Volunteering in Uganda
Beck and Mary learn how to roll beads from paper... though the women are an awful lot faster!!! Photo Mary Thomas
Some of the delightful kids who greeted Mary Thomas in Uganda. Photo Mary Thomas
Mzungu! is what I am
Tasmanian Mary Thomas reports on volunteering in Uganda.
Mzungu! Mzungu!' I look up and wave at the nine children racing towards me. Mzungu, literally translated 'white person', is what I am, a village in Uganda is where I am and in Christ is who I am.
After four weeks volunteering in Uganda as a brand new nurse, I am continually learning to look beyond the obvious.
On first arriving I noticed the poverty, the chaos of scary traffic and lack of good infrastructure. It can be so easy to just notice all the differences. Then slowly relationships form and perspectives change.
The children covered in dirt and barely clothed become a joy to spend time with as they reveal the curiosity and a love to laugh just like the kids at home. And the teenage girls who are being sponsored next door, who dream of their futures of being a doctor, engineer and nurse.
One passage I keep being reminded of is 2 Corinthians 5:14-17:
'For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!'
Every day is a new chance to show the love of Christ and a new challenge to look beyond the world's perspective and to see each person as an individual.
Cross cultural volunteering has its challenges, language being a prominent barrier, but it's a great way to encourage our global brothers and sisters while hopefully being a blessing to the community. I encourage anyone considering travelling to look into it!