After two weeks travelling to different
projects in different parts of Uganda, I am now with a new team from a school
in Lancashire who are focusing on delivering an educational activity week to
the Acholi children, as per CRED Team Trips used to do.
Yesterday (Monday) was their first day, and
already there have been a number of delightful instances of the positive impact
of this trip on the young people who make up the team. Here’s one example:
At lunch time yesterday we went with two of
our Acholi friends Harriet and Catherine up to the quarry to see the work that
goes on there for so many of the adults living in the community. It pays a
pittance, it is totally unreliable, it is dangerous and bad for the health, and
it keeps many of the Acholi folks living in poverty. Walking there and back,
and seeing the quarry, was quite hard-hitting, and one of the students on the
team in particular found it a struggle to engage with the programme in the
afternoon.
So I went for a walk with her, to give her
some space to chat. As we walked, and she reflected on what she’d seen, and
what her thoughts were, and I gave some extra context and perspective, there
was a beautiful moment of realization that came over her, that this trip is not
just about making a difference in the here and now, but can go much deeper and
play a part in shaping who she becomes and what she does in the future.
I know that ought to have been obvious to
her even at the point of signing up, and I think to some extent she did know
that the trip would change her. But I don’t think she’d really thought it
through before, and when she did yesterday afternoon she turned to me with a
big smile and said ‘I really feel that I’m supposed to be on this trip, and its
not by chance. This is about more than just now’. Brilliant! And on day one!!
Please pray for this team, and for that
individual, as they go through this week. May there be many more moments of
perspective changing, positive impact and for each of them may there be
‘light-bulb moments’ that stay with them for a long time.
It’s a privilege to be serving them as
leader in this way, and opening the door between students in Lancashire and a
community in urban Uganda. And I look forward to seeing the two-way flow of
love and blessings that I know will come.
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