Pr. & Mrs. Twongeirwe: Parents, Friends, and Pillars

The first time I met the Twongeirwes was when I was in my second year at Law School. I was seated home on a Saturday morning and my Mom came home with this charismatic man and his beautiful wife. They had come to check on their new members' family.
"This is Pheona" my Mum introduced me. " The Pheona you told us about?" Pr. Julius asked.

He was very direct and purposeful and after learning who I was proceeded to invite me to join Agape Baptist. You see my mother had informed them that I had led her to Christ two years before and that I was an active member of Full Gospel Church Makerere.

Pr. Julius told me that as someone who had led Mom to Christ, I needed to see it through and join her church however temporarily to aid her new growth in Christ. I remember trying to resist but if you know him you know he does t take no for an answer. He even spoke to my dear Pastor at Full Gospel and I got a blessing to join Agape.

So began a very awesome and life changing phase of my life in Agape Baptist Church. Before I knew it I was leading worship... many of us grew in Ministry in ways we couldn't believe because Pastor always saw the gifts in us and would not take no for an answer.

Aunt Grace as we called his lovely wife was no different. She had me leading Bible Study and sometimes service. She trusted me so much that they once left for Ministry for three months and left their lovely children in my care.

Aunt Grace became a mentor and big sister in so many ways and to this day I can hear her quiet gentle voice as she chides me about something. She saw me through every imaginable hurdle in a young girl's life. I can't thank her enough.

Pr. Julius pushed me and all the young people at church. Because of him I overcame my fear of singing in public, i learnt to apply critical thinking to my decisions and I learnt the true meaning of grace.

His passion for God and his authenticity in seeking Him was very infectious. I had my first taste of true theology with all it's complications in Agape. But he also cared for us in a deep fatherly way. If it wasn't for him and our Agape family, my graduation, and later wedding would never have turned out the way it did.
They mentored me and my brother who is now a Pastor in Maine and grew so many of us.

I can say that meeting them lit the spark of leadership in me and transformed my life.
When I look at how amazingly their babies have turned out I am not surprised.
Pr. and Mrs Two have blessed and given of themselves in their service, friendship, leadership and parenting.
I can never thank you enough.

Happy Birthday Pr. Julius.
It's hard to mention you and not mention your better half because you have always been a great team. I love you both and owe you a debt of gratitude.

May God complete the great work He began in you. Blessings to the Berean Church.

UNLOCKING BARRIERS TO JUSTICE FOR AFRICAN WOMEN DURING COVID-19

Legal Aid Project Staff Conduct a GBV Awareness Session to the UPDF in Abim.

Following the designation of COVID-19 as a pandemic in March, many countries, including Uganda imposed restrictions on movement to stem the spread of the deadly pathogen.

Exceptions have been made for those whose work is deemed essential, permitting them to continue leaving their homes. These include medical practitioners, law enforcement and a selection of public servants.

The omission of lawyers has deprived scores of much needed legal representation and judicial services. 

Without lawyers many people were being arrested and not getting adequate representation because their lawyers were not allowed to work. Statistics obtained from prisons showed that one week into enforcement of the lockdown, inmate population had sharply risen by 2,000 new entrants who had been remanded for mainly going against the directives of curfew and lockdown.

Women's Plight Uncovid! (Pun Intended)

Disproportionately, the bulk of the victims has been women. Many women have found it difficult and impossible to access justice during this pandemic and yet the injustices inflicted against them in this period have been on the rise.

We’ve seen the horrific footage in which an elderly woman, Ms Lucy Anek was being beaten by her nephew.  The video went viral and Uganda Law Society Legal Aid Clinic staff were able to track down the woman and offer her the legal help she needed. However not all women are as lucky as Ms Lucy Anek, their distress and injustice is not documented and these women are suffering in silence with no one to come to their legal aid and rescue during this lockdown.

There have been numerous cases reported of women facing a lot of domestic violence at home due to their abusive partners staying home all day and taking out their frustrations on them. During the first fourteen days of lockdown, Uganda police recorded 328 cases of domestic violence. 

The police also recorded 102 other cases of child abuse or neglect in the country; these numbers continue to rise each day. The New Vision published a story on 9th May 2020 about a man identified as Yasin who was on the run after hacking his wife and two biological sons aged 4 and 7years to death. Yasin strangled his wife and two biological children and wrapped them in separate polythene bag.  The police stated that from the findings of the investigations, the likely cause of murder was domestic violence.

Rape and defilement cases have also been on the rise during this pandemic. Many girl children are home alone with child molesters and predators who abuse them constantly. Unfortunately because of the preventative measures of the lockdown it has made it difficult for women to report some of these cases to police. An article published on the UN Women Africa website reported that Lagos had experienced an increase in defilement cases and there is a growing concern that the lockdown will lead to an increase in rape and other forms of sexual violence as survivors remain in close proximity with perpetrators over a prolonged period of time.  

Due to the restriction in movement by banning both public and private transport, some women have found it difficult to move long distances to report such crimes; this is especially true for the elderly women who do not necessarily have the physical strength travel to their nearest police stations or local courts.

The Legal Environment 

The suspension of hearings has also greatly affected access to justice for the marginalized. Most family disputes are settled in Local Council courts however due to suspension of these hearings, women can no longer run to their local courts to settle dispute or seek refuge, this leads to disputes being settled at home where arguments get heated and lead to violence or worse, murder.

How can Uganda and the  Continent address the situation?

