We are making another trip to Uganda with Christian Veterinary Missions in September and October of 2012, we being Andy and Liz.  Liz finally gets to take her husband this time!  We will be spending 5½ weeks there, 6 if you include travel days. 

Liz has been involved with Christian Veterinary Missions (CVM) since 1976, the year she became a Christian, the year she started veterinary school and the year CVM was founded.  She has made 5 short-term trips with CVM over the past 15 years: Haiti (1997), Honduras (2000), Uganda (2007 & 2010), and Alaska (2009).   She has also made 3 trips to Mexico and Idaho as a leader with our church youth group over the past 7 years.   Andy accompanied Liz on the Honduras trip and made a trip to Haiti in 2011 with our church.  We feel God is calling us to do mission trips together now.

The work in Uganda is exciting.  CVM emphasizes training the local people to care for their own animals and teaching them to share their faith with their own people.  In 2007 Liz was privileged to go to Uganda for the inception of Uganda’s own CVM and to teach at their veterinary school and first ever continuing education conference for veterinarians.  In 2010 Liz took Julia to Uganda for 3 weeks to again teach at the conference and vet school and do a number of clinics in remote locations.   This trip our emphasis will again be two-fold.  The first 10 days will be spent with the annual UCVM conference, now called a Symposium as it has broadened its scope over the past few years.  Along with several other US veterinarians Liz will be lecturing and teaching students and veterinarians at the vet school in Kampala.  As part of the symposium we will do several days of free clinics in other areas to reach out to and bless people who have little or no access to veterinary care.   We always use these opportunities to share the Good News of the Gospel and the love of Jesus Christ with them.

We will then go with Dr. Val Shean, who has been a CVM missionary in Uganda for the past 20 years, to the remote northeastern area of Uganda for 3 weeks to help with the work among the Karamajong people.  Liz will be doing veterinary health care and training and Andy will be working on building and agricultural projects.  Dr. Val helped start an organization called CLIDE (Community Livestock Integrated Development) which is now run by Ugandan nationals.   They have a number of potential projects in mind and will decide which ones they would like Andy to complete for them.  If you would like to see a video about the work Dr. Val has been doing with these peoples check out this web address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnv9e5ak91s or search Val Shean, Uganda on You Tube. In 2007 some elders from a church in Portland that supports Val traveled to Uganda at the request of the Karamajong leaders to assist in the establishment of peace between the warring tribes.  This was extremely exciting as cattle raiding through violence and killing has been a way of life for them for decades.   As a result of the work of Dr. Val, CLIDE and other church supporters, that is now changing.  To see a short video about that process go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut3IyvPeX8A&NR=1.   If you would like to learn more about CVM you can look at their website: http://www.cvmusa.org.

We would covet your prayers as we prepare for and during our trip.  Specific topics include
•    acquiring all the veterinary supplies that we would like to take with us (we have a good start on that)
•    the vet “team” that will be teaching will be able to coordinate well in advance of the symposium
•    the details of Andy’s role both during the symposium and in the villages will be refined
•    safety in travel and while in Uganda, especially in the remote villages
•    and most importantly, many opportunities to share the Gospel message and bless the people we encounter.

We plan to take a few days to actually see some of the natural beauty of Uganda, something Liz has not had the time to do on past trips.