A Surprise Meeting and New Friends

Coming back from town after a rather frustrating experience, I had 3 people in my living room waiting for me. They were local artists wanting to know what I was planning on doing to develop art in Soroti. So I spent the afternoon talking with them, learning their stories and their dreams. All three are very talented… Robert is an African batik painter and Saul and Judith create crafts out of homemade magazine beads.

These magazine beads are an interesting phenomenon in Uganda—you can find them most anywhere. The process of making them began in Kampala, in a section of town populated by refugees. Boredom reigned and they spent most of their days brewing beer. A Korean woman visited and taught them how to make these homemade beads. And it caught on… from beer to beads!

These artists, Robert, Saul and Judith want to develop their art but they have no market among the Ugandans. Their market exists primarily among visitors.

So here we are… please pray for us as we encourage these artists in their giftings, equip these artists to spread the gospel through their art and empower them by developing a sustainable income.

Watching Robert paint an African batik

Beads made from magazine strips. These were hand crafted by my new friend Saul

The beads phenomenon... these are huge everywhere in Uganda