One couple from Gloucestershire took on a new challenge where they could not only use their experience but also serve God by serving others.

Nigel and Rowena Stapleton, who have been married for 38 years, recently retired from business and teaching respectively. Nigel had spent 43 years working in the electricity and rail industries, and NHS management. Rowena’s last ten years of teaching was in special needs education within a number of mainstream primary schools in Gloucestershire. For the past 18 years they have been active members of Minchinhampton Baptist Church where they have been in leadership as elders, home-group leaders, prayer co-ordinator and involved in prayer ministry and pastoral care. In October 2007, as part of our Senior Synergy programme, Nigel and Rowena (or the ‘Silvertops’ to use one of their Internet identities!) left for Uganda to take up a very different role as hosts of Aim’s guesthouse ‘Matoke Inn’.* The guesthouse provides accommodation for members of Aim and other mission agencies and NGOs when passing through Kampala. Nigel has also been appointed as a Management Adviser to the Church of Uganda Commissioners where he is able to use his management consulting skills and experience from business in the UK. We asked them to look back over the past year.

Matoke Inn

Their new home ‘Matoke Inn’ in Uganda.

How have your expectations of Africa been met?

A major concern for us in anticipation of living in Africa was: Would we be able to cope with the heat? Kampala has proved, for the most part, to be a moderate climate making for pleasant working conditions. One thing we did not expect was the effort required to simply get things done: shopping for Matoke Inn, for example, can take an hour or four just depending on service in supermarkets or the traffic – and we should say that driving is not for the faint-hearted as a six-inch gap between cars is a luxury at times!

We were expecting that we would have to adjust our expectations of time frames and have not been disappointed! Implementation of ideas sometimes has to take on different ‘dimensions’ to meet the needs of the culture.

What do you think that your years of experience have brought to your life and role now?

Some of the experience that we have to offer comes from 40 years’ experience of church life. This ranges from hospitality to discipleship and leading teams. There is also the experience of management and both being accountable and expecting accountability from others. Having travelled to countries with a range of different cultures and met people with a broad spectrum of Christian backgrounds has given us an understanding that allows us to appreciate those whose experience and journey has been somewhat different from ours.

What are you learning?

The circumstances in which we find ourselves have taught us more of the greatness of God. We see this through the variety of people who come through Matoke Inn and in the team with whom we are privileged to work. Through a variety of small and greater incidents we have proved the power of God’s presence in all we are able to do for him. It can be as simple as Rowena having the confidence to drive to the market in town on her own or, on a larger scale, being asked to implement the vision for the expansion of Matoke Inn, adding ten new bedrooms by 2010.

We have been surprised by our own reaction to living in a different community, coping with a different way of life where we have discovered new heights and depths of frustration: power cuts; water turned off; and fuel and food prices rising so unpredictably that it makes it difficult to maintain affordable accommodation.

We are also learning more about the value of prayer. We are so blessed to know that we have a prayer group back home who are so faithful in praying for us — we text and email requests to them and we are conscious of God’s presence coming alongside us as he hears our prayers. We would not be here without it.

From our Ugandan friends we are challenged by their trust in God day-by-day. For them it is not year-by-year or month-by-month – having sufficient for each day brings its own contentment. We also appreciate their delightful sense of humour and it has been lovely to learn some of the cultural practices of the people, particularly those relating to families. We have enjoyed comparing engagement, wedding and funeral practices, many of these here involve a much wider family circle than we would normally consider ‘family’ in the UK.

* Matoke is a meal consisting of steamed green plantain and is one of the national dishes of Uganda.

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