That One

Martha with baby Watson after Baptism

Loving them is more important then giving money. That’s what I heard “Dr. Jim” say.

Jjaajja (grandmother) Hilda was illustrating the generosity of the Ugandan youth today. She’d been helped above and beyond her expectations one day by a young Ugandan whom she had only just met. When she had asked if she could give the young person money he said no. He’d recently lost his Jjaajja and was honoured to be with her.

Today we helped the Sanyu Babies Home deliver 19 orphans to church to receive their baptism. It was a scramble. There were seven of us from Mengo Hospital that came to volunteer. We each took one child. Others who came to help did the same.

Once at the church we were ushered into waiting in the Sunday School room. Later we made our way to the church for the baptism.

I had to ask who I was holding. He was Jeremiah.

There was a list of the children. Intermittently I would hear,

“Now that one.”

One by one we went up to meet the priest.

“You are the mother, you are the father, you are the everything to these children,” he said.

When I leave Uganda I thought to myself, will I ever see Jeremiah again?

The service concluded and the skies opened up. Rain dripped through the church ceiling and gushed through open windows. Thunder shook the air waves. None of the children cried. They all had love.

Back at Sanyu, housemate Martha (also from Victoria, BC) and I sat outside. Our feeding and changing chores done for the day. We met Sanyu’s plumber who offered us each a soda.

Martha has been spending a lot of time at Sanyu. Somewhere in the conversation I heard her say, “Babies are the future of the country.”

I reflected on what the priest had said earlier.

“We have to show them the way.”