O, Ye, of Little faith!

The GO Project Vision Team that visited Uganda in July wanted to do a community art project when they visited the Lira Father’s House. But, what should they paint?

They sat with the Mamas and listened as they talked about the things that symbolize the Father’s House to them. Stories came out of growing pineapples and maize (corn), picking mangoes and grazing goats, digging in the gardens and washing clothes. All these things, they said, represented a typical, normal home and they all take place at the Father’s House. So, to them, the Father’s House was just like a typical, normal home.

The community art team, led by Maddie Mitchell (K-State student and daughter to Mike Mitchell from the GO Exchange), pulled together all the ideas and sketched the ideas on a piece of paper. But, they weren’t sure about drawing some of the animals and people.

“O, ye, of little faith!” Kennedy, a thirteen year old boy at the Father’s House, stepped forward, took a pencil and sketched the whole thing on the wall of one of the homes and then proceeded to fill in the sketches with paint. He is amazingly gifted in art and provided just what the team needed.

Mike Mitchell and his son, Mikey, were leading the solar food dehydrator construction team. The solar food dehydrator is designed to dehydrate food using air that is heated passively through a solar collector. It will enable fruit and vegetables to be preserved without electricity and eaten throughout the year, thus giving the children higher nutrition year-round. But, would they be able to start and finish it in the two and a half days available?

“O, ye, of little faith!” The older boys demonstrated great interest in the building project, along with members of the Management Committee and the principal from the neighboring vocational training school run by the church. Many hands made light work!

All the children and Mamas added their hand prints to the community art project wall. Even the bus driver helped with sawing wood, fixing screws, and painting the used car engine oil on the wood as a weather preserver. “O, ye, of little faith.”