Painting the stories of the people and places we have come to know and love on the journey
Brothers at Boulachecke
The painting is on a half sheet , 22x15, of Waterford, St. Cuthberts Mill, 300# CP with deckle edges.
Private Collection
Nile Crossing
The painting is on a full sheet , 22x30, of Waterford, St. Cuthberts Mill, 200# CP with 4 deckle edges.
Private Collection
Compassion Prayin'
This Piece is painted on a half sheet of 200# CP paper.
Private Collection
Prayin' at Gulu
This Piece is painted on a half sheet , 15x22"
Original is in the collection of Trinity School for Ministry. Giclee Prints are available.
Oliva the Teacher
This Piece is painted on a half sheet of 200# CP paper.
Private Collection
This painting won highest honors in the Pittsburgh Watercolor Society show and juried Competition, 'Waterworks' in 2006.
I took the photo that I painted this piece from early one cool morning high in the mountains in the little village of Bufumbo in Uganda, E.A while the teachers were still at prayer before the start of their school day.
I took this photo while sitting in an 8x10 mud wattle hut in the middle of an amazing thunderstorm ; home to seven young boys whose parents both died of AIDS.
This is the final time I will paint this piece I think. I took the photo in the village of Boulachecke which is Southeast of Mbale Town in Uganda, E.A. in 2003. The boys were in strong sunlight which makes my life as a painter easier. The thing that I suspect will remain with me above all else about our travels in Africa is the children.
I took the photo while waiting for a ferry to cross the Nile River to the North side in Uganda, E.A. These three Roman Catholic sisters were waiting for the same ferry. We were on a brief holiday to view the wildlife in the Murcheson Falls Wildlife Preserve. The sisters were returning to their mission on the North side in the middle of the war zone where I must assume, their lives were in constant danger. The North of Uganda has been at war for over 20 years.
"Compassion International is a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, physical, economic and social poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults." (The CI website)
We encountered CI in the mountains between Uganda and Kenya. They recruit and equip local teachers to achieve the goal of transforming poverty cultures by reaching the children. This is one of the teachers.
The young woman who was the model for this painting lives in Gulu,
Uganda, E.A. She was around 17 years old. She has never known anything
but war. It is a very dangerous place to grow up. The war is
primarily being waged against children. The young girls are taken
as sex slaves. April and I were able to be in Gulu
because of the kind assistance of The Anglican Archbishop of Uganda,
Henry Luke Orembi. The photo from which I painted this was taken by me at a joint
prayer service where we prayed for peace.
Our friend Oliva works for Women's Concern, an NGO in Uganda, EA that trains widows and orphans of AIDS victims in basic life skills. Women's Concern is indigenous. They are not a welfare organization. They will provide help with seeds and hoes and an education in how to farm so that they will not go hungry.
