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Locations of Quakers in Uganda are mainly in the districts of Mbale, Bududa, Manafwa, Busia,

Bugiri, Mayuge, Tororo, Kampala, Bombo, Luwero, Kigumba, Gulu and Lira. We are working on a

nation-wide census to determine the actual Quaker human resource base in the Uganda Yearly

Meeting (UYM). The census results will give us our first ever data bank.

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HELLO FRIENDS. PRAISE OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

GREETINGS FROM THE UGANDA YEARLY MEETING (UYM) OF THE

FRIENDS CHURCH.

The UYM has made phenomenal history at its 30th Annual General Meeting

(September 7 to 11, 2016) at the Mbale Friends Church, also headquarters of

the UYM. There was a peaceful handover of the UYM leadership. The

Conference was themed: Romans 12:2b: “But let God transform you into a

new person by changing the way you think.”

We attribute the

remarkably

smooth transfer

of “authority” to

the Conference

theme and an

unprecedented

March 2016 UYM

Pastors

Conference at

which the

Friends

Theological

College Kaimosi

Principal Dr.

Robert J. Wafula

and his team

urged the UYM to

go for total unity,

peace,

transformation

and transparency. This was the real turning point. About six months later, at

the Annual Conference, the unparalleled broad consensus to accept the new

leadership without any objections that have bedeviled the UYM for decades was

momentous and extraordinary. The new management includes: Presiding Clerk

(Paul Kuloba), General Secretary (Alfred Wasike), General Supretendant (Samuel Wefafa),

Recording Clerk (Samuel Wandeba), Reading Clerk (George Wamashu), Treasurer (Julius

Nambafu), Vice PC (George Odoi) & Planning, Finance & Stewardship Chairperson (James

Wakhata). Some of the other leaders are: (Elders) Apollo Wopicho (out going Presiding

Clerk), Francis Wamalia (outgoing General Supretendant) & Christopher Wabula.

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According to the

outgoing PC, “This is a

complete success story.

We have had a very

successful and smooth

transition. Nobody

quarreled with the

Nominating Committee.

We didn’t have any

problems like we have

had in the past. We had

international election

monitors.” The

international election

observers refered to

included: the FUM’s

Africa Ministries

Office Director, John Muhanji (above in red tie), next to Muhanji is 9 year

old Josephat Wefafa, son of outgoing PC Apollo, General Supretendant

Friends Church in Kenya, Patrick Muganda (above in white shirt). (Below):

the FWCCs’ Africa Section Executive Secretary, Churchill Malimo & Pastor

Eileen Malova. The observers joined the UYM Friends (next to them) in

praying for more love, peace and unity in the hitherto embattled organisation.

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Below are some of the incoming and outgoing leaders:

ACHIEVEMENTS:

A key landmark monument is the construction and completion of the UYM

headquarters (above & below) at Bumbobi (5km) from Mbale along the Mbale-

Tororo highway. The Church has an office block. The whole facility has been

equipped with utilities like electricity and water.

The UYM is divided into

Regions with Presiding

Clerks. The incoming

leadership has noted that

the audit trail of

accountability in these

Regions needs to be

improved. The Regions are

operational. These are the

locations of the Friends

Church in the UYM:

A- Mbale Region:

1) Bumbobi - Mbale (VM)

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2) Mutoto (VM)

B – Manafwa Region:

3) Butuwa (QM)

4) Toma Butta (QM)

5) Sikomosi (QM)

To and from Bunamae Friends Church (above) on the slopes of Mt

Elgon only “feet” (below) can access!

C – Bududa Region:

6) Makalama (VM)

7) Bunamae (VM)

8) Masaba - QM)

9) Elgon (QM)

10) Bunakhayenze (MM)

11) Bushunya (Bumalaka)

12) Bududa Town Council

D – Namisindwa Region

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13) Buwambigwa (QM)

14) Magale (MM)

15) Sibuse (MM – QM) (Under construction)

16) Bumoya (VM)

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17) Bukooyi (MM – QM)

18) Mufutu (VM)

19) Kiwatsala (VM)

20) Butsemayi (VM)

E – Busoga Region:

21) Lutoro (MM)

22) Kimidi (QM)

23) Namuhinya (VM)

24) Nangoma (QM)

F – Kigumba:

25) Nyama (QM)

26) Fundi Hezironi

G – Outreach:

27) Tororo (nurtured by Sibuse)

28) Busia (nurtured by Sibuse)

29) Semuto (Under construction)

30) Nakibengo (Bombo nurtured by Semuto)

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31) Naluvule (Kapeeka)

32) Lira

33) Nakapiripirit

34) Kampala

NB: Only five of the above mentioned places have permanent church structures.

