Uganda Child

While we were in Uganda, we had the privilege of ministering in a church at a worship gathering. Tim shared his personal testimony, as did Debra. (Tim has a gift for speaking - there's some preaching in his future. Shhhhhhh - Don't tell him that I'm giving him up.) Debra's testimony is moving in any setting and the Ugandan congregation responded powerfully to her story of God's faithful grace. Amanda shared a song. And I was able to speak from God's word.

We loved their abandon to worship. They danced and sang to God with devotion. We loved the traditional lunch we were served after the gathering. We loved the songs and dances shared with us after lunch by the orphans. (Lunch was meat cooked in broth, rice, matooki (a banana relative), shaved cabbage with dressing, and pineapple.) And what fun we had spending time with the kids at the end of our stay, just dancing and lavishing affection on them.

The orphanage houses as many as 200 children. The school is also open to day students and there is a total of 800 students at the school.

When we were just about to leave for our Ugandan home in Masaka, our missionary - Scott called me over to meet a young girl who I could see was standing on crutches and leaning against an external wall of the church building. As I got closer through the crowd of children, I noticed that her right leg had been completely severed above the knee.

Scott began to tell me the story of this orphan, that she had lost her leg in a terrible Boda Boda accident (remember, a Boda Boda is a motorcycle taxi). In fact she could easily have lost her life in that accident. In close proximity she also lost her surviving parent to HIV disease. She is now a member of the most vulnerable group of children in the world: invalid orphans in a developing nation. Scott went on to explain that he was in a tight spot where she was concerned, since she is technically too old to enter the orphan program through normal means. He expressed that without a sponsor committed to her up front, he would have a tough time getting her accepted into the program for any more than temporary shelter. To sponsor her will cost about $43/month.

I boldly said that I would make sure that she had a sponsor and am waiting for the paperwork to be sent to epic on her behalf. I cannot remember her name. I have been praying that God would remind me of her name but I haven't yet remembered. I can't wait for the paperwork to come so that I can pray for her by name.

This case is just one in which the missionaries of World Outreach Ministry Fellowship go above and beyond to make sure that cases that might likely fall through the cracks of most programs are followed through on. We saw time and time again how the personal contact with missionaries instead of impersonal contact with some faceless program resulted in life and soul saving follow-through. It is so much more than a program. It is more than even a ministry. It is a calling. And the commitment of our missionaries to people instead of statistics is phenomenal.

Missions works much better than secular social action. It works better because people responding to God are more motivated that people pursuing a goal.

Pray for this child. Pray for out missionaries. Pray for your mission either right where you are, or wherever God might want to send you.