Disaster Prayer Relief

We need your prayers, we need your letter writing, we need your calls, we need your help. This country is so corrupt for doing this and other countries are corrupt for letting it happen.  For the past few days the government has been demolishing houses in Nakawa and Naguru.  These are two areas of town right outside Kampala.  Today we went to Nakawa to help.  The church that I worship from Sunday, just three short days ago, will be torn down tomorrow.  Most of these people have absolutely no where to go.  They few that have family in distant villages have no transportation to get them there.  Their shops, their homes, their churches are gone or soon will be.  If they don’t leave they will beat, they will shoot, they will spray tear-gas.  This is outrageous.

Naguru is completely destroyed.

Most people in Nakawa are trying to quickly take apart their houses so they can sell the scraps or reconstruct a new house elsewhere.

 

The conditions of the area were bad enough before all of this started…

As I began to help this one woman take apart her home (shack) she said to me that we better move fast.  She explained that the woman she bought the land from was getting the police and telling them she was only renting the land and never bought it.  She told me she bought it with her hard earned money.  She built one room out of scrappy plywood and rusted sheet metal with her own hands.  As she made a fist and clentched her teeth she said she was “fighting until the end.” 

A few minutes later the police come and they started s small brawl as they literally pulled back and forth on pieces of the house.

This is Kathryn, as her husband was tearing down their house behind her she cooked the only food they had left for dinner.  After I had packed up a few of their belongings in a potato sack she offered me a big plate of (whatever it was).  Their entire lives were falling apart, they had few possessions to their name, and she was offering me the last of their food.  A moment I will never ever forget.

 Of course I didn’t take their food but I did love on them and hold them as they ate it.  This is Angel, one of Kathryn's daughters, I couldn't stop kissing her.  She smelled exactly like poop and her skin looked very diseased but making her laugh and putting a smile on her face made us both feel better.

 

This picture isn’t much but the story behind it is pretty cool.  As I was walking around taking pictures this one woman started yelling at me to stop.  She said if I took one more picture than she would come and beat me.  After I let her cool down a few hours I went back to her and her sisters to try and talk to them and make peace.   I’m not gonna lie – I was pretty scared. The one woman who said she would beat me didn’t talk to me at all (and was holding a huge hockey stick looking thing).  Her other sisters gave me maize to eat and we joked about them marrying my 15 year old brother (some of them could be his mother).  They were really thankful after I told them what I was doing with my summer –hearing their appreciation felt really good after knowing a few hours before they wanted to cane me.  After a little more coercing the other woman decided she wouldn’t attack.  As I was helping them tear down their outhouse for the timber in the doorway I asked her if she wanted to take a picture herself- and here it is. 

This little girl’s mother abandoned her.  She apparently hoped the neighbors would take her in (to where?).  The entire afternoon I was there she was crawling around peeing in the dirt where she was playing.  Why don’t I help her, you might ask? How? Where can I start? Who do I call? What do I do with all of the other children who need help?

The majority of the residents of this area were hard at work tearing down and emptying out so that all of their belongings don’t get squashed tomorrow.  This man, however, is completely crippled.  He got into an accident a few years ago and has been in his bed ever since.  Tomorrow morning at 8 we are heading to his house to get him out of there.

 Pray. Pray. Pray.  This is dangerous and scary.  Pray for me – for them – for this country.  Let’s see Him do miracles.