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"THE PAST IS GONE AND THE NEW HAS COME": II CORINTHIANS 5:17 Below: “Quaker Democracy” @ work: Peaceful handover.

Another achievement is that

all the organs of the UYM are

functioning fully. These

include the Youth, Women

(USFW) and the General

Conference. Of course we

have had problems with

leadership over the years of

political persecution,

tribalism and other forms of

sectarianism plus corruption.

(Above & below): We have

drawn a first ever inventory of documents and stamps handed over by

the out going administration.

CHALLENGES:

For the UYM office to function, furniture, communication equipment

including computers, internet, transport etc must be procured as urgently

as possible.

A census must

be conducted as

soon as possible

to determine the

Quaker human

resource

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population in the UYM. The census questionnaire has been professionally

designed to dig up key information. The analysed results will form the basic

data bank. Above: Friends in Sibuse QM have a SACCO (Savings & Credit

Cooperative Organisation) to fight poverty in their households. We need

to know how many of these SACCOs exist or help create them in the UYM.

We need to strengthen the UYM Regional leadership by designing

clear policies to guide the UYM on how the Regional, Quarterly,

Monthly, Village Meetings should function. We need to empower

the General Supretendant (Pastor Samuel Wefafa: right) to do

this effectively.

We need to select a bank with a swift code.

We need to keep a

strong bond with

the pastors. It

should be recalled

that the UYM led

by Apollo held an

historic conference

with Pastors (right)

in March 2016 at

the Mbale Church.

It was facilitated by

the FTC Kaimosi

Principal Dr.

Robert J. Wafula,

the Academic Dean, Margaret

Amudavi & Pastor Rodgers

Wekesi. They stressed the

character of integrity in church

leadership & the call for the

UYM to rise out of its troubled

past & unite.

“Character of

Integrity in Church

Leadership” by Ms

Amudavi (right)

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The FTC Principal, Dr Robert J. Wafula performed the ancient rite of Mandatum

(the Washing of the Feet) at the historic UYM 2016 Pastors’ Conference in Mbale

He mesmerized the Pastors when he brought out his personal towel and requested for a

basin of water. He “melted their hearts” when he asked the UYM leadership to step

forward and remove their shoes. Reading John 13: 14-17, he quoted Jesus instructing

his discliples: "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also

ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example that you

should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not

greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If

you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." He drew cheers when he

washed and dried their feet. He urged them to do it to others like Jesus did. The FTC

team urged the UYM Pastors to “keep the flock together”, embrace integrity and rise up

to attract more people and grow the Church. The Mandatum rite root is in ancient

civilizations, especially where sandals were the chief footwear. It is in the Bible’s Old

Testament. 1 Samuel 25:41 is the first biblical passage where an honored person offers

to wash feet as a sign of humility. In John 12, Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus' feet in

gratitude for raising her brother Lazarus from the dead. On the last evening of His life,

Jesus washed the disciples' feet (John 13:1-16.). The Bible records washing of the saint's

feet being practised by the church in 1 Timothy 5:10 in reference to piety, submission

and humility. There are several names for this practice: maundy, foot washing, washing

the saints' feet, pedilavium, and mandatum.

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Wafula flanked by the FTC Academic Dean (Margaret Amudavi) urged the UYM

Pastors to emulate Jesus in his ministry to do what they say. He urged the

UYM to encourage women into church leadership. Asked to speak honestly

about the problems in the UYM

and Pastors’ problems, the

participants raised the

following: Disunity, Corruption,

Lack of focus, Shallow Bible

knowledge, No projects, No

facilitation, No exposure, Poor

economic status, No full time

Pastors, Polygamous Pastors, No

credibility, Pastors/UYM need

to partner with other

organisations, Prioritise

evangelism, Self centeredness,

No vision, among others.

