Peace At Last

“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears he will answer you.” Isaiah 30: 18-19

Last week evil launched an attack on us that was wild, fierce and loud. Reports from every media source…the newspapers, the television, the radio…repeated the threats of the government official to evacuate the slum area or risk being violently removed. Defeat seemed to hang in the air. Fear tried to set up house in the deepest part of our hearts. The intense battle forced us to our knees. All that was left was to close our eyes and pray to our mighty warrior, the Lion of Judah. With our eyes closed tight, we could still hear the shouts of eviction and the whispers of hopelessness, but we continued to pray. Finally, all became quiet…the voices had been silenced. Slowly, we opened our eyes and as the dust settled on the battlefield, we noticed that God’s beloved had escaped unharmed. Our mighty warrior had rescued us from all that meant to do us harm. Our great lover had protected us and given us back the peace we had longed for.

Last Thursday, I approached the church where the widows had gathered eager to hear the latest news about Otafire’s threat of eviction. Otafire, a retired general, is the top government official in charge of redeveloping the slum areas of Kampala. He was recently quoted in the local paper as saying, “The poor will never enter heaven. They are lazy and useless and even God doesn’t want them.” He ran an ad in the paper last month stating that all those that reside in the slum areas of Nakawa and Nanguru must evacuate by July 12th or risk being forcibly removed. So, here we were on July 10th meeting together and staring eviction in the face.

The ladies were somber when I arrived. We greeted each other and then Rosemary began the meeting. The ladies explained that Otafire had continued to issue his threat of violence if they didn’t leave by Saturday, but that the IGG (Attorney General of Uganda) had also come to the quarters to tell them to say put until the case against Otafire was resolved. The IGG had accused Otafire of evicting the people of the quarters without providing adequate lower income housing for them to move into. These two government officials began to publicly attack each other; each asking the president to intervene on their behalf. As of yet the president has remained quiet or at least not made any public statement.

So, the ladies looked at me and asked, “What do we do? Where do we go?” I had no answer, “I don’t know,” I said as I shook my head and stared intently at the ground at my feet, “I don’t know. God is the only one who can help you now. He is the only one who can make a way out of this mess.” As soon as I uttered those words, a couple of the ladies stood up and encouraged the other women saying, “God can do anything. He is mighty and powerful. He will intervene for us. We are his beloved. A husband always protects his wife. God is more powerful than any man. We don’t need to fear, we need to fast and pray.” Suddenly a chorus of “amen’s” erupted from the ladies. Then we all stood up joined hands and began to cry out to God for a miracle. There we stood praying in at least 3 different languages asking the same God to protect his women.

The next day, I went back to the quarters to be with my friends as this ominous deadline approached. The police had spent the morning walking through the quarters carrying their rifles and warning people to move or face the consequences. They only stayed a couple of hours but they had made their point crystal clear. I sat with Joyce in her small sitting room as we both wondered what the next day would be like. “What will you do if they come and chase you?’ I asked. She looked at me, smiled and sighed. “What can we do? I have a bag packed just in case and if God decides to move me, I will move to where he tells me to go. But, in the mean time, I will go live on the lawn of the Parliament building. We have all decided that we will live there until the government listens to us.” “I hope it doesn’t come to that,” I said back to her. She laughed again, “Kari, God has kept me for 10 years and has never left me in the cold. I am not worried. I’m trusting in him. He will take care of me.” I smiled back at her, but wondered deep inside my heart how she could look so calm. My own insides were shaking with worry as I thought of what tomorrow might hold. Before I left I spent time in prayer with her and with her neighbor asking God to protect these dear friends of mine. As I went to bed that night, my stomach felt tied in knots and I drifted between sleep and prayer all night long. I begged God to keep my friends safe, to somehow allow them to stay where they were.

As the sun came up on Saturday, July 12th my heart was pounding inside my chest. I continued to ask God to intervene and I read every scripture I could find on God’s love and mercy for his widows. Joyce said she would call me and let me know what was happening, but when I hadn’t heard from her by 10am I decided to call her. My hand was shaking as I held the phone and my heart was beating in my ears as the phone began to ring. Suddenly, I heard her voice, ”My daughter, how are you?” Her voice was light and happy. “I’m fine. What’s happening?” I blurted out. She very simply said, “Nothing. No one has come and the IGG has said that nothing is to happen until Otafire’s case is resolved. See, I told you God would protect us.” She said it so matter of factly…like God’s miracles were an every day occurrence. I was stunned. This general had been threatening these people on every media outlet for over a month and had sent the police to intimidate the residents just yesterday, so all of sudden today he decides to listen to the IGG? I was simply shocked at what God had done. He had stopped the eviction of 7,000 of the poorest people in Kampala…overnight!

