Ty - Update 7: Debrief Blog 1

Journal prompt: What is one lesson I’ve learned from my East African friends that I will never forget?

In the village we visited in Eastern Uganda, I was put back into the kitchen. I was very excited to continue working with the people there but little did I know that this experience would put into perspective much of what our ministry does abroad. 

When a bunch of white people show up to a rural village it draws a lot of attention, especially from kids. So as I was working in the kitchen I would consistently look around and see so many eyes staring at us. Many of them having swollen stomachs from starvation. But a really difficult reality set in, we didn’t have enough food to feed them. 

It was specifically our last night there that it really hit me. We were doing a banqueting table for the church, serving over 300 people. Some of the kids were from the church, but many others still were outside watching us. Watching us cook, watching us serve. While I wasn’t in control of the kitchen, I still felt like I could’ve done something. It tore me up. 

On the bus ride back I started to deeply reflect on this, and I started to realize this was much deeper and complex than I was making it. Not only was it important that the church event happened, and we didn’t have enough resources to make it happen while feeding the village. It was also important that when we fed these kids it was with dignity, not just leftovers on our plates. And over the course of this trip we had done that multiple times. 

Through the multiple SLAM days we hosted we fed kids full meals three times a day for a week. And the important realization was that this was the vision. We will feed these kids. As we progress and things like SLAM get off the ground with the Africans running it without us there, kids are going to get fed, fed well, and in a dignifying way.