 Access to justice for the marginalized must be treated as a priority. This means measures must be taken to make it easier for women and other marginalized groups to be able to access justice and other legal services.

Governments should list the justice sector and law practitioners as essential service providers during this pandemic. Countries such as Kenya have included lawyers as essential workers during the COVID 19 lockdown. On April 16th, 2020 the High Court in Kenya delivered a judgement where it ordered the Nairobi establishment to quickly include lawyers on the list of “service personnel or workers”. The Kenyan presiding judge, Weldon Korir, justified his decision to order for the inclusion of defenders and upholders of the rule law on the list of essential workers so that they can be extra vigilant when the State is exercising emergency powers and offer legal aid to those in need. 

Uganda soon followed suit by recently adding Lawyers as essential workers, though they limited the number of lawyers to only 30 per quota. This did not sit well with the 3500 advocates in Uganda and many of them were quick to protest. The Uganda Law Society responded to the request for 30 lawyers urging the Government to let all the advocates be listed as essential and not limit their numbers. 

Though the number of lawyers is limited to 30 per quota, having them listed as essential service workers is still a step in the right direction. Lawyers being able to work, move and offer their services especially in hard to reach areas will make it easier for them to reach victims of abuse, clients who have been imprisoned and are in need of representation for bail hearings and any other groups of people in need of legal aid.

ULS Legal Aid Project Interventions

The Uganda Law Society through it's Legal Aid Project and with the help of Development Partners and the Advocates has provided toll free helplines for this effort. They have also run various awareness campaigns on gender based violence. A multi sectoral justice task force has been set up in different parts of the country with the Project liaising with Pro Bono Lawyers, Prisons, Police and the Judiciary to ensure that there is a quick remedy to these many injustices.

Leave No Woman Behind.

Courts should treat gender-based violence cases as priority cases (Urgent matters) during this period, for example domestic violence and those  related to sexual abuse, defilement.

Establishing temporary safe havens where women seeking justice can go for refuge, a number of organizations in Uganda are currently offering legal services and counselling to women facing Gender based violence, examples include; Reach a Hand (young people for young people), FIDA Uganda and Nyonga Women’s Shelter.

Access to justice is crucial for most women and marginalized groups, particularly in a time as this. Governments should look into how to make it easier for women in need of justice and legal services during this pandemic to get access to the same.

“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as   outraged as those who are” Benjamin Franklin

Breaking Glass Ceilings. Numbers 27:1-11 Zelophehad’s Daughters

The Exodus is ending, the Promised land is in site. All who had sinned and had lost the chance to see Canan are gone. The Census has been done and every Clan has been allocated an inheritance according to their numbers.

And this family of orphaned girls is left out. The laws were clear. Women had their place in society. But these girls were different. They had a relationship with God and were sure of their heritage.  They had watched their father live and die in the desert, had watched him relate with God, and had lost him. But when they saw Israel carry on like they did not exist, they spoke up.

They showed up in from of Moses and the Priests and Elders.  This was no place for women, let alone orphaned girls. They had no legal standing save for their father's good name and legacy. Remember he was not among those who rebelled. What courage it must have taken for them to come forward! I am sure it caused quite a stir in the camp. I am sure they could have waited to be married off etc. But no. 

These daring daughters knew they had an inheritance.  They sat at Moses' feet as he told the stories all the way from Abraham's promise and they knew that as Joseph's kin, they had an inheritance and no one was going to stand in their way.

And look what their courage did! Because of them Moses was able to consult God and alter the law to cater for even the least of their society at the time. The orphans, widows, nephews, nieces... they changed the whole law of inheritance and opened up opportunities because they were bold. Because they spoke up when they needed to. Because they refused to settle for the status quo.

Many times doing this is achingly exhausting especially when others do not seem to care.  It is important to break those glass ceilings because sometimes that is why were are who we are. Like Modecai told Esther, this is the reason God did this. 

This is a call to us all. Let us redeem the time, stand to be counted, fight injustice and bring about the change our society needs in order to heal.

It is lonely, it takes courage but thousands will thank you. And you will build a legacy.

God, the Promise Keeper. Gen 12:1-5/Gen 17:17/Gen 21:1-7)

 The Lord had said to Abram,
“Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you."
The story of Abraham has always had so many facets. But the constant one is the one of his friendship with God.
This friendship seems to have existed before the call to live his home. 

The story of the call of Abraham, God's promise of a son in his old age and the birth of Isaac are so fantastic they seem unreal.
Until you put them in context.

1. Abraham Was a Friend of God.
In Genesis 12:1
"Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee."
From reading this scripture, one can see that Abraham and God were in the habit of talking. It seems like this definitely wasn't the first time Abraham was hearing God. And we know from Mary's story that when God shocked or surprised people, it was written about. Here, there is not time spent on his reaction.

Abraham had a relationship with God, who told him to get up and go, and Abraham went. No questions asked.

It shows me that Abraham trusted God, and that he also knew God's voice. 

To know God's voice requires a familiarity with it. To know God's presence requires a familiarity with it.
Before we ask ourselves how we can have the faith of Abraham  we need to ask ourselves how much time we spend in the presence of our Father. How much have we trained ourselves to obey  even when it puzzles us? How well have we trained ourselves to hear Him when He speaks? How familiar are we, with God's Word?

2. Abraham Put His Faith in God
When we believe on the small things our faith grows. When a child is growing up and they are about to fall and their father catches them, pretty soon they make it a game. They start falling from heights to get a daddy catch. And that is how we should excercise our faith muscles.

