Africa and G8

Dear friends,

A lot of strange things happen when you cross the Nile River and end
up in a refugee camp for internally displaced persons.

You gain this sense of being out of place and far away and a little
afraid and even more broken.

I guess when I planned to go to Uganda, I didn't realize that we were
heading up to Northern Uganda, a place that has been torn by war with
the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group that is fighting
guerilla warfare in villages all across Northern Uganda. We visited
our well projects in a place called Lira, which is about a 5 hour
drive north of the capital city of Kampala - and just on the outskirts
of the violence. As we drove, we encountered the powerful force of
rushing water of the Nile River over rocks and in between lush
vegetation - as well as several UN and International Red Cross trucks
. As we continued on, baboons lined the side of the road. As did the
military.

The war has essentially been going on since 1986 and it has killed and
displaced millions of Ugandans. I've never been this close to war
before. I've never before seen people afraid for their lives. I've
never felt the slight worries about the safety of my own life. And
I've certainly never been so disturbed by the inhumane conditions of
the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp.

It's just plain awful. 1300 people, chickens, cows and goats are
crammed into a small plot of land surrounded in barbed wire. Their
villages too insecure to live in- just this week, 5 women were killed
by the LRA when they were out in their farms. The city is safer, and
the conditions are horrific, most people have lived here for 3 years
now - but it's better than risking your life out in the village.

The children are literally STARVING. Three out of four children have
those extremely bloated stomachs that are an indication of
kwashiorkor, severe malnourishment. Families have constructed mud
huts. The hut is smaller than my bathroom at home- and seven people
sleep in one of them. There is no water because the well is broken,
the latrines have overflown with excrement, some children have no
clothing, and everyone is suffering from severe coughs. Food is
scarce, fear is high and hope is buried.

I guess when I come face to face with the real people who are REALLY
struggling to survive, I get confused... and then I get angry.

The situation just doesn't make sense to me. I honestly have had a
hard time with God on this one. I stand in the midst of STARVING
families who live in most inhumane circumstances. These are
hard-working, compassionate, intelligent people who have been run off
their land, away from their homes because of the rebels, whose
children are not being fed, who face disease and discomfort every day.
They do not complain - they just keep moving forward trying to find a
way to survive the day. But why is it that I have every physical need
in order to live well? I didn't do anything to earn this? It makes me
so angry that there are billions of people in this world whose basic
needs are not being met.

I've been in East Africa for the past 25 days now. I have seen,
touched, smelled, encountered the reality of extreme poverty. I am
closer to understanding all the implications that are involved when
they say that 1.1 billion people in this world live on $1 a day, when
they say that poor countries are unable to address their own
development because they are funneling all their funds towards debt
repayment to rich and unforgiving countries, when they say that 80
percent of deaths are due to water-borne diseases, when they say that
6500 Africans are dying every day because of AIDS.

I've walked with the women who carry the filthy water on their heads
for miles every day, I've sat with people living with AIDS who know
they will not survive simply because they cannot afford the $7 every
month that would provide them with the medicine that will keep them
alive, I've seen people laying on the dirt road utterly sick and dying
from malaria because they cannot afford a basic mosquito net and
treatment for the disease, I've met hundreds of orphans who cannot
afford to go to school, I've come to dread Saturdays because it is the
day of too many funerals. This stuff is real. And each day I'm seeing
people that I will never see again because they are not going to
survive. And I carry the burden of knowing how easy it would be for
those with resources to give to those with little -- and confidently
say that this assistance would dramatically change this continent.

I can tell you for a fact that Africans are the most hard working,
committed, faithful individuals I have ever met. Any thought about
Africans being victims or incapable people should be eradicated now.
The work that is going on here on the ground is unbelievable. The
things that these communities and local NGO's are doing here are
humbling and amazing. But they can't do the necessary work without the
help from the nations and the individuals who some how hold these
resources in abundance.

The G8 summit is just around the corner. This is an incredible
opportunity for our world's most powerful leaders to reach outside of
themselves and courageously commit themselves toward debt cancellation
and poverty alleviation. I want to shout out and say, "Hey world, this
has got to stop!" And now we have an opportunity to say that - loud
and clear.

This is really important. I can't emphasize it enough. Please do what
you can, wherever you are for our brothers and sisters here in Africa.
Whether it's your voice, your financial contributions, your prayers,
your personal investment...we need you. Please.

After a restless night from the IDP camp, I went with our team and
purchased the necessary parts to fix the broken well. Blood:Water
Mission has now provided clean water for this refugee camp, thanks to
those who have been supporting us. I'm so thankful that we were there
and that we have the support to be able to tangibly and immediately
alleviate a situation. The well was fixed the next day.

I think I've written enough. Thanks to those of you who have read all
the way through :) I have so much more to say, but I'll save it for
later.

Thank you for your prayers and all your encouraging emails. The
suffering here is real, but the strength, hope and provision of God,
though hard to explain, is much greater than any of the hardship.

Be blessed.

Jena