Uganda, Days 6 & 7: Joy Comes to the Widows and Orphans of Uganda

On Days 6 and 7, we visited two of the communities in which HIV and AIDS ministry is being done through Kabale PAG. CRWRC chooses to do development work primarily through local churches. It’s incredible how God is using His church to accomplish so much.

The church’s development office starts support groups for people living with or affected by HIV and AIDS. While many of the participants receive goats or piglets so that they can begin to earn a little money to supplement their subsistence farming, it is amazing to hear how just being part of a group makes such a big difference. I’ll share with you the writing of Stan, a member of Bethany CRC, as he did such a beautiful job.

Joy Comes to the Widows and Orphans of Uganda

by Stan Cole

The “before” picture of Jane showed her to be beyond emaciation, barely able to stand. But we, a team of six from Bethany Christian Reformed Church of Bellflower, California, have struggled up an extreme mountain path to arrive at her small but well maintained hut, surrounded by a lush garden and a pen holding her two mother goats and their kids. Jane’s posture now is vigorous and her face is a picture of hope and confidence.

The life path Jane has taken to this point has been even steeper and more treacherous than the one we have just climbed.

When her husband fell ill nearly twenty years ago, they made a rare visit to a clinic. The doctor explained the diagnosis in a language she did not understand, but her husband said his problem was merely an inherited condition he would just have to live with. But he was lying. He couldn’t afford to admit to her or to the general public that he had contracted AIDS. It would be too great a shame and too great an inhibition to his social freedom. So they had two more children before he died of AIDS.

But that was only the beginning. Now the health of both Jane and her children was in deep jeopardy because of HIV/AIDS. Now she and her children bore the stigma her husband could not face. Next her village and her family pushed her out. And finally her in-laws challenged her right to her husband’s house and land.

Meanwhile the Pentecostal Assembly of God Church in nearby Kabale, Uganda, had heard the call of the Lord to bring the Gospel to bear on the awful new plague that was killing off their neighbors. First, to set an example of courage and accountability, the entire staff of pastors marched publicly to the clinic to be tested for HIV. They then reached out to those known to have tested positive to give them a place of acceptance, a place to support the care of their children, a place that would free them from the awful, suicidal choice of selling their bodies to provide for their children, and most of all a place where they would meet Jesus, with his power to forgive and to heal.

Through the offices of CRWRC, Bethany CRC of Bellflower, CA, was given the opportunity to enter a partnership with Kabale PAG in its response to the AIDS epidemic flooding their community, in large part because of its location on the transcontinental highway right at the entry into Rwanda. The paperwork and red tape at the border give the truckers lots of idle time and that leads inevitably to the search for female companionship. And the epidemic rages!

After sending them some financial support, Bethany CRC came to the conclusion that it would be much more meaningful for both sides if we made this a fully personal and spiritual partnership. So we decided to send a team of six to visit Kabale PAG.

What we found there was a sort of miracle of loaves and fishes. We can’t begin to imagine their lack of financial resources. Nevertheless they have planted over twenty churches in the neighboring hillsides. And they have developed a thoughtful and holistic response to the HIV/AIDS crisis. It includes promotion of testing, help with access to antiretroviral drugs, support groups, care for orphans and children at risk, income stability through the raising of goats and pigs, training in better methods of gardening and farming, introduction to the nutritious amaranth plant, vital to the survival from AIDS; drama groups carrying the message of sexual purity and responsibility and a Christian pre-school.

As part of our preparation, we studied to be as wise as we could be in our visit. We determined to come not with ready North American solutions, gumption, and resources but with a humble spirit, a listening ear, and a willingness to become loving, equal partners.

The love, acceptance, and fellowship with which we were received made those goals almost automatic in spite of ourselves. We were so immediately embraced and flooded with generosity and hospitality that we hardly had a chance to exercise our expertises. By the grace of God and the power of fellowship in faith, we truly and almost naturally became true partners.

There remains much to be done, many opportunities to bring support, and undoubtedly many complications and mistakes, but we came away deeply blessed and hopeful because of the magnificence of God’s grace shown in his saints at Kabale PAG.