The last week or so I have still been caught up in bed, and resting at home.
It seems like I will go out to accomplish one or two tasks for the day, and then I need to go home and lie down and rest. Some times I spend the whole day in bed.
This disease which I have been suffering from really knocks it out of you, it is kind of like chronic fatigue.
If I ride my bike a short distance, I end up getting short of breath. So I have really been trying to rest and take it easy. I have four more days of medication before I go back for a check up.
It has been really helpful having Farouk, Beatrice and Agnes around. Programs can still run even when I am sick, because these guys are still working and helping to keep things running, especially Farouk.
So its great to be able to relax and rest without stressing too much about things not running.
Last week Friday night the local Anglican church ran another one of its over night prayer sessions. This time it was so loud, as they hired a few boom speakers. At 5.30 am they were still carrying on and making such loud noises, the sound actually carries right through the village. I know of many people who can never sleep on a Friday night here, because these churches pump their speakers up all night while praying, chanting, and sometimes screaming wildly.
Well I was very sick last week Friday night, suffering from typhoid and bruselia. So I was not so happy about it and decided to visit the pastor of the church the next day.
I managed to find the head bishop and the associate pastor of the church around midday, and sat down for a talk.
I decided to come in a spirit of kindness and grace, and I explained who I was, and encouraged them with the work that they are doing. I then mentioned if it is possible at all for them to keep the noise down, because they are keeping everyone awake on Friday nights. I did this in the most gentle way possible.
The response was actually really good! The pastors themselves don't go to the overnight prayer sessions, but they are run by another group. They said they were so sorry and were going to talk to the people who run these sessions.
They also thanked me for being frank with them, as they said many Ugandans will gossip and talk about there frustration with others, instead of directly talking with the church. So they were glad I spoke about it with them.
We also talked about how keeping everyone awake at night is not really the best way of showing the call of Jesus to "love your neighbor as you love yourself". And I talked about how there are many Muslims in this community, and doing this is certainly not attracting them to Christianity, but most likely pissing them off and pushing them away from the church (I didn't say it like that haha)
Last night was a Friday, and interestingly they made a bit of noise up to midnight, and then were rather quiet. So maybe my talking to the pastors actually helped.
Its amazing what can be accomplished when you talk directly to an issue in a calm gentle manor. Gossiping certainly doesn't work, and neither does attacking someone your annoyed at.
The other day I took Agnes to the good quality Muslim hospital here because she had a severe tooth ache. She has actually had this tooth problem for a long time (since I have known her, about two years) and she has always complained about it.
Last Thursday night she barely slept and was in agony with a throbbing tooth, so in the morning I took her to the hospital to have it checked out.
The modern hospital here has a really good dental section with top dentists in the country to help you with any toothy problems.
After xrays and examinations it was clear that Agnes had a very infected, rotted, back wisdom tooth. It had a huge cavity in it, and was already loose.
Basically there was no way to save the tooth.
So she had to brave it and sit back in the dentist chair, as the metal tools and clamps came out to remove the tooth.
Luckily it is a modern hospital, so she could get all the appropriate injections to numb her face and take away most of the pain as they removed it.
At least now she never has to worry about that tooth giving her problems.
I wanted to share a moving story with you that Farouk told me the other day. It is a rather personal story involving Farouk, so I have asked his permission to post it on my blog, as I think many people may find it inspiring and moving.
He said it was fine for me to write about it.
Last week Farouk's uncle passed away. He had liver cancer and has been rather sick the last year. But there is so much to this story surrounding his death.
Farouk's background story is that he is actually an orphan. At the age of 12 both his parents died in a car accident and he and his younger brothers were left as orphans. Farouk could of been ok, because his parents had a bit of wealth which could of helped him and his brothers. But this uncle took all of the wealth from Farouk's deceased parents, and then outcasted Farouk and his brothers to fend for themselves.
The next 8 or 9 years of life for Farouk would include extreme poverty, homelessness, hard labor, scavenging for food just to get by, and a tragic way of life.
Farouk basically managed to get himself, and the brother that follows him, through high school (minus the last two years). This was not easy, it included a traumatic life, where Farouk's only way of survival to help him and his brothers, was indoctrination into a very hardcore gang. Farouk still carries some of the scars on him, in regards to some of the things he was involved in with this gang, just to survive.
And that is what Farouk is, a survivor.
He managed to get his life together and have his life turned around by the gospel, to where he is now a positive force for good in the community, instead of one of destruction and violence.
And Farouk was propelled into this tragic hard life, all because his uncle refused to care for them, and took the money rightfully inherited to Farouk and his brothers.
Farouk obviously carried around a lot of resentment towards his uncle over the years, due to the hurt and pain he caused him.
The last few years though it seems that his uncle, nearing the end of his life, was realizing the pain he had caused, and tried to make amends.
