds needed for this phase will be about $1000. He has told the workers and the venders that he will try to pay them on June 1st. That’s 2 days from now. 

If God has ever spoken to you concerning your involvement with the orphans in this refugee camp and specifically with the “SIA” project we need your help now.

Remember that you cannot take it with you, but you can “SEND IT AHEAD”.

If you can help we have a number of ways for you to donate to these children’s needs. Go to www.pouredoutforthenations.com  click on SUPPORT at the top of the page, there you will find an area to donate by PAYPAL or a button for online EGIVING,  please it is very important to make sure you designate your tax deductible donation to “Send It Ahead” or simply “SIA” program. You can further designate your funds by adding; Water, Food, Teachers or Building Project. There is an area for you to type in your designated gift on both sites, look for the “comments section” or “special notes”. For those that rather give by personal check: make check payable to, “Poured Out For The Nations” with “Send It Ahead” and designation in the note area. Mail to: Poured Out For The Nations, Send It Ahead Project, P.O. Box 564, Pearland, TX 77588.

note: funds for the guard house and fence can be designated “WATER” or “General Fund”.

May God richly bless you for your generous giving to help these vulnerable children in Uganda.

Send It Ahead- update to date

Project overview to date. Uganda Refugee Camp Orphans Program. SEND IT AHEAD!

Short term goals, those items and concerns that can be developed over the next 12 months. All concerns are of course funding dependent and we are prayerfully waiting on God’s timing as we continue to work as funding allows.

Adding a solar pump to water well.

Add piping and storage tank to have water readily available at the school.

Providing children with a morning meal.

Providing mosquito nets to children.

Full funding of teachers salaries, $100 per month for each of the 10 teachers.

Building a guard house for the water well and pump station.

Providing a monthly salary to resident guard, $50 per month.

Construct an adequate female toilet facility for visiting short term workers.

Provide full salary for Pastor Lewi, $500 per month.

Accomplishments over the past 12 months.

Have had a well drilled with hand pump installed.

Are funding 10 teachers at 1/2 salaries.

Have provided text books for the teachers in all subjects.

Purchased dictionaries, chalk, Bibles and world maps for student classrooms.

Had 45 new classroom student benches made.

Have rebuilt 5 classroom blackboards.

Provided miscellaneous sports equipment.

Purchased small generator for school and church use.

We have certainly been blest to see God move as he has provided over the past 12 months. God’s people have responded to the critical needs of these orphans and vulnerable children in pray and sacrificial giving. Our team stand in awe as we have observed what you all have helped to accomplish. We give all glory and praise to the Lord, but we also give you all a truly heartfelt thank you.

Remember that you cannot take it with you, but you can “SEND IT AHEAD”.

If you can help we have a number of ways for you to donate to these children’s needs. Go to www.pouredoutforthenations.com  click on SUPPORT at the top of the page, there you will find an area to donate by PAYPAL or a button for online EGIVING,  please it is very important to make sure you designate your tax deductible donation to “Send It Ahead” or simply “SIA” program. You can further designate your funds by adding; Water, Food or Teachers. You can also give to the SIA general fund or individual team members travel accounts. There is an area for you to type in your designated gift on both sites, look for the “comments section” or “special notes”. For those that rather give by personal check: make check payable to, “Poured Out For The Nations” with “Send It Ahead” or simply “SIA” and any special designations in the note area. Mail to: Poured Out For The Nations, Send It Ahead Project, P.O. Box 564, Pearland, TX 77588.

May God richly bless you for your generous giving to help these vulnerable children in Uganda.

Back in Uganda

March 24 

Praise God we are back in Uganda at the Emmaus Global Outreach primary school on the Nakivale Refugee Settlement. I cannot begin to tell you how precious these dear children are. Nor the dedication, far above the call of duty, of our partner and dear friend Pastor Muhoza Lewi (Lay-we), he is such a special man of God that we compare him as a modern day George Muller. I will tell you more about him later in another posting.

