Men of Willow is a Ministry I value being part of because of the tangible effect it makes in Ndejje, Uganda providing clean water. The website is menofwillow.com. Below is a letter I received from Don and Bob while they are visiting Uganda. Enjoy!
Oli otya. Hi, how are you? The people here are beautiful, inside and out. If you ask me what one thing stands out most that we have experienced on this trip my answer would emphatically be "The Children." I am filled with emotion as I write this. I wish I could either bring them all back home with me or bring you all here to meet them.Tthey are everywhere. It is both heart-warming and heart-breaking. For now I will tell you the good part about that.
As soon as we get out of the vehicle they swarm around us with looks of great excitement on their faces. They don't have their hands out in expectation or asking anything from us.They are not beggars, even though they are living in extreme poverty. They are just amazed to see two "pale faces." We were walking down a street ( it looked more like an alley with washed out deep ruts) and I heard them yelling something. Unlike what you might expect walking through the slums on the south side of Chicago, these were friendly words. They were calling out in sweet voices " hello muzingues, hello". That's a friendly word they use for us white folk. When we turned to look at them they waved at us and giggled. Boy, are they all adorable! They capture your heart. Aim a camera at them and they crowd in together like they are expecting candy to shoot out at them. Then when you show them their picture they jockey for position to get a good look at themselves with such astonishment as if this is the first time they saw a picture of themselves. They get so much joy from this and we do also. I asked our driver to stop for a moment so we could take a picture of some school children at play and he warned us that if we did they would swarm the vehicle to get closer look at us. They did. We loved it and so did they. I think this is how God intended life to be when Jesus said, " let the children come to me." What a shame when the world was robbed of its innocents. I must break the very heart of God whenever a child is mistreated or abused. Jesus said that it would be better to have a millstone tied around your neck and drowned then to offend these precious children. Here I go getting choked up again. I finding it hard to see the keys when I think about these dear ones.
But my heart is warmed when I think that we helped make the life a little easier and safer for the children in Ndejje. They don't have to spend their days fetching contaminated water from down in the valley. They don't have to drink water that will make them sick. I know that you have heard me say this before but I want to remind you that "clean water is flowing in Ndejje." Along with you, i had seen the pictures, I heard their stories how life was better in their community and how people were hearing about the "Living Water in Jesus." But now, I have seen it in person. I drank from it and it is good.
The people at Glory Center Church and others in the community keep telling us, "thank you and thank the Men of Willow."
What an great privilege and honor for us to be a part of making a difference here in Uganda. We have been exploring locations where the next water system could go as we get closer to raising the funds to do so.
I will close for now with the words we have heard so often on this trip. "Mukama Yay-ba-zee-bway." (Praise the Lord.)
Gratefully yours,
Don & Bob
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