Hello from Uganda! Those are words that I never would have thought that I would’ve seen myself typing just a few years ago, but God has called me to do work for his kingdom, and I am so full of joy!
I am so extremely grateful to say that my faith has grown immensely since I’ve been on internship. As I have been reflecting on my time abroad thus far, I’ve seen so many different things and it has changed a lot about what I consider important in life.
For instance, this past week in Uganda, we have hosted a SLAM Service camp for students here and it has been amazing. Part of our program with SLAM is the aspect of service projects in which leaders and students go out into the community and serve. The service project I led on both Tuesday and Wednesday of this week was at a school called “Leviticus Junior School.”
To begin to speak on the things that I have seen and how it has changed me, I would love to first share with my walk with my team over to the school. We left our campus with our team, and as soon as you make it to the main road to walk, it feels like the world changes just a bit. Walking down the road just a small way and you make your way into town to see a few vendors and families doing things like laundry and children playing on the sides of the road. For most Americans, especially my mother (hi mom!), we think of walking in the road and the dangers that could come with it, but here in Uganda it is different. The roads here are traveled but not as frequently as you may think. The only vehicles that drive through the town are small bikes called “Botas” and the occasional 4 seater vehicle can be found but for the most part, you can walk all through the dirt roads and not see any danger because of the visibility and the limited speed ability of vehicles as the roads are completely dirt.
As we make our way to the school, I notice many things with my eyes. I see the living conditions of the people in town, I see what there is to eat in the small shop in town, and I observe the overall quality and condition of the town. I see families washing their laundry in big plastic bowls in their front yards, I see chickens in houses and in the same are that children are playing in (barefoot children whose clothes are tattered and extremely dirty), and I hear the shouts of kids excitedly waving and saying, “Hi Mazungu” which literally means “Hi White person.”
It is not easy seeing things like this. But I do believe that there is hope for rural areas in developing countries like these. I know this to be true because of my time at the school I served at. When my team entered, we were greeted by loving students and teachers who were very excited to see us. Especially the little children who for some of them, this may have been their first time seeing a white person! The students sang for us and were extremely attentive to our directions and lessons. It was genuinely a shock to see such well-behaved students and I saw even more during our programming for the day.
We led outdoor physical education classes and indoor classes of various subjects for children in Kindergarten to the 7th grade. For my group, I had 3 incredible SLAM Students with me on Tuesday who I guided through what a day of service can look like at a school. They were very ready to play with the kids and teach them during our outside time. It was amazing!
I incorporated some interactive games for the SLAM students to lead the kids in and they did great. I broke off into my own section of our outdoor space with a group of student whom which I taught them a game called “Kaiden Says” which is exactly like “Simon Says” but I’ll let you guess what is different about it.
Keep in mind, our outdoor space was very small. I could probably through a somewhat decent paper airplane across the area of grass that we had and that made our program challenging. Still, the students enjoyed all that we had for them. I had a very fun time with the students as their laughs at my antics and my very charismatic presence. I’d like to thing I am their favorite Mazungu, but who knows.
Once we transitioned to the classroom, I had the opportunity to do some brain teasers for the kids and then finished with a Bible lesson.
I think one of the most amazing things I’ve had the pleasure of being a witness to is the hunger for God’s Word that these people have. I also think that it is incredible to see the Lord be praised by grade schoolers. In America, I never had the Bible taught in school. It is kind of hard for me to wrap my mind around not having God’s Word in school because of the amazing impact I have seen it have on kids.
To tell you the truth, the kids I served and taught this week were truly the most well-behaved, kind, and joyful kids I have ever met. I’ve been working with youth for about 6ish years now and I haven’t seen kids more excited to learn, answer questions, and just enjoy themselves overall.
“…the joy of the Lord is my strength and shield…” from Nehemiah 8:10 was the verse that was on my heart as I was serving the kids this week. I found myself realizing that the kids are filled with the joy of the Lord. It’s evident by the way they honored and respected both us and their teachers, their kindness to us as they asked questions, and their playful hearts which were excited to participate in all we wanted to do. The joy of the Lord became my strength as well, and my spiritual considerations grew as I witnessed children in a school with concrete floors and a lack of materials, present an attitude and heart posture that reflected a serious desire to know Jesus.
I am in the early steps of processing what I have seen, and in prayerfully considering how to continue to make Jesus my number one focus, and not let the injustice that I am seeing cloud me from the work Jesus wants to continue to do through me every day.
If you’re reading this, please continue praying for my team and I. Pray for our attitudes and the way we express our feelings and emotions. Seeing poverty like this is tough, but with the support of faithful prayers, we can make with though this and on the other side of this trip, have a confidence that God will continue to do a good work in these places even in our absence.