Medical Clinic Update

One of my main responsibilities while in Uganda was to get the Medical Clinic started. No, I do not have any specific medical training or background, however God knew that wasn’t what was needed at the beginning. Establishing such a clinic in Uganda, requires networking with ten different government departments, international agencies, local non-profits and non-governmental organizations. The process is both convoluted and bureaucratic. So my government training became the desired expertise at that moment. So we were speeding along in the process, and it “seemed” as if the medical clinic would be our first building to go up.

But, then Culture stepped in. We had put $5,000 on an extra 5 acres of property adjacent to the 20acres we currently own to put the Medical Clinic on and the new Primary School since both would be to serve the entire community at large and not just those living at Hope Village. Nevertheless, with money down and contracts signed, the owner, Mr. Ben, changed his mind. Why? Because his 20+ kids began fighting among themselves about whose inheritance he was selling off. They claimed that he was pulling property from the wrong wife. He has four wives and obviously he was not treating them all equally and his kids would not have it. As a result, he changed the property to some other land that was not adjacent to our current property, which was completely unacceptable from both a transportation and security standpoint. Mr. Ben could not give the money back because he had already spent it! He was selling the property because he needed the money for something unknown to us. Unfortunately, property rights are pretty much nil in Uganda and without the actual title to the property we had no claim (even with the contract). This is something that would NEVER happen in the United States; from the involvement of four different wives to the breaking of a signed contract. Nevertheless, this debate carried on for another three months while our team had to meet with each immediate family group that Mr. Ben had. However, I am happy to say that as of last week, Hope Village is now 100% owners of that extra 5 acres and are ready to see what God will do with it!

Intercultural Communication

Learning to communicate in a cultural context can often be difficult. And if you are not especially conscience of the difference in how you live, then the point you are trying to communicate might never be understood. In one of my sermons at a Youth Camp in Entebbe, I was talking about how the key to releasing the potential that God has put in you is your environment. In other words, that one’s environment has a profound affect on who we become and what we do with our lives. The analogy I had written in my notes was of a boy who had a pet Gold Fish. One day, this little boy (lets call him Tommy) decides that he wants to play Lego’s with his Gold Fish. So he takes him out of his bowl and puts him next to him. Well, a little time goes by and soon Tommy notices that his favorite pet isn’t looking to well, so he carries him to his mom and asks if the gold fish is sick. Of course, we all know that Mr. Gold Fish can’t survive very long out of his water habitat and perished playing Lego’s. Well, you as an American probably totally catch the point about the affect of the environment on our lives. Nevertheless right before I began to tell that story, it dawned on me that this story was terribly wrong for a Uganda audience. First, Ugandans do NOT have pets. They do not see animals that way at all. And, in fact, they laugh at white people who pet, play and protect their dogs. Dogs are suppose to protect you….. And, secondly, fish are meant to be eaten! Why in the world would you even bother with a fish that is that small! The idea of keeping a fish in a clear bowel would be such a foreign thought to the Ugandan that they would miss the point of the message completely. I was lucky to have the Holy Spirit there with me to reveal this before I blundered into a intercultural Faux Pas.

The Crazy Man

On our trip to the Equator, we met a crazy man. Unfortunately, in African countries, there is no place for those that no longer maintain full facilities “upstairs.” He was sitting on the porch of the little “restaurant” we had taken a break at, before headed back to Kampala. He was harming anyone, but he was obviously carrying on a conversation with himself. The trouble didn’t start until the police officer walked up. The military police officer asked what he was doing and the Crazy man responded that Museveni told him that he could be there… (Musevini is the President of all of Uganda). This response hardly helped the man’s claim to be there, nevertheless the confrontation escalated quickly because of the rifle that the officer was waving around.

The end result was nothing short of shocking. When a couple more soldiers came over and joined their friend and with stick began to beat him off of the porch. They were joined with two other “civilians” joined them, one of which had just served us coffee. See, now that the initial officer needs to “save face.” He can’t just walk away and let this man be because we as Muzungu (white people) have just seen his failed attempt to exert his authority. So this group of Ugandan’s beat this poor man all the way down the street. A slow, brutal, excruciating, retreat of a crazy man, who I will never know what the ultimate result was.

