A confronting day

It’s the beginning of a new day in Uganda, but most of us are still reeling from a confronting day yesterday. The reality of poverty hit home for a lot of us yesterday when we visited the slums and were faced with some of the toughest sights many of us will ever see.

Split into small groups and guided by a leader, each little team met with three different families in need. We gave them a bag of groceries and prayed with each of them, asking the Lord to keep His hand on them. One group in particular met an especially needy family, who only hours before we got there had lost their toddler to complications related to malnutrition. The body of the little boy lay on the family’s only mattress on the dirt floor of their ‘house’ – no bigger than a small bedroom for us. The mother, who didn’t know her own age, sat next to the bed grieving the loss of her child, and we grieved alongside her when we saw the child lying there. It was a shocking experience that none of us will ever be able to forget. We prayed for her through tears for peace and for energy to take care of the remaining children- a baby and three school-aged children who aren’t in school. We saw the harsh reality of the lack of family planning and education in this country and realised how lucky we are to not only have these methods, but also appropriate health care and roofs over our heads.

The confronting images we saw will probably never leave us, but we were reminded once again of the important work HopeBuilders are doing when we visited the Village of Hope in the evening. All of the children that live in the Village were once suffering as the families we saw in the slums currently are. They have been removed from the slums and are now provided with basic human needs, that we classify as rights in Australia. They have a roof over their heads, a bed to sleep in, food during the day, health care and education. We can cuddle them during a movie night knowing that they are safe and well cared for. The slums were a horribly sad place to be, but the Village of Hope is full of so much love and happiness.

After a pretty full on day, we managed to end on a high note – watching ‘Moana’ on the projector screen at the Village. The children were so happy and for many of us, we had a new appreciation for HopeBuilders and the children in the village.  

Anyone who has ever supported HopeBuilders, know that your support has made a huge difference for so many children in this country.