Empower, Elections and Ethan.

It is now Febuary so we have really started to get into the flow of the year! We have been organizing our tailoring class, and also looking at all we will plan out the next year here at YSU.

I recently ran an Empower program with my four boys from my small bible study group.

This is a group of guys that I have grown very close to and love dearly! I have invested a lot into them, mentoring and discipling them over the last year.

Instead of doing one big Empower, I wanted to try and see how it would work in a small group setting.

I think it went well and the guys got a lot from the program. All of them had never shared their life story before to someone in detail! The fact that I have earnt their trust over the year helped them to open up.
They were a bit more hesitant in opening up with each other, but in the end they did and I was very proud of them.

Many of their deep traumas are private, which I will not share. But what I will say is that the common theme which seems to be the root of so much pain is "Father hunger".

Meaning, a hunger for a father figure in life. This is also a huge problem in Uganda (and the whole world really) with fathers rather dying while these young men were babies, and so they never knew them.
For others it is case of the father abandoning his family, or if the father is still around, he is not invested into his children or even abusive.

So much of the problems that I deal with in youth here, stems from this epidemic of a lack of fathers.

As a new father it does push me and motivate me to want to be a father who loves his child and invests in his child to the best of my abilities.

It is always rewarding to see the people who go through the empower find healing at the end of it. All of the boys felt a burden taken off their hearts, and they were able to forgive people who had caused past hurts that had traumatized them.

In regards to the elections that took place recently in Uganda, there is a lot that I could say.

Elections are always a tense time in Uganda, since the president has been in power for 30 years. 

Although he did bring the country out of war, and has since done a lot for the economy and development of Uganda, many people feel he has overstayed and that his regime is incredibly corrupt and authoritarian.

What was interesting about the lead up to the elections was the amount of conversations I had with Ugandans who were tired of the current president and were voting for change.

The opposition leader here, who has challenged the presidency and lost over the last three elections (although many people say that previous elections had been rigged and were not fair) is very popular among many of the more educated Ugandans (although not all) in urban areas like the capital city Kampala.

Many of the uneducated villagers in Uganda are in support of Museveni (the current president) a big part of this (although not the only reason) is because they fear violence and war may break out if Museveni losses power.

With all of this in play, elections came to pass with a few skirmishes and riot police firing tear gas into crowds in the days leading up to it.

I was frustrated at seeing a number of concerning things like the nationwide shutdown of all social media platforms, police intimidation and arrests of opposition members and supporters, heavy handed police tactics and a show of force and weapons, inexcusable disorganized voting in areas that showed more support towards the opposition and also allegations of vote rigging and corruption.

Even John Kerry of the U.S called the president to urge him to stop some of these concerning undemocratic actions.

The current president still actually has a lot of support though, and perhaps, might not actually need to do these things to even get a fair win.

What is more frustrating for me though is seeing fellow Ugandans here feeling rather dejected after it all. Many of my friends here feel like they want change and want to have their vote and voice count, but that in reality the people don't have much power if they don't support the current regime.

Sometimes I feel like this show of democracy is a bit of a charade and an act. It is not that I am particularly 'for' any presidential candidate (whether the current president or the opposition leader) but that I really wish the voice of the people could be heard. It can feel like there is such a strong and unfair imbalance between the current regime, and any other party or candidate that a large majority of Ugandans may support.

I am actually quite politically opinionated among my close family and friends. And they have heard my views in detail over the last few days. But I am a bit more cautious about stating my strong views on public forums.

I was going to post quite a long piece of opinion on my blog, or on facebook. But after reading through it, I decided not too.

It was quite cynical and had heavy criticism and perhaps was not the wisest thing to post.

There are really three main reasons why I feel I should not be too politically outspoken.

The first reason is that, although I do live here, I am still a guest in this country and there are many Ugandans I love and respect who would hold strong opinions different to my own.

Another reason is that I often have this inner conflict within myself to be, on the one hand, drawn towards an outspoken rebellious type revolution, and on the other hand, wanting to honor, submit and respect the authorities, as my faith calls me to do.

I find this a bit of a balancing act, where sometimes I can be too hot and heavy and outspoken politically that I start demonizing governments or leaders while getting carried away, and I realize I am not being respectful and forgetting that we are all fallen sinful people who need grace.

I know I could easily refer to certain leaders as tyrants, but I need to also remind myself of the tyrant in my own heat ... the great tyrant, that is self.

On the other hand, we do need to be careful of being so respectful towards governments and authorities that we never speak out against injustice's that are clearly and plainly seen.

The last reason why I want to leave it here and not say too much, is basically because it is not wise for me to do so on public forums.
I am still a guest in this country, and I have influence (especially over the youth) in my community and I am on a government visa. Already I have seen how much the government takes notice of foreign nationals (even in my own case when applying for my own visa, and seeing how much info they already had on me) and so it would not be in my best interest to have too much of a loud voice in the matter.

In the end God is sovereign. We must all stand before Him and give an account for our life! Whether we are a poor laborer or the president of a nation, we must all face God who will see into our hearts.

As an old African American slave hymn goes "What is done in the dark, will be brought to the light"

In other news, more close to family life, we recently took Ethan to our doctor for an unfortunate and unusual medical condition that had to be dealt with.

