Howdy! As I write this, we are halfway through a six-week total lockdown due to the Indian Variant of COVID running rampant in the country. This is an extension of a previous partial lockdown that prevented us from crossing district boundaries. We live on the other side of the Nile River from Jinja City and are in a different district. This means I can’t go into work, our ministry is not running, I can’t go into town, our church is not operating in person, our small group is not meeting, my men’s Bible study is not meeting, our girls are not in school and we can’t see our friends. 

This lockdown has been tougher on me than the previous lockdowns. We lived in town during the previous ones, so I could still walk to work or to friends’ houses. We have now moved outside of town and cannot go to Jinja regularly since it is in a different district. I’m a “doer”, so I like to stay as busy as possible. There is really only so much work that I can actually do remotely since most of my ministry is about discipling and mentoring people. I’m running out of productive things to do and being bored is not good for someone of my personality type. Yes, I know one thing I could have done is a better job of keeping up with these blog posts. To be honest, this is one of my least favorite things in the entire world to do! It’s like the peas on my plate when I was a kid and I HAD to eat them, but I waited until everything else was eaten, the table was cleared of all but my plate and there was no other option but to swallow them like a pill… 

In addition to being a “doer”, I’m also a social person. I had tons of social interactions before lockdown including church, going to the farm, meetings with staff, trainings, small group, Bible studies, men’s fellowship group, playing board games with friends and having cookouts with friends. Now, we can’t do any of those things. We did have a friend come over last week in a tourist vehicle (tourism is still allowed for some reason) and we played hours upon hours of board games! It was good for my soul, but it was over too soon! 

It’s been hard on Vicki and the girls too! They are WAY more social than I am and they have almost NOTHING to do during this time. Maybe I should get them to write blog posts for me! They need to learn to eat their peas, too (joking)! 

This lockdown is terrible, and we still have a LONG way to go! The cases are dropping, but I anticipate an extension of this lockdown with possibly fewer restrictions. However, we are healthy and have food to eat. I was able to trade my old Toyota Prado for a Hilux Truck and am able to drive into town (with one passenger) once a week to get supplies. We also live on a beautiful place on the Nile River. We have a LOT to be thankful for. 

This isn’t the case for many Ugandans that are truly suffering. Not the superficially suffering I spoke about experiencing of boredom and feeling isolated, but REAL suffering. The kind of suffering where you don’t know where your next meal is going to come from. The kind of suffering that you can’t get medical treatment if you do come down with COVID. Life or death kind of suffering. 

I feel guilty about feeling the way I did when I think about people that haven’t been able to run their businesses or go to work for many weeks and don’t know how they are going to feed their families. Many people here live hand to mouth and I can’t imagine the desperation that must be taking place! To add insult to injury, we have been in a drought for the last month or so with only one real rain during that time period. This means that the crops they were relying on to feed their families are not going to produce enough. We have heard of one man that ended his life when he heard about this latest lockdown because he couldn’t bear to watch his children starve to death because he couldn’t provide for them! 

The desperation is also on the medical side of things. The Ugandan government received billions of dollars (they received an additional billion dollars at the start of this lockdown), but there are allegations that they used the money to build shopping malls and gas stations instead of upgrading the medical infrastructure. There are not enough hospital beds, ICU beds or even enough oxygen to treat the COVID patients. We are hearing stories of $1000/day charges for treatment in a country where the average income is less than $1/day. This is out of reach for almost all but the very wealthy. We are hearing of hospitals turning off oxygen when the money runs out and holding the bodies as collateral for payment. 

The desperation is also with the heavy handedness of the police and military forces that are enforcing the lockdown, curfew and SOPs (standard operating procedures for preventing the spread of COVID). There are reports of the police and military extorting bribes, beating people and even killing people during this time. This was a post from the Uganda Police Force’s website today, “In the course of last week, a total of 2,180 persons were arrested countrywide for flouting the lockdown and curfew provisions, 1,280 were cautioned, 215 released on police bond, 73 cases pending, 612 persons were taken to court; a total of 1,130 motor vehicles were impounded, out of which 691 were issued with EPS tickets, 366 motorists were cautioned, 73 vehicles are parked/unclaimed, a total of 3,348 motorcycles were impounded, out of which 2,609 were issued with EPS tickets, 480 riders were cautioned and 259 motorcycles still parked/unclaimed.”

When I think about what many Ugandan families are having to deal with, it puts my “suffering” into perspective and causes me to thank God for the blessings He has given me. I’m still getting a salary. We have food in our fridge (we have a fridge). We are healthy and have insurance in case things get bad (even emergency evacuation to a country with better medical care). We are blessed! 

My request is for prayers for those that are not as blessed as we are. Prayers that the COVID caseload will continue to decrease. Prayers that the lockdown will not be extended. Prayers for rain for crops. Prayers that Jehovah Jireh will provide for those with nothing. Prayers that I can lead my team well to minister to those who need jobs or help with their businesses when this lockdown ends. Thank you so much for standing in the gap for us as always!