Mama Penze's Secret

In Nabulagala Slums, I would imagine everyone is tired. Tired of living in poverty, filth and need. Hungry for more. Is there more to life? Yet Mama Penze knows a secret, the beautiful mystery of life. She sees it, feels it, breathes it.

    Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:12-13)

    What a bold statement! I know this is true as I have seen in lived out in many of the lives of my new friends. Mama Penze was a refugee who now lives in Nabulagala Slum Community. She lives in a house (two very small rooms divided by a curtain) with nine others and longs for her children to go to school. When we see or hear of situations like this, we may initially think it a very bleak and hopeless situation, and maybe even cry out to God in confusion. But there is something striking about Mama Penze’s life. It is not her troubled past, nor the challenges she presently faces. No! It is the hope that she has for an eternal future. Through trusting in Jesus, who lived, died and was raised to life, anyone can be saved from the deserved punishment and receive forgiveness and eternal life. That is hope. And that is an offer of the most intimate, satisfying and fulfilling relationship there has ever been. And that is an invite to the biggest party ever. “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” (Hebrews 6v19). If this is false hope, there is no hope. But if it is true and firm as the Bible says, it is something that we each need to consider, because it is of huge significance.

   Mama Penze knows the secret. She believes that whatever trials she may face now it is God who gives her strength and hope. She takes refuge in the knowledge that her Saviour says “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16v33).

   She was the first and last woman I visited on community outreach. Her eagerness to read the Bible with us and her sure faith inspire and encourage me greatly. Another encouragement was the answer to prayer that the pain in her back has subsided. God is able. He can do all things and he is not absent.

   God is in Nabulagala Slums. He is in Kampala. He is in Hayes, Lincoln, Aberystwyth and the whole world. And he is Sovereign.

King Of Wonders

After a week of interviews, we set off on the long bumpy road to discover a place called Musana Camp. Its description pretty much sounded like paradise so I told myself it sounded too good to be true…

We arrived exhausted and looked up to have our breaths taken away by millions of stars in the ebony night sky and immediately the theme of our weekend emerged beautifully in a song that we couldn’t help but sing – “King of wonders, we stand amazed! There’s no other, other than you. King of wonders, you know the way to our hearts. And, the more we see, the more we love you.”

I awoke early the next day, desperate for a wee. Not really wanting to get out of my mozzie net and find the long drop, I tried to hold it in and go back to sleep. No good. I needed to go. So I got out of my sleeping bag, crawled under my mozzie net, unzipped the tent door… And stood with my jaw wide open.

This is the view of Musana. Its beauty is too much to take in. A spacious green field, bursting with trees and crazily cool birds, overlooks Lake Victoria, which stretches as far as the eye can see with islands in full view too. I was so thankful then to be awake. I was far too excited to go back to sleep, simply wanting to absorb as much time as possible in this stunning place. Musana truly is a beautiful spiritual retreat where we had the opportunity think about and chat through what God has been teaching us here and importantly how that is going to impact the way we live.

Walking through an African forest is something I have always wanted to do and it was not something I had expected to experience during this mission trip. It was an incredible surprise and a real treat for me to hike through the amazing equatorial forest to Mutunyu Falls. We walked and skipped and ran very fast (to avoid the biting ants which cause much pain) along paths, over streams and logs to eventually end up at this gem of a waterfall – WOW. Isn’t God’s glory revealed so wonderfully through creation? We so enjoyed our time there standing under the cool waters singing and shouting for joy in praise.

 Later, we played football by the lakeside after canoeing on the lake to some small islands. Our God is a good Father and he knows how to give good gifts, he loves to bless us even though we are so undeserving.

‘Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.’ – 1 Timothy 6:17.

 On the Sunday, we had the golden opportunity to experience their church, which is booming with children from local villages. God’s presence was so tangible there as we worshiped in the midst of God’s breath-taking nature. Quite incredible…
 

Life Changing Sponsorship

Last week (Tues - Fri), we spent our time visiting different children and widows who have been sponsored by Smile. It was touching to be welcomed into so many homes and get an insight into the everyday life of these humble people. We interviewed the sponsored individuals and some family members to evaluate the impact Smile has had. Many of these families only spoke Luganda so it was often difficult knowing how to be of use. We practiced the little Luganda we have learnt and listened to their stories. It is amazing to hear how radically lives have been changed through the sponsorship programme.

This week, I am helping to write up these interviews whilst Emily is travelling with Chris (her brother, my cousin). As follows is my write up of one story which held particular significance to me:

Smile Charity Uganda is a Non-Governmental Organisation created to support individuals and families in need. This is carried out through its feeding, education, empowering and development programmes.

Victoria is a 20 year old girl who lives with her sister and widowed mother. Her step father used to pay her school fees, but when he died in 2001, her mother struggled to find the money to fund her education. Therefore, Victoria was often sent home from school because she had not paid her fees in full. Four years later, her mother’s friend connected her family to Smile through a pastor, enabling Victoria to be sponsored.