We had such a very special and productive team meeting this morning. There were a number items we needed to discuss in a face to face team meeting and those are hard to schedule when your team is spread all over the world. For those who do not know our team consists of Pastor Dov Schwarz from Israel, Dee Warren from Texas, Pastor Muhoza Lewi from Uganda, and myself from Washington state. Our project is called “SEND IT AHEAD” because we all know when we die we cannot take anything with us, but our Lord has said you can lay up your treasures in heaven, so you can send them ahead.

One of the primary issues that was resolved was that there had been some confusion about the number of children being supported and educated at the Emmaus Global Outreach primary school on the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in southwest Uganda. When our team came together in Uganda about a year ago agreeing to do what we could for these orphans and vulnerable children on this refugee camp, there were 367 children enrolled at the school. About 6 months later when I returned to Uganda to oversee the drilling of a water well, there were 586 children enrolled. That was a very large increase when you’re operating on a very tight budget depending on God’s grace from month to month. 

During our meeting it was learned that we were still only supporting the original 367, the other 219 children were children that recently arrived in the refugee camp and other schools were not available. The UN had asked Pastor Lewi if he could take them at Emmaus for short term, until they could find a more permanent solution. So for you who have been thankfully helping to financially support this program the number of children in the program remains at 367.

You may all not know that we had quite a scare with our new drilled water well about a month ago. I received word from Pastor Lewi that the children had no water coming from the well. When asked the reason he did not know because he was sick and in the hospital. We knew the well was a low volume producer and I was afraid that it was dry (my lack of faith). My wife, God bless her, assured me that God would not have brought this project this far just to abandon those precious children. So, repenting of my lack of faith, I was able to contact Living Water International, who drilled the well, and they sent a technician for an inspection . It turned out to be a mechanical problem and they had to change out the pump and plunger. So, praise God the well is back online and supplying the needs of the school.

Remember that you cannot take it with you, but you can “SEND IT AHEAD”.

If you can help we have a ways for you to donate to these children’s needs. Go to www.pouredoutforthenations.com  click on SUPPORT at the top of the page, there you will find an area to donate by PAYPAL or a button for online EGIVING,  please it is very important to make sure you designate your tax deductible donation to “Send It Ahead” or simply “SIA” program. You can further designate your funds by adding; Water, Food or Teachers. There is an area for you to type in your designated gift on both sites, look for the “comments section” or “special notes”. For those that rather give by personal check: make check payable to, “Poured Out For The Nations” with “Send It Ahead” in the note area. Mail to: Poured Out For The Nations, Send It Ahead Project, P.O. Box 564, Pearland, TX 77588.

May God richly bless you for your generous giving to help these vulnerable children in Uganda.

Next trip - March 2018

Matthew 10:42

 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

I will be going back to Uganda in March to check the progress of our projects. I have had a few people ask me how they could help toward my travel expenses. Anyone can simply make a donation to the Send It Ahead program and add "Ken Merrill travel", in the memo. Thanks to all who have supported this project.

During this next trip our team, Pastor Dov, Dee Warren and myself, will be going together, the dates for this trip will be March 22 through April 2. My focus will be on planning the security wall and guards house around the water well pump. This portion of the project is dependent on the local users of the water well to supply the labor for the making of the blocks and the construction of the wall and attached house. 

Right now we are paying salaries for 3 guards to watch over the well around the clock. By constructing the wall and house we can cut that expense down to one guard who will live on site. There will be some construction materials cost. The largest costs will be for the metal roofing and some cement for the plaster to cover the walls. The material for the walls will be mud blocks which will be made on site. 

This phase is where the local users will make an active investment and will have actual ownership in the project. We feel this is a very important part as we want to be in partnership with the people not simply be seen as giving a handout to them. 

