Friday, June 18, 2010

Thank you Uganda


June 18th

When you run for awhile, you eventually hit a wall. Well here i am and i have hit this metaphorical wall hard. After putting in over 10 hour work days in Rakai, my body had to physically tell me that it was time to rest so i ended up with a fever off an on for a few days and have ended up today with a cold.

Other than the fact that my voice still slightly resembles that of a man, praise God i am doing well!

Today we had the amazing opportunity of doing something awesome! We traveled to the village of Zirobwe, the soon to be site of a training center offering job or technical training for the people of Zirobwe by Empower A Child. One of the girls here purchased mattresses, jerry cans, mosquito nets, hoes, and other essentials for those living in huts in the village. The team had traveled there previously and asked the residents what exactly they needed to fully provide for their needs. My group went to 3 different families and delivered variety of all of these things.

Every time i see poverty, you would think that it would start to become less of a shock. But, every time i see someone else in poverty, the face of poverty just gets larger to me. Seeing a woman kneeling accepting a simple foam twin mattress, a plastic jerry can, a mosquito net, and a hoe in such gratitude only seems to humble me greater. At home, i have a huge mattress and nice bed, i don't have to fetch water from a far away well for drinking, showering, cooking, and cleaning, i don't have to worry about malaria infections, and i go to the grocery store instead of digging my own food out of the ground. These people do.

I NEED a new pair of shoes, i NEED a hot shower, i NEED to eat that piece of pizza.

Here i see people living with only one pair of shoes or most often the case no shoes at all, i see people and have only experienced a shower out of a bucket of water and never running water, and i see people that only get one meal a day of whatever is available.

I think my needs and my wants have gotten confused. I don't need any of these things. I am fed every day, at least 3 times a day, i have more than enough clothes and shoes, and i have running water. My needs have become preferences and not actual needs.

Thank you Uganda for daily shaping my heart, for humbling me constantly..

"Look at the nations and watch- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." Habakkuk 1: 5

"These things i have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." John 16:33




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