I spent the other day walking through the boozing district of Wobelenzi. It was quite interesting. There were tarps with grains spread out on them drying out all over the place. On any given porch, you saw about 3-5 people sitting in a circle around something that looked like a beach pail with long tree stems about 3 feet long sticking out of it. In the bucket was something that looked like rancid oatmeal. Turns out, it essential was. They were drinking unfiltered, grain alcohol. As a former home brewer, I was honestly a bit fascinated by the process because the weird thing was that they drink it hot, almost boiling.
I walked up to one of the porches to inquire about what they were doing and what they were drinking. I met a beautiful, middle-aged woman named Ruth, who happily answered my questions with the aid of one of my favorite translators, David. Ruth was drinking with some friends and they invited me to sit and talk with them. I just expected to have a conversation about the alcohol but it turned into something much, much deeper.
As our conversation progressed, I learned that Ruth had been making and selling this alcohol for ten years. She learned the craft from her mother. She didn't start making the alcohol, thought until her huspand died in order to provide an income for her family. She has 4 daughters which need their school fees paid so that they can have an education. She said she was a Christian but didn't go to church anymore because she brewed. It was unacceptable for someone who was a Christian to brew. As a result she found herself in the boozing district where people socially drink this stuff from buckets literally from the time they wake up til night. And when they aren't drinking heavily, they are sipping while they are preparing more. The district smells of fermented grains and prosititution was being openly practiced that morning while I was there. It made me sick to my stomach. Her daughter was beside her on the ground peeling green beans while we were talking and I was taking this all in.
I asked her if she wanted freedom from this life, for herself and her daughters. She said yes.
I asked her if she knew that Christ had already come to bring her freedom and that she could walk in that freedom even though it wouldn't be easy. And she was confused.
She said she had to find another job before she could really accept Christ as her Savior. My heart just sunk. She said she couldn't go to Christ as a brewer, couldn't go back to church if she was working that kind of job.
I was able to tell her that i wasn't there to say shame on her for not being in church, for leaving the church, for resorting to this kind of job as a source of income, for raising her children in that environment. I was able to tell her that I was there to declare "SHAME OFF YOU, RUTH". She tried to counteract that truth with lies that she was believing from the enemy which were so blatantly lies to me but so relativistically true in her eyes. I was able to continue speaking truth to her, literally countering every excuse, every lie the enemy had been feeding her for years. Finally she said, "If what you say is true, then I accept Jesus as my Saviour today and I will come to your church on Sunday to get into THAT community". She said, "Actually, my daughter attends the church where you are serving. She is in highschool. I will come with her".
It was amazing to watch the scales fall off this woman's eyes. The men sitting around her were listening intently and asking questions too. She is a business woman and holds what seemed to be a prominent influence there. I got the feeling she was a Lydia, the seller of purple in the New Testament. I believe that her freedom will bring freedom to others in the community.
This same idea of the removal of shame applies to me too as I learn to walk in the freedom that truth brings. Jesus has said shame off me.
Let me ask you, What are you ashamed of? There is no condemnation for those who come repentantly to Christ. Christ will faithfully, everytime say, "SHAME OFF YOU, I already bore that on that cross so you don't have to carry it anymore".
Isn't that amazing? So shame off you, reader, whatever the nature or cause of that shame is. You can shake it off. You can walk in freedom today because He lives!
I'm loving my time in Uganda even though it is coming to a close soon and I'm off to Tanzania. But not before I raft the Nile! Christ is truly teaching me how to live life abudantly in Him. Please forgive me for not sharing stories like this with you more frequently.
Be Blessed today, readers.
With love from Uganda,
Brittney
