Last week on Uganda’s Independence Day I had the privilege
of driving a brand new team of Tutapona staff out to Rwamwanja refugee
settlement in western Uganda.
I’d never driven this road before and was pleasantly
surprised by the scenery as we headed due north from Mbarara. I could have been
driving through NZ’s King country with the steep, lowly populated hills except
for the lack of sheep. The settlement itself is made up of 51,000 Congolese
refugees and is two and a half years old. The inhabitants have fled from the
very complex and violent war that started in the eastern DRC in 1996 and is
still going today. Needless to say there is a lot of need there for trauma
rehabilitation work.
Our new team is led by David who has spear-headed many of
our new initiatives at Tutapona, including some work in South Sudan a couple of
years back. The other two men are new staff, Doddy and Silas. Doddy is a
talented musician who has produced a number of hit singles. You can have a look at a one of them here.
While he’s singing in Luganda you can still get a good sense
of the quality of his voice. Needless to say the Tutapona morning devotions in
Rwamwanja are exceptionally melodious! Up until now Silas has been volunteering
with us at another refugee settlement and has shown a high level of commitment to
the work. All three of these guys are passionate about helping traumatised
people with our Empower programme.
This new team is the result of a partnership Tutapona has
just entered into with Samaritan’s Purse. SP are now supporting us to run our
Empower trauma rehabilitation courses in Rwamwanja and two other refugee
settlements. This is an exciting development as it has allowed us to expand our
staff and to reach people in new places.
As I drove south again I was extremely conscious that these
guys (and our other staff around the country) live and work in some quite
challenging places. Please pray for David and the team as they get settled into
this new and remote settlement and as they begin their work. I’m confident that
God will work through them to bring hope to people in great need of it.
-Tim-
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