a year ago today, i was in uganda with 15 other bloggers. it was the first time poverty and i ever had a go at each other. i don’t think it liked me very much…coming in with my western attitude and designer jeans.
and honestly, i loathed it right back. i loathed it so much, i’ve woken up every morning since this trip determined to crush it.
a year ago today, i wrote this:
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today is one of those days i don?t want to end.
we started early, and headed to compassion’s ugandan central office. the professionalism, humility, and passion the staff shared literally glowed the moment we walked in. i was surprised to hear how many of them are reading our blogs?so to the compassion staff, thank you. thank you for teaching us so many things.
we spent most of the day at a project about an hour outside of the city?and let me tell you, i will never, EVER complain about oklahoman roads again. i have to admit, it was actually a pretty fun bus ride with everyone bouncing all over the place. things i didn’t even know i had jiggled!
at the project, we had the chance to see how compassion’s child survival program works, putting a special focus on meeting the needs of pregnant women, and their children from birth to three years old. we visited homes where we saw the program in place. workers from the project visit and help set goals for the family and the child, as well as provide for some basic needs.
after a delicious lunch, we broke off into groups to help observe and serve within the project. carlos and i taught a group of kids the motions and words for YMCA and Jesus Loves Me?we served the smallest children a special milk mixture that helps both nourish them and give them energy?
and then we played. out in the back of the project is a huge, grassy hill (complete with cattle at the bottom) and overlooking the amazing ugandan landscape. sophie and i played a game of ball (and let me tell you, some of these girls could out throw ANYONE)?we blew bubbles, picked up kids, loved on them, and made a very slow journey back to the bus?with children latching on to any available spot on our bodies, screaming
BYE, MUZUNGU!!! BYE, MUZUNGU!!! (which means “bye, white person!!!”)
i was tired. a little sunburnt. sweaty. smelly. really needing to use the bathroom. and really not wanting to leave.
about 20 feet from the bus, a nine or ten year old boy in a school uniform ran through the crowd, jumped in front of me, faced me, and gave me the biggest, tightest hug i think i?ve ever received. he simply muttered the words, “thank you, muzungu. thank you.” and then walked away.
Comments
11 responses to “A Year Ago Today…”
I want to do that.
Who you calling white?
just kidding…i’m a muzungu and I sponsor a child. :-)
SO glad it messed you up, I pray we all get hit in the heart by the pain and suffering in our world and that we all act.
Thank you for being a voice for the hurting.
How amazing would it be if everyone that reads your blog gave even $5 a month to Compassion or a like organization? It really is that simple.
I pray I do all I can to help the hurting and the lost for the rest of my life. I pray I do what Jesus said in Matthew 25, And I pray this for everyone reading this right now too.
God bless.
I had a similar experience when I traveled to Haiti. It’s one thing to see that kind of poverty on CNN, it’s another when you see it with your own eyes and smell it with your own nose. When you see it on TV, it’s easy to stay disconnected, but actually going and serving in one of these areas gives poverty a face.
Once poverty has a face, I don’t know how any Christian could possibly turn their backs on it. I came back with the same resolve to eradicate poverty.
We met a guy while down there who said, “Jesus said that the poor would always be with us, but he didn’t say anything about the starving.” That blew me away.
if we are moving closer to the heart of God, we are becoming more and more uncomfortable with what is happening in our world. I will be heading back to Kenya for the third time in three years this summer. Something happens to me in Africa that doesn’t happen in America. Part of me hates it, and part of me craves it. Kind of like following Jesus….
Keep moving towards God, its the kind of love that hurts so good!
I think that would be an amazing trip to take.
Very cool Anne. I have an opportunity to go for 2 weeks to Cambodia this fall. Asia’s Hope rescues orphans from being abandoned only to be swept up into the sex slave trade. Orphans are viewed as worthless.
The thing I love so much about Asia’s Hope and the new vision for many mission organizations, is they train the people to care for their own. Even when teams from our ministry go over they get to focus on using their unique gifts and Asia’s Hope hires locals to manage the guests houses and be live in ‘parents’ to the orphans. That way the American’s, can focus what they are gifted at. In our case the last team we sent over was a medical team to inoculate the orphans who are susceptible to so many untreated diseases over there.
I love how Asia’s Hope meets both the needs of the orphans as well as the locals who desperately need income!
The Compassion organization is simply amazing! I can’t believe how many lives they have changed!!
i have been a compassion sponsor for 25 years and i wonder what it would be like to see where he lives….still praying about that possibility……..thanks for sharing.
there’s nothing like being undone.
I’m looking forward to hearing about the next Compassion trip! Thank you for this wonderful Uganda reminder!
Thank you for the reminder. It?s easy to forget about poverty in my comfortable little reality. I need put it closer to in forefront of my mind. In particular, though, I believe we ought to focus on the souls who lack true riches. This is the true poverty I wish to eradicate.
?Better is the poor who walks in his integrity Than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.? ? Proverbs 28:6
Blessings in Christ,
Marshall Jones Jr.
Great to hear that compassion is doing a bunch of stuff in Uganda too :D
I went there 3 years ago and built a house for Watoto Childerens project.
Felt like we were just there to bring the money (which is fine, it was an awesome experience too!)
I think Muzungu has meant white person for so long that it also means rich person. So rich black people are sometimes also called Muzungu. Interesting…
Also Mzungu, Bazungu, and Wazungu. I think they’re dialects.
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i?ve woken up every morning since this trip determined to crush it.
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That feeling, to my shame, has faded in me. God save us if we allow it to die completely.
Dan