I believe that the reason God uses the foolish things of this world to shame the wise is that He is reminding us that He does not play by our rules. He does not relate with our biases. He does not use our measuring scales. He is God Most High and His Ways are not our ways. So to know Him takes courage. To trust Him will sometimes mean foolishness to the world.

In my P.7 I was very poor in math. So poor in fact that it had become the class joke because despite acing the other subjects, maths was a trial. A real trial. So come a pre-PLE exam. I lived in a small town where everyone knew everyone. And we were due to do an exam that another school in the district had done earlier. The parents from the other school shared the paper with the parents of my school. I remember my parents asking me to revise the papers. I had been borne again two years by then and I was on fire! So I said no. That would be cheating. They encouraged me saying everyone was doing it. And I remember my classmates openly carrying the papers around. I still refused. My friends even told me that even if I read the paper, being me and my relationship with numbers, I couldn't get a 100%. I still refused.

So D-Day came and we sat for the paper. I remember going home crestfallen, knowing that they had been right. The paper was the same one. Everyone was prepared for it, and I wasn't. I who was so poor in this subject. And the paper had been tough. As I went home, I thought of all the time I had told people that I wouldn't cheat and that God would help me. I remembered some of the things they said. Like God helps those who help themselves etc. I was low. Really low.

That day, I did lose my way...a little.

I was stumbled quite a bit, because it seemed I had been presumptious, or foolish in my actions.

A week later the results came back. Our headmaster was our math teacher. I remember him calling out a friend and saying she got 100%. Everyone clapped.
Then he started adding up marks loudly

"4,9,14, Pheona Nabasa come forward!"
He called.

You could have had a pin drop!

Everyone was darting pitiful looks my way. My jaw was open in horror. I was thinking ...
"Really God? 14%?"
"Pheona are you here?" Mr Gawaya bellowed;
"Yes." I whispered barely able to breathe with all the grief that was welling up in me. As I began what was a really long painful trek to the front,I started sobbing. Big dramatic sobs that shook my little scrawny body (I was quite skinny). I picked my paper in shame, and turned dejectedly to walk to my seat.
"Why don't you tell us your mark Pheona?" The HM drawled.

"14" , I barely whispered.

"Read the mark on your paper" ,he insisted.

I looked at my paper. I looked again. And then my eyes bulged.
"Tell the class your marks" he encouraged. By now I had the attention of everyone in class. But I didn't care. I could barely breathe. "98" I gasped. "98%", I said again in wonder as what I was looking at slowly began to sink in.
"Yes ladies and gentlemen! Our Pheona got 98% And she would have got 100% but I deducted 2% because it is Pheona. I mean... we all know Pheona and maths!"

I was rooted to the spot. My friends were cheering for me. Because you see in that moment, the most wonderful thing happened. I saw Him. I saw how He saw me. I realised that I mattered. To Him. If God had filled that classroom with tulips or roses I couldn't have been more convinced in that moment than I was by this that He loved me. 

It is the most beautiful thing in the world to feel the love of God.

As Mr. Gawaya continued to read out people's names, I sat and lived this moment. This moment that God had come through for me. 

That God had honored my faith.

That God had forgiven my moments of doubt.

I remember walking home on air. 

As I entered the door my Mum was just laying the phone down. One of her friends must have been talking about how well their child had performed, because she looked at me and without greeting asked
"What did you get?"
I looked at her and the stupidest grin grew on my face as tears welled up.
"He did it Mommy!He did it!."

I shoved the paper at her. I was experiencing joy. Not the kind that makes you want to dance. But the kind that makes you want to curl up in a corner and cry. 

Mom was overwhelmed and happy and also weepy. I remember her saying,

"Kwonka Pheona and your God!" 

And it made me swell inside. Yes He was my God!

I can assure you that was a miracle in my life.  When she got born again later she testified that that was one of those aha moments for her.

And it was the beginning of many for us as a family because shortly after, not only was I the best in PLE in my school but apparently Eastern Region. You would wonder at God's reason for this until you read below;
This girl, whose Dad had just lost a job, got a fully paid scholarship for O'Level from the Uganda Commercial Bank for this achievement!

It was also the beginning of a better relationship with numbers. And my performance only got better after that.

What am I saying? You do not need to have known God as long as 75 year old Abraham, for Him to come through for you. Faith moves God. However small the issue, it matters to Him. When He calls, we need to remember to heed His call. There are moments we need to listen for. Those moments when sin tempts..those moments when it costs the most to walk the road less traveled, those are the moments He needs you to choose Him. Because He chose you already.

Your faith opens taps. Taps of blessings. Abraham's faith and obedience opened taps of blessings. Isaac came forth, Abraham prospered wherever he went. He surped with kings, found favor all over, and won every war he ever engaged in.

What is that situation in your life right now, where you need to choose him?

How much time are you spending with Him? As I write this, I am also convicted. Let us indulge in this loving miraculous God. Who knows our inmost thoughts, and wants to bless us beyond our wildest dreams.

3. Abraham Obeyed God
When God asked Abraham to leave all and move, he did. When he asked him to sacrifice Isaac, he did. Abraham's faith was visible in his obedience.

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22

“Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.'” John 14:23

“The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:17

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Matthew 7:24

“Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.” Proverbs 10:17

God has proven over and over that He is Faithful. You and I being alive and safe during this Covid19 are living proof of that. Obedience is one of those cementing things that glue you to His will. Faith is reflected in our obedience and faith moves God.

