“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” – James 1:27
During our week of SLAM in Uganda, I had the incredible experience of getting to live out this verse on my service project. I was on the team organizing the groups which would be sent out to each project, and this project kept tugging on my heartstrings. I started to pray for the team I collected, not even knowing that I would be assigned to this very team: we were going to visit an afflicted widow.
Because I had felt God’s calling towards this service already, I knew it had to be special. At first, our SLAM students were shy and moved slowly as we walked to the widow’s house. When we arrived though, I saw compassion come into their eyes. Mama Katrina welcomed us with joyful tears, so happy to have some company. She didn’t know we were coming, but was eager to pull out a tarp for us to lay down on her dirt porch so we could all sit together. We learned that she had lived alone for a long time, and had to depend on her neighbors to help with chores because she suffered severe joint pain.
Our course of action came from our studies in Genesis: we served by ordering the environment around to be hospitable for this kind woman’s life. The students with us eagerly got to work washing dishes, weeding, cleaning the small house, fetching water from the pump, doing her laundry. By the end of the day, the place looked so much brighter, and so did our faces. It was like all worries in sight had been washed out with the filth in the laundry, leaving us refreshed. Then we got to share a meal with her – pizza, which she greatly enjoyed. We were sad to leave her, but God brought us back the next day!
Katrina was even more excited to see us, and the new friends we brought. I loved seeing the shy students from the first day walking with a skip in their step, looking forward to seeing our ‘grandma’ again. One of my classmates who came for the first time immediately won her heart. This time, with her house already in order, we just sat and visited with her. Mama Katrina asked the new visitor, whom she perceived to have talent on a stage, to dance for her. So, for the next few hours, we learned African dances and taught American swing dancing, the wonderful old lady smiling wider all the time. She even had tears in her eyes at one point, she was so joyful. My favorite moment was when one of my students whom I’d heard singing on the walk there asked if we could sing for the mama. Our group became a heavenly choir. Children from the neighborhood started gathering to listen and sing with us. So many smiles and perfect holy moments I wish I had space to describe in more detail!
To end our day, Mama Katrina gave each of the interns a Buganda name from her family, a symbol of love and adoption. She said we were always welcome, that she felt the Joy of the Lord through our visit, and that she hadn’t been so happy and full of life in years. It may seem like a small impact, to have so many people spend so many hours on just one woman. But that is what God desires for His people, to feel genuinely loved and cared for. Our time with Katrina will always stand out as a holy moment to me, because it was just so pure. We were given the opportunity to care for the afflicted widow, who couldn’t stand for herself. We gave her Joy and renewed life, strengthened her faith and built her community. Though Katrina had walked through difficult times, she was not stained by the world because she experienced the perfect love of Jesus through us. I pray we can experience the Joy that obedience to scripture brought us again and again. I am confident we will continue to see the goodness of God!