On my way into Kampala- the capital and main city of Uganda- I was overwhelmed. Beyond overwhelmed actually. Poverty was so prominent. Kids with ripped shirts and no shoes. Women getting litres of water that was so dirty NO North American would ever think of drinking it. Houses made of mud and tin. Families begging for money or food. And I was so overwhelmed because the only thought I could form was "how can we ever fix this? How can we ever begin to fix everything here?" There was just too much. In my mind I could never possibly imagine a way to fix all I was seeing- and this was a wealthier part of Uganda.
For miles and miles, all I could see was brokenness and it made my heart shatter because I know that no matter what I did, it would never be enough. Not in a million years.
It took me a while, but I realized that no amount of running water or electronics could mend the holes that poverty and rejection had bore into these people's hearts. We can build houses and schools but it will not eradicate all the pain. Because yes, all I could see was brokenness, but it was brokenness that could not be fixed by money. Though this country needs education and cars and solid homes to live in, there is one thing they need much, much more...
Jesus.
The way the western world teaches students about Africa is wrong. We look at huts and mud and in our minds we from them into a thing called poverty. We from them into a charity and begin to forget their humanity. They become people that we give money to in order to make ourselves feel better but we forget about their hearts.
These people have felt the pain of rejection, they have felt the deep ache in their stomachs for food, they have thirsted for water and known what it's like not to have money for a cure. And the ONLY thing that could ever change their mangled hearts would be knowing that they are loved and cherished by the God of the universe. That they were made for a purpose and bought at a price. That though this world turned their backs on their suffering, they had someone who loved them enough to die for them. That though they did not have expensive items, their lives ARE valuable. That there is hope and peace and love through a man named Jesus. They need to know that God will and has gone to any length for them.
So yes, there is pain. But no we cannot "fix" it. We can, however, tell them that they are loved by a God who longs for them. Who died for them on a cross.
Powerful, isn't it? Powerful enough to mend broken hearts, I'd say. And isn't that what these people need? Healing in a life of pain? More than fresh water, they need Jesus, and that is what we can give them. By the way we live. By the way we love. Instead of building houses, maybe we should build relationships. Who knows, maybe we would see thousands of more smiles through tin doors and down dirt roads. Smiles and joy that can't come through material things but that can, in fact come through one man-
Jesus.