During this past week at Acholi Quarters,
the team has had the joy of having three wonderful local young women working
with us as translators. Deborah, Jackie and Miriam are exceptional – in their
English-speaking ability, their academic ability, their patience and tolerance
and compassion for the children, and their love of life, and of living out
their Christian faith
Deborah and Jackie are from the pastor’s
family, and so have a fairly secure family set up, still living at home with
mum and dad, and as part of a family respected by the community. Not that life
is easy or materially rich for them, and they also as a family will have their
own set of stories about life during the Lords Resistance Army times.
But for this blog I’d like to focus on
Miriam, who I got to know much better this past week and yesterday in
particular, and for whom yesterday was a beautiful example of God’s provision
being perfect in its timing.
Miriam is 21 years old, and is attending
university in Kampala in the evenings, to train to be a primary teacher.
Watching her with the children during the day, as she translates the activities
and numeracy / literacy / science concepts to the children, with lots of extra
explanations along the way is confirmation that she will be a very special
teacher. Whether it is helping one of the quicker children to go further and be
challenged, or sitting patiently going over the same thing time and again in
different ways to a child that just doesn’t get the concept when presented in a
certain way – she naturally exemplifies all the best bits of teachers!
In the afternoons, at least twice a week,
Miriam runs the adult literacy classes that I have mentioned. There are ten
ladies on the books, speaking 2 or 3 different languages between them, and some
who have never been to school before whilst others managed to achieve bits of
education before the LRA war put paid to any further schooling. Again her
devotion to these ladies, and her patient, gentle, non-patronising and respectful
style of imparting knowledge to the ladies is helping instill a confidence and
self-belief in them that has been so lost through years of living in poverty
and illiteracy.
The rest of the time, Miriam makes beads to
sell, amidst all the usual daily chores that come to those living in Acholi
where there is no running water, no power, no sanitation, and none of the
appliances that make our lives so easy and in many ways wasteful.
A remarkable young lady, with a passion to
make a difference to the local community and bring good to those around her,
living out her life against a background of memories of trauma from the LRA -
escaping from a burning house, living the life of a night commuter as she
sought safety in the town each night whilst living in the village during the
day, running from soldiers and trekking many miles to safety. Stories that to
us like a horror movie, but are the reality to so many others in this
community, and in living such positive lives bow against those backdrops are
demonstrating in an inspiring way the power of forgiveness.
But the extra bit of Miriam’s story, in my
mind, happened yesterday evening, and is a lovely example of a) how God has so
many more plans for these trips than we can ever imagine, and b) how His timing
is always perfect.
As I said, Miriam is attending university
and is the second semester of her first year. Yesterday we learnt, through a
passing comment, that she didn’t know if she would be able to finish the
semester as she hadn’t been able to raise the required tuition fees
(£300). There was no request for money
or anything like that, it was just a comment as part of a bigger conversation,
along with the assurance that God would provide in the right time, and He had everything
in control.
When I probed a bit deeper, it turns out
there is a 6 week grace period at the start of each semester for students to
get their fees in, and during this time they are able to attend lectures.
However if the fees aren’t in by the end of those 6 weeks, then they have to stop
attending, and would have to restart the whole year if and when they do raise
the required fees. The 6-week grace period ends next Friday (27th
Feb)!
You’ll have guessed where this is going –
some of the team have clubbed together and pledged to cover her fees for this
semester, and for the next two years to allow her to graduate, with the peace
of mind that she doesn’t have to struggle for fees, but can focus on her
studies and in her spare time do the adult literacy classes for the ladies.
When Miriam heard of this last night she
was overwhelmed – it was such a beautiful moment. It wasn’t a loud moment or
lots of fussing, as those who made the commitment wanted it kept quiet, but all
the same there was a definite sense of God’s presence in it all.
If the team had come a week later it would
have been too late; if we had come earlier it might not have come up in
conversation, as the deadline wouldn’t have been looming. It was perfect timing
– as it always is with God.
And it came as a culmination of a lot of
faith exploration, and heart softening that has been going on this week –
through time at church, time with the Acholi, learning about their lives, their
history, their forgiving nature, and seeing their unshakeable faith in action.
For Miriam it was a prayer answered in an
unexpected way; a ‘well done good and faithful servant’ for someone who has
walked faithfully and selflessly for many years, and who speaks and lives great
trust in God at all times.
For those on the team concerned it was
confirmation that they were in the right place for God to work out that little
piece of life, that He has unique tasks for each of us if we just stay open to
His bidding, and that He can use each of us, wherever we are at, for the good
of others – and that in itself is a great testimony to go home with.
The team goes home tonight and I go on to
Malawi. Not sure what the internet is like down there, so I might go somewhat
silent, but thank you for your prayers, and may we all be open to whatever
little treats God has in store.
Love and prayers
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