Deck the Halls

 

Christmas. Tree. Cake. Pudding. Presents. Cookies. Pageants. Turkey. Carols. Lights. Cards. Dinner. Crackers. Lollies. Decorations. Father. Merry. White. Public holiday. Family. Friends. Tinsel. Reindeer. Traditions. Hats.

Apart from being a Christian and believing that what we celebrate at Christmas is actually the birth of Jesus, who is God and who has saved me, one could be forgiven I think for wondering what it's all for. We are so used to it, so surrounded by it, that we don't question why we do it. What is the turkey for really? Could we have Christmas without presents? Without a tree? Without carols? Would it still be Christmas?

From the time I have been working and earning my own money I have bought Christmas presents for friends and family every year. I have bought stupid novelty toys for Secret Santas. I have bought Candy Canes to give out to youth at church or kids at school. I have bought expensive things and cheap crap. I have baked, sewed and painted presents. Because I have felt compelled to give someone something. I have always refused to do the Christmas Card thing, not through any sense of being friendly towards trees, mostly because I don't see the point (and that I'm terribly lazy). But to all other Christmas pressure I have bowed.

I understand that we like giving and receiving presents, I understand that we love to have our beautifully decorated tree, I understand that we love ham and turkey, pudding and custard (or that if we don't, we should supply it for our guests so that they will know it's Christmas), I understand that we need carols to make it feel like Christmas, I understand that without these things it's not quite right. I get it. I really do.

But what if we had none of these things?

Or worse still, had none of these things and looked longingly at the small portion of the world that does, thinking that if we only had the money that they had we would be so happy because we too could eat turkey, give presents, sing carols, decorate trees…

For those that have, in reality, how many would be willing to give it all up? For all our thoughts of shopping at Oxfam, or buying a gift card that gives someone in another country a goat, I would guess that we couldn't bring ourselves to give it all up. For one thing, it would be really inconvenient. Our culture is so steeped in 'Christmas' traditions that it is almost impossible to escape them. And for another it's our right to do what we like with what we earn. And what kind of Scrooge would we be if we didn't celebrate Christmas in the traditional way?

This is something that I am wondering this year. After all, being in a country where survival is hard, and Christmas doesn't mean putting starting the next year with a credit card debt (one, because here not so many gifts are given, and two, because not so many people have credit cards), gives a fairly different perspective of what it's all for. And yet even here I am surprised. Those that can afford, do. People talk of trees, I have already heard various carols being played in shops and apparently crime rises around this time because thieves know that people are buying gifts.

Being here raises so many questions for me. Not just about Christmas, but about the way we live carelessly, as if the world revolves around us and our needs. As the years pass I become more and more uncomfortable with all that the 'celebration' of Christmas is. And when I see the same traditions being embraced here it makes my skin crawl a little. Why does our western culture, so much of which is fake, surface, commercial, have to appeal? I guess I don't really expect to know the answer, and I also don’t expect that these things will change to make me more comfortable. I guess my only way forward is to live by my convictions and wage my own personal war against our consumerist, materialistic, cultural celebration and remind myself what it is I believe, why I celebrate and what I can do to make a difference in the world.

And yes, despite my rant, I will probably miss turkey, Christmas pudding, my family, friends and the Santa Sack my mum still makes for us even though we have all moved out. Oh and Jenny S's Christmas Cookies, will definitely miss those.

And because we are suckers for tradition and Christmas is a really good time to do something for someone else we have HOPE gift cards for sale. Check out the website to order some and send some good cheer to Uganda and DR Congo.

Or you could buy one of these!

Be blessed

bron

Beauty and the Beast

 

The symbol on the flag here in Uganda is that of a Crested Crane. I'm not really into birds or animals or nature really, but this bird is possibly the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. Every time I see them I am astounded at God's creativity and eye for detail. When I see them fly overhead, they are graceful and elegant. Their call is a wild, lonely sort of cry. They remind me of peace and tranquillity, whether in flight or at rest.

    

On the other hand, the Marabou stork, which frequents piles of rubbish that collect on the sides of the road, or that double as roundabouts, is possibly the ugliest I have ever seen. So much so, that every time I see one I cringe and shudder involuntarily. Their beaks clack (and to me, give meaning to that word), their necks droop with loose skin and they seem to find it difficult to move their ungainly body. I'm not sure what God was thinking with them to be honest, maybe to someone else they are beautiful, or maybe the beauty of the Crested Crane is heightened by the ugliness of the Stork, or maybe the beauty of the Crane reveals the comparative ugliness of the Stork. Well for whatever reason, they are both here co existing, the Crane in the open fields and the Stork in rubbish.

