I have said it before and I still believe it:  this world is full of people who are desperate to be loved, but almost void of those who want to love. I guess it is the same all over but being here, in Uganda and seeing this phenomenon first hand my eyes have been truly opened. I know I’m not an expert on “the problems of Africa”. I realize that they are many very complex problems ranging from political, social, religious and as the recent events in Kenya highlighted, even tribal. I do not presume to have everything figured out after being here only 5 months, but I have made this above observation that I view as relevant to the underlying problems here as well as everywhere.

 

Jesus himself addressed this problem when he was asked what the greatest commandment of them all was. He was unable to answer that question with one commandment. He had to respond with two, “love God and love your neighbour”. Two thousand years later we seem to be able to respond to the first one but have great difficulties with the second. Jesus proposed that you can not love God without loving those around you. Jesus was unable to divide the two, so how can we? If at this point you’re wondering “who is my neighbour?” I suggest you refresh yourself with the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25 and on).  Jesus’ words of love are still true today and he has given us incredible imaginations to practically interpret just how to love our neighbour.

 

Karen and I have been running a feeding program at the church we are assisting for over one year now. It consists of 36 woman and two men who are unable to gather enough food during the week for them and their families. Eighteen of these are HIV positive and require a high protein diet to make their drugs effective. It has truly been a joy to do this practical thing for “our neighbour”, but it occurred to us, that there was a better way. What if we could teach those who live among these ladies who profess to love God to practically love their neighbour by taking over this feeding program or at least assisting us in doing it?

 

So how did it go? Well the idea of not letting a white guy pay for everything was quite “foreign” to them (my first attempt at a pun). But after long talks with the pastor about how this was truly the heart of God, to teach his people to love one another with action, we began an experiment. We gave those ladies in church an opportunity to bring in some extra food, or a little money that would be put towards helping the needy among them. This was a huge cultural shift for all of them. In a land where everyone is out for themselves, this thought of “sharing” never occurred to them. Every one of these precious ladies by North American standards is desperately poor. For them, to sacrifice what little they have and give to those who are more needy, I view as something that would  truly classify as a modern day miracle.

 

We started January 1^st and for the past two weeks the ladies have been able to supply the needs to their own friends and neighbours. It brought more pleasure to me to see their love in action than all our attempts at putting band aids on gushing wounds. We realize that we will have to inject money from time to time and will have to continue to supply all the eggs for those living with HIV until our chicken farm becomes productive ( another story). But I view this as a real step forward.

 

I guess this is what Jesus meant when he said “teach them to obey everything I have commanded you”. He was talking about love.