Another update from Julie - a dear friend who has been with CLD for 3 years now, serving and serving and loving and serving. I admire and love her much!!!
Hello!
I see a crowd of people, a flock of faces. To Him every face is a child, every face has a name… and every child has a story.
‘Stories’ have endings - the resolve at the end makes the story worth following even though it may have been hard to get through. Being here in Uganda it’s hard to know which story to tell, which one I’m a part of and if I’ll ever get to bear witness to the resolve at the end.
I will never forget the one minute this man entered my story … I always describe traffic here as real-life video game, no rules and ‘every name for himself’. I thought I was having a hard time crossing the really busy intersection, until this man rolled up next to the crowd of us waiting to run across the road. He was in a wheelchair and he had no legs from the thigh down, but worse, he had no wrists and no hands – yet somehow he managed to use his nubs to push the wheels around.
Funny how many thoughts run through my mind – everything from “I can’t think of anything worse” to “Well, at least he has a wheelchair! Most people I see with no legs only dream of wheelchairs”.,, When one side of the traffic cleared everyone ran to the middle of the road, and so did I. It wasn’t until he managed to get half way, frantically pushing with no hands on his wheels, did I come up behind him and weave him through the rest of the traffic, thinking ‘with all these people around, I can’t believe no one helped him!’ But I was talking to myself. This guy never expected it anyways … he was pleasantly surprised and gave me a huge smile, “Thank You Madam!” Then he went on his way and my mind was whirling because I realized that he’s used to being forgotten and I helped confirmed that for the first half of our one minute interaction.
I don’t know his name or the ending to his story but moments after I walked away I met up with Solomon and I’m reminded of the names and stories I do know the endings of. It’s been a few weeks since I wrote to share about what Solomon is up against with the Thread Of Life sewing ministry – but these days Good overcomes evil and Solomon is peacefully fulfilling lots of orders with the ladies in a new shop! (only temporary until we raise the rest of the money to buy permanent land.)
Since Come, Let’s Dance started just over 3 years ago we’re just now having the privilege of sharing stories about coming full circle, about what happens when you believe in something you can’t see and commit to it… in the children’s lives and even better in the lives of their leaders.
“This movie projector is putting my family back together!” Hearing that statement from Ben I had to laugh, but knowing that in all the years I’ve worked with him in our office and managing all of our CLD Projects, I’ve never heard that type of joy and laughter in his voice. So standing in complete darkness under the grass-roofed, dirt floor church he built only a few months ago, I had to ask to hear the whole story of that ridiculous statement. While he talked with this joy that I had never saw before, the movie projector was blaring a “Samson and Delilah” film in the background…
We were in Ben’s village where he grew up as a boy. The very place he swore he would never return to, “when I got to Kampala and started secondary school, I knew that I never wanted anything to do with this place again.” After his father died when he was a boy, all the wives of his father tried to kill him because he was the only boy among all the girls – and as it goes in Uganda, the boys are entitled to inherit all the land and property.
Because his fathers family had never really been favored in that village, after he died his wives and children were chased away until, eventually the place was deserted. Now his family is dispersed in all directions except for the place which was intended for them.
“To see village kids playing on this property gives me such joy!” Now … if you knew Ben you would know that he is a ‘business man’, not really taken by kids... Though most everything he is responsible for in the CLD ministries is ultimately for the Childrens Home, you rarely see him with the kids. But in that moment the joy Ben had in his voice, while watching kids chasing eachother in the front yard, had a big story behind it.
“When I finally came back to see if I could sell the land I had inherited, I was so sad to find it completely deserted!” About a year and a half ago he traveled back to Kaliro for the first time, his intentions were not to reclaim what was rightfully his… but this part of the story I can’t really explain. His father was buried here, this was the place he loved and grew from as a boy, this was his ancestral land… and now it was overgrown, forgotten, and avoided by everyone.
The thing is – Ben doesn’t need that land. He has a new community, big plans and an exciting future in Kampala. In fact, hes just completing a 3 bedroom house on his own plot of land not far from the Childrens Home! After running for his life (literally) as a boy – his solution was to forget his family (that tired to kill him), sell the land (where the villagers hated his family line anyway) and forget. Start a new family and expand in new territories.
There was this confidence and pride now as he said “this movie projector is putting my family back together” because he knew what was right. After coming back with some friends from church, he sensed the brokenness in that entire village, he could feel the darkness. So he rallied a group from Light the World Church and did a week long ‘crusade’ in Kaliro, “my decision to come back was the hardest decision I’ve ever made.”
