Wilson, our “old-boy” (alumna) who has come back to work for the school kitchen as our procurement officer - spending more in a month than many here have ever seen or touched in a lifetime - has experienced more than his share of hardships for us.

Last time it was being robbed at machete-point. This time it was a wrongful arrest on the Congolese marketplace where he travels weekly to find lower food prices on our staples of corn flour, beans, and rice. Congolese officials are understandably jumpy (not to mention corrupt). An “unknown” person buying large amounts of food is suspected to be a rebel supplier and so, just a few miles from our home, Wilson spent the night in Congolese jail. David did a lot of learning in a few hours and got both an internal security officer and a “fixer” who works both sides of the border, to head West towards Wilson. A day later and he is back at work, none the worse for the wear. We paid a small “fine” for the trouble Wilson supposedly caused and we built new relationships with Congolese and Ugandan officials.

We were at team meeting on Thursday night when David got the phone call that Wilson was in jail. And David led us in prayer, that God would bring surprising goodness out of this seemingly bad situation -that we would soon be grateful for this arrest. And to my amazement that prayer seems to be coming true. Congolese army and government officials gave him the full-ahead green light to continue crossing the borders and buying foods, due to the interventions of our the Ugandan internal security officer. Now Wilson is known to Congolese security and will hopefully have safe passage in the coming months and years. Good reminder for my sometimes faith-less heart, that God DOES have a plan.