Pastor Dov will be preaching and conducting a pastors conference. Dee will be working with the children and the women. As always our number one goal is to lead people to a saving knowledge of God’s grace, and as Jesus commanded to “go and make disciples”. All our “projects” in Uganda will do nothing more than hopefully improve their physical lives for a moment in time. But their salvation and discipleship will have eternal consequences.

Something else we will be doing this trip, that you all can be praying about is that our whole team will be sitting down together to prayerfully go over our program, projects and goals. We feel that it is extremely important to, not only know where we are going, but to ensure we are going where God is leading and that all we do is in His will.

Remember that you cannot take it with you, but you can “SEND IT AHEAD”.

If you can help we have a way for you to donate to these children’s needs. Go to www.watchtherefore.tv click on the donate button at the top of the page and please make sure you designate your tax deductible donation to the “Send It Ahead - Ken Merrill, travel” program. You can further designate your funds by adding; Water, Teachers, or Food. While you’re at the web site please click on the Send It Ahead button at the top of the page to look for more updates and photos from the school.

Recap of December trip

Praise The Lord, for good clean water.         We are blessed by

Jesus to be able to report that the water well is now in operation and producing good clean water. The water testing report has been received and all tests are well within the government standards for human drinking water. This water will meet the needs of the primary school, the future clinic, as well as the members of the adjacent community. It was indeed amazing to watch as the people celebrated and praised God for having this gift of water available to them.

As wonderful as this water is the project is far from finished. The water well is now operated be means of a hand pump and is located over 200 meters downhill from the school.  A solar pump needs to be added to the well and two 10,000-liter storage tanks placed on top of a water tower near the school still need to be constructed. This will ensure an adequate water reservoir and enough water pressure to supply the needs of kitchen, school and clinic.  We thank God for everyone who gave and prayed for this project and we humbly ask for your continued prayers as this project goes into the next phase.

This Google Earth photo shows the location of the water well at the lower edge of the field where crops will be raised, with a red line leading up to the school buildings where the water tanks will be located. The red line continues at 90- degrees to the area where the clinic buildings are located. There is also a red line from the lake to the top of the field area indicating where a pump could be located to pump irrigation water from the lake in order to have year round crops.

 Our main goal for this trip was to bring clean water to these children but we were also blessed to be able to take enough toothbrushes and tooth paste for all the children and teachers at the Emmaus Global Outreach primary school.  Good hygiene

is an integral part of over all good health. And they were thrilled to each have a toothbrush.

The school was also in dire need of lesson books and classroom supplies. And again we are thankful to God for the people who donated to the purchase of textbooks, a dictionary, Bibles, wall

maps, and classroom benches. An education is really the only hope these children have of getting out of the poverty they are now living in. Of course teachers are the key to a good education and the teachers at the primary school are working at half salaries. The school has already lost a couple of very good teachers because of this. If you can help with a sustaining gift designated for teacher’s salaries please go to the web site to designate your tax-deductible donation. And please pray for these children and their teachers.

Another thing that was accomplished during this trip was the showing of the Jesus film to over 1000 people. It was a challenge to find and take the necessary equipment to show the film in several different languages in an area that has no electricity. Again we praise our Lord and Savior for leading

us to the right people who could help us in gathering that equipment.

I have given information on how you can help below, but you can also further designate your gift to specifically helping the water project, teachers, or food. On your check or in the comments for Palpal or Egiving, write in Send It Ahead Project – Water, Teachers, or Food. That way your funds will go totally in support of that part of the project.

Remember that you cannot take it with you, but you can “SEND IT AHEAD”.

If you can help we have a way for you to donate to these children’s needs. Go to www.watchtherefore.tv click on the donate button at the top of the page and please make sure you designate your tax deductible donation to the “Send It Ahead” program. While you’re at the web site please click on the Send It Ahead button at the top of the page to look for more updates and photos from the school.

