Bittersweet

It was an afternoon of joy spending time with the women (laughing, smiling, hanging out), but an evening marked by the bittersweet reality of life here. On my walk home I encountered Betty walking alongside a crying woman who appeared to be pregnant. Betty told me that she lived down the street from our home and was ready to deliver last week and the hospital didn't take her in time - her baby died. She had to have an operation 4 days ago and they removed her dead baby. So preventable, it broke my heart and high spirits. Then to find out she had been asking God for a baby for awhile and now it was taken from her by crowded hospitals and insufficient health care. Her pain and sorrow could be felt - she was mourning. Such irony - in a country with 2 million orphans and so many unintended/unwanted pregnancies (due to lack of education and poverty) that this woman loses hers. I felt so helpless - all I could do for her was to pray over her to ask God to give unimaginable peace - it was all I could offer.

Yesterday morning we awoke to find our LGH dog dead. Dora (who came to us a puppy and was named by our son, Asher when we were living here last year) must have gotten out of the compound the night before. Kirstin found her outside the gate - no blood and no injuries, so our assumption is that she was poisoned. It is not uncommon for poisonings to happen - most Ugandans are very fearful of dogs. Such a bummer and another death (although on a completely different level).

Amongst such joy, my encounter with the woman was yet another reminder of the brokenness of this country, continent, and world. As much we try to focus on the hope, there is the inevitable sorrow and injustice that so many have become accustomed to - and yet so much is preventable. There is so much injustice and still so much work to be done - so we will forge ahead - behind and alongside others and hope others will follow...