Helping the needy
At the end of a typical day here in Uganda the electricity is usually off. What can you do but sit in the dim candlelight and meditate over and over again the events of the days which have brought you to this particular one? This is what I do sometimes.
And they’ve been good days so far. Tonight my friend Robin told me about two gentlemen she’d met today. In the course of their conversation it came up that we work with the Northern peoples, particularly the Ik tribe. "Oh," one of them said, "yes I know all about the Ik." He launched into a narrative about this tribe, their location and their language. Robin was impressed that this fellow was so knowledgeable on the subject. She asked him where he had learned about the Ik and he promptly replied, "I am with the local media, I know all about them through the gallery that was held for them recently at the Sheraton!" (this was said with an air of one who is part of a very privileged few who know such things.)
Robin smiled as she pondered how our small efforts to raise public awareness for this lost tribe had gone further than we had realized. As one visitor to my art gallery exclaimed, "This is more than art! This is a great tribute to humanity!"
A company that has been donating goods for us to distribute to the needy as part of our "Donation Distribution Program" just heaped on us another van load of shoes! Last week we received tons of women’s and children’s shoes. Today it’s men’s. We’ve been teaming up with other NGOs or charities to distribute them. So far, the shoes have benefited kids from the IDP camps in Gulu, orphans in town, widowed mothers, refugees from the Congo based in Paidha (Northern Uganda) and many others. Someone I am in the “South Pacific” play with works with one of the charities which distributes the shoes. She was relaying to me today how much in awe the kids had been when they gave out gifts of high-quality leather shoes, as well as hosting a meal for the hungry children.
The local newspapers also covered an event where shoes were donated to Karamojong children who were in desperate need. I hope we can continue to do more of these donation distribution programs. When you hear the feedback of the help it brings to others it makes it so worth doing!
At home, the kids have been learning to sort the donated goods, box them for different institutions, etc. Since the shoes usually come in odds and ends, they have to hunt for matching pairs before re-boxing them for loading. They’ve been enjoying it a lot. They also went recently to deliver some of the boxes to the Widows and Orphans program. Learning to give in this way and see other children their age with far greater needs than they had certainly brought it much closer home for them, and in a far more effective way than we ever could have taught them. As missionary kids in this land, they get first-hand experience; they see these things, and I know it grows them up.
