The following is the reflections of a TLI team member for their trip to Uganda in January.
On our first day in Uganda we were able to tour the campus of African Renewal Christian College (ARCC), formerly named Gaba Bible Institute. Our tour guide was Jeff Atherstone (director of ARCC) and I must admit that when Jeff told us we were going on a tour I thought, "I've seen all the buildings already, but another tour will be helpful anyway...probably." And then the tour began. Jeff started by telling us about the land that ARCC is located on - it was originally owned by the family of the former prime minister of Uganda - Professor Apolo R. Nsibambi. According to Jeff, Professor Nsibambi's father (Simeoni Nsibambi) was the chief
medical office of Uganda and in 1929 the Lord told him to take off his shoes because Uganda was holy ground.
He was one of the key figures in the East African Revival which spread through Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Brundi, and Tanzania in the 1930s. In Uganda land is very important and it is an interesting (awe inspiring) fact that the land ARCC now owns was the ancestral land of the "father of the East African Revival" (quoted from the Dictionary of African Christian Biography).
Jeff then told us about their plan to construct an administration building across from the current parking lot and how all their construction plans are designed to start with 1-story buildings that can then be renovated to have two or even three-stories. He explained that the vision of ARCC is to train Christian leaders - not just pastors, but also social workers, teachers, counselors, etc. to work with the many NGOs in Uganda that provide sponsorship programs for disadvantaged children.
He showed us the location where they hope to build a 1000 seat chapel and explained their vision to be a church-planting center. ARCC is currently giving scholarships to many local pastors to provide them training and develop connections so that future students can work in their churches as they study here. At this point, I was pretty impressed with the vision. But there was more.
Jeff showed us where an old foundation had been on the property when they moved in and explained that ARCC strives to be stewards of what God has given them. All of the students and staff work on campus from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm on Fridays during the school session. During these work sessions, they dug out the bricks and rebar and have re-used them all over campus. Each brick is worth $1 US and so far they have dug out 3,000 bricks. He explained that he wanted the students to see in practice what it means to use the available resources creatively and in a way that demonstrates good care of what God has given. As a former teacher, I was impressed with the hands-on learning they were providing and their ingenuity. But there was more.
The next part of the property that we visited was the farm. Jeff explained that ARCC had purchased 500 matoke trees for about 40 cents each. Matoke is a staple in the Ugandan diet and is an incredible plant - each tree produces only one crop of fruit and then dies. However, during its growing season, it replants 3-5 new matoke trees around its base. So the ARCC farm staff takes these new matoke trees and plants them in open areas on the farm. When the trees were small, they planted beans around the trunks of the trees (another Ugandan staple which we've eaten 2 out of every 3 meals since we've been here). The farm staff and student workers harvested over 1 ton of beans and are using them to feed the staff and students of ARCC. In addition, there are large crops of tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, and eggplant. ARCC employs 6 full-time farm staff from the community. They pay them slightly more than other farming operations in the area, but are sensitive to the local economy (so they can't pay them too much more) and so they look for ways to give them other benefits (free housing and food, for example). The farm uses as many natural resources on the property as possible - the cucumber stands were made of branches picked up around the farm, etc. I was impressed with the way that ARCC looks for ways to supplement its income by growing the food they would have to buy anyway. But there was more.
After this we visited another part of the farm where they are growing coffee beans and plan to produce coffee for sale (also to supplement the school income). We saw the goats and rabbits being raised on campus and the plot of land (about the same size as an average Ugandan family might have) where they are raising crops to show Ugandans what they can do with their resources. The rabbits are used as a food source and there are plans to use the rabbit manure to make bricks to use as fuel for the stoves instead of wood (deforestation is a big problem in Uganda). Jeff told us about many other things, but I think at this point you can see what I did - the tour was much more than looking at buildings. It was a wonderful opportunity to see how God has uniquely gifted Jeff and his wife, Christine (who is specializes in agriculture and is a veterinarian), and to learn about how African Renewal Christian College is bringing glory to Him here in Uganda.
- Rebecca Berry
