'Vote the old man with the hat' - March 2011

To make it easier for people to vote in Uganda, ballot papers include the photo of each of the candidates. This means even those unable to read can still vote for their choice if they can recognize them. One of the complaints of the opposition parties is that the Electoral Commission allowed the President, Y.K.Museveni, to be the only candidate to use a photograph wearing a hat. This meant that at each of his election rallies he closed with the slogan ‘Vote the old man with a hat’, making it easier for voters to pick him out as distinctive.

The President has made his hat one of the distinctive features of the campaign, with almost all photographs in the newspapers, and all election posters showing him in a hat. One of his political assistants, writing in the national newspaper ‘New Vision’ even used the hat to symbolize Museveni’s commitment to Uganda: ‘The hat of Museveni is not only the literally one he puts on. It can be extended to the heart of Museveni. A heart is a symbol of love. Museveni has love for his country’. Museveni’s hat became distinctive, helping him to stand out from the others seeking election to the highest office in the country.

In 1 Peter 2:9 we as Christians are called to be distinctive, or as the King James version says, ‘peculiar’: ‘But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light’. The writer reminds us that the purpose of our salvation is that we should stand out as different in order to show the praises, or glory of God.

In Uganda we know what it is like to stand out as different. Wherever we go children shout out ‘Mzungu, Mzungu’ meaning white person. But our challenge is whether we are distinctive because of what Christ is doing in our lives rather than just because of what we look like?

There are many good people in the world; they give to charities, care about injustice, do voluntary work and help their neighbours, but they do not know Christ. What makes distinctive those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus; and can this difference be seen in our lives? Lets think about how we can be “peculiar people” in the right sense of the word! and make a difference in our communities.

Prayer topics
Thank God that the national and presidential lessons have taken place relatively peacefully

Give thanks for 2 new short term volunteers working in Potters village and pray that they may help to ease the heavy work load that falls on the CMS Mission Partner, Jenny Green.

For safety for Malcolm as he travels around the Diocese in March, frequently on unmade roads, to audit the parish churches

For Irene as she plans Business training courses at the Vocational Training Centre

For the appointment of a matron to care for the female boarders at the Vocational Training Centre

To read our weekly blog search for ‘Malcolm and Irene Crawford’ or go to:
http://malcolmandirenecrawford.blogspot.com

A World of Contrasts

Firstly, greetings to our friends in England and many thanks for the welcome and kind wishes we received during our short visit for our son’s wedding. We are sorry we could not have met more of you this time.

We arrived back safely in Kisoro on Tuesday evening.

Wednesday dawned warm and sunny, and having rung Jenny, the CMS Mission Partner here, to see how things were going she informed us she had three frail babies at her home. We offered our support and went to see her. What a contrast from the cold grey days in England. Brightly coloured birds were singing, the grass was lush and green and trees were in full leaf. People smiled and said hello as we walked past and the volcanic mountains loomed magnificently in the distance.

We first met little Joshua, a tiny one month old baby who’s mentally ill mother had refused to feed him, and who’s grandmother, who was supposed to be caring for him, had been found sleeping drunk in the streets, leaving Joshua totally alone all night. Thankfully someone had heard of Jenny’s work at the Potters Village home for vulnerable babies and now Joshua is fed regularly and well looked after. What a contrast to Britain where social workers and doctors would have been involved with his mother’s state of health and the grandmother’s ability to take care of the child would have been carefully checked.

Then we met Esther, so small at 1.4 kg that she made Joshua look gigantic! She had been born prematurely to a young mother who, for no obvious reason, died after the birth in the hospital. She had been ill all throughout her pregnancy and she left a young bewildered husband with a baby no one expected to live. Again the baby was taken to Jenny and despite her size is feeding well and looking around alertly. By contrast, in Britain, her mother would have had free medical care throughout her pregnancy, scans and check-ups to monitor hers and the baby’s health, and a team of experienced people around at the birth.

The final baby we met was Emmanuel. He was born with AIDs and had contracted pneumonia; the hospital felt they could do nothing for him and was understaffed so Jenny brought him to her home to give him love, care and attention. His breathing was laboured, his chest rattling and medical staff at the hospital had been unable to fit a cannula to enable antibiotics to be taken easily because his veins had started shutting down. A care worker from Potters Village stayed with him constantly and he had survived the night and seemed a little better when we met him. However, at lunch time his breathing changed alarmingly. Despite every effort to resuscitate him, he died in Irene’s arms. He was buried the same afternoon in the graveyard containing his mother.

What would have been his chances of survival if he had happened to have been born and treated in Britain, we will never know. But we do know that by contrast, the medical staff would have had the most up to date pieces of equipment and the drugs required to give him the best chance of survival.
Contrast your lives with those who are struggling in countries less developed, with fewer opportunities for advancement and poorer health care. Please remember to give thanks to God for your position and use it to do whatever He asks to support those who do not have such advantages.

For more details of the work of ‘Potters Village’ go to: http://www.pottersvillage.org.uk/


Prayer requests:

Please thank God:

- for our safe return to Kisoro
- for Potter’s Village and its work which is saving the lives of many babies

Please pray:
- that we will quickly settle back into the work here
- for the work at Potter’s Village, that it will continue help babies to develop healthily
- that the Ugandan national elections later this month will proceed peacefully