My heart truly broke. Here is a child of God; made by God; loved by God, and here are men beating him, because he was in a place they didn’t want him. I wanted to intervene; to stand between the soldier and this poor man. And to be honest, what was more scary then the “crazy man” was the military police officer that caused the whole “intervention;” waving his gun around. We could all see the image of a stray bullet killing an innocent bystander. We all exited the porch not because of the insane actions of the mentally disabled, but rather the of a egotistical man with a gun. So I guess in the end, who really turned out to be the “lunatic?”

Return Delayed to Africa

So as always God has His own plans. And I’m learning to just go along for the ride! I had planned to be in Uganda for a total of nine months (October – June), But, Unfortunately, I am unable to return to Uganda for May/June as previously planned. This is extremely disappointing to me, but it is in the best interest of my health.

However, I am excited to share that with much prayer and discussion with the Elders at City Bible Church and the Pastors at the church in Uganda, I have decided to return to Uganda again for another six months next year (2009), departing February 17^th and returning in August 2009!

My time there will probably take on another purpose than my first six months. Beginning next year, Hope Village will be under major building projects and will need several Operation Policies and Procedures in place in order to function well and be a good steward of the investment made there be so many people.

Not being in Africa does not mean that I am not staying busy with Hope Village projects. In fact, it has particularly beneficial to have my first hand experience to add to our videos and print materials currently being designed for other fundraising projects. Furthermore, I am busy working with CBC and a few lawyers on establishing a Governing Constitution for Hope Village. In other words, who will be on the board, who will handle the money, and how policies and procedures will be established. Not too exciting, but important for a strong organization.

Finally, God has also provided me with work already here in the US! So, ultimately, in all of these things, you can see that God’s timing is always perfect.

I Never Us To Cry

God has taken me through several seasons of Brokeness. Over the last four years, I have had all these seasons back to back and in this order; Expectations Dashed, Hope Deferred, Alienation, Attack on Reputation, Failure, Lack of Purpose, Isolation, and Attack on Health. Maybe I was so hard or so prideful or so self-reliant that He knew it would take several seasons and not just one, like many tell of. And, I’m not sure this trend of seasons that are conduits for brokenness have quite ended yet. In fact, maybe it is a life-long process – the seasons of brokenness never end until we are whole again with Christ.

One perfect symptom of this state of brokenness for me is I always cry. I Never Use To Cry….. Ever. I never use to cry…..and in actuality I had a bit of pride in this fact. I liked such words as “Stoic” and “Strong” and therefore like when they were associated with me. Movies moved me, but not a single tear would escape, but now the simplest of speeches will move me to tears. A profound quote in a book, insightful song and literally every time I walk into the presence of God cause me to “well-up”. I don’t think that it’s that I’ve just now discovered my “feminine side.” No. It’s that God has broken me…..

It’s funny; here in Africa most of my sermons to young people have been about the fact that we are vessels of potential. Potential that does not go away even when we have been damaged or wounded, failed or ignored. However, I think that God has given me a new revelation of how to truly release the potential that God has put into each one of us. That answer is brokenness. True potential cannot be released until you are broken. Here is the example that comes to mind. You know the piggy bank we had when we were little, that had no cork hidden in the bottom, but instead the only way to gain access to the money you had been saving was to physically break the piggy. This simple truth would cause you to think twice before accessing the worth that was inside. Sometimes, I think God uses life that way on us. The potential that God has put inside of us is valuable. He uses “life” to break us in order to get at what is valuable. Yet, not only does brokenness physically release the potential within us, but it provides a second revelation. Just as the action of breaking the piggy bank demonstrates that the contents of the bank are more valuable than the bank itself. I honestly think that maybe part of the purpose of the breaking process is to reveal the true value that is within.... to ourselves. God sees us not as we are, but as we are supposed to be... He wants to help us to see the same.

God has broken me in order that my true potential can be released from within me. The good news amidst the brokenness… is that God promises to complete the work that he begun in us (Phil. 1:6). And in fact, like Paul in 2 Corinthians, we may be broken, yet we will not be crushed.

Many people might also be in their own seasons of brokenness, and are running from church service to church service seeking healing for their brokenness. I’m beginning to realize that my same attempts were the wrong response to brokenness. Rather, God is asking us to see what He is trying to do through our Brokenness. He is asking us to see what potential he is releasing from within us. And to remember in the end, “all these truly do work for good to those who love Him.” (Rom. 8:28)