9/14 Tuesday - Today was the symposium, slated to start at 8:30 with devotions. We started on time for Africa at 10:30! Incredibly, we got done only 30 minutes late as we had a short lunch, had tea during the lectures and did not need all the discussion time that was allocated. The dean of the vet school gave a devotion about recognizing that we are each only 1 person in the midst of many others; sort of like what the Bible says about don't think too highly of yourself. Next he talked about the danger of Islam in Uganda and that many Muslims feel Uganda is the key to (or the country in the way of) the spread of Islam in Africa. I had asked Dr. Kasiime earlier in the trip about the prevalence of Christianity in Uganda. He estimated that 30% of Ugandans would profess to be Catholic, 30% Anglican (also called Episcopal or Church of England,) 20% other Christian denominations and 10% Muslim. Of those who profess to be Christians about 1/3 are actually born again.
Next up was Dr. Val Shean. I love listening to her talk about the work among the Karamajong in northwestern Uganda. It is so inspiring and encouraging. She has been there 18 years total. The first 15 years was relationship building through veterinary medicine. There are a number of tribes in the area and their culture is based on cattle. Val and her associates provide animal health care free of charge to all of them. The average bride price in 100 cows. Most people only own a few cows so stealing cows from other tribes is considered the only way to raise the necessary bride price for a wife. Cattle raiding has gone on for decades but in the 70s arrows and spears were replaced by AK47 rifles. Many people have been killed in the cattle raids. The Uganda army is present to try to help stop the violence but that does not change peoples hearts. Val and the local Ugandans working with her had a vision to develop a lasting peace between warring factions by teaching them how to resolve their conflicts and forgive each other through the love of Jesus Christ. They prayed for a long time about where to start and finally felt God was leading them to begin in the most difficult area. They held long talks and workshops with each side individually until the people felt they were ready to meet with each other to discuss peace. In 2007 the first groups came together in the 20 Km strip on "no mans land" to settle together in "peace villages". Initially 2000+ people came. Val talked about waiting anxiously with the first group for the other tribe to arrive, wondering if they would show up with guns or gifts. They heard the sound of drums in the distance then saw the group approaching, military style. Anxiously they waited until the people got close, then they ran to meet the first group dancing and singing for joy and embraced people who a few months ago they would have killed. Now there are over 12,000 people living together in the peace villages with more entering all the time. The violence is not over but huge progress is being made. The peace villages are located in the middle of the raiding corridor between the 2 tribes. They don't keep any cattle there so there is no reason for them to be raided and when raiders try to pass by the people block their way and try to talk them out of it. The land where the peace villages are located is some of the most fertile in the region. They are learning to grow crops to support themselves there. Over 2000 have made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Julia and Liz are starting to get really excited about going to work in this area in a few days!
The rest of the conference seemed anti-climactic to us after that, but everyone still seemed to appreciate it. There were lectures on otitis and ear hematomas; wound treatment; greening the veterinary profession; LEGS (livestock emergency ---- services) which provides services to areas with disasters to help reestablish and improved the livestock the people depend upon; Gods perspective on how we should care for animals; Liz presented on Communicating with Clients and Transmissible Venereal Tumors; Julia and Evan presented a synopsis of what was done at the outreach sites.
No comments:
Post a Comment