Uganda
The largest freshwater lake in Africa and the chief reservoir of the Nile River, 26,828-square-mile Lake Victoria spans the south eastern corner of Uganda and spills into Kenya and Tanzania.
Worldwide, it is exceeded in size only by the United States' own Lake Superior.
[location address="-0.7557754, 33.438353000000006" width="650" height="300" zoom="6"]
The area is one of the most densely populated areas in Africa. The land within 50 miles of its shores is home to several million Bantu-speaking people. The lake itself is populated by over 200 species of fish, including one of the economic mainstays for the region, Tilapia. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013)
Tucked into the twists and turns of its more than 2000 miles of shoreline, is the slice of land owned by ITMI's International School of Missions (ISM). Its existence is a result of the blood, sweat and tears of ITMI's Muhindo Kawede combined with the generosity of ITMI supporters.
ITMI partner and Director of ISM, Muhindo Kawede.
This land is a place where God has gone ahead many a time to put things in place that only He could. The electric wires in the photo below represent one such story.
Last month, ITMI Director, Steve Evers visited our ITMI partners and contacts in Uganda and South Sudan. Earlier this month, we shared one story Steve brought back that illustrates well Muhindo Kawede's commitment to spreading God's truth throughout Africa.
Steve's report also told the unusual story of the birth of Mission Bible Church which meets on the ISM land.
If you haven't read that story, go read it now! Then come back here get a taste of what things are like at the International School of Missions and for the people it touches through the lens of Steve's camera!
The International School of Missions
The entrance to ISM's land.
A panoramic view of the ISM land.
At the upper left is a new building under construction, in the middle is the library and women's dorm. The long, low building in the upper right is the piggery-turned-church building and at the lower right is where they grind the corn.
Corn for ISM students to grind and sell to pay for their studies at ISM.
ISM students' kitchen.
Inside the ISM students' kitchen.
This building was built for pigs, but repurposed for church meetings when the people coming to faith through the evangelism of the students needed a church where they could be discipled.
...and the pigs stayed in the chicken coop!
If you peered between cracks in the wood on a Sunday morning, you would see this church is already about to outgrow the piggery.
The people of Bible Mission Church that meet on ISM's property on Sunday morning. Can you find Steve Evers in the group?
ITMI's Muhindo Kawede ready to lead the church.
ISM students lead worship.
The church praying. That's Kawede in front.
Kawede and a translator make announcements as Steve listens in the front.
The Mission Bible Church Youth Group.
Steve preaching to Mission Bible Church.
This is the primitive dock on ISM's land.
The two forms of transportation required to get to ISM land.
Kawede takes a boat to reach the school each day!
Kawede ponders how he will manage all he has on his plate while waiting for a boat.
As you have seen, this slice of lakefront property is not just a place to learn academics, but a place where opportunities abound for the implications of those truths to be lived.
Where students learn how to disciple - and then have the opportunity to do it! Where leaders are being molded, where hard work is encouraged and demonstrated, where spreading God's Word faithfully is paramount.
Thanks for your support in building this one-of-a-kind place!
"Lake Victoria | Lake, Africa." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Oct. 2013. Web. 01 Mar. 2016. <http://www.britannica.com/place/Lake-Victoria>.
