It will be difficult to put into words how much Bridgeway has done and invested in the ministry and education to the Ugandan children. Whether it be through sponsoring a child or through direct donation to Yaaka Afrika and Pastor’s Steve’s ministry there through the school’s, each and every dollar has made a difference. Between sponsorships and donations and teams raising money, Bridgeway has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars. I just wanted to give you a quick overview of what I saw when I was there that our money has been used by God and Pastor Steve to do.
Before 2008 there was dirt and a dream. Now, there is more than I ever imagined. In another article I will speak about the man with the vision, Pastor and Director Steven Trint, but for now I will focus on the magnitude of the ministry we have helped build. The majority of the ministry is run through the schooling compounds that have been built. Yet within each portion there is life-changing ministry in the details.
T.I.C.C – Toggo International Children’s Center
TICC is the primary and secondary age level of education (K-8) and it’s the biggest in size and scope. Picture with me a white campus with a massive courtyard in the middle of it. The white buildings line the large square. It’s on the side of a sloping hill with a small mountain rising up behind it (Python Peak). You enter through the blue gates at the left bottom of the hill, at the road, and you can take one of the many pathways to the different buildings through the quad (courtyard). In the center is the flattened play area (soccer with a rag ball seems to be the favorite). On your left is a row of buildings that are the general store, the nursery day-care for the teachers, some dorms at the end. Up across the top of the square, highest on the hill, are a series of classrooms, each with built in chalkboards and lined with wooden desks. Posted around the walls are the age-appropriate posters and lessons (i.e. parts of the body; planets; mathematics, etc.) written in English. The right side of the square is the offices and administration, as well as a newly constructed girls’ dorm, teachers quarters and at the corner is the outdoor kitchen and eating area. The bottom of the square frame of buildings is the nurse’s office (medical) and another long series of classrooms.
Pre-school – 3’s, 4’s & 5’s
Affectionately known as the ‘baby class’, the pre-school is across the dirt road from TICC. It is equipped with teachers and teacher’s quarters as well. I am unsure of how many little ones it serves but it seems like quite a bit.
Boys’ Dorms
Next to the Baby Class and across the street from TICC is a boy’s dorm that houses about 100 boys.
Upper Pitch
A large clearing that serves as multiple soccer fields/pitches and multipurpose area. In prior years the kids had to walk almost to the next village to get to their field.
Toggo High School
The property is purchased. There is one set of classrooms. The second building walls are being erected with the funds simply raised from this recent mission trip. There is a car in the field that is used to train mechanics. It’s all coming along nicely.
Lower Pitch
Next to the High School is another huge field that has been cleared and where they played volleyball and soccer. It also doubles as a place for the cows and sheep to graze on the edges.
Water Pump
Between the High School and the lower pitch is a water pump that was installed many years ago by Bridgeway. It is the primary place that the neighbors and the school kids get their clean water. We took a walk to an adjacent village, where they used to get water and saw the swamp hole (under a canopy of trees with bugs flying around) where everyone else gets their water and where our TICC students used to get their water. Thank the Lord for the pump. Little kids fill up what looks like plastic gasoline cans (Jerry Cans) and carry them either on their head or by hand (and they are heavy) back to the school or their homes.
Pastor Steve’s Compound
At first glance it seems a bit odd to have a pretty, modestly nice 2-story home with a small balcony next to all these one-room and two-room mud-brick huts and concrete homes on the same dirt road. But once you see what it’s all about, it all makes sense. Pastor Steve’s family is so large and complicated you are consistently asking, ‘who lives here? Who are Pastor Steve’s kids?’ Everything that he has is shared. There’s a ton of people who live in this house but when the mission trip is in town they all find somewhere else to stay for the time. The 30 of us filled it up. It has a great room that has couches lining the walls where we all ate dinner and debriefed. It has multiple rooms that were outfitted with bunk beds with thin mattresses (except I was spoiled with single beds in mine). There is a semi-indoor kitchen where they do the dishes (every day and every meal was real dishes that had to be washed), but cooking for that many people needed more space and so they used an outdoor kitchen that they set up cooking pots in (and it felt like they were cooking around the clock). Next to the house is a dorm area for the girls and a dorm area for some of the teachers. In the back of the house is more dorm areas for women. All of it is fenced off for safety. There is running water from a well and rainwater storage, so you can take some sponge baths/showers. There’s a regular western toilet in the bathrooms with a sink and a mirror. There’s a dining room where the food was laid out every meal.
G.I.C.C. - Gomba International Children’s Center
Gomba International Children’s Center is another school set up in another village by Pastor Steve and his team. They have approximately 250 kids there. We didn’t have time to get over there and take a look at it. The vision is that because most kids walk to school there is only a certain, realistic, sphere of influence (walking distance) that any school can have. Therefore to continue to reach the children of Uganda there will need to be schools closer to them. Gomba was a necessary step toward that due to the demand and need. It’s still in it’s infancy, but growing in maturation.
All of this has been provided and built since 2008. How do I know? Because as we walked down the road to the school, Ben showed me the first house that Pastor Steve and his wife “Mama Rosette” lived in (they moved from Kampala). It was a one room, brick and sticks hut with no windows (2003-2005). The kids then showed me the 2 bedroom concrete building they moved into next when the kids came to stay with them. It was not until much later that they had the home they are in now. I may be wrong but it appears that most all of this has been built by the generous donations of Bridgeway, and I couldn’t be happier about it. All of it is money well spent.
As I delivered my speech at the Grand Opening in front of the Speaker of Parliament, I took time to honor Pastor Steve by telling everyone that our church has put hundreds of thousands of dollars into this endeavor and that Pastor Steve has been a trustworthy man who used it better than we ever imagined. When the Speaker of Parliament shared after me, she acknowledged that Steven Trint was one of the good guys and thanked him publicly for using all the money for what it was intended for. It was obvious to everyone.
I didn’t even go into the powerful impact our church has made on the lives of the children emotionally, physically and spiritually. Because of us, approximately 1600 children are provided for in some way. Some are given a place to live year round. Some are housed for a portion of the year. Some are given a school. All are given education and training for their future. All are given the gospel and equipping in Jesus Christ. All are offered basic foods (they get porridge 2x’s per day – which is a white substance that is made of beans and rice, I believe). All are provided a uniform that corresponds to their grade and gender. All are cared for and trained up. All are shown a new way of life and protected while they are there.
To my Bridgeway family, I say thank you. Together we have made a difference. It’s not about my personal contributions or sponsorships, it’s about how we as a church have collectively changed the lives of thousands of children and families. But I believe the impact is even far greater than that. It’s obvious that we are changing the villages of Toggo and Gomba (where the schools are), but I think that we are changing Uganda. The future is in the children. We are funding national change for the better. We are bringing Jesus to life in a 98% allegedly Christian nation. We are making a different tomorrow. Thank you for all you have given and continue to give. Your money is making a difference.
If you want to take it one step further, consider going on a mission trip and meeting your sponsored child. Many organizations give you a name and description but you can never go meet them. Yaaka Afrika is different. You can go over there, like we did, and see your sponsor child face to face. They beam with pride at meeting you and tell all their friends who you are. They have hugs waiting even if they are a bit shy. So, please consider joining on of our upcoming teams and go see it all for yourself. You will be changed if you do.
Disclaimer:
To be fair, there have been two other organizations (and individual donors outside of Bridgeway) that have invested some monies, time and attention into TICC over the years: Summit Church sent a team and Mission Africa gives it’s yearly overage to the school to the tune of about $6,000 a year. We are thankful for their partnership and praise the Lord for their valuable contributions. The more partners we have the greater the impact. So, thank you!!!
