Dawn French, the Acholi and Ethiopians

So sorry for the silence – I came back from Uganda very inspired with all sorts of thoughts for blogs, and then life took over too quickly and here I am the day before flying to Ethiopia to lead another CRED Team Trip with none of the blogs written. Hey ho – another day for most of them, but for now a thought that links the Uganda trip with the Ethiopia trip and includes Dawn French in it as well!

On Wednesday this week Tim, Rozzie, myself and one of Rozzie’s friends went to Cardiff to see Dawn French in her show ’30 Million Minutes’. It is entitled that because that’s about how long she has been alive, give or take a few hundred minutes (so you can work out how old she is!)

The show was absolutely fantastic – it was Dawn talking about her life, and reflecting on the different people she is: a person in her own right, a mother, a wife, a daughter, a grand-daughter, a sister. Through it all she wove various anecdotes and reflections, from the hilarious re-enactment of her trying to be a pop star, to her thoughts on her body image, to her memories of her dad who died when she was just 19, to stories of her ‘evil grannie Lil’, to coping with infertility and adoption…..It was stuff everyone could identify with, and showed Dawn as a regular person. OK so we all know her as the Vicar of Dibley, or from French and Saunders, or previously married to Lenny Henry, and so don’t think of her as a regular person at all, but on Wednesday none of that show-biz stuff was dwelt on, and she was just one of us.

The key message that came through in it all was how we are all an amalgam of the individual person we were made to be, with special talents and gifts, and also of all the people who have influenced us along the way – family, friends, school teachers, work colleagues etc.. And as a result let us be proud of who we are and of the person inside, and let us celebrate our family and friends, and also try to be that wonderful family or friend to others.

Stirring stuff indeed, and Dawn totally deserved the standing ovation that she got at the end. But when I think back to the Uganda trip the other week, it is that same community and family spirit that really touched so many of our team. The Acholi people with whom we were working have so little, and so often see themselves as a long way down the pecking order. But the community spirit that is so evident between them all inspired our young people very much.

Sharing is the norm, and looking out for each other, and each other’s families is the natural order of events. So different from over here where there is the tendency much more to live in silos, with very little cross-over. Certainly that was the reflection of the young people we took, many of whom are un-churched and so don’t experience the church family that I personally would say is one of the key areas where people come out of their silos.

It was also lovely to see how much the Acholi ladies, and children, grew inside themselves as we invested a week of our time with them. Incredibly humbling to be part of, but it really was transformative as the children, who normally have to sit and watch other kids go to school, whilst they stay home and work at the quarry or watch younger siblings, were the centre of the attention of a team of Mzungus for the week. The children’s response to the attention and input was beautiful to behold – I do believe that we have become a part of who those children will grow up to be.

One aspect of life that the Acholi would instantly say is key to how they are, and that Dawn didn’t touch on, is faith; and this was another reflection that our young people had – that the Acholi people were so smiling and happy despite living in such poverty, because they have faith in something bigger than just the here and now. And that is something that really shines through with the people on the Ethiopia project that we are visiting next week.

Women At Risk works with ladies who were prostitutes, and it helps them come off the streets and into alternative employment. Along the way the ladies get counseling, discipleship, health and nutrition support, access to education and training, and their children also get their schooling paid for. It is a beautiful thing to witness how these ladies, and their children, have moved from a place of hopeless despair to hopefulness and positivity about the future. They know Christ, and His love, and that shows in their lives.

As our team goes out to work with the Women at Risk project, and run a holiday club for the children, may we in some way speak into the lives of those children, and be a part of who they grow up to be.

And in the beautiful way that CRED trips are a double mission trip, may the young people going on the trip also be touched by Christ’s love in ways not previously experienced as they work alongside some of Christ’s army of saints, serving Him in selfless, giving ways to the poorest and more vulnerable.

May everyone grow a little bit more into the person God made them to be, and may we each help the others around us to find that person inside and bring it to their fore.