Story and photos contributed by Laura Walls in Stories from the Field On July 25-27, Child Ambassadors Linnae and Jonathan Gomez are hosting an immersive art experience, bringing together some of the best artists in the San Francisco Bay area to change the future for children in Uganda who are at risk of child sacrifice. The experience is called Sacred Art and its focus on Uganda is a personal one for me. In 2018, the Child Ambassador team traveled to Uganda to a region where child sacrifice occurs. I'm ashamed to admit it, but this was one place I felt afraid to go. Linnae and I talked recently about my experience in Uganda and she asked if I could write it down, so she could share it with others. It's a story that's taken me over a year to finally put into words and even yet, I think this is just a start. But I hope this small start can be part of the bigger work that God is doing to touch hearts for Uganda. Please keep Linnae and Jonathan, their family, and Sacred Art in your prayers! In many ways, the classroom was similar to those I’ve seen in the United States. Faded but vibrant colored paper in primary hues made eye-catching bulletin board displays for lively posters of fruit, animals, and houses. Spelling words, all printed in the careful, rounded form of elementary handwriting, were made into festive flags and draped cheerily across the room. To complete the classroom, a chalkboard was painted on the clay walls with charts labeled “Our Shapes” and “Our Calendar” on one side and “Our Vowels” and “Our Helpers” on the other. It was a friendly, pleasant space and the teacher who greeted us as we entered the room did so with loving pride of ownership. The students, dressed in bubblegum pink uniforms, did the usual stuff kids do when strangers come to visit a classroom - they wiggled with nervous excitement on their benches and fidgeted behind their wooden tables. The outgoing students smiled and waved at us, their friends giggling at their boldness. I came to this classroom in southern Uganda accompanied by my team of fellow Child Ambassadors with World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization working to make life healthier, safer, and more hopeful for these kids. The children growing up in this part of Uganda are at-risk, not just from poverty that threatens malnutrition, education, and future opportunities, but also from a cultural practice known as ritual child sacrifice. It involves the abduction of children for their body parts, tissue, and blood while the child is still alive with the belief that mixing these body parts in the traditional concoctions of witch doctors could bring success in business or love. It’s so dark, it sounds implausible - like something from the realm of Hansel and Gretel and bread crumb trails in the woods; folklore where symbolic cruel villains threaten children and mix up evil potions. It couldn’t be the stuff of real life. But in Uganda’s Buikwe district between 2013 and 2014, 29 children were abducted, 64 were reported missing, and 20 were ritualistically murdered. Children like Jimmy. Jimmy’s grandmother came home one afternoon and discovered her grandson missing. She was instantly afraid. “My heart was very disturbed. Right away I felt pain in my stomach. I rushed into the house but I couldn’t find him. People who had gathered helped me look for him but all in vain.” Jimmy was missing for over a week before his younger brother discovered his body. For his grieving grandmother, life would never be the same. She lives in fear for herself and for her grandchildren.* Raising their Voices We sat on our chairs at the front of the classroom and listened as the children’s teacher explained her work with the students. Her long skirt and blouse almost had the nostalgic appearance of a teacher in a Little House on the Prairie episode. With pride, she called on a girl to recite a speech for us and then requested a group of students come forward. The next performance would be one the children created themselves. We smiled at the kids and then at one another, admiring how sweet they all looked as they stood, ready to begin. Taking their places, the students in the front rows kneeled, their expressions suddenly changing from bright-eyed to haunted and anguished. “Child sacrifice. Child sacrifice.” They chanted. “You killed my brother. You killed my sister.” Crying out in unison, their voices raised in an accusing, grieving lament. Those in front rhythmically beat the ground with their fists. “Child sacrifice. Child sacrifice. WHYYY?!!!” With agonized clarity, their cries broke the air and splintered our hearts. Truth be told, I’d been afraid to come to Uganda. I’d heard stories about child sacrifice and it’s existence so repulsed and scared me that I wanted to avoid it. My fear was so great, I even talked to a friend about not going. “I don’t think I can handle it. It’s the one place on earth I don’t really have a desire to see.” Now I sat in the very place I feared was hopeless, listening to young children chanting a dirge in the center of their cheerful elementary classroom. “Child sacrifice. Child sacrifice. WHY?!!!!” Life shouldn’t be this way for anyone - especially children. The Vandalism of Shalom There’s a concept in the Bible that’s used to describe a key attribute of God known as “shalom.” In English, the term is translated as “peace” and generally thought of as the absence of war but in Hebrew, the term signifies something much greater. A more complete translation of “shalom” would include concepts like wholeness, harmony, flourishing, fullness, and a fulfillment that extends into every aspect of life. Shalom is who God is and what He created the world to be and experience as a reflection of its Creator. But that shalom was broken with the entrance of sin. The author, Neil Plantinga, uses a thoughtful phrase to describe sin. He calls it the “vandalism of shalom.” Sin fractures God’s shalom - it destroys the way things were intended to be. In place of wholeness, harmony, and flourishing, there is brokenness, harm, and poverty. The children in this small classroom in Uganda were giving voice to the impact of this vandalism on their lives. God didn’t intend their lives to be this way. As Jesus says in John 10:10, “A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest.” Throughout Jesus’ time on earth, he set about to restore fullness of life to those around him, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and bringing justice and peace to the broken. And he charged his followers to do likewise. “Blessed are the shalom makers, for they will be called children of God.” This blessing to restore shalom is what’s later a calling to a “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:18-20) - setting things right between people and God so that they can experience fullness and harmony in every part of their lives. God’s mission is the redemption of all things that are broken - broken lives, broken systems, and broken relationships. His heart is for the children of Uganda to