He started sponsoring Farouk's youngest brother, and a number of times asked Farouk to meet with him.
Farouk never got to meet with him, and has been hesitant over the years.
But last week, as his uncle was dying in the hospital, he begged his family to contact Farouk so he could speak to him before he died.
It seemed he was desperate to talk to Farouk and make things right before he passed away.
Farouk got the call and rode his bike as fast as he could to the hospital, only to find that as he rushed into the room, his uncle had died only a minute or so ago.
Farouk said the body was still warm. He was that close.
Obviously this hurt Farouk so much, because he had forgiven his uncle in his heart, and had never got the chance to tell him.
But what happened next was truly moving.
The doctor approached Farouk and asked him if he was the nephew that the uncle was desperate to see. After confirming this, the doctor told Farouk to reach into his uncles back pocket, as his uncle had told the doctor to keep it a secret, if he died and Farouk hadn't come yet.
Farouk pulled out a letter addressed to him from the back pocket of his dead uncle.
As Farouk opened it up and read it, he told me that he begun to cry in the hospital. The letter basically confessed everything his uncle had done to him, and was saying that he was greatly sorry for what he did to Farouk, and he was asking Farouk to please forgive him.
Farouk told me that at the bottom of the letter he found directions to go with his family and relatives to a certain bank, where Farouk's uncle had deposited something for the whole family.
So after arranging the body for burial, the whole family went to the bank. This uncle of Farouk's actually left behind 13 children, so there were many uncles, aunts, sisters, brothers and children going along to the bank to see what Farouk's uncle had left behind for them all.
When they arrived they found that the bank was holding a letter from the uncle, and would not give it to anyone but Farouk. As the family stood around the bank, Farouk opened the letter to find that it was his uncles will.
Farouk's uncle was actually rather wealthy, and owned a house, a large property and a few machines for sugar cane planting.
As they read the will together they were all shocked to see that the uncle had left every bit of wealth and property he had owned, to Farouk.
This is a man who left behind 13 children, all very poor, but was obviously so convicted on how he had treated Farouk, that he left everything in his name.
Everything.
But the part that moved me the most, was when Farouk explained to me, with tears in everybody's eye, wondering what Farouk would do, he looked up at them and said something that would shock them. Farouk told them that he was doing ok, he had a job with YSU and was able to support his family. And then he told them that he would hand over everything back to the children and family of his uncle.
He gave it all away.
You may not realize the significance of this. Here in Uganda, everyone dreams of having their own house and property, and here was Farouk giving it all away, when he rightfully should of owned it, especially after everything his uncle did to him.
He told me that all his cousins came to him with tears in their eyes, thanking Farouk from the bottom of their hearts that he would give all of this wealth to them, especially after what his uncle did to him.
He then told his family that he had forgiven his uncle from the bottom of his heart.
It was a family reconciled.
I remember sitting in my room talking about it with Farouk, when he told me everything. He had been rather emotional for a few days so I had wanted to know what had been bothering him, when he told me all of this.
But he then said to me something that moved me. He said "Brother, the reason I can forgive my uncle, and the reason I need to forgive him, is because Jesus told us to forgive. And the way I will be forgiven reflects on how I forgive others".
He then told me that he doesn't need all this wealth, because the bible tells him to store up treasures in heaven, and not to be consumed with storing up treasures here on earth.
Here is a guy who has been betrayed, an orphan, a reject, an outcast, who has lived his life in extreme poverty, finally getting the chance at a life of wealth.
And yet he gave it all away in an instant, out of love for his cousins who are struggling and need help.
Farouk is just getting by, and so he said "I have all that I need right now, let me trust in God for the future"
Let this be a lesson for all of us. Are we storing up our treasures here on earth, where moths and rust eat away? Or is our treasure somewhere else .. somewhere more eternal?
And here is Farouk, someone who was betrayed, and as a result of that betrayal, lived a life of pain so hard we in the west couldn't quite understand it, saying that he forgives the one who caused him that pain.
Are you able to forgive those people you are angry at? What small petty things cause you to hold grudges towards others? Or perhaps it is something large, maybe you have been hurt in a huge way? But do you have peace in your heart by holding onto that anger?
Let us use this example to make peace with those we are angry with.
Let us use this example to live for what really matters.
And even though Farouk is now going to struggle paying for his younger brother, who was being supported by his uncle for school fees, and we are looking together to try and find a sponsor for him, he still has faith and trust in God that what will be, will be.
Do you have that faith? are you willing to let things go and put your trust in God, instead of finding security in your wealth?
It is a challenge to all of us.
But as I told Farouk, in the end it will be 'oh so worth it!
In the end, it will be those great acts of love, and faith in God that will pay off, and all the wealth in the world will not save your soul.
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