Stories from Uganda

I met hope after-the-fact. When I met her, even saying hello was hard for her. I could see in those beautiful brown eyes she was in pain from what happened, and scared lf anything new because it might harm her. ?When they found her, she was walking around the streets of the largest refugee settlement in the world. Hope was asking for food and money to a crowd who stood in apathy toward her situation, because it is also theirs. They eventually figured out her grandma lives 20 miles away.

Upon arriving at the grandmas house, they learned more of Hopes story. ?she used to live in the Congo with her parents. She now lives with her grandma because her parents were slaughtered, in front of her. At 10 years old, her grandma took her to Uganda as a refugee. They left last January but a few months later, Hope was back in the Congo, alone. She had gone looking for her dead mother. Luckily her Grandma could probably cripple a man with just a stare — she is a tough lady. Grandma correctly guessed that Hope had gone to the Ituri providence where she used to live and where most of the fighting and war crimes are going on in the Congo. She found Hope with no clear physical injuries, on top of a pile of dead bodies. They were the people she had grown up with, de-limbed and left in a pile to rot. On the way back, Grandma found 10 other orphans and un-officially adopted them.

I met hope after the fact. Her brain is locked up from trauma. She cries randomly. She can barely say “yes” and “no.” Her grandma is at the end of her rope, and life. 65 is old for a Ugandan, and having 10 other kids to take care of means she doesnt have the time Hope needs to be properly rehabilitated.

Why? Why do I get to live in America? Why do I get to have parents? Why do I get to have a car? Why do I get to spend my summers at camp? Why do I get to laugh? I want so badly to switch places with Hope. Or even just to give her a hug and tell her what words cant.

My friend wanted to fix the situation a different way. They wanted to go to the Congo and mow down every single person who caused this. After venting for a few minutes, he realized that by fighting fire with fire he was just as bad as the people who did this to Hope. Because we are made in the image of God, we desire justice. And because we have fallen short of the glory of God, we seek justice through un-just means. We seek vengeance: emotional, merciless, and too much punishment. Human justice had to coincide with mercy because a proper judge cannot be equally guilty to the accused and be able to offer a fair sentence. Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short if the glory of God.”

Love is a choice. Genuine love cannot be forced. If God were to reveal Himself to Hope like He does me, she would have no choice but to love Him because He would have bought her love. What appears to me as a lack of is actually an abundance. God works through cultures and sin, because of love.

Faith lives in the same refugee settlement. She doesn’t live on the plot of land given to her. Other refugees made it unlivable for her because she was of a different race than them. She moved to the city and started renting a hut. She became more financially unstable when her husband became a drunk. Then men started coming and beating her and her children and bribing the police to look the other way. The men eventually stopped beating them but started raping her daughters. One of her daughters is now pregnant from an unknown man, and about 12 years old. Faith was being evicted the same day I met her.

We were overcome with sadness while hearing this. Nobody knew what to say other than what sounds like cliches in a situation like that.

Faith surprised us all. She finished her story and filled the room with her contagious smile. Every word from her mouth was praise. She spoke of the blessings which have been lavished on her. She needed to let us know that we should not be sorry for her when God has been so good.

I can only see love from a limited, human point of view. One that often fails to recognize the corruption of every human heart. One that desires vengeance, not real love. One that is reckless.

Matthew 20:16 “So the last shall be first, and the first last.”