So let's get back on this walk of faith. As we rediscover His Word, His purpose for us, and how He has promised to accomplish it.

God Bless You.

Mothers Are Chosen Vessels Luke 1: 26-33; 46-55

1.The Announcement
We first read of Mary in connection with the announcement made to her by the Angel Gabriel, that she was to become the mother of Jesus in Luke 1:26-37. Mary lived in Nazareth, a small town which was a notoriously wicked place according to John 1:46.

She was a virgin, and was engaged to be married (Matthew 1:18). In Luke 1:26-37, we read of the announcement which the Angel Gabriel made to Mary, and verse 38 tells us of Mary’s faith in God and her submission to His will.

Now you and I can only imagine the drama this wrought in Mary's life. Before she could even digest this news, she was showing. This is not news you tell your parents or your best friend. That an angel appeared? That you are supernaturally pregnant? No.

Not even Joseph her beloved, would have believed it. Thank God Joseph got his own visitation. I can imagine the whispers. However, throughout the New Testament, we see Mary keeping these things in her heart.

A great honour was bestowed upon Mary, but think of the misunderstanding and suspicion which surrounded her! To do the will of God often involves the road less traveled. It is often lonely and requires a lot of resolve. For Mary  this was the beginning of a lifetime, of strange beautiful happenings.

2. Elizabeth
After the announcement, Mary left Nazareth and went to the hill country to be with her cousin Elizabeth in Luke 1:39. Elizabeth rejoiced at Mary’s news and said a very significant thing in Luke 1:45. 

Not only did Elizabeth burst into a song of praise, but this released Mary, who for the first time in all this  seemed to suddenly realise the true import of what was happening to her and she burst out in song in 1:46-56. Sometimes, God send our loved ones to comfirm His Word, to affirm us in our calling, to recognize the greatness in us and call it out. However, those people need to be in tune with God.

Whose Elizabeth are you? Are you playing your part? Or letting Mary flounce around in doubt? 

It is not by error that she became the mother of John, who was to announce Jesus as the Messiah and baptize Him for God's work.

3. God Works With Teams
As God reveals His work in someone He requires a team, people that will fortify His child as they do the Lord's work. It might be a Miriam for Moses, a Pharaoh's Daughter, an Elizabeth, or even a Joseph. 

Remember that if God is doing something around you there is a role for you to play. So we need to stay focused and in tune.

4. Even Jesus Needed His Mum
As Mary watched Jesus grow  she remained around Him. Ready for whenever He would need her. That is why she was on hand, at His first Miracle at the wedding in Cana. You can see how she literally made Him do it! That is why she was at His death, and at Pentecost. Mary in many ways, and through her obedience, always pushed Jesus in the right direction when He needed it.

If our Lord could need Mary, how about us? My mother has always been my litmus test for life's decisions. Many of us will have to be this to our children as they grow up. But we can either make them or break them. We have to be in tune with their maker in order to steer them right. Like Moses' mother, we need to be prepared to let them go out into the world, for their sake.

5. Preparing the Chanel
In order to be the vessels of training, protection, wisdom and encouragement we need to be soaked in the Word. We need to drink of the river of life as we breathe life into our children, into their dreams, as we shape their relationships with others, as we determine their world view. We need to remember that to whom much is given, much is expected.

I will never forget how afraid I was when I first discovered I was pregnant. I was in my first year of marriage, in a new job and I was just about to start my masters.

I felt so afraid and ill equipped. Despite all my best plans (a baby should come after two years or so we has planned) here I was pregnant. But I remember what happened then. I told my Mother.
"You have been ready for this for a while Pheona," she said... "I will help you." Nothing calmed me down like that assurance.

I remembered how when I was a little girl she would hold my little hand and blow kisses into it whispering "I bless you with joy, I bless you with flowers etc".... so many blessings! My mother was prophesying over me! These things she did guided me in parenting my won children. I then started doing the same for my babies even while I was still pregnant.

As mothers we are shaping nations. There is no greater job on earth. We have so much authority over our children but we have to learn how to use it for their good.

6. Get Ready
So what are you doing as a mother? Are you using your tongue to build your children, are you training them with your hands, are you encouraging them to step out and succeed? Are you letting them go when you need to? Or are you crippling them with criticism, breaking their hearts with harshness or passing on wounds of abuse?

Someone told me that your children do as they see not as they are told. Your lifestyle might need to change... Be who you want them to be. Do what you want them to do. It is a high price. But it is worth it.

Mothers are chanels of blessings or curses. Choose this day which you will be. You have so much power as a mother. We learn from Mary how to stay around and be who our children need, whenever they do. She never interfered in His Ministry or told Him what to do. However when He needed her she was there. At Pentecost the disciples were nervous, tired of waiting, and being hunted. I am sure only Mary's calm presence, and Jesus's promise, kept them in the upper room.

Mothers are very often midwives to their children's dreams. So let us not burden our children with our own dreams. Let us not force them to be who we want. But let us facilitate the work of God in their lives as they find their destiny.

Let us wait to patch their battle wounds, salve their bruised egos, and mend their broken dreams. Let us be a channel for God's deliverance and forgiveness, and even through the rod, His discipline.

God Bless you.




.

God Answers Prayer 1 Sam 1:1-28

God Answers Prayer 1 Sam 1:1-28

This is the story of Hannah. A woman scorned by her co wife for barrenness.

A woman who looked like she had everything, a Godly husband who doted on her, wealth etc but felt that due to her childlessness she had nothing.

A woman who experienced loneliness and rejection at a level no one could understand. Let's see what this woman did in response to her pain. 