The Pastors agreed to reconcile

and pass on the message to

their congregations. They

promised to preach unity.

They want a mass wedding!

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The new leadership needs to work towards the formation of a UYM

Elders’ Forum to guide and regulate the performance of the Church.

There is an urgent need to establish the Quaker Men Movement in

Uganda. The new leadership should strengthen women leadership.

Below: Women leaders from several UYM Quarterly Meetings in a

praise and worship session during the 2016 UYM Annual Conference.

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There is need for missionary work in northern Uganda. But the new

leadership will have to weigh carefully the cost of supervising “widely

spread” churches.

THE FUTURE:

A lot of the UYM future lies in quality leadership among women. The

new leadership has noted that leadership among women has

weaknesses that need to be addressed very urgently The uneducated

do not want to work with the educated. We have also noted that even

the educated and uneducated youth need to blend. We need to fortify

the women’s leadership capacity especially in Busoga, Kigumba and

northern Uganda Regions. We need to conduct organizational

training. We need to pray too.

Four women leaders (above), Gorret Masaba, Eileen Malova, Sylvia

Wopicho & Marian Baker. Gorret, Eileen & Sylvia have urged all

the Friends of UYM Women to come and stand with them during the

annual Women’s Conference from December 7 to 11, 2016 in

Buwambingwa QM, Namisindwa Region, Uganda.

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The trio noted that although the UYM Women

are willing to learn, they have no finances to

empower themselves and need exposure. The

Women leaders thanked Marian Baker (right)

from the New England Yearly Meeting (USA)

and her Friends who have worked to improve

the welfare of women in Uganda and East

Africa.

Based on the wisdom from the outgoing UYM Presiding Clerk (Apollo

Wopicho), a lot of the future of the UYM lies among the young and

educated people. Below: Sibuse Friends Primary School Pupils.

We undertake to “make the church more attractive and fashionable to

the young and educated.” To this effect, we have started a core

network of young Quakers born in Quaker homes to rally young

people to Church and bridge the gap between generations. B

Below: For example Miriam Amanda Wasike, an A-plus student, is

completing a Bachelors degree in Technology at Makerere University, Kampala,

Uganda. We strongly believe that such intelligent & highly trained young people

can be “used” as focal points to attract their peers to the Church.

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The new leadership needs to strengthen leadership among the young

including identifying another Clerk. Wopicho advises that the Youth

Clerk, General Secretary and Treasurer should not be in the school

going bracket. The educated and uneducated youth need to blend.

A lot of the UYM future is

closely tied to strict

accountability and

thorough book keeping. We

need to establish

transparent expenditures

and clear audit trails. The

new UYM leadership has

resolved to arrange for

training for all Treasurers

from the Village Meetings to

the UYM. It has been

decided that the AMO

Director Right: John

Muhanji with PC Paul

Kuloba and GS Alfred

Wasike, be contacted to

help with training since he

is very well grounded in accounting.

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A lot of UYM future lies in stringent implementation of the budget

through members and member churches (30% to the UYM, 20% to

the Pastor and the balance remains at the collecting Church for

development.

The new leadership has noted the need to identify resourceful people

to support the church especially financially. We thank the outgoing

Clerk for using his money his money to buy land for the Mbale

Friends Church. He handed over the title deed & other papers to us!

There is also urgent need to activate the

hitherto dormant Church Commissions.

We need to strengthen the Nomination

Committee’s independence (below). The

current one is led by Mzee Perez Muyonga

(right). The Team was hailed for its

“fairness & thoroughness”. In the past

Nomination Committees came under

“severe fire” by factions in the embattled

UYM. We undertake to ensure absolute fairness in the appointment of

Friends into positions of responsibility. We strongly believe in being

guided by the Holy Spirit. We also firmly believe that we need

appropriate qualifications plus total commitment for God’s work.

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WE ARE CONVINCED A NEW DAWN IS HERE!

THE

UYM

2016

EPISTLE

ALFRED WASIKE

GENERAL SECRETARY UGANDA YEARLY MEETING

Friends, let us “Make every effort to live in peace with one another …”

Hebrews 12:12a