Small children of 7 or 8 carry sand, wrapped with cloth, on their backs up from the riverbank, their flexible bones bowing under the weight . . . . .
Old widows bend low under stacks of firewood perhaps 5 or 6 feet long, carried to help them earn some money or perhaps simply to have enough to cook . . . .
Motorcycles carry burdens of live chickens, perhaps twenty or so, all attached by the legs, wings waving wildly to balance over the bumps as they head to sale in the market . . . .
Girls of 14 or 15 bear swollen bellies, carrying twins gestating in utero, the first pregnancy of their early marriage, so many more pregnancies still to come . . . .
P. carries his own body as his burden, walking down the dirt roads on his hands dragging his small and withered legs beneath him and stopping to wave and beam as I pass . . . . .
Huge 4 foot long bunches of bananas, many hands together, are born on the head; Jackfruits, as big as a large watermelon, carried with the assistance of a crown of palm leaf to shield one’s skull; water in geri cans, toted from the river; safrias (saucepans) of food, stacked three high on top of A’s head, carried from her house to mine to be our dinner . . . . .
Our students at Christ School have graduated from the toils of burden bearing in the villager life. They are carrying textbooks and footballs now, preparing to carry a briefcase or stethoscope someday. But as the exterior burdens change, the inner burdens stay much the same. Witchcraft - don’t stick your neck out or stand above the crowd lest you be cursed, your kidneys eaten and your life ended. Defilement - that older man doesn’t mind paying your fees if only you’ll give him a little something in return, and since you don’t know where else you’ll find the money, perhaps you’ll take him up on it. Corruption - Christ School has helped you to have the smarts you need to do well on the exam, some of your friends aren’t so lucky and they’re willing to pay you to take it for them. Poverty - while you eat three meals a day your small siblings haven’t eaten protein this whole week, and like 60% of the kids in the district, their IQ is suffering.
Meanwhile we’re here in the States bearing a sense of burden as well. The burden of sharing well the story of the Babwisi people, of Christ School, and of the radical change God has made in our lives. The burden of the responsibility of the school, soon falling on our shoulders; the care of 350 students, 25 Ugandan staff and their families - all in all almost 400 people living on campus and reliant on us for shelter, food, and safety. In an area where simple things like water, mattresses, and medicine aren’t always easy to come by, it’s stressful. And when you add being aware of rebel activity for quick evacuation should the need arise ( schools are a target because they are an easy place to find new soldiers and wives), we feel a whole new level of weight. Most of all right now, the weight of fund raising. So little money could do so much, yet it’s God who has to move hearts to give it.
A week ago, a seasoned West African missionary laid hands on us and prayed “come to Me all you who are weary and burdened”. For me it was a moment of the dam breaking, tears flooding out and a release as God spoke into my heart showing me that I am just like those widows bent under their wood, just like those children bent under their sand. I am bent, in pain, struggling sometimes to breath from the load I have taken on.
The verse goes on to say ” I will give you rest because my burden is light.” The Message (a Bible paraphrase) says, learn from me the rhythms of grace. I like that, but I’m struggling to do it. Struggling because instead of feeling that weight and stopping to ask God what I have added that has made what should be light feel so heavy, I’m instead using sheer willpower and determination to hoist it little by little farther and more securely onto my back. Like Pilgrim from Pilgrim’s Progress, my burden is so attached to me I mostly don’t even notice it, and merely readjust it by habit.
Would you pray for me, for us, to be constantly reminded of that God’s burden for us is easy and light and that when it feels overwhelming we’re not depending on Him. Would you pray that we would be visually reminded of the people in Bundibugyo and our desire to release them from the suffering of their burdens and know that God also wants to release us from ours.
.