  

Every time I see one of the Cranes I think of the ugliness of the Stork and I was thinking this week that these birds sum up much of the beauty and ugliness I see in Uganda.

Uganda itself is an extremely beautiful country. Of course I have only seen a relatively small portion of it, the bit that does receive the most rainfall, but there is a reason it has been called in the past 'the pearl of Africa'. Added to that, the people here are so friendly. And not just because I am a muzungu. I see the way that people care for each other, for their families, and the way that they extend their hospitality to friends and strangers alike. They display a dignity that belies the poverty of many. They are a beautiful people, like the Crane, full of grace and, purely from my own observation, a generally happy people.

On the other hand, I cannot comprehend the depths (or heights) of corruption here. It is ugly. It is a stain, a bleeding, gaping wound that seems to continue to bleed out no matter the treatment given. From the lowest to the highest in Ugandan society, corruption is a controlling influence. Then there is poverty, which distorts and destroys. It is soul sucking. The very fact that some can remain standing with dignity is a testament to their character, but for others it crushes them, sucks them dry, so that they have no capacity to care, no room for hope, no ability to see beyond the day they are currently living in. And then there is disease. Which probably goes hand in hand with poverty, but doesn't discriminate between rich and poor. While HIV/AIDS could be said to be the highest profile disease, it is certainly not the biggest killer. Malaria is a lot easier to get and claims the most victims. These things are ugly.

How can these contradictions exist side by side? I guess in the same way the Cranes and the Storks do, one in the fields, one in the rubbish. It makes me thankful that such beauty exists and hopeful that with enough time, willpower and action the rubbish can be removed.

HOPE is here to deal with the rubbish while celebrating the beauty. Every person we help has the potential to be a Crested Crane, flying high about the rubbish dumps of life, far removed from their stench, free. You also have the ability to live as a Crested Crane. Your rubbish dumps may not be corruption, poverty and disease but I bet they're there. Choose to be a Crested Crane. Live with grace, showing compassion, kindness and mercy toward others. Live with dignity, dignify others. Live a life of beauty, a thing that shines for others to see that there is hope to be found in what can seem like a cruel world.

Blessings

bron

“I can see you are favouring the monkeys”

 

HOPE was recently able to acquire a large piece of land in one of the western districts of Uganda. Having spent my life mostly on house sized blocks of land, this piece could fit a housing development. At the moment it's just a mostly uncleared semi jungle. What is commonly referred to here as bush. And apparently, although I haven't seen them myself, in a patch of bush in the middle of the land, we have monkeys. Genuine, bonafide, live in the jungle monkeys.

Not one of our monkeys but a Ugandan resident monkey all the same, probably a species similar to ours. Cute isn’t he?

Okay, so maybe you don't care about monkeys. But I was seriously excited that we have monkeys. On the other hand, our partner who will be managing the land was not so excited about the monkeys. In fact he was ready to clear the land, including the monkeys' home.

Some of our ‘monkey harbouring’ land

Apart from making the land useful, he was actually keen to clear the bush so that the monkeys would move away. It seems that our furry friends are a pest to farmers and eat their crops. Much like our Aussie icon the friendly kangaroo. When we were talking to him he said to us "I see you are favouring the monkeys". Which made me stop and think.

Why do I think that we should keep 'harbouring' (Kaazi's word) the monkeys? Do I think that conserving the environment instead of clearing it is more important than people's livelihood? How can we be responsible caretakers of this land we now own, being good neighbours and good stewards to our monkeys we have inherited?

I care about the environment in a kind of benign way, meaning I care until I have to put too much effort into caring or it impacts on my sense of wellbeing (translate - happy to conserve water until I want a long, hot shower). Being here in Uganda though has transformed me. Not through any choice of my own really, but by the fact of my lack of consumption. There are so many time saving, life changing, space saving bits of stuff that I used to use that now are beyond my reach. And to tell the truth I don't even really miss that stuff.

I think this article I found puts it better than I could but basically to care about people living in poverty, and to care about future generations we need to care about the planet we live on. The future of our descendants will depend on how well we have cared for the environment and our example in the western world so far is pretty condemning. Not even in the sense that industries are polluting the environment and big business doesn't generally care about how they make profits. But it's in our conspicuous consumption. Our need to own, possess, consume. And our philosophy that we save time and space by making things disposable, throwaway.

