On Friday, 10th October 2025, Mazima College hosted Tea with Friends of Mazima – an evening bringing together friends, partners, and supporters for fellowship, testimonies, and vision-sharing. The event celebrated Mazima’s mission to disciple and train church leaders and believers in sound biblical understanding and application and fostering holistic transformation in communities.
Below is the full speech given by our Guest of Honour, Mr Philip Betts, and three friends of Mazima who shared their personal testimonies and reflections.
Guest of Honour’s Reflections — Philip Betts
Introduction
Good evening, everyone. Rosanna is waving, and her husband Nick has come along too — and Deborah, my lovely wife, is also here. So it’s a good turnout from the Betts family tonight!
I should start by saying that I’m not a missionary — I’m really a farmer by birth, upbringing, and education. I first went to Zaire to work in agriculture, particularly coffee export, and Deborah joined me after three years when we got married. We stayed for 10 years before coming to Uganda.
I’m speaking today as a friend of Mazima College (formerly Veritas) and of one of its original missionaries, Richard van de Ruit, who has since returned to Uganda and now lives in Jinja.
Early Experiences
Back in the 1980s in Zaire, Deborah and I began supporting evangelists and church workers and we had a variety of experiences. One gifted young man with a passion to serve his community in Zaire requested our support to study at a Bible college in Pasadena, California – Fuller Seminary. He initially left his wife behind, but after some time, she joined him and after his studies, they decided to settle in California, where they raised their family. He continued doing church work, but it was now in America rather than in Zaire.
Another person we supported for some years was a prison evangelist in Kigali with a passion for bringing healing and reconciliation after the genocide. After some time, he too left for America and later called his wife and children to join him. So these were interesting experiences for us!
The Jesus Film and Evangelism
Have you ever heard of the Jesus Film? Some of you may have seen it. When we were in Zaire, a group called Life Ministry – or Campus Crusade for Christ – was showing it near where we lived. Our farm staff went along, as did many local people. At the end, one of the Life Ministry workers asked who wanted to accept Jesus as their personal Saviour, and everyone raised their hands – except our cook, a man called Asumani. I asked him later why he hadn’t raised his hand and he said, “I already know Jesus, I don’t have to do that again. I’ve already accepted him, and that’s enough for me.” I think he might have been one of the few who truly understood what was going on that night!
After that, Life Ministry decided to start a Bible school for evangelism. They built a simple wooden structure on our farm out of eucalyptus poles, planks, and iron sheets, and hundreds of people came from across Zaire and even Rwanda came to study there. They studied for nine months, went on to run portable Bible schools and graduated as evangelists.
It was a very good initiative, but it had its challenges. It needed constant funding, and the local churches were not willing to pay for their students. And because students left their families for so long, their homes suffered without a breadwinner. While these were the two drawbacks to the model, we carried on supporting it because it was the best thing going on. Another school was opened here in Uganda, across the water from Entebbe at Sagala. Even though it was cheaper than most Bible schools, it still required a lot of money to keep going.
Discovering Mazima
When Deborah and I later came to Uganda, we met Richard, who introduced us to Mazima and explained how they were training people right where they live. I joined a Mazima team on a visit to Mayuge, an area where we were also promoting cocoa growing for export (we promote cocoa and vanilla growing, then buy and process the beans for export). I watched the Mazima team teach people in their own church, share a simple lunch, and then return home the same day.
That model fascinated me, training people in their own church and village, in a way that was relational, practical and cost-effective. I got quite excited about this and started supporting Mazima. Being a businessman, I also saw it as a good return on investment.
Then Mazima adapted a program called Transformational Development. In fact, their team will be coming to our office this coming Monday (13th October) to take us through it – one session every Monday morning for ten weeks! We’re keen to experience it for ourselves.
The NGO Approach
In my sector, agriculture, there are many NGOs, and their primary goal is to put more money in farmers’ pockets. Coming from the West, they see economic growth as the answer to poverty and all the ills of an underdeveloped country, so they think: “Let’s see what we can do to help the farmers earn more money”. They come and try to increase competitiveness, and train farmers to find better markets, and it’s all about getting more money for their coffee, their cocoa, or whatever they do; but it stops there.
