Lessons in grace, patience and humility.

The last few days have been rather impacting .. not because of anything out of the ordinary for life in Uganda, more so because God has been teaching me some things through the people here.

On Sunday I had promised to go visit a church that a friend here has started up in a poor area of Jinja. Honestly I had been avoiding going to this church for a while now (about a year) as I like going to my own church and sometimes it can feel like you are just going to be put on show. But I decided I would go this Sunday to get it out of the way.
From the very start I had a very sour attitude in my heart, and God was ready to give me a lesson in humility due to the pride that had started to sink in.
I really did not feel like going to this church, and as I said, I was just doing it to get it out of the way. Already I was a little frustrated at my companion as he told me I would be expected to say a word and preach, which I certainly didn’t feel like doing. I was very busy that day, so I was asking many questions about how long it was going to be, and all in all my heart was certainly not in the right place.
All of that changed when I reached our destination. Basically this was a small gathering of people (mostly women) who were extremely poor, and met under a tree in poor village to passionately worship, sing and pray. When I first arrived a very sick man in bare feet who had been working all night came up to me and asked me if I would please be so kind as to pray for him. Everyone who was there made me feel so welcome, and their faces lit up when I spoke to them. Afterwards the ones who were sick asked me to pray for them. My heart was totally melted .. the whole time leading up to this church service I had a hardened heart of pride, not really wanting to go, but it ended up being a very moving experience and God taught me a very strong lesson in humility and grace.

In the afternoon I got to trial a program I had developed during my diploma of youth work course. The program focuses on human rights when it comes to sex, as well as H.I.V education and looking at the stigma around H.I.V Aids. The program is developed for teenage boys, as mentalities towards women here are very worrying at times. There can be a large number of rapes, and H.I.V infections due to women not enjoying the same rights and equal standings to men, especially when it comes to sexual rights. It was a great time of discussing and debating with this group of boys (as usually is when talking about sex with a bunch of teenage guys) and they all said they came away learning a lot, and thinking about things from a different perspective then they normally would of before (mainly the perspective of how it would be, to be treated as women are). Again sometimes the views expressed can be very worrying, and it takes patience and grace to listen to these boys’ perspectives so hopefully down the track they may learn and understand about different values and morals.

At the end of the day I was on my way home to enjoy my dinner, as it was just starting to get dark, when an older women came up and approached me. This women has been asking me to visit her house for a while now, and I keep telling her that I would eventually get round to it. Honestly I just wanted to get home and eat some food, but I stopped and looked at this women, and was struck with the lessons I had already learnt that day, and just felt grace and love towards her. So I walked with her to her home to sit for a while and talk. She basically lived in a tiny mud hut and was looking after a large number of children (who slept in the small mud hut with her) as they had been abandoned by their parents. The women was also sick and had no work. I was waiting for her to ask for money as many people do (and really you cannot blame them) but all this women asked for was for my company and a prayer. After praying for her, she told me how blessed she was now.

I couldn’t help but feel that it was really her doing the blessing.

 

It was a beautiful, yet heartbreaking moment, that I realise I would of missed out on if I had simply gone about being busy and wanting to move on to go eat. It made me realise how important it is at times to slow down from our busy schedule and show grace … You just may miss out on an important lesson.

So I got home, sat in front of my food ready to eat, and my phone rings. It was farook. He wanted me to come to the hospital because Beatrice (farooks wife) was there in pain and they were suspecting she was going into labour. I thought about how I would not be enjoying my dinner and it was going to be a long night, although I was at peace with that, and rather excited. It felt like after everything today, why not a little more grace, humility and patience.
Luckily for me the doctor told Beatrice to go home and come in the morning as she was not ready yet. The whole next day was spent at an African hospital sitting with farook and giving him support. He was so scared and nervous, as this was his first child, and he felt terrible that Beatrice was in so much pain, even stating that “I don’t want another kid, I never want to put her through this again”.
In the culture here the men don’t go into the delivery room, but it is women friends of the one giving birth and the nurses who do it all, as this is women’s business. So the men sit around outside and wait until it is over (Not a bad way of doing it, if I do say so myself …. Just kidding ... kind of). At one stage farook was out buying basins, bed sheets and a mat for the birth (as the hospital does not have these things) and left me sitting on the bench. Beatrice came out for a walk and sat down next to me, and farook had asked me to keep an eye on her. She started having painful contractions while sitting next to me, and to be honest I was kind of freaking out, I didn’t know what to do, as I have never been around a woman in labour, let alone asked to keep an eye on one in an African hospital. Thankfully Beatrice helped me out and made it easier for me by turning to me and saying “Luke, pray for me now“. Righteo I thought! That I can do.
We ended up waiting around all day and she still didn’t give birth that night, so the next day we were back at the hospital waiting around. Just before Beatrice started going into heavy contractions, farook and her asked if we could pray together. Beatrice was sitting on the floor so Farook and I also joined her and sat in a circle on the floor holding hands. It was really special, to be invited into that intimate moment, I really look at Farook and Beatrice as family, and as we sat on the floor in a circle holding hands in a little African hospital, we prayed to God for a safe birth.
In the end she gave birth around 2 pm that day and everything went smooth and there was no problems (thank you to everyone who prayed for her, you know who you are). The catholic nun came out to tell the news to Farook that he was now the father to a little baby boy. Farooks face lit up and he was stunned, he grabbed my hand on the spot and said “let us now thank God for everything he has done” haha, again another great moment!
So they will now be starting their life together as a family, and I look forward to watching the baby grow over the years and being (as Beatrice and Farook say) “Uncle number one”.


                                 


Never a dull moment in Africa.