The past two days have been a mix of events. On Sunday, we went to a church service in the Karamoja region of Uganda. This region has been known for violence and hostility. The tribes kill over cows. However, the village we went to is a recently settled village on the boarder of the region which is being settled by people of four different tribes and regions who want to end the violence and live peacefully. They have started a new church there and we attended that service under a tree. The poorness of the people was worse than anything we saw last summer. Filthy living conditions, not enough water, little food, and lots of distended bellies. But these people have a dream of peace among groups of people that have hated each other and fought amongst each other for generations so it is an amazing place to be.
On our way there we stopped in a town in an area that had been raided as recently as 2007 by the Lord's Resistance Army and has also had many raids by the Karamajong. Many people were displaced from their homes and children were abducted by the LRA to serve their army. We saw a mass grave area where each grave held at least 30 bodies. We also talked to a boy of about 9 who had been abducted when he was 6 and made to carry things for the LRA and was being taught to use a gun before he got away. This was one of the areas hardest hit by the intense flooding in Northern Uganda last fall so they lost all their crops then and now have had such severe drought that they are again losing most of the crops this season. Global warming is a real thing in place like this as their seasons change and dramatically changes their way of life.
We ended the day at Amacet while they finished supper and then sang their Sunday evening worship songs. They have about 8 infants and 8 toddlers plus the 12 older kids. They are very full right now but continue to do wonderful things. They have had a lot of difficult things happening the past few months so can use additional prayers for staying strong and encouraged.
On Monday John spent some time at Harmony School which can be a frustrating thing to do. School is so rote and they learn so little. A first grade teacher should not ned to be told to show the students the pictures while reading a picture book to them but that is what happened today while he was there.
I spent time doing our first laundry – picture buckets and wash basins – and also got things ready to start with the knitting tomorrow morning.
Tonight we celebrated Avalien's 3rd birthday. It was a good dinner and a fun time watching a 3 year open gifts.
It appears that there will not be any pictures to accompany the blog. The internet connection in town just is not fast enough to upload any pictures. It has been a long time since we have enjoyed the pleasure of watching web pages load item by item.
Thanks for you comments and emails and prayers.
3 comments:
John and Barb - Wow. Good reading your blog entries so far. We will continue to pray for your safety, health,strength and adjustment to the climate. (We at least had a REAL washing machine while in Trinidad :)
Con & Judy
We can't begin to imagine the emotions you must be going through as you experience daily life there in Uganda. Thanks for taking the time to share them with us. We continue to pray that God will give you His wisdom and strength as you face each new challenge! Larry, Linda and Chris
Enjoying your posts so much. I can just picture you doing your laundry by hand. We did a lot of that in Nigeria. (We had a gas engine washing machine for part of the time but often it didn't work.) Be glad you aren't going to be there that long or your clothes will begin to show some tough care - lots of rubbing.
We continue to pray for you as each day you face new situations. So hard to see people living in such conditions. Once again we're reminded how blessed we are as I'm sure you have experienced over and over.
Prayers continue for you.
Sharon Visser
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