Where it all began!

A little over 5 years ago, some of my youth went to a seminar on “Invisible Children” at an event I help plan called Breakthru. I myself had actually not seen the documentary that my kids were watching and so, they proceeded to tell me all about it after they got out. I remember those who had gone to the seminar encouraging the rest of the youth and myself to get involved during our last night there. Shortly after returning from the retreat, I borrowed the documentary from one of the kids and watched it myself. Now, I have always known a little about things on the African continent, but watching the film triggered something in my soul to be involved. The film tells the story of how three American guys stumbled into a terrible crisis in Northern Uganda when they had come to film the war in Sudan. The crisis was caused by a war between the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) and all those in the northern part of Uganda. The LRA would hide in the bush and abduct children. They then would subject them to all sorts of horrible atrocities to brain wash them and cause them to fight and kill others. The only place the children felt safe was to in the towns so they could not be abducted from the villages or refugee camps set up for those fleeing Sudan’s war. So children would walk miles and miles to reach Gulu to sleep crammed in safe places for the night to keep from being captured. Thousands and thousands would come and then return home during the day to try to live a life.
Today the LRA are still operating. They have been forced into the Democratic Republic of Congo right now. Peace has started to return to Gulu. That’s where we headed, to Gulu, for camp at two different schools for a week. It was a chance to go back to where this love affair with Africa began for me. It is a chance to see the area and hear the stories first hand. More importantly, it is a chance to share God’s love to people who have lived a life of terror.
I will write about the two schools separately as they are very different tales. Some of the information will overlap. Bear with me as I think they are essential to each or it’s just that I like to talk :). So here we go.
We left for Gulu Monday afternoon. We were supposed to leave before lunch, but things just didn’t work out that way. So the 4 Americans, our driver and son, our cook, and our security guard hit the road for the 5 hour or so drive to Gulu and then the 30 minutes to the school we would be camping in. As we had just reached the outside of Kampala our tire blew. This isn’t our first blown tire, so I jumped off to help. Unfortunately, we had a broken jack. We were able to drive to the next town to get some help. However, this took about an hour and a half of our day. That meant we would be pushing it to get there before dark. The ride is long and for the most part the landscape looks the same. The further north we went, the more you could tell it was dry season, as everything was turning brown. Ryan and I had been to Gulu for a day about two months ago. This however was the girl’s first trip. I was excited for them to see the Nile for the first time. I think most of us think of it as it is in Egypt, where it is calm and floods. In Uganda, though, it is a raging torrent of water. They were pretty surprised and amazed at what they saw, and it is an awesome sight. As we were entering the Gulu area, the sun was setting and as the worship songs played through the speakers I could not help but pray for this area so transformed by pain. As we headed out of Gulu and towards Andrew Macovy, the road we travel is the very road that soo many children would commute on. It was the road that was attacked by the LRA the most. Most of the thousands of children would pack into St Mary’s Hospital in Lacor, and as we drove by it I gave a thank you. The rest of the 10 kilometers from the hospital to our school were filled with thoughts of what it must have been like each night. We got there well after dark and unloaded most of our stuff. We were all tired so we left things for the morning and headed for the beds. As we were getting into the beds one of our three Acholi translators told us that the mosquitoes were bad here. Yeah that was no joke. They were everywhere and I think I saw some of them flying around with some small goats. They were that big. I didn’t sleep well that night as I was not feeling well and it was hot. The mosquitoes on my net were pretty loud too.
Day 1
The next morning when I woke I wasn’t feeling great. A sinus headache had formed and my nose was pretty runny. We were running the camp at Andrew McCovy in the mornings and then driving to Ayila in the afternoons. As we waited for the kids to get there I sat down with one of our translators named Godfrey. I asked him if he had always lived in Gulu and was he here during the war. Both of those were yeses. So I asked him what it had been like. He talked to me about making the commutes every day. All activites would stop by four in the afternoon. The road, which is the main road to Sudan, would be empty as no one would travel through the region. The dirt would then be filled with thousands of children heading to the hospital. Godfrey said he was actually lucky because he only had to walk about 5 kilometers to get there from where his family lived. Others would walk up to 15 kilometers every night to get there. Then early in the morning before the sun was up they would rise, gather their stuff, and wait for the light. Then they would head back home to go about the day as if it was normal. But it wasn’t. Godfrey told me about friends who were captured and family members who were taken and raped. He shared how gun shots would get within 300 yards or so from their house and that others would flee to their house because it was surrounded by a swamp. He talked about how the memories still haunt all those in the area, and in the back of their minds the LRA can still come back if Joseph Kony, their leader, is not caught.
