As I walked through the Slums of Kampala Uganda, holding the hands of two street boys breathing in airplane gas from a coke bottle, my heart broke.
Part of our ministry this month is in the slums ministering, talking and doing basic first aid for the street boys. In all honesty I didn’t want to be there; it was smelly, dirty and way outside my comfort zone. When we pulled up in our van I just prayed that I would have the Spirit of Christ and be able to express the love that he would have shown.
You could see the effects of the gas immediately, as the boys walked up they were stumbling and their eyes droopy. The routine is to gather up and walk about 10 minutes to the site where we would feed them. My head hurt from just being in the vicinity of what they kept inhaling, and I couldn’t imagine what pain and sadness they were masking with those bottles. But God knew how to change my attitude and I soon found myself enjoying and loving on these sweet boys. And I can’t wait to go back next week.
Our host Patrick, who is the visionary for Raising Up Hope Uganda, has really been making an impact here in the slums and in many areas of his ministry. Currently, there are 60 boys who participate in the slum program and 25 boys who are permanently living in a safe house being rehabilitated.
Although this is just a snapshot of the many things we are doing this month, this is what has really been on my heart to share with you this week.
Feel free to check out our ministry for this month: Raising Up Hope Uganda http://raisinguphopeforuganda.org