Since Smile stepped in, life became easier for Victoria as she no longer faced the embarrassment of having to leave school for not paying her fees but rather she could freely enjoy the education that every child should have the right to. Furthermore, she is a considerate and extremely bright girl who desires to study at university to be a cardiologist. Currently, she is facing the challenge of funding her university studies. It struck me that this beautiful young woman, the same age as me, with hopes and dreams for her future, just like me, does not have the same educational opportunities that I do. Though the unfairness of this weighed heavily on my heart, I join Victoria in giving thanks to God for providing through Smile for her education so far and partner with her in prayer that God will provide a way for her to study at university. She has such a gentle spirit and an eagerness to learn so that she can help those in need using her skills to become a heart surgeon.

Victoria also told us “I wish to start up an orphanage and sponsor kids like Smile has been doing to kids like me!” This highlights the wonderful way in which Smile’s sponsorship programmes can have a big impact in the life of this generation.

We Love Ruth Mother Care.

Coming back home after the village and being re-united with our friends in Kampala was so lovely. It made me realise how quickly we’d formed friendships and how much people here care with such sincerity! Praise God for good friends :)

After spending Sunday evening at church, we rested and recollected ourselves on Monday. Then on Tuesday we had the pleasure of re-joining Ruth Mother Care! The children and teachers are always so full of joy on our arrival (however late we arrive) and it felt so good to be back. Last week the children had exams so we were only in for half days; we supervised exams, led revision lessons to re-cap what they’d learnt previously and managed to fit in some fun stuff too...

I brought in a book called ‘The Selfish Crocodile’ (a much recommended childhood read!) and as we read and acted out this story with the  children in our P2 and P3 classes, their eyes widened and their faces grinned as they smiled and laughed absorbing every colour, animal and word on each page. To say the least the children were absolutely delighted. I hadn’t realised just how much excitement a simple story book would cause… And it hit me again how few resources these children had access to and how often we take our many resources totally for granted. Having studied the literacy development in children at university, I have learnt that reading story books regularly at school and at home, with teachers, peers, parents and siblings, has a largely positive impact. It helps to broaden the child’s vocabulary (both knowledge and understanding of words), improves spelling, grammar and pronunciation. Therefore, having access to story books would have hugely beneficial implications for these children learning English at Ruth Mother Care (and elsewhere). SO… Here’s the best bit… There is something we can do about it. If you have any old story books at home that you no longer use, we could love to collect them and send them to Ruth Mother Care School so that they can build up a library for the children to use. Whether you have one, two, ten or more books, everything will be so gratefully received and will benefit the education of many beautiful children, empowering them with language skills and giving them hope for the future.

We returned to RMC on Friday, after a day of illness on my part, and realised things had not gone according to plan. Sadly there had been confusion due to miscommunication about how long we were helping out at the school, so all the children were prepared to leave and have their last day at school (we were hoping to have an extra day with them all on Monday). Although we felt terrible to start with, our God so full of grace somehow turned our day around enabling us to get everything done that we wanted to. Grace is being given undeserved favour from God, none of us deserve his blessings but he is so gracious in blessing us regardless. I am so thankful for God’s grace, that God is on our side and that he invites us to lean on his strength not our own – because we are so weak! But He is strong.

Enjoying African tea and blowing up balloons in the teachers office!

We started by getting the children to finish drawing some card designs which we are hoping to make and sell back home (there are some fabulous drawers) which they all enjoyed. Then, we carried out a creative craft idea for gardening; Emily helped the children plant onion seedlings in plastic bottles in groups, whilst I taught the rest about what plants need to grow. After break, we told the children the story of Noah’s Ark which was great fun – We read from a children’s picture bible and stopped at various intervals to do activities. First, we played an animal game that was hilarious even though it didn’t go according to plan, then we sung “the animals went in two-by-two, hurrah, hurrah!” whilst marching in pairs. As the flood part of the story came, we surprised then with balloons to represent the waters! Then, Emily face-painted a rainbow on each child to remind us that God is faithful and keeps his promises, whilst I asked questions about the story and gave out animal stickers. After that, we collapsed into little wooden chairs and watched as the children had prepared a wonderful farewell session of incredible dances, amazing singing and a sweet little speech. It was touching watching them rejoice and smile, dance and sing for the last time of our trip. It has been a true privilege to join this school for the time we have, what a huge blessing to teach and play with these wonderful children.

Traditional Ugandan Dance!

And as for the teachers… We spend one last day with them on Monday, decorating their office, tying together crafts and cooking them English food. I have learnt so much from these inspirational women, about how to genuinely love and deeply care the children you have been entrusted with. They are incredible women filled with God’s joy, compassion and utter strength. I am amazed by them and the way they are so expectant for God to continue doing great things in this school. 

Please do keep the children and teachers of Ruth Mother Care School in your thoughts and prayers.