uganda: dancing with the witch doctors

the sports outreach staff that live and work

in kampala are hard-core soccer players. 

so one of the main ways they build relationships

with people is by traveling 

to a different village each friday afternoon 

and holding a soccer match - their team vs. the people of the village. 

after spending friday morning in the katwe slums,

we loaded up the bus and vans and drove with the staff

about an hour or so out of the city 

to a village in the bush.

and when i say "bush" i mean turning off of the somewhat

paved road we'd been driving on,

and continuing the next 20 minutes or more 

down a red dirt path that was just barely the width of our vehicle,

with grass that was taller than a man on either side of the path.

and banana trees like you wouldn't believe.

we finally reached the village's soccer field,

and hadn't been out of the bus for more than a few minutes

when out of nowhere, children and teenagers came walking up, 

excited to see soccer balls and jerseys. 

soon, most of the village had come out,

and the match was under way. 

those of us who weren't playing on the field

spent time with the kids who'd come to watch.

we passed out candy and stickers, 

held their hands, and tickled their sides.

we sat on the ground and played rhythm games with empty water bottles. 

we giggled with the children as they looked at their reflections

in our sunglasses, and demanded to 

see their pictures on the backs of cameras. 

at one point, we noticed a drumbeat and a group of 

people dancing off in the far corner of the soccer field, 

so a few of us decided to go over and check it out.

in the center of the group were three adult men 

playing their drums like nothing i'd ever seen before.

these guys literally didn't miss a beat - 

they played with passion and fervor, and before we knew it,

we were all dancing and laughing 

and enjoying the african sun on our backs.

we found out later as we drove back to our hotel 

that those three men were actually the witch doctors of the village,

and they had come out to make their

presence known while the 

soccer match was going on. 

after the soccer match,

we broke up into small groups on the field and, 

with the help of the sports outreach interpreters,

shared with them how we came to be in uganda,

and what it means for us to believe in Jesus.

afterwards, the kids in my group had a chance to ask us questions. 

they wanted to know things like:

 how could God really make man out of dust?

were andy (pictured below) and i  

brother and sister?

is obama doing a good job?

the next day, we heard from the sports outreach staff

that over 100 people came to 

profess faith in Jesus that night. 

in the coming days and weeks, 

the staff will go back to this village

to further develop the relationships with the people, 

and to help establish a discipleship program in that community.

maybe the witch doctors will be out of business soon.