1. Hannah took her pain to Jesus

“In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord.” (1 Samuel 1:10)

We do not see Hannah going to cry to her mother, her husband, or even her girlfriends. She just took her pain to God, the only solace she knew. She took her pain and poured it out at His feet with such reckless abandon, that even the Priest Eli thought she was drunk. Hannah had a relationship with God. She went to the altar frequently and offered sacrifices.  Even her husband knew of her godliness and that is why he always gave her a healthy portion to sacrifice. So when her pain welled over  she gave God even that. She did not stew on it, or allow it to make her bitter. She did not get cynical, and allow it to mess up her relationship with God or her husband. Many of us respond like this when we have pain. We turn the guns on our loved ones. But not Hannah.

2.She Trusted God's Timing

A key verse in this chapter actually says that “the Lord had closed her womb.”(v. 5,6) 

Now this might seem cruel, but God sometimes needs fresh ground, to plant a great seed. Many times in the Bible our heroines like Rachel, Sarah, Samson's mother, and even Elizabeth were childless before God planted His children in there... and these children were the first fruits, the first borns of their mothers. But unlike Racheal and Sarah, Hannah did not get Elkanah a concubine and hurry to make a counterfeit. We all know how that ended for Racheal and Sarah; step children that were always trouble for their sons. Hannah trusted God's timing and His love for her and she took it to Him. 

In Philippians 4:6-7 it says

"6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

And boy do we see this peace coming upon her. 

3. She Surrendered 

First she lays down all her desire at God's feet.

“And she made a vow, saying, “O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will even be used on his head.” (1 Samuel 1:11)

Sometimes God requires you to surrender what you are holding on to... In the Burning Bush, it was only when Moses let go of the rod he was holding, that God turned it into the magical rod that became a serpent, and that separated the Red Sea. 

It is when Abraham laid Isaac down to sacrifice him,  that God turned him properly into the father of all nations. 

Now we see Hannah promising to give up this child she didn't even have yet, to God Most High.

And then like the drunken woman Eli thought she was, she does something else very strange.

In Verse 18

“Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast." 

This was strange behavior especially to we humans. But if we read later on in the Bible about how David rose and ate after his child had died, then we understand that these two, knew their God. They knew that once He heard, they would be sorted, and they therefore committed to trusting Him.

So Hannah went home content, that Her Father was sorting things out.

And boy did He! 

Two verses later we have Hannah conceive and bear a baby Boy.

"..so in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, ‘Because I asked the Lord for him.’” (1 Samuel 1:18, 20)

Samuel means "God heard" . Hannah remembered her promise. Sometimes we suffocate our blessings by our reaction to them. We gloat, or abuse them or even hold them above the God who has granted them.

Hannah did neither.

God was aware of this when He reminded the Isrealites in Deuteronomy 7 not to forget who He was to them. 

Hannah did not run to Eli to show Him or to the synagogue to show off her new son and have all the gossips die of envy (as some of us women would do)

No. Hannah kept her baby with her and nursed him and weaned him.

4. A Couple of Faith

She told her husband she would only go to the temple to give up Samuel.

And Elkanah also responded unexpectedly. 

1 Samuel 1:23 "And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have weaned him; only the LORD establish his word."

He was ready to give up this child? From his favorite wife? Which father would do that?

I believe it is a man that had experienced God himself. A man that loved His wife's relationship with God and honored it. 

What a couple! I was surprised to read this text because instead of seeing just a barren woman get a child as I had always read it, I saw a couple sold out to God. Seeing each other through bad and good, encouraging each other in the Lord. I see a solid foundation and I believe that there in lies a message. That God can heal all barrenness, even in marriages and other relationships. 

5. Hannah Keeps Her Promise 

Back to Hannah and her new born.

I can imagine how she must have savored these moments knowing that she would give him up. Knowing that she had to even if he was the only chance she had at having a child. And then the time came for her to give him to Eli;

“’As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.’” (1 Samuel 1:24-28)

Now many women would have tried to be clever. They would have rationalized their keeping the boy. But not Hannah. You see when you have spent time at God's feet like Hannah did, when you learn His ways, you cannot doubt Him. Hannah kept her promise... she surrendered her baby boy to the Priest who had scoffed at her prayers and then this strange woman does an even stranger thing;

“Then Hannah prayed and said; ‘My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you, there is no Rock like our God.’” (1 Samuel 2:1-2)

As she is heading home to an empty cradle, to baby clothes she will sniff weepingly for days, to the debilitating silence of her baby's room; she praises the Lord.

What woman is this you would ask. As a child I heard a song about how since the love of Jesus had entered my heart I would never be the same. 

6. A Woman After God's Heart 

Hannah was not mad or an unfeeling masochist. She was a passionate warm blooded woman like you and I. But she knew God. And she loved Him. And she revelled in that love. She allowed that love to fill all the gaps in her life. To answer all the questions she had, to wipe every tear away. She was not pretentious or artificial... she was in God.... Now let's see what this total emersion in God gets her.

The Bible shows us Hannah having more children, and always visiting her son at the Temple. How her life must have been full!

Dear Father,

I come to You today, and I ask for a fresh new revelation of You.

Help me experience You fully. I surrender all I am and all I desire to You. I surrender all the areas of barrenness in my life to You.

Because I know that only You can bring them to life. I ask that You teach me to love You like Hannah did. That my worship will be like a sweet smelling incense to You.

Thank you for this amazing story. Thank you for Hannah and Samuel and Elkannah.

