Independence Day

This week there's been a party in Uganda. Okay, so the party was mostly in Kampala, but all Uganda was celebrating. Or reminiscing. Or commemorating. This week marked the fiftieth birthday of the independent Republic of Uganda. On October 9th, 1962, Britain gave control of the country they had acquired seventy years earlier, back to it's previous caretakers. But they had changed the landscape of Uganda forever. From a collection of tribal kingdoms and chiefdoms, a nation had been pressed together, and the result at independence was a nation of people who, while happy to be rid of the oppressors, were not so willing to work together.

I'm no political commentator or historian or anthropologist. But I am here in the middle of it. An outside observer witnessing the growing up of a nation that's childhood has been constantly besieged by tragedy from within and without.

What I hear as I look around me, is hope.

That the next fifty years will be different. That corruption will be eliminated. That government will change. That leaders will be responsible. That life will become better.

I went to an overnight prayer meeting held in Mbarara preceding Tuesday's party. There the President's daughter spoke. She is a pastor and while I'm guessing her political affiliation is to her dad, her message on the night was about personal responsibility, that every Ugandan has the opportunity to make Uganda the place they want to live in.

As we prayed for the nation she read from 2 Chronicles 7:14;

"...if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land."

I was reminded of the vastly different experiences of colonisation of Uganda and Australia and the fact that as much as one would like, history cannot be changed. Only learnt from and built on. And that as a Christian it is my place to pray for my nation, whether here in my current adopted home, Uganda, or in my birthplace, Australia, as one who takes responsibility for past acts and calls out to a loving and gracious God for mercy.

Some of our HOPE school children standing under the national flag in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Isingiro district and Kibogo village, Kamwenge district

And this is why I too look to Uganda's future with hope.

Blessings

bron

P.S. My amazing friend, HOPE Partner and part of my family here in Uganda, Pastor Willy Tumwine, is in South Australia for almost five weeks and if you would like to catch him speaking his schedule is below (contact through the website for more details).

 

30th Sept	10am	Murray Bridge Christian Family Centre
30th Sept	2pm	Hills Christian Family Centre, Nairne
7th Oct	10am	Mt Gambier
14th Oct	10am	Southern Gateway Community Church, Victor Harbor
14th Oct	6pm	NOVA, Murray Bridge Christian Family Centre
21st Oct	10am 6pm	Coast and Vines, Willunga
28th Oct	9am 11am	Seaton Christian Family Centre
28th Oct	3pm	Australia HOPE International AGM, Murray Bridge Christian Family Centre