Christ School - 20 Year Ebenezer

Celebrating 20 years of Christ-centered education, for God's glory and the good of Bundibugyo. That was our theme on Friday.  Our first class entered in 1999, and those first few years were a struggle of survival. The ADF attacked in the area and burned students at another school (Kichwamba), finances were week-to-week and uncertain, we were betrayed on multiple sides by people breaking trust and doing harm, there were riots and sorrows and losses. But the point of an ebenezer is this: a memory, a marker, this far by grace, by God's help, we have come. Not by our own skills or power or luck, but by grace alone.

Grace, mediated often through these two. Kevin and JD Bartkovich joined our team in 1998 as educators who embraced our team leader Paul Leary's vision for a quality boarding school in the district. Bundibugyo was 50th out of 50 district on test performance. Our team had begun to train church leaders and translate the Bible, to reach out in health and water engineering, and we knew we would need a school to equip the rising generation to lead. Kevin was particularly aware that sending kids outside the district for schooling risked having them lose touch culturally with home, having them not return, having them model their lives on big-man power-accumulation values. So he and JD dedicated themselves to building up a new school, from scratch. Scott and I became team leaders as the Leary's left in 2001 which put Scott in the position of Board Chair. We had already sponsored one of the students in the very first class, and continued over the years to put ten of our "fostered" kids and our four biological children through the school. As leaders and parents we were invested, treasure and heart. And as leaders, we have stayed involved over a long arc. Particularly as we returned in 2019 to devote the year to sustaining the school in a time when we risked losing the whole project.

So it was a delight and a privilege that Kevin agreed to return as the guest of honor last week. The photo above is from about 9 pm after the full day of the massive party, as the staff requested to gather and speak words of thanks to Kevin and to Scott. Because though the grace has flowed through our mission, the main place it has landed and been multiplied to spread to students and to the district, is through our CSB teaching staff. These men and women are all in. They live on campus, they teach, they encourage and discipline, organize and inspire. It is their faith in God and their commitment to the school's values that impacts students. Our vision has always been to produce servant-leaders. This is so counter-cultural, in American and in Ugandan culture. Leaders who humbly put others before themselves. We saw that very concretely on Friday. These staff were ushering, serving, setting up, taking down, running errands, absolutely ensuring the joyful success of the day.

Besides the mission and the CSB staff, the other sponsors of the event were the CSB alumni, known here as OB-OG's (old boys and old girls). Above, Scott and Kevin pose with acting head teacher Peter Bwambale and the chairman of the OB-OG organization Agaba Amos. Many of the 750 students who have graduated from CSB returned for the day. Because when all is said and done, 20 years of school-establishing is not really about building classrooms and dorms or having a great football pitch. It is about the young men and women who leave the gate to change the world. Everywhere you go in Bundibugyo now, in government, media, health, education, business, in homes and churches, you find CSB grads who work with a different level of integrity and competence, with a vision for service and a heart of faith.

With all that prelude, back to the party. We invited and expected over a thousand people; I have no idea how many came but it was way over that. The week leading up to Friday was particularly stressful because a prominent local woman died after giving birth, and the family delayed her burial until Friday. Nothing is more important in Bundibugyo than a burial, so all of the district leadership who were coming to the CSB event were also juggling the burial plans. This caused a lot of stress for the people involved, and for us as hosts. We were deeply sad for the grieved family whom we knew, and it was hard to justify celebration in the context of grief. But that is the paradox of life on earth, seen starkly in Bundibugyo. We hold onto sorrow and joy in full measures, at the same time. Mercifully, the main political guests managed to make it to both, though the day became quite long.

Our CSB student choirs and dance teams performed for the guests, looking sharp and talented!

And we show-cased the local cultural group who outdid themselves with traditional dances, playing their flutes and banging their drums and shaking their bells. 

Besides music and dancing, every major event needs speeches. Politicians from the local surrounding village community right up to the LC5 (governor), the alumni association (above, note our son Balitebia John in the handsome maroon suit and his fiancee Paula in the yellow dress), the organizing committee, the PTA, the acting head teacher, the chairperson BOG, and the guest of honor. There were 28 lines on the program for all the invited greetings, speeches, and performances. Which took us about 6 hours.

These people deserve the greatest credit: the organizing committee, led by teacher Desmond (with mic) who is the longest-serving staff member and carries the vision, mission, and values of the school in a very unique way. All seven of these people donated days of work to the event. 

Scott spoke about the ebenezer theme, looking back on God's goodness to us and looking forward by faith to the calling we still have. Kevin told stories of God's faithfulness over his decade of preparing and then leading the school. He challenged the alumni to invest, challenged the students to avoid attempts at "short-cuts" and to live by trusting God and working hard. 

The final event was cutting the cake, complete with confetti and sparklers and cheers.  Left to right, Isingoma Edward who served as head teacher in the 2011-14 years when we desperately needed his help, he dropped everything else in his life and came. Me, Scott, Agaba Amos (head of alumni), Kevin, acting head teacher Peter Bwambale, the LC5 Mutegheki Ronald, the Chairman PTA Edison Balitwana, and the women's member of parliament for Bundibugyo District Josephine Babungi.

And while all that hooplah was shouting and sparkling on the football pitch, there were dozens of people cooking in and around the school kitchen.  Massive pots of meat, baskets of tomatoes, diced and sliced cabbages, plucked chickens, savory rice.  Because educating children takes the entire proverbial village: parents who entrusted us with their kids, the neighbors who sold us land, the brick-layers and sweepers, the teachers and nurses. And the cooks. So many cooks. 

It was a great day, that stretched into the night, with music and gusto and pride and reunions and a sense of accomplishment. 

The interesting thing about ebenezers in the Bible--they are not final markers, not tomb stones. They are testimonies of progress, a dividing line between danger survived and victory enjoyed, but the journey continues.  Friday, and the entire week leading up to the party (starting with the graduating classes' "Candidates Party" held the Saturday prior), afforded us a definite time to acknowledge the good that has come out of the years and lives poured into this work. But it was also a week of dreaming, and of remembering the vision. Bundibugyo needs a reliable, competent school within the district, a place where God's Kingdom is intentionally welcomed, where girls can learn without harassment, where being successful is not defined by money or prestige but by character and service, where learning includes practicums and not just notes, where local dances and drumming are admired on display, where parents are accessible and family is valued. And though we have a two-decade start, we have far to go. So let us end this 20-year post with a thanks to the donors who have enabled us to come this far, and an appeal for your prayers that the same grace by which we have come would carry us forward.