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Tragic news

Sad news from Pastor Lewi. One of the orphan children at the Emmaus Global Outreach primary school has drowned while swimming in the lake with some of the other children. The child was 13 years old and his name was Gisamaza. At last report his body had not yet been recovered. 

Please be praying for the children and staff at the school as they deal with this tragedy.

Gisamaza's body has been recovered and the funeral has been completed.

Africanisms and learned nuggets

Africanisms and learned nuggets 

Beware of stairs. It really doesn’t matter whether your at someone’s house or a hotel, restaurant or

steps to church stage

Hotel stairs

just walking the streets. A set of steps or stairs can be an obstacle. Normally you’ll find the center section of a set of stairs fairly regular, that is with the steps and riser in the same proportion. But at either end can be a difficulty if you’re not paying close attention. The step may be 2” high or 10”. And I can almost guaranty, first few time you navigate a set of these that you’ll either trip going up or nearly fall forward very hard when coming down. It will be the same all over East Africa, with the exception of the very best hotels. You’ll also find stairs with longer or wider treads, which will throw off our normal rhythm, beware of stairs.

Our driver has been having trouble with the bank for a period of time. They have messed up his paperwork then when going back to get it resolved they were out of the forms he needed. I know how frustrating it can be when dealing with government agencies. But when I asked him if he had gotten the issue taken care of, he said, “no, the thing is disturbing me even up to now”.

For some reason the lights in hotel rooms are very dim. There may be only one or two lights in the room and those will be of a very low wattage. The bathroom is especially bad. If you want to see when you shave then carry a decent flashlight with you. And there will be no electric outlets in the bathroom so if you use a plug in electric razor you may be out of luck. Even in the hotel room there may be only one outlet, so you must prioritize which device you want to charge in what order.

The traffic can drive you crazy and/or scare you to death. I do not know why there aren’t bodies lying everywhere. Lane marking are only suggestions, as are any traffic control devices. 

Drivers will come up behind a vehicle they want to overtake and you can see that it is clear to go around, but instead of keeping up their speed and pass the vehicle, they will slow down behind and then pull out and try to regain the momentum they have lost. Most vehicles are underpowered for the loads they are carrying so trying to build up that momentum again is difficult and takes a lot

Bad Asphalt 

more road length. It can be frustrating for you sitting there in the vehicle and not being in control. It seems they will follow a vehicle all the way across a nice straight and flat piece of road just to wait for the next blind corner to pull out and pass on.

Always have bottled water with you. If you are low buy more before running out. Use the bottled water for brushing your teeth. You just never know how or if the water coming out of the tap has been treated, never trust it to drink. Bottled water is cheap and can be the cheapest insurance against a nasty stomach problem. Don’t be like most of us that have had to learn this lesson the hard way. Another important reason to always having water with you is to stay hydrated, the sun is intense near the equator and it is a dry climate. Your body will require a larger amount of liquids than normal. You will need to drink, drink, drink, do not wait until you are thirsty. You should be taking in 2 or 3 liters minimum every day.

Bring high SPF sunscreen with you and use it. Again the sun is very intense here. A wide brimmed hat is also a good idea. I use a high SPF lip balm, if I don’t my lips will blister and become very painful. Bring a small medicine kit; Advil or Tylenol, antibiotics, anti nausea meds. Don’t forget any of your normal medications that you take. It is also a good idea to bring a copy of your medications and eye glasses prescription. A good pair of sunglasses is a must have item. 

If you do have a medical issue your normal insurance procedures will not work here. You will have to pay with cash and then try getting reimbursed from your insurance provider when you return to the States. Of course it would be a good idea to inform your insurance agent that you are having problem and get their suggestions. Another good idea is to purchase travel insurance prior to leaving the USA on your trip. Many places offer travel insurance, if you belong to AAA they can arrange it for you. Travel insurance will not only cover the cost of your tickets if you have to cancel your trip but also will cover Air Ambulance in case you should need to be medivac’d to a hospital or back to the USA.

