This post was written by Kaylee Pratt, a member of the Uganda team and Weekday School teacher at the church. Follow along with updates from the Uganda team as they cultivate relationships with our new partners at the Bududa Learning Center in eastern Uganda.
I want to start by defining a word – Beautiful: pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically.
I like to think of it more as pleasing the heart, and this week I’ve come to appreciate outer beauty for the sense of inner hope and joy it creates.
Now I would like to define another word – Tragedy: an event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe.
Tragedy, or suffering, carries a heavy negative connotation but without tragedy would we be able to appreciate the beauty as fully? While we would never wish this suffering on anyone we play an important role in witnessing, understanding and sharing its impact with others.
Today we had the incredible opportunity of doing home visits with school staff. It was a sandwich of a day. A day that started with a highest high – a joyous reunion as Isaac came running down the mountain to greet us, with a striking smile, hugs for all, and the cultural tradition of taking our bags to carry them the rest of the way. Then we experienced the lowest of lows as we saw intense suffering first hand – children whom hadn’t eaten in days, parents who were severely malnourished, and houses that were crumbling beyond repair.
The day ended on a high when we visited Emmanuel, one of the children directly supported by MPPC, whose father heard for the first time that he was going to be able to attend a prestigious boarding school thanks to our support. Pure joy. The cherry on top? You may remember Kathleen mentioning a sweet girl who followed me around like a little duckling. Turns out she is Faith, Emmanuel’s sister, and we got to spend a little more time observing the affectionate interaction between the two, just a sweet moment between a big brother and his little sister. A sandwich of a day, or as I would call it, a beautiful tragedy.
We are so grateful to have been called here to be in relationship with these joyous Bududans. We mourn with them in their suffering and we celebrate the magnificent beauty that lives in our brothers and sisters in Christ.
If it weren’t for Issac being alone and living by himself since age 9, we would have never seen his house decorated in tiny trinkets. Trash he may have found or collected that he himself turned into treasure. We would have never experienced the pride that beamed from his every being as he welcomed us into his home.
If it weren’t for Steven sleeping in a bed without a net, suffering from malaria symptoms, we wouldn’t have met the sweetest most genuine woman. His grandmother was on hands and knees thanking us for something as simple as sugar, tea, and soap. Amazing grace.
If it weren’t for Caroline, a child in a family of 14, the youngest of which is only 6 months old and completely covered in scabies, the mother unable to produce milk, we would not be a team working together building this ministry. We would not be continuing this relationship, we would not be in this beautiful place meeting these amazing people who are each stealing a little piece of our hearts.
If it weren’t for all of these families being in great need, I wouldn’t have shared a beautiful moment with Martha, the Children of Bududa social worker. Wouldn’t have shared hopeful tears with her on the front porch as the rain came pouring down on the Bududan mountaintop.
There’s no doubt that this has been a hard day, that being here on this journey is hard work. But as Court has told us, “The hard part is showing up, but that’s where we meet God.” I know that we all have met God this week, in one capacity or another, through this beautiful and tragic place.
