The final push: Soroti, Uganda

Hello from Uganda! As I write this, it is currently 5:30pm Ugandan time on Saturday. We have been trekking across Uganda experiencing a lot of amazing things. Right now I sit next to John Beckham in a Safari Van on our way back to Kampala from the deep bush. God has been very good to us and has shown us His broken heart, his blessings, and his power. So let's backtrack a few days and discuss where we have been and what we have been doing.

Thursday - We had a lot of traveling to do Thursday, but we also had a few important places to see. Our first stop was a town called Mayuge (May-you-gay). This ARM project site was an awesome place where kids were hearing about Jesus and his love. Although Christianity is widely seen as the most widespread religion, Mayuge is an 80% Muslim community. The Pastor of the church we visited shared powerful stories about how the child sponsorship program has impacted the area in a dramatic way, and that God was doing a great work in the area.

From Mayuge we traveled a few hours to a city called Soroti. Soroti had a very interesting story as it was a key area during 2003 when the LRA (Lords Resistance Army) pushed over 30,000 refugees to the city as they killed, brutalized and abducted whoever they pleased. Although we arrived 7 years after the event, the city was still experiencing lasting effects of the extreme amount of people, fear, and death it experienced during that time. The ARM project in Soroti had struggled to maintain growth and consistency with all that was happening around them. Families would send their children to run at night to escape the LRA's capture. At present, the LRA has moved far from Soroti, but the effects are still there. Although about 180 children are sponsored, the leaders of the project must go searching for children who have been taken to remote villages by their parents who left in fear and have not returned.

After our time at the Soroti project, our team headed the the main hospital in Soroti, in hopes of praying with children and families, and handing out about 40 quilts that we brought with us. The quilts were made by a group of woman from Minnesota. These quilts each had a bible verse of encouragement and joy. For the weeks prior to the trip, the church in Minnesota had laid all the quilts on the seats in their Auditorium and would ask people to hold them and pray for the family at the hospital who would receive them. So from the get go we were looking to God for direction as to who would receive each quilt.

To explain what we experienced at the hospital, I would like you to take your thoughts about what a hospital looks like and throw it away. This hospital was one floor, and had many wings with courtyards in the middle. The buildings were not well maintained and it was common to see ants, cockroaches, and other crawly things in the buildings. What surprised me immediately was the amount of people who were "camping" out in the dirt and grass of the hospital. What we learned was that many of these people came from long distances and going home each day was not an option. The other sad fact was that the hospital provided no food, lodging, or basic supplies to the families OR the patients. So basically if you brought your sick child to the hospital, it was still your responsibility to feed them, bath them, and take care of them. The reality was that the hospital was over extended beyond imagine. We estimated that the hospital had 3 times the amount of patients that it could handle. This meant sick children were outside, on the concrete floor, laying in feces and many dying before our eyes. Let me tell you about a couple instances.

Our first stop at the hospital was in the area where malnourished children were. Of the 40 mothers who held their sick babies, roughly 15 were found outside, sitting in the heat. As we met with them and explained why we were there, my eyes could not budge from a mother who held in her arms a baby, skin and bones on the verge of death. The mom's face told me everything. The child had a bilateral cleft lip, which made it impossible for the baby latch and nurse. The reality was that this baby needed sever and immediate medical attention, most likely a feeding tube and then surgery. But none of these things were offered or available. I pray that God would take care of that child, but I fear that in time it will die. This is life in Uganda, and it is a hard reality.

After visiting the malnourished children, we moved to a section of the building where children were sick or suffering from a variety of problems. Malaria, sickle cell, impoverishment, worms, and other serious problems. As we walk toward the 30ftx30ft room which has about 25 beds in it, I am overwhelmed by the mass of parents and sick children who poured into the room from the outside courtyard. We waited a few minutes to allow them to make it into the room before our team would head in. We go in without medicine, medical knowledge, food or answers. What we did have in materials was small. About 20 quilts and willing hearts. The room was between 90-100 degrees and the humidity was unbelievably heavy. Although there were only 25 beds, there were easily 75 children along with their parents piled in. On the floor. Along the wall. Wherever there was room. We shared the gospel message of hope and salvation, and then proceeded to go and pray with each family member. I realized quickly that I was going to need a deep faith to meet with these people because I had no food or medicine or solutions, but what I did have was the power of Christ in me. But believe me, although I KNEW this I still felt terrible coming with empty hands. So I prayed for healing, for salvation, and for hope when all things look so hopeless. If someone was going to help, it was going to have to be God. What a humbling experience. While we were there, one child died even as we prayed. Our time at the hospital shook us all pretty deeply. The ride home was a very quiet one.

Friday- After a night of rest and contemplation at a local hotel, we loaded up and were on our way to experience the beauty of Uganda. Our leader Johnny had purposefully planned a 2 day Safari Excursion for our team. We took a 4 hour drive into the bush of Uganda. On our way into the national wildlife preserve where we would stay we came head to head with a LARGE African male Elephant. He was in the road and wasn't interested in letting our caravan pass. Finally he moved to the side, but not before he made a loud signal of anger and made an advance at one of our vans. Luckily he only took 2 strides and stopped, because our Safari van would have been no match for him. (Secretly I was really excited about idea of getting in to a squabble with the Elephant, but then again I can run faster than most people in my van).

Once we made it to the section of river known as the Victoria Nile River, we boarded a double deck scenic boat which took us on a tour of the Nile River. We followed the shore line and saw some amazing things. Over 40 Elephants in one group. Crocodiles, hippos, water buffalo, exotic birds, antelope, warthogs, giraffes, and many other fascinating things. Our boat headed south/upstream toward Murchison Falls, a section of the Nile which drops 200-300 feet. The amazing thing about it though is that above the waterfall the river width goes from roughly 150 yards across to a section measuring 18 feet across. The sheer volume being force fed into such a small area was an amazing site.

Saturday - We stayed the night Friday night at as campground in small yurts. For us it was the greatest deal of "roughing it" that we had experienced. At night, our campground was visited by wild boars and hippos. We also had fire flies in our room. In the morning we left early to experience a Safari drive and see the animals up close and personal. The Safari vans we were in had pop up roofs which allowed us to stand up on the seats and see the animals. We saw a lot of giraffes, hippos, baboons, water buffalo, water bucks, Boars, antelope, vultures, leopards, and the favorite of all... a pride of lions. We gently were able to approach most of the animals and were within 20-30 feet of the lion cubs and their mothers.

After a couple hours of seeing the animals, we grabbed some lunch and hit the road on a 6 hour journey back to Kampala. As I finish it is getting dark and we are very ready to be back to the comfortable home in Gaba.

Please continue to pray with us for God's work her in Uganda and the work he has done in our hearts. After experiencing what we have, going home unchanged would be to deny what God has put on pour hearts. However the reality of slipping back to old routines and forgetting the faces we have seen is possible and realistically an all to easy situation.

Thanks for being on our journey with us by reading this blog and may God impact and call upon you in the same way he has us.



Humbly,

Neal T.