A member of our Leadership Team spent the summer on mission in the Kaliro District of Uganda. Here, Ruth tells all about her experiences, how humbling it was and the fantastic welcome they received.

During the summer holidays, I swapped my usual luxury hotel getaway for a life-changing mission trip to Uganda. Teaming up with four other people, I made my way from Kampala to Kaliro District in the Eastern Region of the country. Our destination was the rural villages where we stayed in the home of one of the local pastors, along with his wife and twelve children.  On arrival, the welcome we received was beyond anything I had previously experienced. Villagers arrived in their droves amidst the sounds of joyous ululation: a truly humbling experience and an initial glimpse into the lives of a neighbourhood with love and community at its heart. In every church we visited, celebratory singing and dancing met us.

Amidst the joy, however, it was apparent that life in the villages is often fraught with challenges. The Kaliro District has no running water and therefore, trips to the well are frequent. Agriculture is the principal source of income and with unpredictable weather patterns, harvests can be uncertain. The food on their table is the fruit of their labours.

I had particularly requested to visit as many schools as possible and had the opportunity to speak to thousands of children in assemblies and smaller groups. For many children, however, the cost of school fees is beyond their family’s means and therefore, education in school is out of reach.

Whilst in the Kaliro District, I saw nothing but essential items for cooking and everyday living: no toys, no ornaments and for some, no furniture. In some of the schools I visited, I saw no books nor equipment. The life I experienced in the villages is a far cry from the life I have in the UK.  There were times when I felt a deep sense of sorrow at the lack of what I considered to be everyday necessities, but it was the overwhelming sense of sadness that I felt for the UK that took me by surprise. The richness of the love, the extraordinarily strong sense of community spirit and the joy that was abundantly apparent amongst the people in the villages of Kaliro District so often seems overlooked and undervalued in our society where there is a multitude of distractions and material desires. Jesus says in Matthew 6: 19 –21, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We have the greatest treasure in Jesus and without a shadow of a doubt, the people I met in Kaliro District not only know this truth but live their lives by it. Their wealth is in the treasure that Jesus gives and that which our souls crave. How much do technology, modern amenities, certainty of food, access to medical care and comfortable living overshadow the treasures that Jesus asks us to store up in Heaven? When we are selfless in our giving of time, kindness, money, encouragement etc, how much more does this treasure feed our own souls as well as the recipient?

I was speaking to a group of Key Stage One children recently and asked them what’s the best thing about school? One Year 2 boy responded, “When the teacher has a smile on me.” We may never be fully aware of the extent of the unseen treasures that we bestow on those around us but when we store up our treasures in Heaven, we, as well as the recipients, become profoundly rich. In a time when we, maybe more than ever, desperately need the sense of joy, hope, love and community that I experienced in Uganda, we have been given the authority and power to invest those treasures into the lives of the children and young people we serve. The distractions of earthly treasures in our society are many but true value is in the treasures we store up in Heaven. The people I met in Kaliro District have little in terms of earthly treasure but the outward manifestation of the treasures they are storing up in Heaven will be imprinted on my heart and mind for some time to come.