the outsiders

Since moving to Kampala, I've been exposed to a lot of really great organizations and companies doing some pretty amazing things development-wise..... But many of these sources of development are headed up by Americans or Europeans.... outsiders.


Because of this, I've been led to consider a rather uncomfortable question.... If most of these organizations are initiated by outsiders, do Ugandans care about the restoration of their own country?


And the truth is they do. During my time here, I've had some pretty sweet examples of this. It definitely isn't the most prominent thing I see, and I think its natural that I'm exposed to more efforts made by outsiders since I am one myself. But I wanted to share a couple examples I've seen recently.


A few weeks ago in church, a Ugandan family got up on stage for a baby dedication. This was a special case apparently because they were asked to share their story with the whole church, which ended up being incredible. The new mother shared, and one of the first things she said was that her new son was adopted from one of the local babies' homes. They already had a couple children of their own, but they had felt that God was laying on their hearts to adopt, and this little baby boy came into their lives soon after that. He was only a couple weeks old, but he already had some health problems... These medical issues worsened after he came home with them, and they were in and out of the hospital for about a month. Then they ended up needing to go to South Africa for treatment and surgery, because it got so serious and life-threatening. But now their son is just fine, and recovering really well.


Hearing this family speak touched my heart because I know of quite a few families from my home church who have adopted and passed their heart for adoption on to me. I just think it is such a beautiful image of what God has done for us... this family adopted a little boy that they new had some pretty serious issues. He was broken, but that didn't stop them from loving him. And they went through great lengths to care for him... Trips to South Africa and medical bills are not cheap, but when this woman was up on stage sharing her story, I could tell that cost was the last thing on her mind- she was tearing up just at the memory of how hard it had been to have to face the possibility of losing this little boy. And I think one of the best things about all this is that its not some American family that has swooped in and "rescued" this child... Its a Ugandan family, caring deeply for a Ugandan orphan.


And just this week, I had the opportunity to witness another example of Ugandans promoting the restoration of their country. I went to a benefit concert for the international hospital here, and the crowd was made of maybe 30% ex-pats, but was mostly attended by Ugandans. I went with my roommates, and it was so cool to be doing something so typical of our lives in America, but in Uganda. In the states, I've been to numerous benefit concerts, special events, and African Children's choir performances to raise money for some cause in Africa. But this event was held in Uganda for the local hospital. It was just so much more meaningful to see Ugandans responding to needs in their own country than Americans reaching into their pockets to support a cause across the ocean.

There can be a tendency for people here to get into mindset that the white-man will just come in and fix everything for us... the whites will build us hospitals, and care for our orphans, and construct clean wells, and they will take care of us. I love seeing that mindset combated. It is my prayer that more and more Ugandans will drop that old mindset and pick up this new one that takes ownership of the issues in their country... and that more and more people would strive to rebuild and restore this place in any way they can.