experience healing, hope, and fullness of life. Transformation In Uganda in 2013, World Vision began implementing the Community Amber Alert Against Child Sacrifice Project (CAAACS) focused on ending the practice of ritual child sacrifice by reversing demand for children’s body parts and sensitizing communities to change their beliefs. This program also employs a unique, localized Amber Alert System, adapted to fit the context of the region. In response to a cry for help, indigenous drumming triggers an early warning, quickly followed with more modern technology like megaphones, radio, and cell phones to prompt the community to action. Roads are quickly blocked and the police, notified. As a result of this system, 18 lives were saved in 2016. Stopping the abduction of children is only one part of the battle, however. Eliminating the demand for the children’s body parts is another. When the CAAACS Project started in 2013, it needed to confront the belief system that created this demand. To this end, World Vision adopted a social norms change approach, starting multi-phased workshops to guide affected communities to acknowledge this reality. These workshops lead to the admission that child sacrifice exists and impacts the community and the understanding that each individual needs to assess their own beliefs and mindset to bring about change. In addition, World Vision also works with leaders from different faith traditions to protect children, bringing the interfaith community together to speak out against child sacrifice, early marriage, and gender-based violence. Children, too, play a key role in this transformation. Through the children’s Spiritual Nurture Club, children are empowered to use their voices and become agents of change in their community. And it’s working. Through this multipronged approach, lives are being saved but the practice of child sacrifice still remains. Drums The children finished their performance and went outside to the fenced playground area behind the school. We followed behind them and then heard drumming. Was this a warning? Had a child been abducted? The drumming grew louder as we entered the playground area but this was no alarm. Instead, the children smiled and reached for our hands, pulling us to join them in an indigenous dance that was something like a hip-wiggling conga line. My American hips aren’t exactly used to this, so I wiggled along with the rest of them and was pleasantly surprised when I swiftly received a fabric belt tied sweetly around my waist by a smiling little girl. At first I thought this belt was a sign I was doing well, like “Congratulations, you’re looking good!” But rather than being a sign of impressive dance mastery, it turned out to be a remedial effort to help me focus my movements. (Less hand waving, more hips!) We danced until exhausted and laughed together, hearts full. The Whole Story
I came to Uganda fearful that I would leave hopeless - thinking I could never fall in love with a place where child sacrifice exists. But while I did see the evil, brokenness, and pain I so badly wanted to avoid, I also experienced a beauty, joy, and loving hospitality that overwhelmed me and washed into my heart like a flood. I bore witness to the vandalism of shalom but I also saw the shining beauty of life as it’s reclaimed and redeemed by the God of love. Uganda is now forever etched on my heart in the imprint of our sponsored child, Elvis, too. He and his family are among the most generous and loving people I’ve ever met. In a profound but simple way, sponsoring Elvis enables me to be part of World Vision’s work restoring fullness of life (shalom) for all children. A World Vision staff member, Obed, from the Buikwe district explained the impact of sponsorship, “The little that our donors give... is very significant. That’s what I would tell our donors - that whatever support you give, you don’t know how much it is going to do. It changes the whole world around.” Then Obed surprised us with a charge. “The children and families of Uganda cannot write the people of the U.S. a letter but you… you can go back and tell their story for them.” I’ve puzzled for more than a year now over how to tell this story - balancing the need to tell others about child sacrifice so they can help, with the fear that they will be repulsed and turn away from Uganda, as I once did. But child sacrifice doesn’t define Uganda, it’s just a manifestation of the terrible brokenness of this world. Child sacrifice in Uganda is just one part of a much bigger story. The whole story is one we are part of and it includes the redemption and restoration of a broken world. We are all called to be part of this bigger story, changing “the whole world around,” one child at a time. *Jimmy’s story is from the book, Testimonies of Change: in memory of all survivors and victims of child sacrifice. World Vision Uganda, October, 2015. Contributed by Staci Buck in Stories from the Field When I met our sponsored child, Sharon, she turned my hand over and touched my palm. Back and forth she turned my hand, running her fingers up my forearm. She even touched my ears, laughing. I asked the translator to tell her, "We are the same." She nodded and we laughed. There are roughly 3 million orphans in Kenya. After spending time in the north where we saw child marriage and orphans, I began to think about the impact sponsorship has had on Sharon's family. You see, Sharon is the baby of nine children. Child marriage or abandonment could have been a way out for them. Lack of healthcare could have left those nine without parents. But instead of a hand out, World Vision has given her family tools to provide for themselves. A new water kiosk is less than 1 km from her home. So, they now have a small farm- enough of an income to get their kids in school and not rely on food aid. Sharon's mother was so, so thankful for this. This education will break the cycle of extreme poverty, as she confessed she didn't complete 3rd grade and married very young. A health care clinic is also close by for emergencies. These hands. They represent so much. A joining of two families. An exchange of hope and wonder. A breaking of borders and cultural barriers. Family preservation and orphan prevention. Not a hand out, but instead a partnership. Because, "We are the same" - we were just born here with food, jobs, and resources, and they were born in a place that needs those things. As Child Ambassadors, we are partnering with families around the world by connecting children with sponsors. This work is transformational in children's lives and communities - and transforms the sponsor's life, as well! Thank you so much for every time you've shared about sponsorship! You're making a difference! Keep pressing in and boldly sharing so others know they, too, can change a child's life and community. (Need to order some new picture folders? Place your order at wvchildambassadors.org)
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9 |
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