Africa in my Heart

I want to go to Africa.

More specifically, I want to go to Uganda and Rwanda. Rwanda to visit my sponsorchild Uwimana and Uganda to do volunteer work. My heart is longing to help, to be part of something bigger than myself, to use my position and my talents for the benefits of those less fortunate, those in need, the hurting.
I've heard Marilyn Skinner share about what's going on in Uganda now and how things have been the past two decades. About the situation and the desperate needs of so many children orphaned due to AIDS, children without homes or protection or stability. I met the Watoto children's choir last year and their absolute joyfulness moved my heart, how easily they connected with people around them and how they were loving life despite coming from tragic backgrounds.

Then I saw the movie Invisible Children two months ago and it just broke my heart. Something in my heart shifted, a change of priorities, a different outlook on life and the road I'd started to lay out before me. So many of those things I counted as important didn't matter anymore. I understood what it meant that "faith without deeds is dead." I remembered the happy faces of the Watoto children and the memories of my own childhood and they painted a striking contrast to what I saw on screen, the fate of the children in Gulu, Uganda.

My heart is longing for Africa, it has always been. The letters a-f-r-i-c-a on any kind of sign or magazine cover or in article would always catch my attention. I would hear African rhytms and my heart would feel lighter, without really understanding why. I've never been there.

Now I understand why and I also understand just how immense God's plan for my life is. Or any other person's life, for that matter. God can do infinately more in my life than I could ever ask or dream or imagine. And he will give me according to the desires of my heart.
I know that the desire of Africa in my heart is from God, it's just been laying at rest for a long time because my heart needed to mature.
I really believe that I was made for a time like this. Revolutionary times.
It's so powerful, and it is so true. I don't want to be part of a generation that is remembered by lack of responsibility and iniative, by iPods and myspace and facebook and pirate DVD's. I want to be part of a generation that decides to make a difference, that says enough with the talk already, elegant words and men in suit in some far flung country won't do anymore. I want to be part of a revolution that is based on love - as in the love of God, and the love for each other. Not the hippie, I'll-sleep-with-whoever-I-want-and-we-are-all-children-under-the-same-sun kind of love. The love based on responsibility, excellence, and faith.

Africa in my heart. Hearing the stories of the children and seeing the footage make me cry, my heart is longing so much it hurts. I will not sit back and say:"oh my gosh, that is horrible," and then go about with my everyday life. I want to do something. Sometimes I feel frustrated because it is so overwhelming, it's difficult to know where to start. But I know that a journey of a thousand miles start with one little step.

Maybe me writing this is that first step. Or maybe the journey has already begun, amongst the group of people in my church who decided to join me in raising the money. We are raising money to build a house in Gulu, Uganda for eight children and a 'mother', a widow. It's a substantial amount, one that is going to take time and effort to raise. So it feels a little bit overwhelming, but also so, so good. To start somewhere. And the good thing is, the more our hearts are desiring the things of God, the more God will make us prosper and succeed. And only He knows the master plan, the end of the story, the results of our efforts, the solution to the problems. Luckily it is not for us to sort everything out. All we need to do, is to be responsible with where we are now, and what we have in our hands.

I look at my hands and I ask myself: what do I have?
I have a church family full of people wanting to make a difference, wanting to see results. I have a healthy body and a mind that's alert. I have God. I have education. I am from a rich, western country. I speak three languages. Without even talking about money or connections or time, already I have a lot.

Africa. It feels so far away and yet it is in my heart, in my mind, in my diary, on my wall. How God put everything together is a mystery to me, but somehow I see a map unfolding in front of me. The map has been made based on decisions I've made regarding the future. It is fascinating to see how, when you put your faith in God and obey and do according to his will, what was a distant dream becomes an exciting reality, and the impossible suddenly seems possible.

Africa. I see children being abducted by the LRA, I see the drawings they make and the terror they experience, and it fills me with anger, with frustration, with emotions and love. I hear them talk about their dreams for the future, and I feel a desire to help, to change things around.
Africa has been doomed as a country in chaos, with no hope or future or a will of its own. It's true, Africa is like a man with broken feet and no crutches. Or maybe the western world have become the crutches and the continent can't stay up without their help. Africa is a victim of ignorant emperors and selfish leaders. There may be analfabetism and HIV and war and nature disasters and early age death rate and sickness and poverty, but there is a generation growing up that can still change things around. It's an orphaned generation, but a generation of hope. Ask the children what they want for the future, and they will say: I want to be a lawyer. I want to be a doctor. I want to be the next president. I want peace. I want peace. I want peace.

Africa. It's weird how my heart longs for a place I've never been. Heaps of people have been there, done that. Heaps of people will say: Wait until you get there. Until you go there and see for yourself, you don't know what you are talking about.
And they are right. I want to go there and see for myself. But I wanna do more than just see. I wanna do.