Uganda National Prayer Service

On November 25, 2011 the Rt. Rev. Wilberforce sat amongst the Diocesan Council of Namirembe Diocese and Uganda's prominent political leaders, and came to the consensus that nation of Uganda is due for repentance before God for wrong doings and atrocities committed by Ugandan Leaders. Thus, they concluded that January 15^th, 2012 a National Prayer Service will be held in St. Paul's Cathedral Namirembe.

Ugandans from all over the country gathered as a nation in St. Paul's Cathedral in our Father's presence to pray for this country, to seek his grace, and to ask for forgiveness for sins they committed against their people.

Uganda is comprised of many ethic groups that have come together in forming their nation, and has experienced many violent wars such as the Inter-Clan and Inter-Tribal, dating back before 1894. The religious wars had run rapid across Uganda from 1894- 1964, and since Independence in 1962 Uganda has faced military coups and liberation wars up to this present day.

Many Ugandans over the years have been subjected to atrocities and there have been violations of human rights: The corrupt justice system has sent Ugandans to prison without trial; a number of people have faced death for political motives; some have been displaced from their homes while others have been forcefully evicted from them; some have been forced to leave Uganda to become refugees in other countries, and others are put into concentration camps.

The unequal distribution of the country's resources among the different regions and ethnic groups has led to social violence. Respect for the law as depleted causing some societies to form vigilante groups to protect their own.

All these countless acts has lead to endless tears in Uganda and has seriously ruined the economy of Uganda. Thus, this special has been create where, church leaders, government leaders, Ugandan citizens to come together to ask for a second chance, and to start anew.

On this day, Bishop Samuel Peni and I decided to witness this historic and repenting occasion. There were over 3,000 Ugandans in attendance, ready to come before the Lord seeking forgiveness.

The First reading- 2Chronicles 7:12- 15,

The Second reading- Epistles- Romans 12:6-16,

The Gospel reading- John 2:1-11

National Repentance

Leader: “There is an urgent need to repent as a nation for the wrongs and atrocities we have committed and for the things we have failed to so and for the things we have not done properly.

The kinds of sins we have committed include:

Bloodshed                     Madness

Bribery                          Insincerity

Lying                            Intrigue

Corruption                    Extenuation

Murder                          Incrimination

Maneuverings               Intimidation 

Mischievous                  Hypocrisy 

Sabotage                        Hostility

Injustice                         Selfishness

Nepotism                       Greed

Embezzlement               Importunate

Complacency                Inconsideration

Complaisance                Immorality

Ungodliness

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, If we confess our sins God is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

God So loved the world that he have His only son Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, to be our advocate in heaven, and to bring us to eternal life.

Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith, firmly resolved to keep God's commandments and to live in love and peace with all men. God Bless, and God watch over Uganda."

Ugandan National Anthem:

Oh Uganda!

May God uphold thee,

We lay our future in thy hand,

United, free, For liberty 

Together we'll always stand.

Oh Uganda!

The land of freedom.

Our love and labour we give,

And with neighbors all,

At our country's call

In peace and friendship we'll live.

Oh Uganda!

The land that feed us,

By sun and fertile soil grown.

For our own dear land,

We'll always stand:

The Pear of Africa's Crown.

Computer Education in Nzara

 Alison Tepe's Basic Computer Training Course

On November 24^th 2011, 17 computer students celebrated their graduation from Alison Tepe's Basic Computer Training Course. The program consist of 2 months of arduous computer training that gives the student a basic understanding of how to perform actions using a computer.

The training includes:

•     Introduction to computers

•      Microsoft Word processing

•     Microsoft Excel

•      Microsoft Power Point

The program course also included internet, unfortunately internet had not reached Nzara at that time.

The graduation ceremony took place outside the Cathedral Compound with 27 people in attendance, 17 of which, were graduates.

The graduation began with a prayer lead by Bishop Samuel Peni, and then proceeded into an open forum. This gave the graduates a chance to address two of Nzara's towns elders, Bishop Samuel Peni & the Commissioner of Nzara County, with insights from the computer training program.

The first speaker began by stating, “Learning is the key to success, without which nothing can materialize.” Then proceeded to thank Bishop Samuel Peni for sending Alison Tepe to Kampala to undergo a 6 month computer training course and bringing him back to Nzara to lead his own computer training course to help introduce and educate the people of Nzara about the use of computers.

He went on discussing the previous situation, of how those who wanted to learn basic computer skills would have to travel to Yambio daily to attend class, and how he and many others could not afford to abandon their daily duties to attend those computer classes.

 

He concluded by saying, “This computer training program has taught me a lot, I, and the others are the pioneers of this course, and our hope is that it continues and only gets better.”

When Alison got up to speak he addressed the challenges he came across while leading this course.

“When this program started there were 17 students and only 2 computers at the time, it was my hope that the number of students would increase as well as the number of computer. One of my wishes came true when the class received 2 more computers to be used for their training.

 However, being a single teacher teaching 17 students basic computer skills with only 4 computers has been very challenging as well as trying to teach some students who I don't share a common language with. My hope for the continuation of this program is that another teacher is provided or an assistant, to help the students receive the best training possible.”

Following Alison was Bishop Peni. “When I first came to this diocese I wrote a project for an outside source to provide computers for us, thankfully the ECS Church of Salisbury was nice enough to donate computers to us, on the condition that we had a qualified teacher leading the computer course. From there I sent Alsion to Kampala to undergo his training.

I would like to thank all of you for persevering through to the end of this program. As you know, you all are the first to go through this course and receive your computer training certificate in Nzara. Understand that beginnings always have challenges, and I am glad you have persevered through them, to the end, and to this moment.

Regarding the shortage of computers, we are hoping that Bob North brings with him 10 laptops for us to utilize for the benefit of this program.

Looking ahead, we are hoping to soon have internet in Nzara, and we encourage all of you to come back and receive training on how to use the internet.”

The Commissioner spoke briefly, thanking Bishop Peni for setting up this program, and congratulated the graduates on their success.

“The word of today is commitment. With commitment you go through many challenges, regardless of the difficulty level of the challenge, if you are committed you will see it through, just as you all have done.

As I look around I notice that my daughter is the only female who participated and has graduated from this computer training course. Whenever you go to a workshop or participate in a training program, I want to encourage you to bring your wives with you, and to start putting them first.

We Sudanese have started with a hard and rough background, but now we are in the right gear, keep up the good work, and congratulations on your success thus far.”