July 6, 2011

So I will do my best to fill in the missing details from the past week or so. My computer screen broke a few weeks ago but last Thursday we had a volunteers’ meeting in Kampala so I was able to get it fixed when we were there- so thankful to be able to communicate with you all J

In Gulu the past few weeks there have been terrible thunder and lightning storms- I don’t think I have ever experienced such storms before. During one of the storms the lightning struck near a school and killed 16 children and 1 teacher. During another storm a woman was killed right next to Watoto Church. We have all been praying that God would comfort the families who have lost their loved ones.  While we were at small group last night we heard that one of the worship team member’s mom was murdered the previous day and a young man was murdered nearby.  Sudden, unexpected death is a far-too-often occurrence here and it shocks me every time I hear of deaths including those resulting from the lightning, babies dying, people getting sick and dying or nearly dying, even people I have met discussing how they have witnessed people dying. It’s difficult to say the least. Ultimately I have become increasingly aware of how desperately people need the tools and resources to cope with experiencing traumatic events so frequently. Just yesterday a woman at Living Hope talked about how she was on a bus traveling to Sudan and someone shot the woman sitting next to her and she died. For some reason none of the passengers were allowed to get off the bus for an entire week; this woman not only witnessed someone’s death but then had to sit next to the decomposing body for a week. If that’s not traumatic I don’t know what is. Something that is interesting though is that this woman started sharing her story wondering if her experience qualified as a ‘traumatic event’. I am in awe of how God is using the Trauma team to educate people about their experiences, helping them understand that there are enduring effects to these experiences if they are not addressed, then providing them the resources to address the experiences and work through them. I feel so blessed to simply witness God transforming lives.