On Saturday, May 23, we got going early and took the 3+ hour drive to Uganga and the village of Mawangala. There we got to visit with one of Compassion Internationals’ Child Development Program sites.
All along the dirt roads as we drove to the church and Child Development Center, children would wave and yell mazungu (which means Whiteman or wealthy/well educated westerner)! Once we arrived on site, we met the church staff (who are also the CDC staff). They showed us some of the files on the children so we can see the types of information they track on each child. This is when we started getting a few sneak peaks of the kids. They were so curious and fun to be around!
It was amazing seeing the team interact with the kids and the staff, seeing the things they are learning. The kids were overjoyed by the suckers we gave them (they don’t get a lot of sweets) and loved having their picture taken! Some great photos taken by several of us so I’ll post some and point you to blogs of others who posted pics.
We also visited one of the homes of a child who is part of the project. We met his family and saw what they ate and how they lived. Wow. That’s about all I can say on that right now. I will say that even though they had nothing, they were so grateful for us and Compassion that they offered us some of the little they had to eat. A mom, a grandma, and several children all in a little 6 foot diameter hut. A lot of great stories about this place, but can’t share them all now.
What I want you to know is that there is hope here. This project here in Mawangala began a year ago and has kids from about 4 years old up to 10 years old. Lives are being impacted by people who they most likely will never meet. These very lives could change their own villages… their country… the world.
More to follow. Until then check out these posts as well: scotthodge.org | Joshmckague.com
Ok so day 1 and day 2 of the trip went relatively fast with little or no connection to the wired world. We traveled from Chicago to Atlanta, from Atlanta to Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam to Uganda. This is the longest plane trip I have taken to date. Flights were relatively smooth though very cramped, hot and crowded. I know I was filled with quite a bit of excitement, anxiety and anticipation of the days to come. I’ve met the other 18 people people on our journey with us for the next 8 days.
Scott and I have been up to our regular antics laughing and messing around to pass the time. He’s a cool person to hang out with and we always manage to have a good time together. I think he is always trying to make me laugh which is pretty easy since I always seem to be laughing, so it’s a good combination. We can talk about spiritual things, off-the-wall stuff, serious things, personal things, you name it… I feel like we can talk about almost anything. Great having a friend and ministry partner like that.
Surprisingly I have slept deeper than I have in months (once I finally get to sleep that is). More to come in the days that follow.
Kristen – miss you and the kids. Love you all!
Kissed my wife and kids goodbye early this morning as they headed off to AZ for about 10 days. They will be with family and friends while I am away in Uganda. This also means that in less than two days I leave for Uganda. I don’t feel quite ready yet, but I’m really excited! Our itinerary looks pretty full as we are traveling with Compassion International and about 20 others.
Time for some rest! Miss my family already.
We’ve had a lot of people talk to us about lighting at The Orchard… everything from the fixtures we use to the board we use. You can have awesome lighting fixtures and moving lights, but if you are controlling things via DMX, your lighting console is where it’s at. So let me share with you a little about the board we use and why we chose it.
Let me start off by saying that I recognize the board we chose is not in the high end board list. In fact, it’s a relatively inexpensive board in terms of programming consoles. We are currently using a Smartfade ML by ETC. With a price tag just under $3k, it’s perfect for smaller lighting rigs yet versatile enough to handle everything we currently want to do during our weekend and special services. The Smartfade ML can accommodate 48 intensities (or on/off fixtures or groups) as well as up to 24 different moving lights. This console has 12 different memory pages of 24 scenes each and a cue stack that can hold 199 steps. The Smartfade ML has been able to allow us at The Orchard to do some amazing light scenes that really compliment or enhance the environment we are trying to create.
If all of this sounds too technical, it’s only to prove a point: the Smartfade ML console is a very capable board from a technology standpoint, but it’s key selling point for us and other venues is it’s ease of use. All of our current scene programmers, along with those who run the console during the services using the cue stack and sequences, are volunteers. Our volunteers and my Production Director, Brad Showalter, have all been self taught (or have taught each other). Using some online tutorials, the manual and pure experimentation with console features, our team has been able to successfully create and execute lighting for all of our weekend services, with almost every element within our services being made up of multiple lighting scenes and sequences.
Now, they are a pretty bright crew (excuse the pun), but the console also makes it easy to accomplish this every week. You can have amazing equipment and the best technology money can buy, but if your staff or volunteers can’t use it, then it’s pointless.
More about this and other lighting questions we’ve been asked at The Orchard in future posts. If you have additional questions regarding this console, you can check out ETC’s website. You are also free to contact me or our Production Director as well.
… of the new blog design, look and feel? If you’re reading this on facebook, check it out here.
I’ve learned way too much about blogging templates and modifications during this process! I still want to tweak and add a few things to this new site but now that it’s hosted outside of blogger or wordpress, I can make whatever modifications I want.
Let me hear your thoughts!
Mike
