here, there and everywhere

“My name is Beatrice and I am 22 years old. One night when I was five years old my five siblings and parents were killed inside our house in Burundi as I hid under the bed. In the morning the rebels heard I was still alive and came searching for me. I ran to a banana plantation and the people paid the rebels a goat so they wouldn’t kill me. I remember so clearly running away into the bush and finding my Uncle’s dead body being eaten by dogs. A lady helped me hide in the bush for a week. We dug a pit and buried ourselves in soil with just enough air to breathe. After a week went to a refugee camp where I was handed over to a woman who made me suffer by not giving me food like the other children. In 2003 I fled to Rwanda and spent three years there in a refugee camp until they kicked us out in 2006 and I came to Uganda. I arrived here when I was 17 and faced ethnic violence threats. People told me that I would be killed because I come from a certain tribe that had testified against the rebels and so I went to see the camp commander and he gave me a small house and guards to protect me for 8 months.  One day I was poisoned and had to spend a couple weeks in hospital. As I was heading back to the camp I was raped. Shortly after I gave birth to the baby I started to feel like my problems were too high and I abandoned that child. But as I went back home my heart thought of that baby and I went back and picked her up.  A few years later I was co-erced into marrying a man and becoming his second wife. While I was in hospital giving birth to my second child I missed an important interview for resettlement overseas.  I don’t think I have any hopes for the future. The moment you brought your Tutapona program it started scratching my wound and it became fresh again. I have trusted many people and they have all disappointed me. I am a Christian but I hate people so much I struggle to even greet them. I love my children but I am unable to plan for their future because I have nothing.”

Sadly, our program doesn’t work for every person, every time. We believe that the Bible teaches that some are called to plant the seed, others to water and others to harvest. In this case our prayer is for the seed planted to one day bear great fruit. Until then, pray with us for her!