Uganda: Day 5
From my journal on May 25, 2009…
Today we visited a Child Survival Project at the Kansanga Deliverance Center in Kampala. Very emotional day.
I did not expect this at all.
When we visited the children and got to hug and play games with the kids, I knew that would be tough, and it was – especially seeing where some of the kids and their families lived.
But today… today was rough.
Today we saw women and children, mothers and their babies, who were being rescued from their poverty. Physical poverty, social poverty, economic poverty and spiritual poverty. Story after story after story of life change, of rescue and redemption. They expressed their gratitude for the help, the care, the love, for the learning of viable work skills they were being taught, for learning how to better care for their children, and for being saved by Jesus.
These are people who praised God with smiles on their faces for all that God has blessed them with through the local church and Compassion International.
These people have almost nothing and yet they praise God.
We visited some of the homes of these women and their children, of which there are 54 parent-child combinations within this one project. BTW, one out of every ten of these are HIV positive as are their children.
The homes we visited were half the size of my bedroom or smaller with at least 3 or 4 people living in each. One woman who we walked with to her home invited us inside to sit down and talk. She welcomed us and then asked if we thought her home was a good home. I did not know how to respond. Three of them ate and slept in this tiny room. She is 19 and her husband is 21. Their son is 1 year old. The room smelled of urine and refuse, though it was surprisingly clean. A tablecloth made up the floor covering and a single light bulb hung in the middle of the room for use at night. No latrine. No kitchen. One bed and four chairs. I don’t even remember how I responded.
They pay 30,000 shillings per month to rent this shack, which is the equivalent of about $15. If he’s lucky, the husband makes 50,000 shillings per month (about $25), but it is more likely he will barely make enough to cover the rent.
I have never felt more humble and broken in my life.
The most amazing part of all of this is that God is moving. Amidst all of the rubble and disease. Amidst the lack of food and the struggle for survival. The women in this program are giving their lives to Christ. Even more, many of their husbands, some coming from muslim backgrounds, are giving their lives to Christ because of the generosity they have experienced through people at the church. Their lives have been changed forever.
So has mine and neither of us will ever be the same.
I know for certain that we will be partnering with Compassion and with the churches here in Uganda to help in the rescue… I just don’t know how yet. To be honest, I’m afraid to go home. Tears stream down my face as I write this and think about all that I have. I have been given so much. It’s hard to process and take in. Im afraid too that I will go home and I will forget.
I have been changed by others who have been changed.
I will never be the same.
