Amuria!!!!

This post will include the newsletter we sent out on Geoff's recent trip to Amuria! Great news already from there, too, as we have heard that the people there have already completed the house our team started and they have also already begun another one!!! We are sending two representatives tomorrow to check on their progress and, if all is in order, we will buy the community there a pair of oxen to help in plowing the gardens for the returnees of LRA capture! Please pray for our two representatives as they travel and meet with the returnees.
As always, we'll keep you posted, although not always in a timely manner . . . life if busy!!
So. . . the newsletter . . . . .

Here's the news about the recent trip to Amuria that I (Geoff) made along with 30 of our young people. Amuria is in the North Eastern part of Uganda and for the past 20 years has really struggled with different problems ranging from raids by a warrior tribe called the Karamajong to the latest problems with the LRA (a rebel group that has plagued Northern Uganda since the early 90’s.) Once a place that was rich with cattle and agriculture, it has been reduced to a hopeless group of refugees trapped in their own fears.
Our trip consisted of seven staff members, four college age children from New Hope and 30 teenagers from our three schools. We set out in the back of the ministry’s biggest truck on Saturday morning (August 23rd) at 4 am for 7 days of ministry. Imagine food for 40 people, plus outreach food, sauce pans, sound equipment, sports equipment, garden tools, and anything else that we could think of to provide for us for one week.
After five hours we ran into our first set back, though only a minor one--a flat tire. The real set back was not the flat, but the fact that the tools to change the tire had been removed from the tool kit. After a 1 ½ hour delay we were back on the road and praying for no more tire problems as the puncture was irreparable.
Another 8 hours passed before we finally arrived at our destination, a place so far off the main road that over the entire week we never saw another vehicle. We were warmly welcomed by around 150 people excited to see what this vehicle and mass of people were bringing to them. We immediately began clearing the spot for the tents, collected water and utilized the remaining sunshine to get set up.
The week was filled with much work and ministry. Our main goal was to come alongside the people, encourage them and inject hope into their lives before they totally give up. On the agenda was building a house for a widow and planting, weeding and harvesting crops for some of the hardest hit by the LRA conflict. There were three groups we targeted for ministry. First were children taken prisoner during the conflict: the boys were made to be soldiers and the young girls were forced to be wives to the leaders. In addition to the children, we found parents who lost their children, and finally women who lost their husbands. All have been deeply affected by the terror that the LRA brought to the area. The LRA uses terror and fear as their main weapons. They move through the bush to reach remote areas and basically slaughter entire villages. They kill the men, take the children and begin to brain wash them with terror tactics. Some stories reached us of having to kill their parents as part of the initiation.

Though we were very prepared, there are things for which you can never fully prepare. The situation the people are living in is very sad. Many lack food and all seemed to be hoping that we brought their miracle that would change everything. Most of these children’s contact with aid organizations has been mass feedings put on by the UN, so that’s what they expected, but they found our approach quite different. We brought not just the hope of a meal, but together with the gospel and the work we did we gave them hope for the future.
Many of these children have had no close contact with white people so at the beginning of the week the five of us whites were met by crying children running away. Not the warmest welcome, but by the end of the week we had made many friends. One of the other areas we really weren’t prepared for was the distances that the people of that area walk as part of their daily lives. On our first full day there we left camp to go to the site where we would be building the house. They described the distance as, “it is a bit far.” Well, as we came to know, “a bit far” might mean 16km (around 10 miles.) Somewhat near which is “just there” is 4km or 2 ½ miles, so needless to say we WALKED A LOT!

Our young people did great, with few complaints despite the walking, hard work, heavy rains and high temperatures in the afternoon. We would work in the gardens or building each day until 1:00, have lunch and then have open air meetings in the afternoon/evening, and as well, two nights we showed the Jesus film.
The youth of Amuria weren’t interested in talking to me or the other leaders, but wanted to relate to our teens, and many of our young people came back having experienced great success working with the local children. The majority of my time was spent with village elders and leaders ministering to them in the area of hope and the fact that God is able to bring them out of their desperation. We both encouraged and challenged them with things they should be doing as they go forward. At this point they had been suffering from a lack of rain. God really showed Himself powerful, when at the end of the meeting Monday night I boldly prayed for it to rain and within 10 minutes of saying amen, we had to run for shelter from the rain! It then proceeded to rain most all week.
It is our intention to continue to be involved in this village as it seems they have been forgotten by the world. We want to donate a pair of oxen for plowing to aid in their recovery as agriculture is their best resource. So we expect to make a visit in the near future to check on them (this is already happening tomorrow as we mentioned at the beginning of this blog!!) and again in December when we take our group back on another outreach.

The conditions these people are living in are some of the worst I have seen since moving to Uganda 2 ½ years ago. Most people live in mud houses that, in order to provide safety during the times of night raids, are crammed together in makeshift villages. It is normal to have only one meal a day and not uncommon for some to go without food. Children wear rags and 95% of the children I saw had no shoes. During the week I often thought, “Wow, I am in a hunger relief organization commercial.” Our hearts were captured by the plight of these people, and we hope to continue to reach out to them in prayer and stand with them as they recover from the years of suffering.
A humorous note . . . I saw a very small mud hut with a grass thatched roof with this message painted on its outside wall, “Availability of everything you need hotel.” That really speaks from a different perspective, doesn't it? A roof over your head and some hope.

There were many tears as we left, but the overwhelming feeling was that God is on the move and we will surely see His hand in the lives of those in Amuria. Please pray for those who have suffered at the hands of the LRA over the years. Peace has come to the North, but the wounds of the years of conflict run deep.


Blessings, The Brittons