Outreach in the north of Uganda – November 2015
"It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35)
These words of Jesus are what we, a team of six people, literally experienced when giving out clothes and shoes to people in the very poor villages in the north of Uganda, in Kiryandongo, Gulu and Amuru districts from 6th – 8th of November. The joy and thankfulness of the receivers was unbelievably touching.
Our big truck was fully loaded with boxes and bags of clothes and shoes, covered by a waterproof plastic blanket to protect our goods from the heavy rainfalls we had during this delayed rainy season. What a promising sight of what special weekend was ahead of us! When we left Kampala behind us, we had only one goal, one mission: all these clothes should be given to the very poor people who have nothing, telling them the great news that God is watching over them and just wants to bless them.
Starting with a big mass distribution in Kiryandongo, we realized how great the need of the people is, as they flocked in in hundreds. It turned out to be a challenge how to keep the crowds in order but as we came up with a system it started flowing, and box by box we emptied our carriage. At times people started cheating, like sending children again or even trying to steal some things behind our backs, sometimes our distributions had to stop abruptly because of a rough behavior of the crowd and not sticking to our set rules to keep them in order. But apart from these incidences, it was just so moving to see blessed smiles and happy faces with thankful eyes. Especially some elder men gave us a splendid time, laughing, dancing and waving with their new clothes like a bunch of children at christmas eve!
Special thanks to all the donators in Europe, all the generous people giving out so many nice things which have become a blessing to many people. As a team we also want to thank Mama Inge Kukuk and her team, who worked tirelessly to organize these clothes into sizes, before we took them to the final destination. The greatest thank you goes to our father in heaven who blessed us as a team of Vision for Africa even more than the people we blessed in the northern villages when we saw the joy on their faces. Keep blessing others and you will be blessed beyond imagination!
