I feel rich.
And not even because of my clothes, my shoes, the money in my pocket, the money in my bank account, or because of anything in my pack. I do not even need those things to feel awkwardly and suspiciously rich.
I feel rich when I walk down the street with a Mountain Dew in my hand.
Yes, the stores and vendors sell them. People here buy a soda on occasion, at least I believe that they do, I see used glass and plastic bottles being used as containers for cooking oil, motor oil, and other things, but I have yet to see someone else actually drinking one. When I walk back from ministry and James and I stop to share a Mountain Dew I feel the stares of the children who sometimes ask us for money or the things in our hands. I can afford a luxury. They cannot afford shoes.
Poverty. I see it all around me in astounding ways. The liter strewn dirt roads. The normalcy. Most of streets are worse than our minimum maintenance roads. James’ Pontiac Grand Prix would never be able to get through here. Number one it is too wide, and number two we would bottom out all of the time. Between the speed bumps which act as the only police force for speeding and the deep ravines left by the running water of a gutterless road everything is “off-roading” here. If you do not have a high clearance and 4 wheel drive forget about it.
Goats, ducks, chickens, and cows roam the roads and the few grassy areas. We are in the middle of a city with 3.5 million and we have to dodge a herd of cows about every day. When we get to the tar road we see less animals and it looks more like a city. Some shops are nice, others are almost too small to even hold a single person. James commented that sometimes it feels like we are in an old video game, one where the city-scapes were just repeated after a time.
We pass woodworking, metal beds, furniture, a small vendor, metal doors, wooden beds, a hair salon, metal bunk beds, a small vendor, woodworking, a small vendor, a hair salon, a small supermarket, wooden beds, metal beds, metal doors, a small vendor, metal bunk beds, woodworking . . . It continues on and on. And this pattern is not only here in the city, but every place were we have driven. The small villages, the roadsides, other towns. This is what we see. We are pretty positive that there are way more wooden bed frames and metal bunk beds than there are people in Africa.
This past week we have been doing door to door evangelism. There have been tough times and there have been people that it was a joy to speak too. In this culture it is very acceptable to walk into someone’s yard, yell hello, and stop and talk to them. Most of the people are eager to receive prayer, whether they are Christians, Muslims, or other. They all see an importance in blessings. Some won’t tell us their names or really acknowledge us, but others like to laugh and joke and show us their children and ask us about America.
Does my smile say “AAAAAHHHH . . . I don’t know what to do with all of these kids!” At this house mothers dumped babies on my lap and pushed kids over to me asking for us to pray for them. For health and for their futures. Let the little children come to me, I guess.
America, I cannot tell you how often people’s prayer request is for God to help them leave Uganda and go to America. I feel heavy after these few days of seeing more of the community and Ugandan culture. We pray for pain, for disease, and for blessings. People are continually asking to be rich, to have more money, for their business to do better, and for the money to pay school fees. Our translator, Benjamin, told James and I that unemployment in Kampala is probably around 60% – 70%. Jobs are scarce.
Many of the homes we walk into would astound you. I have never imagined such small, dark, and limited living conditions. I see many kids who should be in school wandering around on the streets. Their parents did not have the money to pay their fees this semester. We talked to one mother who had four children and asked for prayer for school fees. She had three children who were school age and she was only sending the oldest girl right now. She said it was better for the girls to go to school because if they stay at home they will just get into trouble and get pregnant.
But we see the joy of God everywhere here. The people love to laugh, sing, and dance. As we went door to door we told the people to join us at the Jesus Celebration Church this Sunday and we left them with a small book with Bible verses and the contact information for Pastor Vienye.
Later this afternoon we will meet with their church’s praise team and they will teach us a song and a dance and they have asked us to teach them one of our songs as well. It has been interesting blending our two cultures together. Many people are shocked when we tell them that we do not usually dance in church and some churches you do not clap, not to mention shouting hallelujah or amen. During door to door we told one lady that James does not usually dance in church, she asked him why he had no joy.
Last night the young ladies of our host family had finished their supper and had some of their small paperback hymn books. Finally songs in English that we knew! We had fun singing them together (we even sang some Christmas songs to be silly!). I found that they had the song Days of Elijah, and James and I shared with them the dance that we knew for the chorus. They were so excited and laughed and sang all the way through.
Until next time, keep us in your prayers! And we will keep you in ours!
-Kris
A Bible verse I have been meditating on lately:
“And he (Jesus) came to Nazereth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where ti was written,
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives adn recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’
And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth.”
Luke 4: 16 – 22a
