It is Not an easy road.
In this day and era of modernization, children’s education is an indispensable commitment of parents’ responsibility in many parts of Uganda. Unfortunately, this is yet to be reality in the central region of Uganda.
My encounters recently were disheartening and heart breaking. I heard the news of a groaning mother and wife for 35 years of marriage. Her most agonizing experience was that her children were not attaining even the bare minimum elementary levels of education she would desire for them.
Pathetic as it was, I listened to her story with pain in my heart about her story.
“We are peasant farmers and earn our livelihood from Agriculture. We collaborate hard with our children to raise money to support our family. Unfortunately, my husband uses the funds raised to marry more women at the end of every crop harvest season. That is quite disturbing and traumatising for my children and myself. We use our energy and effort for no results we count as beneficial to us. I once persuaded the headteacher of the secondary school to lie to my husband that we had received a bursary and would only require to provide additional money through 100Kgs of maize grain to make flour for the school. I knew I could provide that from the garden before my husband sold it off. This plan did not yield any results. Where will our future be and what will it look like?”
The children continue to ask their mother.
There is agony and pain experienced by the entire household. The children have vowed not to support their father in the event he encounters any life challenge in the future. What a generational curse upon the family. Digging deep into the underlying causes include polygamy, ignorance and critical moral values founded on Christian worldview.
Related stories came from our last-born sister and later my nephew. This affirms the challenge is around and about us. A huge storm is blowing against the institution of marriage to destroy families. I reckoned on the songs of the ascents in Psalm 121 as a source of encouragement.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
When my work in Uganda is hard there is great Joy in seeking God as the source of refuge that unveils the wonderful promises before us amidst the turbulences in life.
Song: "It is not an easy, travelling to Heaven”
