This week we went to an island off of the coast of Uganda called Buvuma. We were all excited to hear we were going to go spend a few days on an island. The reaction from our hosts seemed to tell a different story. Instead of a vacation getaway spot or luxury beaches like the Cayman Islands or the Bahamas, Buvuma Island brings to mind poverty and isolation. They are overlooked and isolated. They get clean water from wells that are put in by NGO’s or other volunteer organizations. Many people still fill up water jugs from any nearby water source (i.e. lake, stream). There is no electricity on the island but some will use solar power, generators or battery packs. The ferry that took us there was big enough for 8 cars and took an hour to get to the island. When we got off we were asked by a security guard why “muzungo’s” (white people) were spending the night there. I was starting to wonder the same thing.
The Pastor we are partnering with this month has connections to a Pastor out on the island and set up for us to go out for a few days to meet and encourage members of her church, the community and hold a program with general service at the end of each day. We drove windy red dirt roads, with deep turrets, traveled mostly by “boda bodas” (motorcycle taxis) so the cars had a difficult time and at some points even plowing new paths in the over growth. We were in the wild. Most of the crops grown on the island consist of banana trees, jackfruit trees, potatoes, cassava, matooke, greens, pineapples, and papaya. Many people on the island sustain a living by growing crops and selling them on the island or the mainland. Education is difficult to afford by many families and because of lack of accessibility many face poverty.
The first day my team visited 14 families within 3 hours. We met with a Pastor who he himself is in poverty finding it difficult to witness to his members about the richness of Gods provision when he struggles to support himself. We prayed with a Muslim woman whose mother has been sick for more than a year from a motorcycle accident and another muslim man who had two wives, with two separate houses for each. A school teacher who started the first school in their community a year ago because she saw so many kids not going to school. She was in the process of digging a latrine out for the kids to use. It was 20 m deep. She used a hoe and her hands to scoop the hard dirt out. We prayed over a mothers two kids who have asthma, a deadly illness without the proper medication.
We arrived at the church that evening for the general service. Two of my teammates volunteered to preach. We were met with songs and dancing. We continued worship outside before we split up into groups. Individual groups for elders, pastors, youth, and kids. This allowed us to be intentional with each and encourage specifically. That morning I was reading in Titus and had put a sticky note next to a passage about characteristics Timothy should look for when appointing elders just in case I was to use it for a later purpose. Well that purpose was for that day. Speaking to the elders reminded me of the role elders have played in my life and it’s even more so for the elders of the communities on the island to continue to reach out and encourage both youth and adults. The Pastor recalled the difficulty she had when starting her ministry there. The elders on the island had faced so many difficulties that they were losing hope in the gospel. The Pastor was even imprisoned for preaching the Good News and her church was burned down. That night a woman from the elder group gave her life to Christ.
God is doing things on Buvuma Island. We left feeling exhausted but rejoicing. We were met with incredible hospitality and kindness. I have faith God will continue to work in and through the people there like he always has been. They requested to be kept in our prayers and to return again one day.
