I know I have a little bit of catching up to do with some stories… so, lets begin with where I went after the Imvepi Refugee Settlement!
Over the Christmas holiday, I found myself at a refugee center. This was a place for highly traumatized refugee women to come pursue further healing in a specialized setting before returning to a settlement.
If you are curious as to specifics of some of their stories, please read my blog post about Imvepi.
Here are just a few of the women I got to live and work with at the center:
First off, please just take a second to notice how absolutely beautiful they are. They were some of the most stunning people I had ever met, and I don’t want anyone to overlook that detail.
Now, a couple weeks ago, I posted this photo on social media with this caption:
“Living among refugees in northern Uganda was one of the most challenging seasons I have ever walked through… but! It was also one of the most fruitful.
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Everyone in this photo had to walk through high (though varying) levels of abandonment to get there. Everyone in this photo was glad for the company of one another.
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There is something you find in yourself when you no longer have access to anything that makes you comfortable (not your family, not running water, not electricity or toilets or transportation, etc.)… and when you find it, you have space to encounter it. And then, you can decide to grow from it…
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Jesus healed a lot in my heart in this refugee center, and it was excruciating to walk through. But I’m thankful I did. And without these women, and without this space, I don’t know that I would have ever walked through abandonment deeply enough to encounter healing in the areas I needed it.
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Thank you to this beautiful group of South Sudanese women. Thank you to ChildVoice in Uganda.
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I’m glad we got to help you all walk through healing as well. Life can be really, really painful and challenging… but it gets a lot better when you have others to walk through it with. #11n11 #uganda #refugees #thankful #healing #worldrace ??: Abigail Jernigan”
And this is all true. However, there is more to the story.
There was also so much beauty in this time.
The setting itself is beautiful. The huts are simple, but so aesthetically pleasing (the way the roofs are woven together is like something out of a storybook). The sunsets roared in beauty and the rainstorms brought in echoing thunder that declared the glory of the heavens. The corn fields in the wind sway and create a sound that’s almost like running water, and the groundskeepers even planted wonderful purple flowers in the guest quarters. There was a small playground for the children, and a soccer field in the middle of everything. The grounds were beautiful. The natural beauty of this place was unreal. It was a blessing to just be there and breathe it all in.
The women were lovely and breathtaking. Beyond just their physical beauty, they were some of the most serving people I’d ever met. If we carried a full jerry can (water jug) all the way from the borehole to the kitchen, they’d insist we take a rest… even though they themselves would do it multiple times a day. They loved cooking for us (and having our company while they cooked), and were just so happy to spend time sorting rice with us in the afternoons. Cecilia (the woman in the pink dress under my right arm in the photo) was basically our caregiver, and acted like the best grandmother in the world while we were there!! She just took us all in, and made us feel like welcome family.
One of my favorite memories will forever be on Christmas night. We had spent a couple days decorating and preparing one of the main open gazebo-esque buildings… we ate a wonderful meal (mashed potatoes, okra, shredded meat, etc.) and one of the women who lead the center found a way to play some music on some speakers, and she got some battery-powered, multi-colored Christmas lights… it was a full-blown South Sudanese/ Ugandan Christmas party. All the women of the center were dancing and hollering! I watched with a big smile on my face, quite enjoying just taking it all in. Then, one of the women grabbed me – Onesta- and dragged me onto the dance floor. We began dancing and twirling, and just laughing. It lasted for a just a little while but… It was so much fun, and I LOVE that I have that as a Christmas memory I can forever cherish!!!
Anyways… my whole point is that there was so much beauty and so many wonderful little moments mixed in with the more challenging ones! I just wanted to make sure that I shared some of the beauty with you all too 🙂
love you all,
Rebecca
