There was a wind driven fire in Gulu on February 6th that burned 80 huts. We went to see it a couple of days later. It was a sad sight. We wondered if the Church's humanitarian program could help out in a situation like this. We called the humanitarian missionaries in Kampala and they said to turn it in and see. We went to the Minister of Preparedness and Relief and had him write a letter to the Church. The humanitarian missionaries forwarded it to the church's headquarters in South Africa and it was approved. On February 24th, the truck was unloaded and we were asked to be there along with some others from the branch to help hand things over to the victims. There were also many local government officials in attendance.
When it was time to begin the 'hand over ceremony' the village leader took charge. He spoke to us about how the help was appreciated, then spoke to the others in their Acholi language (Luo). The dignitaries all took a turn speaking and really thanked the Church and asked the Lord to continue blessing those who contributed. They thanked us too as we were the ones who visited after the fire and asked the Church for help.
One of the government officials said that usually when things such as this happen to people, they go home to their villages but these people had no where else to turn. They were all still there trying to clean up and rebuild.
The feelings that come when you have an experience like this are ones that will not soon if ever go away. How grateful we are for the blessings of our lives and wonder if we would be as resilient as these people are under the most difficult circumstances. We are grateful to the Church and to its members throughout the world who don't even realize the impact that their 'giving in kindness' has brought to these Acholi's in Northern Uganda. We hope these pictures will tell the story.
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| The man in the red shirt is the head of the village. He was the spokesman and the mouthpiece for the victims. |
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| The beginning of a new roof. |
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| The fire missed some of the huts. |
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| The fire started at this hut. This woman was inside with her children when someone alerted her that her roof was on fire. |
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| This is the woman who showed us around when we first came to the area to visit. Someone referred to her as our 'mama'. |
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| The women patiently waiting for their supplies. |
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| The children love Sister Beckle. She's takes their pictures and is always passing out candy. |
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| Olympia |
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| The Humanitarian missionaries and the government officials. |
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| The men in the yellow shirts are the policemen. |
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| They brought basin's and whatever else they had to put their beans in. |
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| The big sacks of beans. |
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| Pounding sim sim. We call it sesame seeds. It's a staple food here. |
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| The government official giving a speech. |
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| Simwa, who delivered the goods for the church. |
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| Our 'mama" was chosen to be the one to accept the hand over. |
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| She loved Robert and wanted her picture taken with him. She gave him a big hug! |
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| The lady in the blue dress is a government official. |
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| The beans and blankets. |
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| The packages with green on them are mosquito nets. Everyone got one. |
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| Everyone got a big tarp. |
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| Their hands are free when they tie their babies on their backs. Everyone here does it. |
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| Nancy, from our branch with some of the children. |
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| The end of a another unique experience in Africa. |
