"I Love That Captivity"

Meet my new friend Margaret.

Current Residence: Acholi Quarter Slum

Previous Residence: Gulu (Northern Uganda)

Age She Left Gulu: 17 years old

Why She Left Gulu: Parents and siblings killed in the war except one brother.

Current Age: 37 years old

Marital Status: Widow

Number of Children: 3

Margaret's Story
I met Margaret a few weeks ago in Acholi Quarter. This tall thin woman came and sat before me as she worked on her Acholi beaded necklaces. As we began to talk and share about ourselves I saw that she was like no one I have ever met.
Margaret shared with me her story of leaving her home in Gulu due to the war. She shared with me how her brother who lived in Kampala encouraged her to come with him to Kampala for safety and work. She had married three times - each one has died. Time and time again she was left alone. She told me how when she came to Kampala that people would call her a rebel, how they would spit on her, tell her to go back to the bush, beat her and mistreat her in every manner possible. She told me of her trials of finding work to raise enough funds to send her three children to school. She shared of times when people would not even sit within 3 meters of her on a bus. She shared how she had lost three husbands and how AIDS is currently ravaging her own body.

Through all of this, she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said,

"But Tricia, I love that captivity...
I love that captivity...
it forces me to go to God."

She began sobbing. Her tears where not tears of sadness - they were tears of a deep love for the Lord. I sat there speechless. Here before me was a woman that had been through war, death, disease, persecution, discrimination, hopelessness and so much more than I could ever imagine. In my mind I thought of how beautiful her words were... that in her suffering she has found what many of us have not. She has found her hiding place....

"I love that captivity."