Oasis of Love.

The first week in May I was able to do something that over the past nine years has only been a dream.  I visited the tiny village of Papoli, Uganda.   I accompanied  Dr. Sylvia Campbell and Pastor John DeBevoise, who were our team leaders, on this week long trip.

It was a particular blessing for me to visit in person my dear friend Emmanuel Ofumbi as well as members of his family and the people of his tiny village.  To have this decade long friendship and close association with Emmanuel culminate in my actually being able to visit him, his family and his people in their own surroundings brought out very humbling emotions and feelings of thankfulness and joy.

Being already well aware of the conditions in Uganda and particularly conditions in this tiny village of Papoli, I was still jolted to see first hand the fragile nature of life in a third world country.  Uganda, even more so than many other African countries, has a long way to go in achieving any semblance of an economic foundation.  With no development of exportable resources, very minimal infrastructure and a general lack of advanced technology, Uganda remains one of the poorest of African nations.  The civil unrest which has recently spread through the middle east and northern Africa is taking hold in Uganda as well and reflects the frustration of many who look forward to a better life and to take part in a self-governing process. 

The village of Papoli is a microcosm of the country as a whole.  Villagers exist in a fragile environment subject to disease, food shortages and little opportunity for any semblance of a productive life except for growing their own food and caring for their families and animals.  Chickens, goats and cows all can easily contract communicable diseases from which they die. These diseases would routinely be vaccinated for in our country. Too much or too little rain can destroy crops resulting in  villagers  grubbing for cassava tubers for their one meal per day.   HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases also have taken a heavy toll in these Ugandan villages.  Orphans abound and live wherever they can, many looking after each other or filling up the hut of an aging grandparent.  

Yet, thanks be to God, our team found Papoli to be a village with great hope, great love and profound appreciation for the assistance they have been given.  The villagers seemed to be determined to use the help and tools provided them to better there conditions and make for themselves and their children a better life.

We were able to see first hand the primary school, the pediatric clinic, the many fresh water wells, the provisions for limited electricity,  the food distribution program and all the rest.   We observed dormitories being built for housing teachers and students and we met with many young men and women who have graduated from higher learning institutions as a result of the scholarship program.  It was obvious to us that the monetary donations as well as the prayers and good wishes of so many here in Tampa had produced results even beyond our expectations.

In reality, however, I believe that our confirmation of the progress that this tiny village is making was revealed more to us in the smiles, the joy, the love and the appreciation expressed to us than in the particular structures that we saw in existence.  For those who have been a part of this by giving  pennies or dollars or by prayers and good wishes, all can be proud. 

What we observed that has been created is a little oasis in the middle of a countryside of poverty stricken people who normally have little or no hope and little to look forward to.   Yet, now there is a place where the children can come.  Not for miraculous cures and assurances of a bright future free from hunger and disease….this is not possible.  But come to receive love, to play games, to be appreciated as individuals, to be given a feeling that there is hope and that their lives are worth something.   They smile, they laugh, they return to their homes happier for being cared for and cared about.  This love that is shown and the boost to the individual spirit is infectious.  It is passed on to siblings and even to adults whose own dire situations are made more hopeful by the bits of joy and happiness they see in the children.   The generosity of so many has made possible these hundreds and hundreds of small individual gifts of love, of caring and of simply putting a smile on the face of a child.  The ability to say, “you are loved, we care about you and your life is important,” is the hope that so many who will read this have allowed to be imparted.   It is”hope” that paves the way for all efforts such as this to succeed.

I was honored to go on this trip in representation of all who have felt in their heart such a closeness and love for the people of this tiny village in a far away place.   God’s blessings to all.

Paul Clark