Although not by their choice, the life of most people on the planet is eminently more sustainable than that of what is commonly referred to as the first world. Just something to think about.

As for the monkeys, for the moment they stay. And we pray that they will be satisfied with the wild guava trees on our land and leave our neighbours crops alone.

Have a blessed week

bron

This is it

 

Usually it's easier than this. Usually I get some kind of inspiration, or see something that I think I can write about. This week however has proved somewhat difficult. Not necessarily because I can't think of anything but more because I have too many things floating round in my head, none of them fully realised thoughts, just bits and pieces.

I guess I had to get here at some point. After all, I've been here for almost nine months, and I'm not a writer, or at least I haven't been up till now. So I think I can be forgiven for having writers' block. Which isn't, I suppose, entirely true either, as I have plenty of ideas.

In high school (and possibly many other areas of my life), I was the Queen of Procrastination. And while some of my work was not, let's say, of the best quality, I always came through with the goods. Possibly my issue this week is procrastination. Trying to put off till the last minute the inevitable.

And the inevitable is this. I have made a decision. And it's big. And scary. And once I put it out there, it's real. No turning back.

As you hopefully realise from the title of my blog I am here for at least a year. Like I said before, I have been here for almost nine months now. So around now is the time I should probably be thinking about what's ahead. Am I going to come back? If so, how long?

And so, my decision is… (pause to take a deep breath)… that I will be heading back to Australia sometime early next year, spending a few months seeing friends and family and advocating for Australia HOPE International, and then, somewhere around July, head back here to Uganda and start in on the indefinite part.

To any friends and family who have not already received this news, I apologise that you did not receive my email letting you know. That would probably mean though that I do not have your email address.

  

I believe that God has given me a love for this place and it's people and that He has set me up with HOPE for a reason, to help HOPE in it's purpose of empowering others. I don't have all the answers, I don't know exactly what I'm going to be doing, I don't know if or when I'll go back to Australia, but I do know this: that He who started a good work in me will bring it to completion (Philippians 1:6) and that He has only good plans for me (Jeremiah 29:11). Sometimes it is difficult to live out this faith I hold to. Especially when it comes to the day to day living, loving God and loving your neighbour. But when it comes to the big stuff, all I can do is what I think God has said to me, take a leap of faith, do it, and then see what God has in store for the next bit.

  

Bless y'all

bron

Mary's interview

 

Lulenti and Mary are pastors in Kakira Sugar Works and partners of Australia HOPE International. Choosing to live in poverty rather than somewhere 'nicer', they work tirelessly to aid orphans and widows in their area. Mary has not been able to live at home for the last eight months as she had a hip replacement in January through money that was kindly donated to HOPE for this purpose. She is waiting for a second one when there is money. A house is currently being built where she can live that is on level ground and has a sit-down toilet as opposed to the usual squat latrines. When the toilet is installed she will be able to go home and continue caring for these kids.

The following is an interview Bill Osborne conducted with Mary and Lulenti after Bill, Suz and I had visited with them and met some of these orphans. The video interview can be found on the Australia HOPE International website here. I have not edited the English or the length (you might want to get a cup of tea before starting) but it is worth bearing with it (or at least in my opinion it is).

Have a blessed week.

 

Bill: So Mary can you tell me what life is like for most of the sixty or so orphans that are in your care in Kakira? What is life like for them?

Mary: Most of them have lost their parents. They don't have anywhere to stay, they lack food, they lack dresses. Nobody cares about them and since they don't have parents they come to us when they want some assistance. The little we have we share, pray with them and send them back home to their relatives.

Bill: Pastor Lulenti was saying sometimes they knock on your door and they have not been fed?

Mary: Yeah, most of the time they come at home, they knock on our door, sometimes when we are asleep, because when the parents die in Kakira they leave them without any relative and most of them go to just friends of their fathers, of their late fathers and their late mothers then they stay with them but at the end of the day these children are being mistreated. They are given a lot of work to do and if they don't fulfil that work they will not be given any food and they end up knocking our doors, maybe even at night, we are just sleeping, the kids come while crying, shedding tears. They tell us "I've not been given food since morning, I've not eaten anything." Then we give the little we have, pray with them together and console them, try to console them and encourage them, then the next day maybe can go back because we also lack, don’t have enough space to keep them.

Bill: And you were saying Mary, sometimes they are beaten?