In Your Precious Name I pray, 

Amen

Mothers as Protectors. Exodus 2:1-10

As I read this excerpt I was struck by one thing... How God used three women to save a baby, and how the faith and courage of one woman transformed the lives of four people and later nations.

Jochebed. A woman who is rarely mentioned in the Bible save for here and in Hebrews 11.
A woman who against all odds bravely hid a baby for three months and when she could no longer hide him wove an ark of sorts for him and set him on the water.

As a mother I cannot imagine what pain and fear must have filled her heart as she let her baby float away. I cannot imagine what courage and strength she had to exercise when she turned away from him and asked Miriam to watch over him to see what would happen. Very few of us would ever do such a thing.

But Hebrews 11.23 says 

"By faith Moses was hidden by, Amram and Jochebed, his parents, for three months after he was born, because they saw that he was a beautiful child and were not afraid of the king’s order." 

Thereby explaining Jochebed's behavior. Faith. Only Faith could make her risk her whole family by hiding her baby from Pharaoh. Only faith could have made her strong enough to let him go at three months. Only faith had her parents in slavery name her Jochebed meaning "Jehovah is Glory".

Jochebed walked with God else it would not have been credited to her in the very text that teaches us about Faith in Hebrews 11.

When a woman walks with God we see great things happen all over the Bible. And usually babies are somewhere in the vicinity. She knew God would take care of Moses... but she did her part as well. She hid him for a time, wove a basket that would protect him from water, she set her daughter to watch and wait.

When we walk in faith as mothers we need to know when to protect and hide our children, when to equip them for the world and let them go... and when to let someone else watch over them.

And we all know how Hebrews 11.6 says "And without faith it is impossible to please God,..." 

Therefore she pleased God. And oh what a reward he gave her!

A princess of Egypt having a bath in the Nile? Many study texts mention how this was such a rare occurrence given that the Nile was considered filthy by royalty and Egyptian royalty used private bath houses. But what are the chances that at the very time that Moses opened his little lungs to wail a princess of Egypt happened to be nearby, with Miriam his sister watching?

Imagine how much Egyptian royalty must have loathed the Isrealite slaves by then. The kill order from Pharaoh was an indication of this. And the princess recognized him as a Jewish baby instantly. There was no case of mistaken identity here.

And then he wailed.

And suddenly there was no longer the divide of slave and royalty, princess and enemy spawn, Jew and Egyptian. It was simply a woman's heart and a baby's tears.... turning that woman into an instant protector, melting her into wanting to mother the child immediately.

As she heard the baby cry, God transformed Pharaoh's daughter into Moses' protector and foster mother. And then again... conveniently (And this is where the cinema goes say "masawo") she instructs a Hebrew girl lurking nearby...(Miriam) to get her a Hebrew Nurse who turns out to be .... wait for it.... Jochebed!!

Now if that is not a beautiful miraculous story I do not know what is. Forgive my excitement but I love me a good plot. The twists and turns in this story, the suspense as we wait to see with Miriam what will happen... well in Hollywood it just might be a thriller.

As a mother I can imagine Jochebed, sitted at home, her breasts bulging and aching and leaking with milk weeping silently as she grinds corn. Trying to keep from running back to the river and getting her baby back. I can picture her jump as Miriam rushes into the house breathless... 

"Mom! It's a Princess! And she wants a wet nurse for the baby! Come now Mom!"
I can imagine Jochebed running on air... hardly letting herself believe... and meeting the princess in all her glory. A princess who has taken her baby as her own, now hiring her to raise her own child.
Seeing as Pharaoh's order was getting Hebrew babies killed, I can imagine childless wet nurses were a dime a dozen in the Goshen area where they (the Hebres lived) lived. So no one probably questioned Jochebed's state, or how readily the hungry baby took to her.

Like Mary she held her child and held her faith and joy... close to her heart.

As I began I mentioned that Jochebed's faith had a domino effect. 

1. It melted an Egyptian Princess's heart and made her raise a slave baby as her own. 

2. It taught Miriam faith, courage and determination and she later became a leader in Israel. 

3. It transformed Moses, a Hebrew boy born in uncertain times into a confident Egyptian prince raised by his own Hebrew Mother. 

4. It was the beginning of his training. It equipped him peculiarly for dealing with Pharaoh later on.

No other Hebrew could have even gained audience with Pharoah when you come to think of it, except one who had been raised as a prince of Egypt.

So from the little act of faith by a desperate mother, a whole nation was delivered from slavery.

As a mother I am challenged to seek God deeper, to sit at the feet of these great mothers like Jochebed, brave leaders like the Princess who I am sure later had to stand up to her father, and learn about this amazing God who only requires that we believe.
But I am also challenged to allow God to use my children and my love for them to grow my faith and excercise it as I prepare them and later let them into the world.

"Being confident of this that He who began this good work in us all will bring it to completion in Christ Jesus."

Amen

Remembering the Midwives Exodus 1:15-22

A midwife is a trained health professional who helps healthy women during labor, delivery, and after the birth of their babies.

The word derives from Old English mid, "with," and wif, "woman," and thus originally meant "with-woman," that is, the person who is with the woman (mother) at childbirth. The word refers to midwives of either gender.

According to our text Shiphrah and Puah were Jewish women who were midwives and they chose obedience. They decided to serve God and not man in their work and God rewarded them with their own families.

Many times at work we are so pre occupied with serving our masters that we seldom focus on the right thing.