Ethan has had a small pimple on his chest for quite some time now, and we always just assumed that it was a milk pimple as he has many on his face.
But the last few days the pimple grew and grew into what looked like a boil! It had a lot of pus and looked very red and infected.

We tried using some antibiotic cream, but it got worse. The other morning we had a closer look and saw a small hole going deep into the boil type wound.
Whenever Ethan would breath, a small yellow thing would come to the top of the hole, and then go back down into the wound.

We took Ethan to the hospital, already suspecting what the problem was.

When we go to the hospital the doctor had one look and our suspicions were confirmed.

Ethan had a mango fly maggot burrowed in his chest. The doctor told us that this dry season is mango fly season, and when we hang Ethan's clothes out to dry, the fly can lay it's eggs in the clothes. When the eggs hatch a little worm comes out, and if babies are wearing the cloths the worm burrows itself into the skin until it grows bigger and bigger (eventually turning into another mango fly)

We were told this is actually common for babies here as they have such soft skin.

We were also told the best way to avoid this is to make sure the clothes are out in the sun drying for at least 8 hours, and that we iron the clothes very well before using them.

Poor Ethan cried a lot when the doctor tried to squeeze the maggot out. The maggot was so deep that the doctor had to go to work with a small scalpel and a pair of tweezers! I was impressed with the size of the maggot that came out, it was quite large.

Aggie couldn't handle seeing Ethan in pain and crying, so she had to leave the doctors room!

Ethan's large pimple that ended up being a small maggot.

Ethan is doing fine now, and we will do our best to avoid this in the future! Otherwise he is very healthy and weighing in at 5.7 kg at 1 month.

He has a lot of rolls on his body and is quite the chubby baby. We still struggle at night with him and try to work out a system where we take it in turns to care for him (he seems to only be able to fall asleep at night when he is lying on my chest)

Otherwise we are well, and just sticking put in Wairaka until election season finishes. We will avoid the towns in case there is any political unrest in the next few days.

Our tailoring class is about to start next week as well, so your prayers are always appreciated.

Ministry request.

So I don't write these types of blogs normally (or at all)
But after a long time of thinking and praying about a particular need we have here on the ground, I have been encouraged by others to write up a request for anyone who would love to get behind us and support us in a particular area.

With the ministry expanding, and also our family growing (not just my own with the birth of Ethan, but new babies that have also joined us with the 'larger' family that we live with) we have seen that there is a growing need for safer modes of transport for our family in Uganda.
Agnes and I really feel, and have decided (alongside consultation with our missions mentor) that a small car is a responsible thing for us to have right now.

A recent event really showed us how important a car is. When Farouk and Beatrice's newborn son got extremely sick with blood poisoning, and almost lost his life, we had to race him to the hospital. We were lucky that my mother was borrowing the village of hopes car at the time, so we could race straight to the hospital.
If we did not have the car, we would of had to of waited around while trying to find a friend who was available.

The nearest good hospital is about 20 minutes drive away in a car. In public transport it can take up to 1 hour to get there.

Public transport has also got more dangerous to use, as we frequently need to go to town to buy things for our work here. The taxi buses and boda boda's (motor bike taxis) that are the only form of public transport, our regularly driving in a very dangerous way.
We have counted so many deaths, and severe accidents, on the road over the last year caused by these public transport vehicles.
Of course you can understand that Aggie and I do not want to take baby Ethan on the back of a motor bike.

Our only other option is to pay a high fee for a personal taxi car to come and drive us around. This costs a lot of money, and even still, if there is an emergency we need to wait for the car to come from town first, and then bring us to the hospital (which can take 45 minutes)

We have manged to use public transport for the whole time that I have been here in Uganda, and have tried our best to make do.
But with the birth of our newborn son, we feel we cannot keep doing this without taking risks that we don't feel comfortable about.

So taking all of this into account it seems wise and responsible to have a small vehicle for the family.

Cars can be expensive here, but we have a good contact for a small reliable car that Andrew has been able to look up and find.
We believe we can get the car for between five to six thousand dollars (maybe even a bit less)

As you know, we serve the people here in a voluntary capacity and our personal living and family costs are provided by generous partners ... many of you reading this!
This means that there is no 'pot' of savings to draw from in times like this, as each month is finely budgeted.
God has provided everything we need and often more through all of you and we are thankful for that.

People have also given us one off donations, which have been such a blessing! A lot of these one off donations though have gone towards the medical care of Agnes having a safe pregnancy and delivery! But we are able to contribute about $400 of money that has been accumulated from these one off donations to go towards a car at least!

We waited a time and prayed about asking for help on our blog here, and even though I really don't like asking for money, and prefer to see God work through people at the needed times, we feel that it is right to do so now.

If you are in a position to contribute and willing to help, we would appreciate any contribution that could go straight towards purchasing a small car.
We ask this knowing that you all have to budget each month as well, so we acknowledge that every donation is a gift and a blessing. We also thank everyone who has stood by us so far, not just financially, but also with your prayers.
If you feel, please pray about partnering with us in this, we value each gift.

Our heart is to continue to serve the young people here in Uganda and express even more of Gods love and his potential for them to be people of hope, and we love that we can share that with all of you.

If you can contribute, please contact Andrew on: aboonstra1@gmail.com or on 0400 488016 to let us know.
Contributions via bank accounts also can always work, but it helps to see where we are at and who has blessed us if you could contact Andrew.

God bless you and thank you.

From the Vandenberg family.