Lessons from the Vanilla Boom
But some of you might remember, if you’re as old as I am, back in 2003, there was a vanilla boom in Uganda. Money literally “grew on trees” at that time – or in this case, vines – and vanilla was worth a small fortune. People got rich very quickly, and any NGO would look at the situation and say, “Great, this is it – problem solved.”
But actually, that’s where the problems really began. Farmers started running mad. Some locked themselves in their houses and never came out because they were afraid somebody would steal their money. Others bought a pickup and crashed it, or ran into town and got a second wife, leaving their wife back at the farm and their children without a father.
There were many newspaper articles recounting these stories, one of which I have here. The headline is: “Vanilla Boom Strains Families in Mukono”. And a quote from one of the ladies interviewed says: “I sometimes think about the days when we were still poor; he loved me very much.” That still touches my heart – to think of that poor wife having effectively lost her husband over the vanilla boom.
Current Challenges
Today we’re seeing the same thing happening in the cocoa sector. Cocoa prices have shot up over the past year, and when I recently visited Bundibugyo, I couldn’t sleep – people were partying all night long. It got me thinking, what have we done here? We’ve created this cocoa industry, but people are burning their money on drink and revelling, and the money will disappear very quickly.
So what can we do? We’re currently preparing to start a training similar to Mazima’s Transformational Development with another group called BUILD from the Anglican Church (they have already done trainings in the areas where we work and know the local leaders). The aim is to try and ground people in the Word of God, just like Mazima is doing.
Our churches teach a lot about material blessings, as you’ve heard tonight: all three testimonies were people from churches that preached prosperity. We’ve experienced prosperity with our farmers, but it sadly doesn’t bring an automatic blessing.
What Needs to Be Done
So what needs to be done? Well, keep supporting Mazima! We are supporting Mazima as a business, because Mazima can bring about the change that money can’t buy – which is to transform people’s hearts. Once that is done, everything can change in the family; people can see what resources they have, and God can bless them through that. We’re seeing this transformation first-hand with the farmers, and as you saw just now, these trainings are going on where? Not in a Bible college, not in Kampala, but in people’s hometowns: in Kasese, in Kitgum, in places all around the country.
From the presentation, we saw earlier, the estimated cost was UGX 2 million per training. If there are 30 people on a training, on average, the cost is UGX 66,000 per person. That’s about the cost of a bus fare to Kampala and back! So, for the cost of a bus fare, Mazima can run the entire training in the village. So as well as being an effective programme both spiritually and socially, I think the model is extremely good economically as well. When people learn where they are and don’t leave their families, it can have an impact on the whole village; in addition students remain in their villages after the training, and the benefit spreads throughout the community..
Closing
For all these reasons, I wholeheartedly back Mazima College, and I thank the Mazima team for the incredible work they are doing across Uganda.
Thank you very much.
Highlights from Friends
Three friends shared how Mazima College has transformed their faith and ministry.
- Moses Kagoro said, “When I first became a Christian, I joined a large hyper-charismatic church, but over time I longed for something solid to stand on. Through Mazima, I learned to study and interpret Scripture for myself, discern truth amid differing teachings, and teach others. The training broadened my perspective on Bible translations and gave me a firm foundation for my faith, which has carried me through transitions between churches and helped me guide others in their walk with God.”
- Joseph Lagen shared, “I grew up in a hyper-charismatic church where faith was largely about emotion, revelations, and loyalty. At Mazima, I discovered how to interpret Scripture accurately and develop a Christ-centered understanding of the gospel. It was both freeing and challenging to see how much I had misunderstood, but the training gave me the tools to teach, write music, and share God’s Word faithfully. Today, I serve in a Bible-teaching church and in a parachurch ministry, applying what I learned in practical ways.”
- Allan Kisakye reflected, “I grew up in a Prosperity Church and recognized the need for deeper biblical grounding. Through Mazima College Bible and Transformational Development training, my wife and I gained practical ministry skills and confidence in teaching, preaching, and leading others. Over the past five years, I’ve traveled extensively, sharing God’s Word in diverse communities, engaging participants in participatory learning, and helping them apply Scripture in their own contexts. The training has profoundly shaped my family, my ministry, and my understanding of God’s Word.”
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