We need to remember to serve God first and act in obedience. Due to the courage of these two women, Moses was born and Aaron and all the men who would later contribute to the deliverance of Israel from Egypt.

Sometimes God makes us spiritual midwives for visions of others... to hold their hand during childbirth and assist them. We need to remember to do this with God. In His purpose.

Midwives in Egypt assisted women in childbearing, cut the infant’s umbilical cord, washed the baby, and presented the child to the mother and father.

The midwives in this narrative possess a fear of God that led them to disobey the royal order to kill all of the male children born to the Hebrew women (Exod. 1:15-17). Generally speaking, the “fear of the Lord” (and related expressions) in the Bible refer to a healthy and obedient relationship with the covenant-making God of Israel. Their “fear of God” was stronger than any fear that Pharaoh of Egypt could put them under. In addition, perhaps their courage arose from their work. Would those who shepherd new life into birth every day come to value life so highly that murder would become unthinkable, even if commanded by a king?

Babies are special. They bring hope, carry on legacies and come leaden with God's promises. How blessed are you who help them come into this world. Let us purpose today to be a help to every expecting mother. From the Garden of Eden to Revelation God has manifested His Salvation through babies.

We need to also use this time to pray for the protection of children. In this time of Covid 19 I was sad to hear that the abortion clinics are the ones thriving the most in the US. This is demonic and must stop.

If you know of a young pregnant woman having second thoughts be her encouragement... help her have that baby. And God will bless your family as well.

God bless.

Of Birds' Nests and Superpowers

“You cannot keep birds from flying over your head. but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair”

               Martin Luther King Jr. 

1. Prologue 

Forgiveness... a word so misused in everyday life that it has long lost its  acquaintance with its original meaning. 

Let's look at the definition given to the word according to the Oxford English Dictionary;

"To Stop being angry  towards (someone) for an offence, flaw, or mistake." 

"To No longer feel angry about or wish to punish (an offence, flaw, or mistake"

"To Cancel (a debt)"

 "Used in polite expressions as a request to excuse one's foibles, ignorance, or impoliteness."

Psychologists generally define forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness. 

2. The Conversation Begins

I walked into an evening service in Full Gospel Church Makerere when I was sixteen to find the Pastor leading a series on forgiveness.  I have never felt so targeted by a sermon in my whole life. He spoke of the need to forgive and the effects of unforgiveness like chronically illness, mental illness etc. I was sixteen but had suffered from a severe peptic ulcer since I was a child. And here was a Pastor saying it could be rooted in unforgiveness. 

As I sat there rooted to my pew, I heard him speak directly to my heart, mentioning habits like always regurgitating what people have done, storing up resentment, smiling while keeping a record of wrongs and how that could stagnate your spiritual growth and social development. 

It was the beginning of a journey in the Word for me. God began speaking to me about forgiveness in my own life. He spoke about the root of bitterness that grows from not addressing injustices done to you. About how Cane in the Bible in his envy against Abel was warned that sin was lurking at his door but still gave in to it. About how Moses in his failure to control his wrath sinned against God and lost his chance to live in the promised land. About how bitterness can close your heart to love, and wound those around you. That is why they say hurt people hurt people.

We have seen defiled children become defiled, we have seen abused children become abusive spouses and we have seen bullies children become criminals.  We have to be intentional about arresting the sin before it births another. And forgiveness cuts that code. This is because it begins a healing process which is a position progression from a negative experience.  And when you ride the waves of your pain you become like the eagle,  riding the storm to go higher and making your wings stronger. Forgiveness is a sign of strength and healing because bitterness and unforgiveness only harm you who is harboring them. 

3. The Age of Storms

As a teenager, I was quite introverted and I absorbed everything around me. My senses were heightened to injustice and I can only blame that on hormones I guess. As a teenager you are extremely delicate emotionally,  on the cusp of adulthood and yet still very much a child.  Your body and mind are usually at war, your friends are going through the same and the world does not seem to have the time to wait for you to process all you are going through. 

In our teenage we were being bombarded by messages about HIV/AIDS, early pregnancy, making career choices, etc. We were dealing with the meaning of life on so many planes, we were just beginning to understand so much about our parents, we were dealing with a sense of identity and also trying to manage the war adolescence was wreaking on our young bodies... body hair, odor, cycles etc and in the midst of all this we were under pressure to perform academically and also cope with the opposite sex. Some of us were wondering why the Holy Spirit slew others and not us... why some spoke in tongues and others didn't,  and still why the "bad boys and girls" seemed to be having all the fun despite all the warnings to the contrary. 

And in the midst of this our emotional 6th sense was waking up and turned to full volume. We were so hyper aware of all the wrong things. And therefore were like permalink markers recording hurts that others wrought on us.

So forgiveness was not the message one wanted to hear in the midst of a rebellious and tumultuous stage in life. But God caught me and held me fast. Even then I was a voracious reader and I started reading up on forgiveness.  I also journaled a lot about how it applied to my life. And boy did the lights start going on! And what a mess I found. As I started to unravel that thread of some of the things I held (it could be as petty as that teacher who was mean to me) I found a freedom.. and a physical healing from the ulcer that had ailed me all my life. As I speak I have not had a bleeding ulcer attack since then. And the pain went away. That's how I enjoy my hot Asian cuisine without a glitch.

4. The Girl Factor

I believe that being female comes with whole range of "much". Forgive my incoherence but that's the only fitting way I can describe it. We come with an already tuned up volume on our senses, emotions and passions as women and that is why we bewilder our poor men with how intensely we seem to experience everything.  I therefore think women need to heed this message more.

