As I walk through Acholi Quarter I see babies tied to their mother's back. I see mother's cooking, washing, sewing or making beaded necklaces. Paper beaded necklaces have become a source of income for many women and their families. Often times, I see young children rolling paper or creating necklaces with their mother. If I don't see the women cooking, washing, sewing or making necklaces they are covered in dust working the various stone quarries found within the slum. Here in the quarry they will earn at most 70 cents per day. The women will sit with hammers made from sticks, rope and hard stones and pound large stones into small stones.
I have met a few women that are working for someone making beaded necklaces or sewing purses to be sold. They tell me of the "mzungu's" that have come in to the slum to give them jobs. The women are creating these items to be sold in various western countries.
Now, the question is what are the men doing? When I walk through the slum I see men sitting. Simply sitting outside their homes. I see men in the many bars found within the slum. I see a few men trying to help out their wives by making necklaces or working at a manual sewing machine making purses for their wives "mzungu" boss. A few men are breaking stones at the quarry. But the majority of men that I see within the slum are either drinking or doing nothing. While a few "mzungu's" from the west have come into the slum with extremely good intentions in raising the quality of life for the people in Acholi Quarter they have forgotten a group. Helping the women and children are definitely needed and in no way am I diminishing their efforts and even successes by doing this. But we are missing a huge piece. We are missing the sons, the brothers, the husbands, the fathers even the grandfathers. We are missing a large piece of God's intentional family... the men.
As I sit and talk with the women, I hear of how they are the one's working endlessly while their husband's drink away their earnings. When I ask the women and even some men why they are drinking or not doing anything they give me two reasons. The first, the trauma of the war. Drinking is a way for them to forget the incredibly painful and traumatic experiences in their homeland of Northern Uganda. The second reason they give me is that there is simply no one helping them. They are an unreached group that have no one ministering to them or providing job skills or jobs for them. They literally have nothing to do.
I believe that as Africa Arise begins to disciple the people within Acholi Quarter, provide job skills, and eventually help them get back to Northern Uganda and out of the slums that we will reach the men. As I have shared the vision of Africa Arise with a few people I have heard a Ugandan Pastor tell me that, "this ministry will restore the Acholi Culture." Africa Arise will minister to the women, the children and the men. The damage that the war in Northern Uganda has done to the family structure within the Acholi Culture is severe. It was the men and boys that were captured to become soldiers in the LRA. If the men were seen to be useless or too hard to train they were the first to be killed. The men that were not captured by the LRA have their own "hurdles" to overcome. The Father's were left feeling useless as their sons were captured by the LRA. The father's and brothers were left devastated as their daughters and sisters were taken as sex slaves. The Father's in Acholi Quarter slum are feeling useless as their wives work to provide for the family. The men of Acholi Quarter need to be raised up into the men the Lord has commissioned them to be. I'm excited for the coming season of Africa Arise and how entire families will be reached through the gospel! Africa Arise!