Mary: Yeah, most of the time these kids are beaten because staying with somebody who you don't know, somebody who is not your relative, somebody maybe just picked them because he knew about the parents who passed away. It's hard for them to keep unless he has a heart of keeping a kid so they end up mistreating them. They end up beating them up seriously. Like one day a certain girl was beaten seriously and (s)he came at our verandah in the midnight. We had nothing to do. We didn't know who is knocking but (s)he was just knocking on our door calling "Pastor, Pastor! Can you really open for me?" Then by the time we opened the girl was beaten the head, the blood was flowing and some blood was coming from the ears one day. So the following day we had to carry this girl and take her to the hospital to get first aid then afterwards we had to talk to her and console her and tell her that one day God will help.

Bill: Has that girl gone back to the house where she was beaten?

Mary: Since we had nowhere to keep her we encouraged her to go back to the place where (s)he was beaten. She had nothing to do. She wanted to stay with us but we no enough space to keep her and we had to send her back.

Bill: If you had a boarding school she could board in the school and be safe?

Mary: If we can get a school and a boarding school (s)he can get in a school and stay in a school in a boarding school so that she gets her education properly because (s)he likes schooling but only that only that (s)he lost her parents.

Bill: And where do most of the children come from? Where did their mum and their dad come from that they ended up in Kakira?

Mary:These parents came from Sudan. That's another country in East Africa. A long way. And they came, the father came from there, from Sudan when he was a youth. He stayed here in Kakira for a long time. Time came when he got married, he got a wife, whereby a wife was affected with HIV AIDS and they were both now affected. When they stayed in Kakira from Sudan, they had no relative in Uganda and for a long time from youth to marriage period they began giving birth to these children. They had no relative in Uganda and they couldn't go back to Sudan because they had some wars whereby they had to run away from Sudan as refugees to come to Uganda. So when time came, they got HIV AIDS. They died. The father died. The wife also died and these children were just dumped in Uganda. No brother. No sister. No relative. Only the friends to the parents whereby they end up living a hard life, no food, nobody cares and they end up coming to our house.

Bill: And some come from Northern Uganda?

Mary: We have so many people who come form Northern Uganda since Northern Uganda is a place where wars are almost, is now 25 years. Some children were born there, they've never seen peace. Until today they are grown up but no peace. They don't sleep in their homes, they sleep in bushes and some of them, most of them were taken to camps since the villages were where these rebels were coming and they kill these families. So they were taken to camps whereby in camps you find that so many people they, they make alcohol which contributes to adultery, that they mix up together. Some of, most of them are raped by the rebels when they are taken. When they find a family all the girls become wives to the rebels and all the men are captured and being taken to fight against the government so they end up that they, these ladies end up with children but with out fathers and most of them when they heard that Kakira was an industrial area where they can get maybe they come and cook alcohol. So they come from Northern Uganda to Kakira whereby when they come to Kakira they come when they already affected with HIV AIDS and at the end of the day they end up dying whereby in Kakira there is nobody who knows them. They came from Northern Uganda and when they die these parents are being taken in the middle of sugar cane where they are being buried and they just leave their children just dumped in Kakira. No father. No mother. No parent apart from god and they end up coming to us telling us "Pastor can you please help me? I want to go to school." But nothing to do.

Bill: So Mary and Lulenti somehow you manage to keep about 60 in school. We've been helping you with about 20 or so with their school fees but you actually manage to keep about 60 orphans in school, the ones we saw at your old house. What's your heart? What is your heart for those children? What do you really want for them?

Lulenti: What we want to do if god helped us and we get a school, a boarding school, it can help us to keep many of them and to educate them because you know when they are in different schools we can't pay but if we have a school it can help us to educate all the children who are suffering, fatherless, motherless. So it can help us a lot.

Bill: What will happen to these children when they grow up if Hope for the Hurt and Australia HOPE International, we do not intervene, we do not come to them and help them with education, with good food, with love, with the Christian hope. If we do not bring that what is their future? In five, ten years where will those children be? What will their life be like?

Mary: If we don't help these children at Kakira in fact what we can see if we don't help them totally then they are going on the streets, like girls can go and just sell themselves on the streets that everybody, every man who comes around they'll say "You're welcome." They sell their bodies because they have nowhere to get any future and the boys will end up on the streets. Most of them will end up thieves, taking marijuana and if they take it that will, they will end up on the streets and stealing people. But we just pray that we just help them.

