Uganda, Africa - But Why?

As people at work learn I am going to Uganda, co-workers ask me what got into me that I want to go there.  Many of you already know but I’ll post this here with a little more detail for anyone who may be curious.

During the last several months I’ve been learning something so simple that it is hard to realize it has taken me over 4 decades to figure it out.  I’ve been learning that life is about one thing, LOVE.  In fact, the entire bible can be summarized into that one word.  Purposely loving friends and family is awesome, uplifting, and life changing.  But the bible also speaks of loving our neighbor.  Some of us have been blessed enough to be able to give to the needy, charities, etc.  For the most part, that has been my way of loving my neighbor.  However, recently I’ve been led to do more.  I’ve been learning that loving our neighbor might mean giving my time, volunteering at a homeless shelter, developing relationships, stepping out of my comfort zone, etc. 

As these thoughts were taking root and I began taking some action, I came across a book called “Kisses from Katie.”  If you haven’t read it, you must.  I read it during vacation in Minnesota.  Katie was a high school graduate who went to Uganda on a mission trip and, it could be said, never came back.  Her story is an amazing story of giving one’s self completely to loving others.  At age 22 Katie had adopted 14 orphan girls!  She now runs a ministry called Amazima that provides basic needs to more than 600 orphans. 

As I read the book, I was being torn inside.  I cried a few times and prayed often.  I wanted to help in some way.  I read everything I could online about Amazima, I searched for youtube videos of Katie and her story.  I read her blogs and her tweets.  I read about other missionaries in Uganda, researched about adopting kids, etc.  At home, I shared the story with my daughters and convinced them to help me sponsor one of the orphan kids through Amazima.  We bought jewelry made by Ugandan women to help support their families. 

The first Sunday back from vacation I was sitting at church when a lady made some announcements.  One thing she said was “for those who are going to the mission trip in Africa, there will be a meeting after the service.”  Rebecca and I looked at each other with surprise.  Rebecca knew something was tugging at my heart.  We looked in the bulleting and it read “Uganda Mission Trip.”  Under normal circumstances I would have either ignored or not noticed such announcement but something was changing inside of me.  Needless to say, we attended the meeting after the service, not expecting much but curious to know what this was all about.  Our pastor was clear that one of the purposes of the meeting was to discourage people from going.  He kept on talking about the possibility of catching one of many diseases.  He talked about how dangerous, expensive, exhausting… the trip would be.  At the end of the meeting he said if after having explained all of this you are still interested in going, please raise your arm.  I found myself with my arm stretched up high, like a little kid asking if I could join in.  I looked at Rebecca, no words were needed, but I still said to her “is that okay?”  She knew and nodded yes.

I am going to Uganda of all places with a team from church!  We are going to LOVE orphan kids, to do the very thing I’ve felt in my heart I needed to do.  I feel so blessed to be able to do so.  I am stepping out of my comfort zone in so many ways and it feels great.

Part of stepping out of my comfort zone is to share my experiences and hopefully bring awareness of the great need in countries like Uganda.  I am convinced one of the best things that resulted from the book “Kisses from Katie” is it raised awareness about the many needs in Uganda.  In some small way, I hope I can do some of the same. 

Our team would much appreciate your prayers.  We are taking as many precautions as we can but this can be a dangerous trip. 

With new found LOVE, Jeronimo