It is a long plane ride from the states to Africa no matter which airlines you use. Some are better than others and over the years we have used most of them. Like airlines so also there are huge differences in airports. Some of the airports in Europe are like maneuvering through a very large shopping mall. They can be places you look forward to flying into to spend a lay over. Others, especially in some of the African countries are not so nice and in my opinion I will avoid them if at all possible costs. It may make a difference to you which airline you would prefer to fly on based on what frequent flyer program you belong to. You have to look for their partner airlines. 

I have a theory on jet lag, besides just saying it sucks. I try to maintain my sleep pattern according to my destination. I will try to stay awake during daylight hours and sleep over night. That sounds simple but airline schedules do do fly on our sleep schedules, so I use an enhancement. If I’m getting on an overnight flight, I wait until we have wheels up, then take a sleeping pill. This does not work for everyone, but it seems to work for me. 

As example the flight from the US to Europe is over night so I will take a pill when we take off and

sleep most of the way there. Then the next flight from Europe to Africa is during the day, so I will try to stay awake. Then when I get to my destination I will take another pill that night and maybe the next night. I have found that I have very little negative effects from jet lag using this method. A word of caution, do not take the pill before your plane actually takes off. There are just to many times when flights are cancelled or delayed, and you do not want to be walking around in a fog trying to figure out what you’re to do next.

Children are very interested in Muzungu’s, white folks. The further away from a city you get the

more interested they become. There are very few whites on the Nakivale Refugee Settlement Camp. So some of the babies will actually be terrified of you and your white skin. But most of them will be yelling at you as we ride by, just announcing your presence, some will ask for money, but all are very precious. When you get out of a vehicle many will want to touch your skin or hair and hold your hand as you walk along. 

As I have said about the children wanting to hold your hand, when you greet elder members of a church or village group, many men will shake your hand but not let go. It takes awhile to start to feel comfortable standing talking with a man and he is holding your hand. It is part of their culture, so be careful not to offend them buy feeling uncomfortable and pulling away to quickly. It is not odd to see two men walking down the street talking and holding hands.

That is but one of many observations you will make that is foreign to you and our culture. Always give people the benefit of the doubt, many people you meet will seem gruff or a little hostile, that feeling almost always is the wrong impression and as soon as you speak to greet them their whole countenance changes. They are warm and welcoming if you are. Do not expect an American experience, expect the unexpected and enjoy the African experience and participate in their culture.

Be ready to have many of your senses invaded with different sounds, sights, and smells. One of the

Bags of charcoal forsale

first things you may experience on your arrival is your eyes burning and watering. The vehicle

Road dust

exhaust in traffic can be especially challenging and combined with all the wood smoke and charcoal fires it can be a real assault on your eyes. Carry a supply of eye drops or eye wash and wash your face when ever you get to your hotel. Also pack a few bottles of hand sanitizer and use it frequently.

This project is far from being completed. This is only the first phase and we are thanking God for the provision of this water. But we need to continue the project in order to get the water up the hill to the school and clinic. That will require a solar pump, piping and a water storage tower. Please continue to pray for this project and consider what your part may be in helping to bring this project to completion.

I have given information on how you can help below, but you can also further designate your gift to specifically helping the water project. On your check or in the comments for Palpal or Egiving, write in “Send It Ahead Project - Water” or Teachers or Food. That way your funds will go totally in

support of the project of your choice.

Remember that you cannot take it with you, but you can “SEND IT AHEAD”.

If you can help we have a way for you to donate to these children’s needs. Go to www.watchtherefore.tv click on the donate button at the top of the page and please make sure you designate your tax deductible donation to the “Send It Ahead” program. While you’re at the web site please click on the Send It Ahead button at the top of the page to look for more updates and photos from the school.

I am hoping to update these posts with photos when I get home. So come back often and check for any updates. Thank you for praying for and financially supporting these children. Good health and a good education can be the step out of poverty for these children.