The place was heavy with witchcraft, and no one was happy to see that he had returned to Kaliro. Like me, you may not understand the reality of a story like this or the intensity – but standing in the middle of nowhere hearing what the (very) recent history was, I couldn’t help but think that there aren’t even movies this powerful! Even among the team he brought out there (all Ugandans), the battle was to much, “if there was any doubt or hesitation about their faith, I told them not to go out on certain nights.”
I’ve learned that “Crusading” in Uganda is the first order of go when you come into a new community of destitution, and in Bens case, before you put a family back together. There can’t be any question of where you stand and what page you’re on. It’s a spiritual battle – they went out everyday, door-to-door introducing themselves and preaching Jesus. But it was so hostile, the witch doctors did everything they could to oppose him. Finally Ben changed the strategy to simply inviting them to come and watch a ‘film’.
Never before had these people seen a movie. Even the witchdoctors couldn’t resist. For a week every night they would gather on Ben’s land and watch “Jesus walking and talking.” They played the same Jesus Film over and over. This changed everything, “seeing Jesus alive, they had to listen and believe.”
Dozen of people gave their lives to Christ but most radically the witchdoctors recognized the evil they were bound by and invited them to come and burn down their shrines and save their souls. So in the night, only the strong in faith followed the most prominent witchdoctors to their territory… and they burned down everything. Hearing Ben recall that night, I knew he couldn’t tell me what it was really like … I know that Africa is a very spiritual place but knowing that he had to tell some to stay behind, I can only imagine was it was like.
That was the beginning of restoring that village. He immediately built the most simple mud hut church in this front yard (the one I was standing in) because “it starts with a church, only through a church can you reach out to people.” Since then, he has brought about 5 teams from CLD out there – each investing in different ways. Jeremy was the first white I think they’ve ever seen! He helped Ben start “Pigs for Hope” which is a micro business that will circulate pigs through the community… only through the church of course : )
Each team that goes out there invests a little more – adding to the pig project, putting a better roof on the church, starting a chicken business, doing medical outreach days (out of the church), hosting prayer breakfasts, and of course projecting movies about Jesus : ) The list goes on, but the importance of everything is the vision behind them – Ben describes all these things as ways of making his presence known.
“We are moving forward” he says with that certain smile that I’ve never seen before we got to his village. That’s quite the thing to say though, here in Uganda there are few examples of ‘moving forward’ … in fact it’s the opposite. Bad gets worse and destitution turns to desolation in places that once thrived. Visitors might only see a cement pig pen or a brick chicken house, but Ben sees a statement that he is back! He is not going anywhere and he’s investing in tomorrow! It was funny because it was so dark that I could only see his wide eyes glowing and big white smile, but I could just tell that he was standing so tall and his stature spoke of a new beginnings to a story that he thought had ended a long time ago.
The part of his story that I had to laugh at was when he told me how near-by ‘clan members’ were chased away by the villagers who now were devoted to Ben. Shortly after Ben and the team left, some guys showed up who were not happy Ben was ‘back’ to reclaim the land and I think everyone was surprised when all of the neighbors rallied to defend Bens territory. The stand-off was a moment in history – simple neighbors opposing the aggressive clan members, Ben had brought the first ever film to that village and whether they bought the whole ‘Jesus’ thing or not, even the drunkards stood because Ben had brought ‘the walking and talking Jesus’ … no one wanted to chance him not returning with another film! I guess film exceeds cultural, tribal, and even religious borders…
This guy Ben is in my story now, you will probably never meet him but his story is one that continues to be an example of ‘moving forward’ as he ‘expands his territory.’ Although I’m a witness to his leadership and growth as our Finance Manager (he’s even tutoring me on accounting in the office) there is something SO great about being able to help yourself, your family, your ancestral territory … he is bringing Truth to a place that had only known lies and the effects of that are rippling through a new community and most importantly his family that is scattered.
We only were able to meet one Auntie and some little cousins, ‘I know you all want to meet my family but they aren’t here… yet.’ See, the more Ben returns to Kaliro and rebuilds the land and relationships, the more often he will receive random phone calls from sisters, nieces/nephews, aunties, and uncles who are slowly coming Home again. Amen.
Come, Lets Dance doesn’t always know what we’re doing, we’re the first to admit it! But there are a few things I’ve become confident of in the last 4 years… coming alongside of Ugandan Leaders whose heart is serve God and his people before any other agenda is a story with more than just ‘resolve’ at the end. Somehow we were able to be a part of building his confidence and his ability to dream bigger and see possibilities in places forgotten.
Even as I send this email Ben is out in Kaliro again, with a whole team from Light The World Church ‘crusading’ for over a week. I love how he loves it. I love how he recognizing what the next steps are, plans ahead, budgets, rallies the people and moves forward …
Love,
Julie
