It seems to me that it is now a good time for an “Africa Update”, and today is the perfect day to write such an update. This morning I woke up to Uncle Alex quietly knocking on my door bringing me my “morning tea”. I can assure you that not all “missions” are as posh as this example betrays, but that is life here in rural Uganda when you are a guest. I’ve been staying at A Perfect Injustice’s guest house at “House B” for young boys in a village 20 miles north of Kampala. My schedule today was actually quite relaxing. I had my morning tea, dropped off my tea set, and was frankly appalled to see a large cauldron filled with literally over 100,000 ants—wings and all—about to be roasted for human consumption. I promise you, I’m still not that brave. Then I helped Uncle Peter in the field for a couple hours hoeing in preparation for the planting season (oh the blisters…). Then we rested, ate rice and beans, and rested again. Today is a little more lax than the average day, but I’ve enjoyed talking with the Uncles and Kamara. Furthermore, I’ve had the time and space to nearly finish Stanley Hauerwas’ (my favorite theologian) memoir, Hannah’s Child. It is one of the more provocative and challenging “Christian books” I’ve ever read—although in my opinion, all Christian books should contain those two characteristics. It is far too academic to fit in well with the surroundings, but in all honesty, I tend to exist in the space between the head and the heart so reading about Hauerwas’ life amidst the friendship of Africans is incredibly fulfilling.
But anyways, God is good and I have appreciated my time spent away from Kampala, which is where I will spend most of the remainder of my time in Uganda once Abby and David arrive at the end of the week. Here I have the space to acclimatize myself to not only the weather and pace, but the culture—and I have found that I need that. I haven’t lost my ability to easily move through different cultures and spaces, but I will say that being in the Kivulu slum at the street program for street boys was a tad overwhelming. This is likely because I am still not very good with young children. This may seem odd for someone who has spent the last four months as a history teacher, but it is true nonetheless. On the other hand, perhaps we should be very cautious of ever becoming underwhelmed by the scenes and human costs of abject poverty and dehumanization. I know that much of what I’ve observed in this life I should never be OK with. In time, I am sure I will find my place in the street program, perhaps leading games and devotions with the street children who attend.
My focus for my time here, however, is on the men who are the caregivers of such precious children as those in the street programs and now those who are in the homes. These men—men such as David, Alex, Peter, and Eddie—are the men that I have come more specifically for. Starting likely at the end of next week will be the Mending the Soul group that David Kakeeto and I will be co-leading. The idea for such a group came to me one day sitting in the pew at church. I give full credit to the Holy Spirit because I think that no external reality caused me to think of fusing my love for Africa with my skill and experience in doing MTS groups. But the idea came and with the encouragement of a couple friends I started down that path that has brought me to where I now sit writing you.
In truth, I am wholly out of my league. Thankfully I trust that God has called me to this specific context despite my weakness. God has also been so gracious to afford me the opportunity to do an MTS group with David while he and Abby were back in the U.S. This will likely prove to be the critical action to prepare David’s and my hearts for leading broken men who care for broken boys into their own pain and to find Christ there—for this is exactly what we aim to do. It will not be my task to increase my brothers’ faith, for their faith is already radically being used to enlarge the Kingdom. No, it will be my task to assist my brothers in realizing more of the Truth. That is one of the best parts about Christianity: we get to tell one another the Truth. I’ll get to share with them in scripture what God has to say about the abuse they’ve suffered, the abuse those they care for have suffered, and the healing from profound pain found in the Cross. This probably sounds somewhat abstract and for today it is, but as I journey with these men I expect incredible things to happen, incredible truth to be found. Hopefully I’ll get to share some of this with you.
And yet my prayer remains today what it was last week: Just like I am a cultural human, so are the men who I will be doing the group with. We come from profoundly different cultures and cultures always provide unique challenges to being honest with our experiences, beliefs, concepts of God, etc. Thankfully David can attempt to bridge the gap between myself, the designed-for-Western-audiences MTS curriculum and my African brothers. But David and I do not know how it will turn out. We just have faith that this is something that we should do no matter how hard it may prove to be. All that to say “Please pray for us”. That is what I would shout for all to hear if I could. There is efficacy in prayer and we believe that. Moreover, David and I have likely failed to pray enough so we quite literally covet your prayers! Pray specifically that a) the right men would be in our group, b) that God would prepare the hearts of these men for some serious introspective work, c) that David and I would be able to effectively lead these men through healing, d) that we would be able to discern who among the men would be able to faithfully carry on the leading of MTS groups in David’s and my stead.
Thanks for taking the time to read through this admittedly incoherent “update”. You can expect more coherency and specificity once our group has started and the real work has begun. … read below or on facebook for other musing on Africa & life.
God Bless you all,
Dan
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