Creating a Relay

This thought just entered my mind; picture runners passing on the torch. It's easy to connect runners with Africa, so I think my metaphor might work!  Amazima is relatively new to me, but after reading KISSES FROM KATIE, I am even more impressed by what they are doing in Uganda.


EAFC works in Uganda too, but not with the same age people that Amazima does.  What follows is a piece that I wrote summing up my thoughts after finishing the book.

In circles I run in Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis has recently been the rage.

"Have you ever been to Uganda?" I am asked by many who seem touched by Katie's book.  Many who ask me this are aware if they thought about it  that  I was a part of a team that  in 2003 had a serious car accident in Uganda.  But I really know that geography isn't what these friends are focusing on.

I think they want to know whether or not I connect with them and what they are reading and through the book experiencing.  They are acknowledging that Uganda has previously been one of those ubiquitous African countries that blend into a generalization in their minds of everything they want to avoid.

Questions such as these race through many minds even when they don't verbalize them-----  What could make one want to go to Africa? Is Africa always hot, ever cold, all jungle,or mostly desert? Are there game parks in all the countries?  Is it really six times the size of the U.S.? Wow. you can just hear them trying to grasp that statistic.

But suddenly Katie has put names to the statistics.  Of the over 33 million citizens in Uganda  over half are under 14 years of age., You add names like Prossy, Agnes, Sarah and Grace and now the statistics tell a story.. Katie claims 14 of these precious souls as "MINE," 

There are 20 chapters in Katie's book. I started it 4 days ago, and I’ve read it all!. Even in a crowded weekend full of wedding festivities,I have found time to read.(It didn’t hurt that I had lots of time traveling. ha!)  And yet, I think it’s easy to see that the book grabbed me.  Part of my fascination has been the points of identification. I was in Uganda this past October. I have many, many friends there.  EAFC's second student lives there with his wife and three children. I saw the source of the Nile River.  I even went to Amazima headquarters when I was in Jinja.(www.amazima.org)  .  I strategized with Amazima's program director.

So when I read about PATRICK in chapter three,I nearly  leaped up out of my seat  "Oh, Barry," I said to my husband.  "This is the prospective student Amazima has asked us to scholarship."

Why was I so excited, you might ask.  I can tell you.  Katie connects head and heart in her book.  When you read it, you become both convicted and challenged at the same time. One thing that has often made me feel inadequate concerning EAFC is finding a way of simplifying the story so that friends who hear about the needs say, "Oh,I could help there!"

Maybe, just maybe Kisses from Katie will provide that point of connection so people can see EAFC being an extension of what Katie is doing.  When the Agnes's and Sumini's grow up, we take over.  An educated populace doesn't need to stop when they reach age 14 but when the process is totally complete. And THAT is my prayer that EAFC be the vehicle God uses to complete that process!