After our conversation I took a walk through the bush. The dry season has turned all the grasses a golden brown. The landscape is similar to being in the savannah. The breeze was really blowing through the grass as if God’s spirit was whispering to this place. I could just hear God saying he was present and there was nothing to fear. I hoped I could be that whispering voice to the people during the week. This land has been torn by war and fear, where the children have been the targets. As I walked and prayed I found a tree that was perfect for climbing. It even had a perfect back rest about 15 feet up for me to relax and watch the grasses blow. My prayers were soon interrupted by the sounds of the drums at the school. I knew the others had gotten the drum circled started and I might wanna head back. As I did, it was if the drums were calling to the kids, and they soon emerged in front of me from out of the bush. The drums remind people of happier times. Times before these kids were ever born, but times we wanted to help them develop. The people here are returning to life, one of peace and joy. As we played games with them the laughter echoed through the hills and was carried off by the breeze. As I watched the others lead the games I noticed that a few older members of the community had now emerged. They stop and stare and smile. Their faces are worn and leathery by the years and the hot sun shining on them. The smiles show the gaps in their teeth but it doesn’t matter. I feel the spirit of God blow through again and the grasses bow and sing their songs of praise. It’s another day in Africa, one of redemption and new life.
Day 2
Today we changed things up a little with our format for camp. We decided to all play a little part and keep all the kids together. We all led games. Then I talked about volcanoes and how God’s love bubbles up inside us like a volcano while Ryan got the experiment ready. Ryan then helped them through the volcano experiment. I then taught them the song “Jesus’ Love is Bubbling Over.” I would have never thought I would use that one, but it went extremely well. Mallory did the object lesson about being dirty. Ryan did the Bible lesson on the woman at the well. Katie went over the memory verse, and then we all colored. It flowed perfectly, and was one of the smoothest days of camp we have had.
That afternoon when we got back I went and climbed up the tree. I was pretty tired from the sickness in my lungs now, but it is always good to just get away. The grass is on fire on the hillsides. They burn it to get the soil ready for the next year. The fires are close enough that once I get above the 10 foot grass, the popping of the fires makes it sound like I am sitting in a gigantic bowl of rice crispies. The fires carry on all night and once the sun goes down you can see orange glows all around. The stars are amazing here too. No light to block the view. As I stood and looked up at them I thought about how sometimes we have to be in the really dark places in order to appreciate God’s glory. Sometimes we even have to go through the fires. It is after we come to the other side of those fires though that God is ready to plant a new seed in us.
Day 3
Yep, I‘m still sick. My sinus cold now has my lungs hating life and there is mucus everywhere. Last night I hardly slept because breathing was tuff and my head was pounding. Finally, the sun came up, and I got up with it. We decided to stick with what worked the day before. So, we each played games. Then Mallory and Katie taught them “Come Away with Me.” This has really been our theme song for the trip and it was great listening to the kids trying to sing it. Then I gave the Jesus is the Messiah message. This is week number 5 of giving this talk and it is always different. Needless to say, I am always amazed at how God uses it to speak to them. We colored at the end. The rest of my morning was filled with Katie pouring salt water down my nose, Not Pleasant!
Day 4
As we have gone through the week our crowd has continued to grow. Today we have around 130 kids. The last day is also fun because we don’t have to explain the games 10 times. It is so nice to watch their faces light up and the giggles to come from them as we play each day. The joy is really returning. Before Mallory talked about sharing God’s love with others, we sang the two songs we taught them. The words in “Come Away” go – I have a plan for you. I have a plan for you. It’s gonna be wild. It’s gonna be great. It’s gonna be full of me. Those words are written to be God singing over us. God does have a plan for each one of them. I know he has used them to help me.
Today we finished with gift giving. We passed out donations from lots of different places. We had dolls, dresses, skirts, shoes, toothbrushes, bags, and assorted other things. We let each child come in and pick something they wanted. They would smile and kneel after receiving their gift. As I prayed to close out our time with them, I couldn’t help but wonder who had given who the gift. These kids follow us around and watch our every move. We play games, sing song, and give them God’s word. However, they show us joy, teach us how to rely on God, and prove that Hope can overcome so much. It has been such a great week. I am so thankful for what this place means to me. I am thankful that God makes beautiful things out of ugly situations. I am thankful that Jesus’ love in bubbling over!