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Margaret's Africa Trip April 2007
Margaret Gibb  On February 21 this year, my son, Tim, a Lead Pastor in Sarnia, my daughter Tricia and I flew via Amsterdam to Entebbe, Uganda to speak at a Pastors' Conference. For the first time, we would be sharing speaking responsibilities and to do this in Africa was a wonderful ministry adventure and a dream come true. On my first trip to Africa in 2002, I fell in love with Uganda. I was part of a Canadian World Vision delegation travelling specifically to learn about how the HIV/AIDS pandemic was affecting women and children. The people, their way of living, their challenges with poverty and HIV/AIDS captured my heart. The women in particular moved me as I heard their stories of pain and struggle yet witnessed the depth of their faith in God. This time, our trip had a different focus. We would be at a conference, teaching and training pastors, their wives and key leaders. What would we find as we mingled with church leaders and women in Uganda? We stayed at a modest and clean guest house with two young, wonderful domestics to help and wait on us. Initially I felt uncomfortable allowing these girls to serve us because I wanted to help! One afternoon, we had a few hours of meaningful conversation in which I learned about their lives, their struggles, and their dreams. Both girls were 25 years old but had lived through enough to make them twice their age. Esther was only eight when her father died. As a single mom, her mother raised eight children. Esther was the second youngest and saw HIV/AIDS take two brothers and two sisters. She became mom to her orphaned nieces and nephews. At 16, however, she had to leave her home and find work to support her mother and the rest of the family. Esther aspires to start her own business in order to buy a better home for her aged (60!) mother who is now unable to care for herself. Unfortunately, she doesn't have enough money to make her dream come true. Tuhaiwe (which means a gift to be given) calls herself Lillian. "It's just easier," she said in her broken English. Thieves killed her father when she was a baby and her mother struggled to raise the family on her own. Sadly, Lillian was just 10 when her mother died of HIV/AIDS. Her grandmother was left to raise Lillian, her siblings, and a number of other grandchildren because of HIV/AIDS. Lillian's dream is "to be a hairdresser in Kampala. That's where you can start a business and make a good living." Finding financial resources is her barrier as well. In a women's only Q & A session at the Pastor's Conference, my daughter and I were moved by the challenges faced by African women. Described as the most critical health concern in history, HIV/AIDS in Africa is a women's and children's issue. Women are angry and afraid as they face the devastation and pain of what seems like an uncontrollable disease. When we asked women to raise their hands if they had lost a single family member to HIV/AIDS, every hand was raised. We increased the numbers to 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. The response was overwhelming. Once again, my trip to Africa has provoked me to action. The young women inspired me to be hopeful for their futures. There must be a way to help young ambitious women to fulfill their dreams. African children are precious and need the promise of a brighter tomorrow and as Canadian women we can and must make a difference in their lives. Jim Cantelon, President of Visionledd, has recently written a powerful and stirring book, When God Stood Up...A Christian Response to Aids in Africa. This book has moved and motivated me. If you share my concerns, you will want to read it. |
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