After several days traveling across Kenya, our team returned to G.O.D. Kabonge campus last night. We all received a deep sense of rest at this homecoming. Even more special than being back at the Uganda HQ, however, was returning to St. John’s School this morning.
When we first arrived here a few weeks ago, we were given the opportunity of teaching a day of classes at a near by school. St John’s is a primary school a ten minute walk down the road. Sitting atop a hill, the school overlooks a beautiful valley full of Uganda’s lush natural gardens. It seems crazy to see so many hungry children knowing that the resources to feed them are only waiting to be harvested.
Our mission, however, involved a different kind of harvest. We were there to educate, to cultivate their minds. I got to help teach a health class that first day, and our team covered other subjects like English, PE, and Bible. The coolest part, though, was recess. When classes let out, I found myself immediately surrounded by students. Little girls clutching my skirt, pulling on my arms, fighting each other to hold my hands. On the surface level, it’s so sweet. “They’re so excited to see us! They’re just so friendly and welcoming. Awe I don’t want to leave them I love them so much!”
But I stop and wonder why. What is it they think we can offer them? Maybe it is just that we’re new and exciting because we’re “muzungu’s.” But I’ve also been told that they grow up thinking they can be saved from their poverty by us. I’ve experienced many locals asking for our contacts or saying they wish to visit us, following the ideal dream of meeting a white sponsor to help you get to the golden land of America. Our leader, Mr Garner, has been helping our team understand that life for an immigrant is extremely difficult. Giving money to people trapped in systems of suffering here won’t help, either. So what will?
The only thing that has the power to give the transformation we need is the word of God. That’s why our mission is to develop the Biblical education of the people we serve. We have to be careful to plant the seed of the Word on good soil, and I soon learned that the students of St John’s were already eager to receive it. I asked the girls who surrounded me during the recess time what they wanted to do: play a game, sing songs, join the dance circles that are always springing up everywhere? None of those options seemed to satisfy. I waited for one of the girls to speak up. “Will you tell us stories of old? Stories from the Bible?”
This request surprised me in the best way possible. I kind of wish I could have seen the grin on my own face. I’m sure it matched theirs as I started reciting Genesis chapter one. I was so grateful for the Bible studies Mr Garner had led us in at the beginning of internship, for the understanding he passed on to us. It prepared me to actually explain to these young girls how God had created a good, sustainable world for them to live in, being created in His image, and cared for and educated by Him. Sin has broken this perfect world, but healing comes when we learn and apply scripture so that God’s will may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. I was so blessed by this opportunity to share what I had learned, and to see that these precious students understood what they needed above all else.
The parting with those students came too quickly, but praise God we were able to return today! Again, time is too short – we were only there for a couple hours. But I pray and hope the impact we had lasts much longer. This morning I got to lead my group in teaching English and the Bible to the youngest class at St John’s. It went beautifully. The littles were so fun and adorably clingy, while still being excited to learn. They especially enjoyed the Bible class. After recess, we switched to English, but somewhere between learning the five senses and a song the class became disruptive. Several of the babies were growing tired and hungry, and the rest were impatient with each other. Multiple times we had to correct students who hit or slapped another. Tears started bursting up in every corner – always the result of a forceful action of another. I decided to address the class as a whole. We went back to the Bible.
As we urged the students to be kind and gentle, loving each other as themselves, they started to settle down again. Their teacher had reprimanded them several times. We had tried to correct them. But like the song we sing with them, “when Jesus says yes, nobody can say no.” God’s word is alive and active, and these people we’re serving are hungry for it. It’s the only thing that holds power to change their circumstances by changing them. Though we feel close to home being back at the Kabonge campus, and we will be returning to our families before we even know it, I pray that we will sit in a moment of dissatisfaction. There is still so much work to be done here. My hunger for God’s word has been awakened – I am so beyond eager to further my Biblical education in school this fall so that I can return with more of God’s Word to offer these starving people.
The harvest is plentiful. As I pray for the workers, I’m reminded of 2 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” I will never regret dedicating my life to learning God’s word – this kind of work is the only kind that satisfies.