I want to share a story with you. We went to church today with our neighbor, well, actually the “house help” (servant?) of our neighbor. Her name is Ruth. We have gotten to know her through the fence and Beckie noticed that her English is excellent. Upon asking her about it we heard that she was in nursing school far up in northern Uganda and had actually taken her finals but before she had gotten her papers to graduate the school was attacked by rebels and everything was burned. The students all fled. Her village was attacked later and she was raped and got pregnant. In order to support herself and the child she was forced to find a safer place and get a job. So she came south and ended up here in Soroti. But she can’t get a job in the hospital because there is no proof that she graduated. She is fluent in Luo, Acholi, Swahili, Ateso and English. She is well educated (here anyone so has completed primary school is doing well, few complete secondary school and even fewer manage to attend anything beyond that) but now she spends her day cleaning and doing laundry. She is looked down upon here by other Ugandans because she is a northerner and kept the bastard child of a rebel. Life here is hard. So many have stories like these. What is Ruth supposed to do? There seems to be no way to get the papers she needs to get a better job as a nurse. She can’t go back to school, there is no money. She barely makes ends meet for herself and her child. Is it any wonder some of these women abandon their kids if they find a man that will support them? She had hope and potential for a good life. And now what?
But enough about that for now. We went with her to her church. They meet under a mango tree about a 15 minute walk from our house. Ruth told us church started at 9am. She came over to our house so we could walk together around 9:30. When we arrived at the tree there was a pulpit and about 14 empty chairs. Ruth said we were the first to arrive. About 10am the pastor arrived and we prayed together and started singing. As we prayed others arrived on bike and on foot About 10:15 the worship leader arrived. But before she could start she had to get some coins to pay the bike that dropped her at church. (The taxi around here is to hop on the back of a boda boda driver’s bike). Then worship really started. And a few others joined. It was nice under the tree. The breeze was cool. There were some cows grazing just over the path. Prayer time in a small group. A little different than church at home but good.
1 comment:
I have another question....The school that Ruth attended? How does higher ed work in Uganda? Are all institutions separate from one another? Is Northern Uganda separate from Southern? (R/t you said she was looked down upon from the Ugandans where you live) So having no way of getting any sort of records??? Does that mean the town, school, building, teachers, all of that is under civil war or something? What a horrible shame... I'd like to pray that God pulls from the rubble a survivor from that fire... A survivor that will have made copies of things unknown to all of us! Copies of school records etc. I'm praying that God will open the gates of all doors and somehow that survivor will find their way back to Ruth and her child. She worked so hard to better her life and God didn't have her do that for naught! Please tell her that for me Jen!! Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours! I do believe Ruth, I believe that mine and your Lord and Savior has bigger and mightier plans than this! How much is a college education in Uganda. In my "kinda" money not shillings hahahahahah hugs!
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