Bill: When a young teenage girl sells their body how much do they charge? What money do they get for a man to abuse them?

Mary: Yeah, when they sell their bodies they are just given even a chapatti because of lack of food.

Bill: Just a little bit of bread...

Mary: Just chapatti just a little thing and they end up even loving these boda boda (motorcycle taxi) men so long as he can give one hundred, two hundred shillings whereby (s)he can get only something to taste.

Bill: So two hundred shillings is about five cents - that's all they get and they probably get STD's, they get AIDS.

Mary: They get AIDS. They get STD's. They get, they produce when they are very young girls and they end up also dropping, most of them after getting pregnant like that, they get their kids and they throw, (s)he delivers like today (s)he goes and throws the kid when he is still alive in the toilet and most of them in Uganda here just picked from toilets by somebody maybe when they hear somebody is just crying from there.

One day there was a lady who had a young girl and this girl got pregnant yet the mother was helpless and (s)he convinced this girl and told her that can we please abort this kid and yet the womb was 7 months the child had already grown but because of lack of funds and lack of assistance she suggested that they can abort the kid. The girl tried to refuse but the mother could insist that we have to abort this kid. One day the kid was aborted, after abortion this kid refused to die. When he refused to die the mother suggested that they will arrest us lets get hold of this kid and throw it in the toilet.

They went and threw the kid in the toilet and God was still sustaining this child's life. After three days the kid was still alive in the toilet, just crying from there, then the third day that's when the girl, the owner of the kid went to the toilet (s)he found when the kid was still alive and was crying. When (s)he told the mother that the kid is still crying what the mother did, got a stick and went with it since the toilet was almost full (s)he pushed this baby down the faeces until the baby passed away. It was very sad, very sad news but they were arrested.

Afterwards the mother was saying, "Now I have no husband, I only gave birth to this kid. We are suffering. I am affected with HIV AIDS. Anytime I am dying. I'm leaving this kid. This kid is also affected with HIV AIDS and she has given birth to another kid. Where to leave the kid? I was forced because of the situation to push that baby inside the toilet." So the situation is so hard and so hard and most of the time these kids who are left and dumped without parents they end up…

One day Pastor Lulenti was moving and I plus Sylivia, we were moving on the streets and we found one day a certain young boy. He was very sick, shivering, he had no help, no assistance. What we did, Pastor got hold of this boy, he was taken to the hospital and after taking to the hospital they need some drugs and to eat well. So we ended up getting hold of this boy and we took him to the hospital until he was treated but most of them who are dumped like that without parents we always find them on the street.

We find them just like five people. We find them on the streets like in a family both parents are dead they've left the elder kid, is ten years, he's caring about the younger ones, about three of them and now you find that he also goes to the garbage to look for some food to pick pick some food leftovers, that have been thrown there he pick picks to come and give the young ones.

So we find like one day we found a certain ka young girl. It had rained heavily. (S)he had nobody to care about but (s)he was just on the street lying down, not even good streets but a place, just lying down (s)he was sleeping because there was nobody to care and we just picked the kid we brought the kid back home where they had been left. Yet they were chasing them again away from that house because they had lost the parents. The parents who had no land, they had no houses and they were just being helped to sleep there because they had nowhere to go but still the owners of the houses they want their houses for rent so that they get some money, so they end up just dumped and they come to us crying but they need help.

Bill: And Mary there's no letting up, there's no stopping of this is there? Recently you lost a pastor and his wife and you and Lulenti had to find somewhere for their four children. Last week you lost a widow. She had two children and you were finding somewhere for her and this goes on all the time doesn't it?

Mary: Yep.

Bill: What did that widow die from that left two children last week?

Mary: Ah, this widow who died last week, she died of HIV AIDS and because ARV's here in Uganda because of corruption, ARV's are supposed to be given freely but because of corruption, a lot of corruption in our country Uganda, you find that so many hospitals demand some money before they get, whereby these widows end up, they don't have any amount of money. So this woman ended up dying not because she was supposed to die but (s)he lacked even funds to go to the hospital.

Bill: Alright well your faith must be strong to cope with that and I know it grieves you both very seriously, it's very heavy to cope with this every day but we commend you both for the great work you do in Gods strength and I hope someone in Australia will come to our assistance to fulfil our dreams for these children. And Mary I hope we get the septic tank in your house so that then you will leave Kampala and come back to your husband and you'll be sweethearts again. Yeah that will be good...