What is an "average" ministry trip like?
That is a hard question to answer. We have some teams that have gone over for only ten days. Some make a two week trip. Others have found three weeks to be an ideal time period. And some have stayed a month or more. Typically, my trips to Uganda have begun on Sunday afternoon with a flight from Florida to Atlanta. Early Sunday evening we leave Atlanta and fly to London and arrive at about 5:00 a.m. local time. The first thing you do is step off the plane early Monday morning and ask "what happened to Sunday night?" Recently British Airways has changed the flight schedule from London to Entebbe to a departure in the morning rather than late at night. This is a big help in adjusting to the time changes, but it eliminates the day long layover in London and the obligatory visit to central London during the day. Once in Uganda, some team member depart immediately for specific venues for ministry but most will spend at least one night in Kampala to rest from the travel. Wednesday become the day that most travel on within Uganda, typically by ACTI vehicle, public taxi (matatu) or bus. Ministry opportunities can be just a day or two or most of a week in one area. Then additional travel within Uganda to a new venue and the process starts over again. At the end a teams time of ministry, we usually spend a day sightseeing and shopping for souvenirs before going back to Entebbe airport for the return trip. A "typical" return trip might begin on a Thursday evening at Entebbe, all night flight to London, and with just a couple hours of layover, a mid morning departure for the US with arrival back home that same evening.

What could I possibly do in Uganda? I am not a pastor or a doctor or anything like that!
First off, remember, with God, nothing is impossible. This means that God can even use you in Uganda or other similar mission projects. Our teams have included pastors, Bible teachers, doctors, dentists, nurses, physician's assistants, Sunday School teachers, students, and just ordinary Christians who wanted to share Christ. We preach, teach, do leadership training in the area of pastors, officers, teachers, and health workers. We do open air preaching, hut to hut evangelism, sharing in schools, small groups that gather around wherever we might be, hold health clinics, distribute benevolent aid in the form of clothes etc. Additionally, we are always looking for new avenues in which to minister. Come and join this ministry and share your ideas with us.

Doesn't it make more sense and cost less for those seeking after a "third world, cross cultural mission experience" to just go to Mexico?
Yes, it costs less, but then going to the inner city of most any major American city would cost even less than that. In fact, I totally support inner city work and work in Mexico too. The real point is that Jesus did not give us an option of -here or there - but to start here and go to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8). The fact that God gives some people a burden for one area of ministry and a different burden to others is not to be understood as competition, but God's sovereign plan to cover the entire earth with "salt and light." Finally, I truly believe that if there are those who are just seeking a "cheap thrill experience" either in Uganda or Mexico or the American inner city, they will soon find that they have bitten off much more than they can chew.

Isn't it dangerous in Africa?
No more so than most other places on earth today. The following is a direct quote from a lady who spents months traveling around the earth on her own. In response to a newgroup question about safety she wrote the following: "To be honest, after traveling for most of this past year (including 5 months in Africa), the single place where I felt most scared alone was Wilmington, Delaware!" (Miriam N) What really counts is being careful and not putting yourself in harms way. There are things we all do to reduce our risks in life. I think the real question on peoples mind is "Doesn't just being in Uganda put me at greater risk?" Nearly twenty years of ACTI ministry in Uganda says the answer to this question is no. Plus, we must remember "God is our refuge!"

Does it matter that I don't speak Kiswahili?
No. Over the years ACTI has been responsible for over one-thousand individuals ministering in Uganda without a knowledge of Kiswahili. Actually, not all Ugandans speak Kiswahili. There are many different languages spoken in Uganda and many outsiders (like me) have tended to lump them together as different dialects of Kiswahili but this is in error. Kiswahili is an interaction of East Africans and Arabs, mostly in the coastal nations of Kenya and Tanzania and not so much in inland countries like Uganda.

The "official" language of Uganda is English and almost all signs etc. are in English. English is the language of Ugandan education. I have looked at numerous school textbooks and every single word of each book I looked at was in English. However, English is still a second language for them and interpretation for the less educated is common. It is interest that when Ugandans (at least Presbyterians) from all regions meet together, English is the language they speak in common