At 8 a.m. an African man hit a metal pole outside the main building of Western Uganda Baptist Theological College.

Eight Swahili-speaking students gathered in one room, and four English-speaking Ugandans sauntered into another. They sat on benches and placed their notebooks and Bibles on wooden tables in front of them.

The students are two months into a two-year program to earn a certificate of theology. The school equips these pastors and their wives to start and maintain churches at home.

Students come from Uganda and neighboring countries. Three students are refugees from Rwanda.

Skip Sorensen, an American missionary with Conservative Baptist International, began his English class asking for prayer requests. Timothy Ochom Charles asked for prayer for his wife's operation. Charles forgot to mention the operation was the birth of their first child. Charles also needed prayer to be able to pay the hospital bill--more than 100,000 shillings. The churches usually give the students only 4,000 shillings for medicine each semester.

Other students requested prayer for food for their families. Each student had received a plot of land for planting. But the recent sparse rains meant dried-up crops. They had no money from crops and no food to eat. Many also asked for prayer for health. Out of the 11 wives, three were pregnant and four had malaria.

The students also asked for prayer regarding their studies. Many of the students came to college with a seventh-grade education. They not only try to understand the Bible but also must learn how to write a topic sentence and create paragraphs.

After prayer time, Mr. Sorensen began Pentateuch class. He travels to the college once a month for about a week at a time and teaches a 22-hour course in one week. The students usually study more than one subject each day, but this week they will study the Pentateuch from 8 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

On the chalkboard, Mr. Sorensen wrote notes about Deuteronomy. The students copied the notes into little booklets. The college doesn't have money for textbooks, although the school does have a small library with a slim variety of reference books.

The Swahili students were also in class. John, a Swahili student, asked for prayer for his wife who has malaria. John had gone to town to try and sell one of his two pairs of shoes to buy medicine, but he couldn't get enough money. Although his church paid for his school fees and gave him a little extra money, it was not enough.

One full-time and two part-time teachers instruct in the Swahili program. The English program has two full-time and various part-time teachers, including Mr. Sorensen.

Women attend classes at the same time as their husbands. The wives' classes are from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. They study sewing, basic home economics, Bible study methods, evangelism and doctrine. They also learn how to read and write in English and read through the entire Bible.

Alice Kaiso, a former women's leader and teacher, said she loved watching the women grow and learn. Her many duties allowed little time to prepare for Bible study lessons. In addition to housework, Mrs. Kaiso cooked and cared for four children. Teaching sewing presented challenges also because the school had only one sewing machine.

While parents attend classes, the children run around in a grassy area in the middle of the campus. One little boy, wearing only a shirt stretched over his swollen belly, ran after a chicken. Some boys kicked with their bare feet a ball made from twine. Older girls carried 4-gallon yellow jerry cans to a nearby river to get water. The well was dry so the tenants boiled river water to drink. The girls balanced jars on their heads and filled them with water.

The men's class ended, Some students stayed to talk. Others returned home to eat the beans and rice. Charles returned to his two-room dorm for lunch. He ate his lunch in the living room furnished with a table and two chairs. The kitchen consisted of a few pots and plastic dishes lying on the floor in a corner of the living room. The rest of the dorm's concrete floor and walls were bare.

In the afternoon, students meet for chapels or Bible studies. In the past, they gardened in the afternoons, but with no rain, they had no beans, roots, pineapples or bananas to tend.

The students studied flash cards for the next day's Pentateuch test during the Bible study. If students have questions or problems during the day, they visit Moses Kaiso, the headmaster.

Mr. Kaiso also teaches classes in Swahili and English and handles the administrative work. Mr. Kaiso, an alumnus from the first class 10 years ago, has been the headmaster for two years.

"I feel happy when doing this kind of work because it gives me an opportunity to see how gifted people are and how they can serve people in Uganda," he said.

Over the years, he has seen students' hardships. Many leave all their possessions and families to study to become pastors. Since the school opened, 30 men and one woman have earned degrees. This year, 25 students sent in applications, but only 12 attended, due to lack of finances. Other students fail to complete the two-year program because their church runs out of money or the students get too homesick and leave.

Mr. Kaiso has seen God's provision and protection despite the college's struggles. In November, 1996, war broke out near the college. The government refused to send troops to protect the school. But no one attacked the school. God has cared for the students during the past three years of drought.

As night fell, the day's heat finally relented and students returned to their darkened homes. Kerosene for lanterns costs too much money.

Exhausted, the students and their families settled down to sleep. The cry of twins rang out over the dark campus. Students fell asleep to the beating of bats wings and crickets chirping in tall, brown grass.