Even though the country of Uganda has been on lockdown since March 17th, we are still very busy at Called Christians. Our usual ministries to the prisons, villages and slum areas have been on hold during this time, but God has called us to do other ministry instead.
Called Christians staff has a very good relationship with the main hospital in Jinja because we normally go there every Sunday to pray for the sick, and to help a few of the most needy with food and medicines. This of course was not allowed during lockdown, but we have still been able to assist many people there, including the feeding of all of the patients in Isolation that were suspected COVID cases, and most of the men and women in the TB Wards. Called Christians was also able to receive a special sticker for our vehicle to be on the road to use for transporting sick patients to other hospitals, discharged patients to their homes, and for taking food to the places we went to feed the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in several areas. And the local Farmer’s Market is selling mangoes at a great discount to organizations that are feeding people, and we have bought and handed out 1500kg (3300 pounds) so that people have something besides the basic staple foods to eat!
Our President Museveni announced at the beginning of the lockdown that there would be no weddings or burials unless they were “Scientific,” meaning no more than 10 people present. (This is VERY much against the culture, but necessary, as you know.) So we had two Scientific Weddings here in the last two months, consisting of Pastor, Bride, Groom, Matron, Best Man, Two Parents for the Bride, Two Parents for the Groom, and the Photographer. These were some of the most beautiful weddings we have ever had here! And we know this because those of us who couldn’t attend officially kind of “peeped” into the windows of the church where the weddings were being held, ha ha!!
Bless everyone who has sent support to us in these last few months, because we were able to pay all our expenses, PLUS have enough funds to feed over 700 families! As I said, we are not doing our “usual” ministries, but we are sure that at this time, Jesus would be wanting us to share His love to people through feeding them, praying with them, and giving them Words of comfort and hope!
The one “normal” ministry we have been able to do is to continue sending our bus to the local prisons, picking up the prisoners who are too sick to be treated in the prison infirmaries, and taking them to and from the hospital for treatment and medication. Micheal, the driver, sprays all of their hands with a local disinfectant soap before they get on the bus each time, and we scrub down the inside of the bus when it returns.
The second biggest expense during this time, after the feeding of people, has been the repair of our fleet of vehicles. Uganda roads are notorious for potholes that are large and deep enough to swallow a few elephants! And many of those potholes are right on our street! So our two “manual” vehicles had clutch plate, pressure plate, pressure forks and all the other “clutch” parts replaced, along with replacing all of the ball joints, tie rod ends, shocks, and bushings in the front ends. The two automatic vehicles have also had tie rod ends, bushings, shocks, boots, arm bars, steering arms, and many other things replaced. EXPENSIVE!!! We were actually driving on pieces of rattling metal parts that were about to fall apart at any minute. Now we are much safer on the roads!! We use our vehicles for ministry, and some days all six of them are out at one time! They are definitely work horses!
The slum area of “Works” behind us has over 2000 people and no running water or sanitation. It is illegal to put those amenities there because the settlement is illegal. We have built them three pit latrines, but this last week, two of them have overflowed and are running like rivers between the houses and down to the road, where the sewage is pooling against our security wall. This week one of our young men found the company that pumps out pit latrines, and we paid to have that done. This young man also talked with the local Water and Sewerage company, and after the latrine is pumped, it will actually be connected to the National Sewerage system, hurray!! Less smell and less cholera for all!
President Museveni has loosened a few of the lockdown restrictions, even though we have nearly 500 confirmed COVID cases (about 400 of them are truck drivers and contacts of truckers) and we can drive our private cars for the first time since March 21st. I love to drive and have missed driving my car!! Unfortunately, so did everyone else, so it seems that this last week, every car in Uganda was on the road! Can you say “traffic jam?” Some of the shops have been allowed to open, and some people are going back to work, but it will still take a while for many to get on their feet. Please do continue to pray for this country for relief from starvation, terrible floods, and locusts. And we at Called Christians will continue to cry out to the Lord for peace in the USA! We love you! Thank you for loving us!!
Praises and Prayer Requests:
- Praise for the support that allows us to feed starving families, help with medical for the very sick, and repair our fleet of vehicles!
- Praise for the Staff at Called Christians that loves the Lord, and gathers to pray for many issues almost every morning.
- Praise for two beautiful weddings that took place at Called Christians/Calvary Chapel.
- Praise that the orphan Shafiq has a safe and loving place to stay until they find his family.
- Pray that God continues to touch people to send support to help us feed the needy.
- Pray that God stops this Coronavirus and lets people get back to earning a living, but also that everyone has changed for the better during this difficult time, and that people have more love and compassion for each other.
