Another week gone by. Thanks again for looking at the blog, it is very encouraging to know that there are people who know about what we are doing and are standing with us in prayer.
Part of the YWAM HIV/AIDS Global Gathering is taking a trip to a local ministry right outside of Jinja. It is a ministry under YWAM called To.RCH (Together Restoring Community Hope) located in a village called Kangulumira. TORCH is split into three ministries and all of our team members had the opportunity to partner with TORCH in the recent weeks. We were all invited (on different days) to go out into the community and do home visits to people who are HIV positive. Last Friday was my turn to go. So Gina, Jonathan, and I left early Friday morning and traveled for about an hour total to reach Kangulumira.
When we arrived, we took a tour of a health Clinic operated by YWAM called KIHP (Kangulumira Integrated Health Project). Doctor Tim (who lives at the Hopeland base as well) is the doctor there and sees about 30 patients a day. It was heartbreaking to see all of the sick people, but encouraging knowing that there are people who are doing something about them. God has been providing for this project for about 10 years now. Each month, they don’t really know where the money is going to come from to continue the work, but God has been faithful to provide.
[The KIHP Health Clinic]
We left on foot and ended up spending a large portion of the day walking between the different homes that we visited. All along the way there were children who loved to have their picture taken and enjoyed walking hand in hand with us as we walked down the path, even if the attention only lasted for a few minutes.
The first woman we visited, Florence, lived with her husband and one of her sons. She had 4 children, but didn’t know the status (HIV positive or negative) of any of them. Only 1 of her sons lived with her and her husband was not the father of the boy. Her husband was HIV+ as well, but wasn’t around when we visited. Honestly, when I first saw her, I was a little taken back. After she had contracted the virus, some kind of legion had formed over the left side of her face and ended up taking her left eye. Most of the left side of her face was covered with a scar. I can’t imagine the kind of life she has had up until the moment that we met.
One of the first things that came up was the topic of being “born again”. [There is a big difference between being a Christian and being Born-Again. Christianity is a lot like many other religions, where people don’t become one, they are born into it. Thinking about it, I find that this definition of Christianity may be true all over the world.] She wanted to know more about what it meant to be born again, so I told her the story about the Creator of the Universe, Jesus Christ, and what he did for her on the cross. I asked her what she thought about salvation and accepting Jesus as her personal Savior; she said that “she needed it”. I had never come across someone being so open to the Gospel before. She was so sincere in her faith that I knew the Holy Spirit has really convicted her heart. It’s also great that Lavissa (a counselor from KIHP that does the home visits) was going to be going back there on a regular basis to encourage her in her new found faith.
[Florence]
The second woman was a Muslim woman named Alima and she was beautiful. I noticed a spark in her eyes and smile the moment we arrived. She was even playing and joking around with her children and neighbors. In a way, I didn’t even want to tell her that we were working with HIV because it didn’t seem like the virus was an issue in her life. Her husband had died when their youngest of 4 children wasn’t even a year old. She had known someone working at KIHP that had been encouraging her to get tested, get the children tested, participate in lectures, and apply for income generating activity (IGA) grants. She had done so and now she has started a little bit of a business raising chickens. The youngest child is the only one enrolled in school and she hopes to enroll the others as well once she starts generating more income. We also talked to her about her ARV medication (AntiRetroViral) and it seemed like she had the complicated system of taking the medication down pat. She was willing to show us her medication, so I asked her if I could take a couple pictures of her with them. She was more than willing and wanted me to take photos of all of her children as well.
[Alima and one of her daughters]
The third lady was Judith; the only one that was born again (when we arrived at least), but was also the only one that wasn’t on ARV treatment. She had received some IGA money as well and now owned a small shop (which was also her home) that she sold bananas and coal out of. Her 13 year-old also lived with her in the dark shop. She was scared to take the ARV meds because she had heard that if you stop, they will be even worse for your body and that you would pretty much die quickly. Part of this fea
r is legitimate because taking the medication outside of the guidelines can be very bad for your body. But like we have seen so many times, taking ARV medication the right way is more than possible and could extend her life drastically. Once she gets into the habit of taking it, it could be as simple as clothing herself daily. Please pray that she will be confident and bold in taking measures to extend her life and be there for her child.
It was a great day and there were so many opportunities to take pictures of some neighborhood children. We walked a long way and were rewarded by seeing some great sights of the countryside. Much of the land that we walked through was used for growing pineapples and bananas, and some was used for growing some other important crops like plantains, chili peppers, cassava, beans, and some other fruits and vegetables as well. I had never really seen a pineapple so young!
Alex and I decided to go back to St. America’s on Saturday. There is something about that place that just captures me. There was a new soccer (football) ball in the team kit that was left over from outreach, so we decided to take it with us. We had to travel there by ourselves because Christopher (from last week) had some work for school, so he couldn’t accompany us this time. We didn’t even know the town where the orphanage was, but we managed to make a few calls and find out where it was. When we got there, about 25 children and the headmistress were waiting for us by the side of the road. It’s obvious that they don’t get very many western visitors.
We climbed up the hill and saw the boys playing soccer with a very small rubber ball that was tattered and flat. I was very relieved that we had brought the new one for them. When I took it out of my backpack and handed it to one of the teachers, the children started cheering and clapping… leaving me almost in tears. It was probably the first time that they had received a football like that.
We went into the office for about twenty minutes and it felt like an oven in there. We wanted to get some information about the orphanage and it’s budget to see if anyone would want to partner with them in getting some adequate buildings and food for the children(Email me if you are interested in some more information). We also wanted to just play with the kids and try to love them Christ’s love as much as possible. We both realized that the love we show will never look or feel like His love, but at least we can try. So after our office session we went outside to get some football in.
While we were in the office, someone had gone and actually put some air in the ball (we don’t have any pumps), so they were ready to play. Alex and I decided to be goalkeepers on opposing teams because we were both only wearing slippers (the children went barefoot on the sometimes rocky surface). It was a lot of fun out there except when we let the ball get by us on accident. The look in our teammates’ eyes was that of utter disappointment that we, their supposed friends, would have a hand in their possible loss. I hardly wanted to play after the first goal was scored on me because I didn’t want the kids to hate me if we lost. The game ended in a tie though, so it was okay!
The whole time we were playing, I was praying that they would be able to take their mind off of their situation for the hour or two that we were playing. That maybe, they would see a simple gift like a soccer ball as a gift from God; that there is more to life than sadness and suffering; that even though they didn’t choose the life the live (as they sang the previous week) there is still hope in it.
Please continue to be faithful in praying for us, we really rely on your prayers. Please pray for the various ministries that we are getting involved with as well, that God will continue to provide for them. Pray for the three homes that we visited this week as well, that the Holy Spirit will continue to comfort and minister to them.
My uncle Forest is still in Rwanda, but he is scheduled to leave this week. Please pray that he will be able to finish the business in an efficient manner, and that we will have traveling mercies as he heads back to London and then home to Colorado.
May God richly bless you!
John Paul
