"Vulnerable Family" & Resilience

Hello All!  This is Kathryn.

Today we visited a "vulnerable family".  Christine is a spirited and hardworking single mother living with HIV/AIDS.  She has three elementary aged children living with her.  She also has a daughter who is married.  Her first husband was killed by rebels during the war in northern Uganda led by Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).  The atrocities committed during that time are difficult to stomach.  They are a reminder of the capacity of people for evil. 

During the time that the LRA was active in northern Uganda, people in this area were driven from their homes and many settled in camps for internally displaced people where they lived for 2 decades.  Christine would have had a young daughter and have just suffered the brutal killing of her husband.  Today, she has three more children from another man...and HIV.  Her parents are both dead.  She has returned to live in her parent's home (hut) and to be near her aunt and community.

She takes medication for HIV, but doesn't have the strength to dig and farm the way she would like.  She knows that she must pace herself and rest periodically.  Yet she works hard.  She farms her own garden and also works a neighbor's garden for extra cash.  She carries water on her head from a well 1.5km away in the heat.  She recently purchased a pregnant pig and now has 7 piglets.  She is working on trying to come up with ways to make income that are less physically demanding. 

Our time with Christine, her family, the children nearby and her community was joyful.  The children sang and danced for us and we sang too!  Two jump ropes and a memory card game of animals kept the children engaged and gave the adults lots of time to talk (thanks to the community workers who served as translators). 

I saw a resilience in Christine that I admire.  Her life has not been easy and it won't be....yet she has joy and laughter and a great sense of humor.  She connected with each of us.  She enjoyed having photos taken and having us turn the camera around for her to see.  There is life in her eyes in each photo!  She especially loved Ilia and hoped to keep her, but Kim wasn't ready for that.  :-)

We were able to bless the family with some basic necessities - a wash basin, bath soap, laundry soap, rice, sugar, salt, oil, and a serving bowl.  We were also able to regift two of the hens that we received yesterday.  (FYI, the hotel guards kept the chickens for us overnight - I wonder if that is in their job description...)  We also left them with a beach ball, 2 jump ropes and the memory card game. 

I had the opportunity to talk with Christine before we left and asked how we might pray for her.  Her requests were that we pray for her future and for unity.

Christine faces many challenging days ahead.  Will you join with us in praying for her and remembering her?