Family Care Uganda

In Northern Uganda, for the last 19 years a terrible war has been raging in which thousands and thousands of children have been dragged from school & forced to join the Lord’s Resistance Army, at threat of life & limb if they didn’t comply. Both boys & girls were recruited as child soldiers, and the girls as wives for the soldiers & commanders. Gulu has been the center of these abductions, yes, that’s right, the same area where Ebola first broke out! (If you forget what Ebola is, just watch the movie “Outbreak!” again!
Over 1.5 million people live in refugee camps in the North of our country. Too fearful of returning to where their villages were because of the land mines, too traumatized to sleep in their homes at night, lest they be brutalized yet again, many have for the last 18 years lived in this limbo world that has destroyed so much. So many are in need of care, so many in need of the Lord’s touch & healing in their spirits & hearts.
Charles Ochieng went with us, and he had prepared security clearance to some of the IDP camps (Internally Displaced Persons) which are inhabited by Ugandans who have been dislodged by this war. We showed the beautiful “Jesus” movie with Jeremy Sisto to thousands in Kora Abili & Cwiero refugee camps, and people were so thrilled at the miracles & cheered when Jesus rose from the dead!
Every morning we taught 12 Foundation Stones Bible classes to extremely receptive students–people from a broad range of backgrounds & of varied ages, who have come through a great deal & who have tremendous potential to pass on what they learn to others.
We brought donations of soccer balls, & the children were absolutely thrilled, since their normal balls are made usually from plastic bags wrapped up tightly. alt= “Old Soccer Ball.jpg” title: “Old Soccer Ball” img.right { padding 4px margin: 0 0 2px 7px; display: inline;}
Tina & Celly sang and acted many simple Bible stories & songs & the kids just loved it & happily copied & learned along with them as Charles translated.
For years, the World Food Program has been a huge help in supporting these dislodged people, but they are now pulling back their level of support and many were only receiving 2 cups of beans and a small amount of posho each a month, so our visit to the malnutrition unit at the Gulu hospital to pray with them was very touching. Our colleague Jennifer is a nurse in this unit, and several nights a week, one of the dear young kids or babies pass away. It’s a challenging job as so many mothers in the camps, haven’t had the opportunity to learn, nor the facilities to grow their own food as they would, if they were living in their own, unthreatened villages.
The plan is, that Acholi people are supposed to be moving gradually back from the IDP camps to their original villages. This is a mamoth undertaking though, because it takes time & money to begin to build housing where the rebels ravaged & burned their villages to the ground. And more frighteningly, the ubiquitous land mines cause great concern, as every week children and adults lose limbs or life due to stepping on an unexploded land mine put there by the LRA.
We have hardly felt a more sincere desperation to learn of the Lord’s love, His solutions & about the Word than with these dear ones who have suffered so much! Their Christianity is real. I has been what has kept them alive through the ravages of War, AIDS, attrocities & we believe many will shine bright as leaders of their own people as they learn to turn & ‘comfort others with the same comfort they are receiving’ from the Lord now.
So few though, have had the opportunity to receive solid Bible training, or even to see fully translated movies of Jesus’ life, so it was a very real privilege to spend this special time with each one.