in her words...: week 3: Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

In a hut on a small village on an unknown island I sat on the dirt floor and laid out a straw mat. The line of women outside the door was long. There are no windows in the hut so the door must remain slightly cracked-just to let enough light sneak in without letting the passerby’s eyes peak in. I am doing antenatal checks. Most of the women have been pregnant many times, six times, seven times, some even onto their eighth pregnancy. This is not new to them but perhaps having someone take the time to check them, to answer their questions, and explain their lower back pain-is. And then to remind them they must be drinking clean water and eating more than once a day.

Impossible.

That’s the look I always received back. But I go on encouraging anyway, in hopes they might take the extra time to boil the lake water and actually drink it. That they might put something more in their mouth than a cassava plant. These women are malnourished and they’re growing life inside of them. I can’t do much to convince them otherwise though. The lifestyle that they live doesn’t allow time or finances for more food. Water is something for the lake. There is little understanding of the necessity to life that it holds.

Woman after woman after woman I invited in to lay down on the straw mat while I interviewed them, gave them time to tell me about their concerns, answered them the best way I could knowing there is little on the island that can be done about their problems, checked their belly’s, their blood pressure, and listened to their babies heartbeat. It was long and exhausting and came immediately following an already big task of immunizing lots and lots of babies and some mothers, but I couldn’t grow weary of my line.

This is it. My teammate and I are all these women have, so let the line grow. Keep them coming. Let these women be checked and counseled for the only time they probably will be.

I wish I could share every story that I came across, every woman that I had the privilege of spending time with but I would have to write a novel. And who has time for that? I will summarize my encounters by saying I am blown away at the life that is lived on these Islands in these little villages. It’s primitive. That almost goes without saying. I can’t help but wonder where are we, people? The harvest is ripe, but THE WORKERS ARE FEW. These people need us. They need hope. They need healthcare. They need counseling and teaching and someone who loves them enough to go and then stay and invest to see changes.

Around Lake Victoria and the Lingira Islands there sits about 60 other small islands. All inhabited by these incredible human beings. Only way to travel is by boat, so that’s what we did everyday. Sometime visiting villages 2 hours away from our Island. There is a family who we stayed with on the main island. They are part of a YWAM base that was started some 20 years ago. They expressed the issues that were obvious amongst the people but they also acknowledged the incredible growth and transformation they’ve seen over the years because they have stayed and invested into the lives of these people. Over a family breakfast we listened to Mama Kathryn tell us how she’s exhausted by the work on the island and how she doesn’t love living here, not like this. But then her eyes welled up, against her permission, and she cried as she told us she sat on the boat one day overlooking the water and asking God, “why am I here?” There was a hint of complaint in her question to the Creator. She went on to tell us she heard His voice speak clearly back to her,

“Because I love these people.”

That was enough to allow her to push through. To stay and to continue to invest. This is an amazing family. Selfless and hardworking and dedicated to the Lord and to the love He has for His people. I was blessed beyond measure for the time I got to spend with a family. It’s been a long time since I have been with an actual family, in the traditional terms anyways. And I couldn’t have picked a better family to spend time with. Mama Kathyrn and her husband David have 6 children, most of them don’t live on the island but go to school in the cities. Two of children were back for vacation so we got to spend time with them. Nancy is 16 and Brian is 14. I made some new best friends. They are the sweetest children. Working extremely hard and never once grumbling about it. These kids respect their mother and they love God. Ah, it’s refreshing to see teenagers act this way. So, it’s possible after all! The family works along one man, Dr. Mike who is not an actual doctor but the only one committed to seeing the people and trying to treat them. They have a small clinic on the YWAM base where Dr. Mike works sometimes until 2 or 3 in the morning seeing patients who come from long journeys just to be seen. Along with Dr. Mike is Abraham, a man who has vigorously and in an incredibly organized manner set up an immunization program. He visits a different island 3 days of the week and when he arrives the Chief of the village greets him and calls his people to come and get immunized. Over the three days of working with him we saw hundreds and hundreds of women and babies. We gave out a lot of vaccinations. I made a lot of small children and babies cry with shots but I think it was worth it. Everyday as we entered back onto the boat to make our way back to our island I couldn’t help but think how many deaths were prevented by our trip. Babies who wouldn’t die of polio or measles. Mothers who wouldn’t suffer from tuberculosis. I commend Abraham for his work. He has been going at it for 20 years and he has an amazing system set up. I am not sure if he has ever had any professional training, but I am sure now that he is a professional. I don’t care what diploma he’s missing. I commend this small group of people who work with YWAM. They need help. They need more workers to come so- if you love beautiful lakes, amazing people, gorgeous scenery, African children, or even just serving where there is a great need then I invite you to come. I invite you on behalf of Kathryn and her family and on the behalf of all the people on the Island who would love to meet you.

It was a week that changed my perspective on life. It opened my eyes to the reality of the great need and also to the great God that we serve. In two weeks I will go back to the Island and I can hardly wait.

Before I sign off, I’d just like to mention that I am currently in the waiting process for my Australian visa. I am supposed to leave Uganda in 3 weeks and head back to Australia with my team. This last week in Australia is a vital part of our course as it is a time to debrief our year together and say goodbye (a task that seems impossible to me right now) Well, actually it really may be impossible for me if I don’t get my visa granted. I had to get some medicals done in the capital city here and there’s some complications going on. The details are not so interesting, but if I can make a strong request, it would be that you would join me prayer and ask that I get this visa released to me, today preferably.