I waited to see what would happen in the days that followed. Was Otafire waiting for the element of surprise to evict all these people or had God in fact saved his beloved? Sunday, Monday and Tuesday went by with no word from Otafire or the IGG, but all remained quiet…peaceful. Finally, early this morning we received word that the residents would indeed need to move from the quarters, but that it would be a slow 3-month peaceful process. I have been sitting here all day amazed at the power of God. To think that he stopped violence in its tracks…he changed the tactics of a ruthless man…all in a few hours…it is absolutely incredible. The ladies will have to find new housing, but God has given us time to do it. And now that I have seen his mighty power and compassion, I have no fear that He will find a place for each every one of these dear friends of mine.

For I have learned that our great lover is also our great warrior. When evil rages against us, he will swing his sword and defend us. He will protect us from even the most powerful of earthly men. Like a mighty lion, he will make his presence known causing fear and trembling to all that would dare to come against him. He is the mighty conqueror…the all-powerful king and the lover of our souls.

Update on the widows: (www.dorcaswidows.org)

Wow! What a week-what a roller coaster of emotion! I want to say a BIG thank you to all of you who prayed for the ladies this last week! It was your prayers that moved God is such a powerful way on their behalf. It is so beautiful when we can all come together to love each other! As you have now heard, the ladies will need to relocate. We are very close to purchasing a piece of land. In fact, we are only waiting for the green light from the director of Cornerstone, as the money is located in a Cornerstone account. At the moment, he is in Arusha, Tanzania. He will be back next Wednesday, so it is our hope to finalize our purchase at that time. Then we will be fundraising like crazy to build some homes for the ladies to live in. As this property is about 30 minutes outside of Kampala, some of the ladies who have employment in the city may wish to find a room to rent in town. We will do the best we can to help each of them find a place they can afford. Please keep us in your prayers!

Another HUGE prayer was answered this week—Jane was able to find some TB medication to hold her over until the new shipment arrives. Last week, all the hospitals ran out of TB medication…many pharmacies as well. In fact, we looked every day for almost 2 weeks for this medication. This medication is supposed to be given free of charge, but some unscrupulous people have been selling it to patients instead. We had to buy this medicine, but we had to have it. TB treatment is very regimented and if you miss one day, you have to begin the 8-month treatment again, so we were thrilled to have found this medication. Now we are praying a new shipment arrives soon!

Emergency fund: I was able to help 3 women this week. Jane received money for the purchase of her TB drugs and Rosemary & Joyce received money for housing and feeding, and medical treatment. This emergency fund truly does “fill the gap” for women who are desperate. Thank you so much to those of you who have donated! If you would like to donate to this fund either visit our website www.dorcaswidows.org or contact Lisa Tschetter at lisatschetter@comcast.net

Beaded Jewelry: This week the women filled one order; which totaled 590 beaded necklaces from some recent visitors. We were able to pay 47 women for their work! It has been a reason for great celebration as these women want to work—they want to be able to care for their families. An American missionary living here in Uganda is putting in a new order this week, so God continues to provide business for these women! If you want to order necklaces, please contact Carol Daly Vogt at dalyvogt@hotmail.com

School Sponsorship: The Ugandan School year is coming to a close in August. At that time many students will be back home with their mothers/guardians for the holiday break. Many of these children would not be schooling at all if it weren’t for your generosity. We do still have children of these widows who are unable to attend school, so if you are interested in sponsoring a child of one of our widows, please contact Lisa Tschetter at lisatschetter@comcast.net

Land & Housing: It is our hope to purchase 3 acres of land to build a widow’s community. On this land we want to build 30 homes where the ladies can live rent free in order to help them achieve self-sufficiency. We have already raised $20,000 to purchase the land and are now raising money to build the homes. We are very close to finalizing a purchase. If you are interested in learning more about this project please contact Carol Daly Vogt at dalyvogt@hotmail.com or check out our website at www.dorcaswidows.org/