Reality Check

With just a few days more than a month left in Uganda, I want to share some of my recent realizations and convictions from this semester. 

For starters, there are starving children in Africa, but not to the extent in which American propaganda portrays.  The truth is, Africa-Uganda specifically- does a great job tending to orphans and others that are facing suffering.  When a child is left without parents, the community takes him or her in as their own.  Ugandans appreciate the aid that Americans offer when it comes to the downtrodden, but they are also aware of their own community obligations and biblical mandates.

 Seeing this kind sadness first hand completely changes your perspective on things.  I feel that the media often bombards us with so much pain and suffering in the world that we just become numb to it.  Numbness is our response because the way we are informed leaves us feeling overwhelmed and unable to help…..when we are no longer able to recognize suffering persons as fellow human beings, their pain evokes disgust and anger rather than compassion. 

Living in Uganda for a semester does not turn everyone into a Mother Theresa, but it does force you to live life from a new perspective-being completely aware of the lack and hurt in our surroundings.  Doing life with these people changes your perspective in ways that a “feed the children” commercial could never dream.  I did not understand solidarity with a group of people until this semester.  While being here, I have encountered several NGO’s and other teams that come in for a few weeks in hopes of making a difference, but they wind up doing more harm than good.  The reason they do more hurting than helping is because they do not spend enough time with the people. They do not take the time to understand the real needs of the community.

It’s not that NGO’s are incapable of doing good or being here for the “right reasons”; I’m sure they have the best of motives, but when you give someone a fish instead of the supplies to fish for themselves, where is their next “fish” going to come from once you are gone?  Taking time to understand the real needs of the community and establishing the necessary relationships to meet those needs may take more time, but it will also have a greater impact. 

What does this mean for the Church?

We must face the facts: There is great amount of pain in the world, but we also serve a great God.  When overwhelmed by the needs of the world, we are still expected to make an impact. Not only should we still strive to make an impact, but we need to have the right motives in doing so. In 1 Corinthians, Paul tells us to “Do everything in love” (16:14). Turning a deaf ear to the pains in this world will not fix anything.  “As long as religious people are well dressed, well fed, and well cared for, words about being in solidarity with the poor will remain pious words more likely to evoke good feelings than creative actions”.  Once you really walk in their shoes and do life together-see the pain, smell the pollution,  hear the stories first hand, it is much harder to use being overwhelmed as an excuse.  The truth is, God often calls us to places we would rather not go…..those places are often stinky, dirty, and dark, but it is in those places that we are called to bring light.  As long as we continue to avoid what God intends for us, we will continue to miss the life that God calls us to.  Faint Not