12/02/2009
BMS legal worker in Uganda, Caroline Sanderson, shares a disturbing story that highlights the need for prayer for the nation of Uganda.
On Monday this week, as we were sitting in the office, a huge tree on the other side of the road collapsed without warning, crushing two cars and pulling down power lines.
People rushed over, pulling at branches and climbing over the tree. The frenzy that followed was about getting free firewood, rather than an effort to see if anyone was trapped or hurt.
Fortunately no-one was.
However, on Tuesday it emerged that in the immediate aftermath of the tree's collapse, a man in a local shop also seized the opportunity to rape a seven year-old girl, whose mother had rushed outside to see what was happening.
Such opportunistic crime is shocking but sadly common. When we attend court and look at the cause lists for the day, defilement (the legal term for the rape of a girl child) is often the most common offence. However, work is being done to counter the incidences and effects of child abuse in Uganda.
• Please pray for UCLF's Legal Education Department (Christine Adong is the Legal Education Co-ordinator) which conducts legal education seminars across Uganda training community rights activists about child rights so that they can better protect the children in their communities
• Please pray for pastors who are often at the forefront of dealing with abuse in their communities: that they would deal wisely with incidents of child abuse and teach biblical truth concerning the value of children.
• There is a culture of self-interested opportunism even in the face of others’ misfortune. We pray for an end to extreme poverty which can cloud people's ability to make ethical choices that go beyond self-interest and survival. To illustrate this further, a young boy was knocked over by a car outside the office and, whilst we rushed to help him up, others stole the coins which had fallen from his pocket and his flipflops. Please pray for an end not just to this symptom, but to the greater cause – and for the Christians working towards that end.