Contributed by Laura Walls in Stories from the Field I never thought I would one day be driving toward the former headquarters of Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda. When I first became a Child Ambassador in 2010, I read a heartbreaking story of the LRA's brutality in abducting children in the middle of the night, forcing them to become child soldiers. I remember praying for the kids and their families, never thinking I might one day meet them. "You see the tall grass," our driver gestured to the grassy plains surrounding a cluster of neatly thatched, painted round homes, "The LRA would use that to hide. There was no way for anyone to see them coming." The tall grass rippled in the breeze as we drove along the narrow, dirt path. The land seemed so open yet cloaked such a harrowing past. I imagined, what if it was our family who was startled awake in the middle of the night to shouts, guns, and violence? What if it were my boys who were abducted and forced to do things against their will? What if they were forced to choose between my life and their own? How would they ever recover? Many of the boys abducted and forced to commit murder were as young as nine years old. Girls just ten years old were taken and forced to become "wives." My thoughts were interrupted by voices - children singing - their voices carrying on the wind. They met our vehicles and led us along the path to where the community had gathered. The children's matching blue school uniforms showed that, for these kids, a whole new future is ahead. We were met with more singing, this time joined by women waving palm branches and trilling joyfully, greeting us with the warmest hugs - the kind of hug that just rolls right into your heart. Because we are child sponsors, we are more then just ourselves. To them, we represent World Vision - the organization that has walked beside them in their grief, prayed with them, and through the power of God brought reconciliation and restoration of the abducted children and their community. They led us to a place prepared in a shady grove where we could hear all they had to tell us. .As community leaders shared with us, we learned that this area had experienced insurgency for 25 years. People were slaughtered, burned, and abducted. Homes were looted. Even after the war was over, there was a post-war effect. Many children were born to girls held in captivity and faced stigmatization and neglect. There was a lot of conflict having the child soldiers coming back into the community, even after they had been rehabilitated at World Vision's Children of War Rehabilitation Center. It meant people now had to face, "the man who killed my mother." It was hard to accept that the teens had done so against their will. Meeting them in their grief, World Vision gathered the community saying, "Let us sit down together." In these meetings, World Vision staff, community leaders, and community members were able to share their problems and their ideas for solutions. World Vision helped the community to process through music, drama, and dance and to build peace and de-stigmatize the formerly abducted children as they reentered the community. They reunited families that had been separated and integrated the returning children (now grown up) into a Farmer's Cooperative where they could work alongside others in their community, have income opportunities, and experience a sense of belonging. Samuel, a community leader proudly shared the changes in the community since World Vision came. "We acknowledge support of World Vision. We now have improved seed, training and best practices in farming. We have access to marketing and potential buyers. There is no more domestic violence. We have peace and unity. We have improved education. We have food security and our children now eat three meals a day. We are able to support other vulnerable families. Our children are able to pay their school fees. We have government support and recognition. And we are Christian and growing in faith." And all of this is because of child sponsorship. Child sponsorship knits the community together and provides the investment needed to make a long-term difference in the lives of children and their families. What an amazing gift it is to be part of this work! I came to Uganda so uncertain of how it would feel to be faced with such brokenness. I left seeing that brokenness doesn't need to be the end of the story. Through the power of God at work through World Vision child sponsorship, there can be healing, wholeness, reconciliation, and hope!!! "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation." - 2 Cor 5:18 A beautiful new video about the impact of sponsorship in Uganda! Contributed by Laura Walls “[Jesus] took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.’ ” - Mark 9:36–37 The word "ambassador" comes from the Latin root for the word "servant." As Child Ambassadors, we are privileged with the chance to serve the Lord by advocating for children through World Vision! But while we are familiar with representing World Vision child sponsorship to our churches and communities, this ministry actually goes deeper than the surface of presenting an invitation to sponsor a child. While on the Vision Trip in Nicaragua in 2016, we had the opportunity to have devotions with the World Vision staff. Dr. Carlos, a Health Specialist, shared these thoughts with us: "In the gospels, Jesus tells us of his superior love for the children. They are weak and simple. So, too, we are to be clean in spirit and humble in spirit like the children. In Luke 9:46-50, Jesus says that those who receive a child in His name, receive Him. In this context, the children are our ambassadors into the kingdom of heaven." "In Luke 9:46-50, Jesus says that those who receive a child in His name, receive Him. In this context, the children are our ambassadors into the kingdom of heaven." As Dr. Carlos explains, the very act of receiving and sponsoring a child out of love for Christ, gives our friends and family the opportunity to receive and welcome Christ! We may not be able to fully grasp how that works, but we can rest in the knowledge that we are creating connections that go beyond this physical world. Through child sponsorship, we are weaving connections between the sponsor, a child, and our Heavenly Father. What an incredible calling it is to be a Child Ambassador and serve as a bridge to help people do something significantly dear to God's heart - welcome and receive a vulnerable child living in extreme poverty and share Christ's love with them. Slide Show: Child Ambassadors welcoming kids around the world. (Photos courtesy of the Child Ambassador Vision Trip teams.) |
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