Day #15

6-3-09

I really enjoyed our meeting with Vicki (Psychologist) and Kathleen (nurse), two missionaries from the United States and Scotland. Both of them were so knowledgeable and eager to share with us. It was neat to see that both of them were single women in Africa, all alone. I do know of one woman from home who was single and served as a missionary in the Philippines for 20 or so years, but so far this trip we've met three single women serving as missionaries in Uganda. This is encouraging to know I don't have to be married to live in a foreign country if God were to call me to do this. I do love being single. Kathleen admitted it is difficult being single sometimes, but she's able to do so much that she probably wouldn't be able to do if she had gotten married. I think my motto is as follows:

"If I can serve God more fully as a married woman, then I'll get married. But if I can serve Him more fully remaining single, then I will remain single."

As far as the information they presented goes, I learned a lot. Vicki spoke about the war in northern Uganda and had a much different perspective than the minister of youth. She says there are still many people living in the camps and there is no guarantee Joseph Kony won't come back. She also explained how the reason he has not been caught yet could possibly have to do with corruption: the amount of international aid coming into Uganda due to this war. Another example is of soldiers hired to capture Kony yet have acquired land in the north. If they were to capture Kony they would have to give up their land, so they probably have little motivation to capture him.
Vicki also expressed how she believes the war is a spiritual battle. After all, it all began because Kony is a witch doctor and he claims a rock told him to wage war on the government. This is really a frightening thought. But at the same time, our God is greater than any witchcraft. Therfore, we should be praying for the Lord to defeat Joseph Kony and his army.
Kathleen talked mainly about HIV/AIDS. I found myself really fascinated with the information, but at the same time, saddened. Apparently the men in this culture believe the lie that they can not control their sex drives. How sad! It's as though they are animals! But as she explained, if nobody is there to tell them otherwise, then of course they are going to have sex as often as they can with whoever they can. No wonder there are so many women who complain about the men not being faithful. It's so sad.
I feel like it'd be really cool to advocate purity (sexual, but also emotional) among the young women of Uganda. I guess what really needs to take place is for men to stand up and advocate self-control and faithfulness among the rest of the men in the country. In this sense, American and Ugandan culture appear to be quite similar.
One thing Vicki said stuck out in my mind, tonight: "We want to throw our money at things, but God wants us to give our hearts to things." In other words, God wants us to take action and get involved in physically helping those in need rather than simply giving a donation and letting that be the end of it. The more time goes on, the more I'm convinced I want to dedicate my life to getting in the mess of people's lives and doing all I can with Christ in me to help them in any way possible.
Joseph, the young man I spoke with yesterday, asked me what kind of things I've done to help people so far after I told him I wanted to "help people" when I graduate with a sociology degree. I was honestly stunned. I could name a number of organizations I've donated money to and describe short-term mission trips I've been a part of and even talk about going to the homeless shelter weekly... but at that moment I was just stunned and felt everything I'd ever done was insignificant. He then went on to tell me about an organization he had started to donate food and money to those in need. He told me of his big aspirations to change the world.
So... I guess that's motivation to truly start making an impact in the lives of those around me. If I want to spend my life helping people, it only makes sense to start now.