Women have a photographic memory when it comes to emotions.  We might not remember how it happened but we shall remember to the detail how it made us feel. And our emotions are so powerful that they can zap the life out of a room or fill it with light.

An animation I love called Inside Out has a girl called Joy who of where was sad everything stopped functioning.  

God gave us such a superpower as women that we either build or destroy our children and spouses with it. We therefore need to indeed guard our hearts and unforgiveness is one of the blights to our experiencing real joy.

With this kind of makeup a teenage girl's heart can be very messy. 

Doctors have said that sometimes even emotions felt while in the womb awaken during teenage. These days we have alot of teenage substance abuse, suicide, and depression because unlike in our days where we were too busy with chores or in our parents days where some were already parents, these teenagers have a lot of time and loneliness that somehow magnifies these experiences. 

5. A Special Generation

Generation Z as they call it has experienced more emotionally than physically and has a lower pain threshold and a much lower resilience level. This is why even cyber bullying which the millenials would scoff at  leads to suicides. 

And that is why forgiveness and learning to let go might just be a solution for helping today's teenager cope with life and all its stress. 

As I learnt about forgiveness I started learning to see me as God saw me. And I started learning why it was important to forgive all that I was keeping in my heart. It has been and is still a journey but let me share a bit of what I am learning. 

6. Let's Journey Together 

In Matthew 18:22, Jesus says that we should forgive each other “seventy times seven times”. I was always very literal and I like clarity and God is very clear in His Word about forgiveness. 

From the English definition we can also see that it is a verb... an action that is deliberate and purposeful and is made visible by the consequences meaning there is no vengeance, debts and wrongs are wiped off the slate and anger is abated. 

And yet you and I have often struggled with actually forgiving people who slight us, hurt us, do wrong things or even omit to do the right things. It is hard to clear the slate for someone else. Harder still to clear it for oneself. Many times when there is a situation that makes me angry or resentful I have discovered that I am usually more angry at myself than the other person and that that anger towards myself is standing in the way of my letting things go. And why should I let things go?

Paul clarifies our basis for forgiveness in Ephesians 4:32 

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

He reminds us that as Christian's we ought to be Christ like and that is part of it. That forgiveness is the gift that keeps on giving. That Christ gave it to us first. 

Paul adds in Second Corinthians 5:18-19 

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ.God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

Again, a stewardship of this great act of love passed on to us by the Father himself. 

This then makes reconciliation which is a more purposeful form of forgiveness part of our calling and Ministry. And again the reason is that He forgave us first. While we were yet sinners. His standard was set as David puts it in:

Psalm 103:12 

“As far as the east is from the west so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

He then emphasizes the importance of us dealing with our own forgiveness and our reconciliation with Him in Isaiah 1:18 

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool" 

Even when He invites us to His table the first order is to cleanse us. Unconditionally, intentionally and He delights in it.

In Psalm 51:7, 9 David says to the Lord,

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

This is such an apt response to God's love. Because in His Presence our righteousness is like rags, our nakedness as in Eden is emphasized not by Him but by our own guilty hearts and our need for Him and His mercy brings us to our knees.

And as we repent and ask for forgiveness we are assured in First John 1:9 

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from our unrighteousness.”

God is amazing. There is no where in the Word that He requires us to do something without explaining why we need to and the benefits...without reminding us that we can still exercise free will and without reminding us that His love is unconditional.  There is nothing in the Word that He asks of us that is not for us. We are always in the center of His purpose,  the focal point of His pursuit. The story of man and God in the Word is one long love story and it is mostly one sided because of how fickle we are sometimes. 

So He continues with patience to encourage us to forgive others because in Matthew 6:14-15 Jesus says 

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

7. Epilogue 

It is not easy to forgive or even forget. But you can start somewhere.  What are those things you are harboring in your heart? That have snuffed out the light in your life? Or dimmed it just a little. I would advise that you set out on this journey today.

1.Get a journal and start writing.  Pour it all out...in form of a prayer as you ask your Father to heal those places in you and help you forgive those people. It will not happen overnight.

2. Practice telling people they have hurt you when they hurt you... not weeks after. It helps ease the healing process.

3. Ask yourself why you think that act hurt you. What is it in your life that makes you so sensitive to that kind of thing? A friend of mine used to hate being called silly etc be cause some kids bullied her earlier on and convinced her she was dumb... so any reference to words like that tore her up inside.

4. Forgive yourself... learn to allow yourself to fail. You are imperfect... that is why you need God. So while I do not advise that you wallow in a mess of failure, when you make a mistake correct it and move on. Do not condemn yourself.  

"For there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus."

5. Do not use people's past mistakes to label them or your mistakes to label you. If Patricia lied to you last time don't keep reminding her and calling her a liar. Practice grace and deal with each hurt as a unique new one.

6. Get rid of conspiracy theories. People do not hate you. They just make mistakes.

I do hope you continue to let God heal you and take you down the wonderful everyday journey of forgiveness. 

A Storm in a Tea Cup

1. Childhood

                    A storm in a teacup is how I was described by my Dad much earlier in life. Something was always going on with me. My parents and siblings were always a little bothered by my energy and the amount of noise I could make. I remember hearing Mum on the phone with a friend tiredly stating how since I had started crawling they had no peace. And I could understand her plight. Sometimes even I was bothered.

                    I was not the healthiest of children but I was always up a tree or down some hole or even up some vent looking for adventure. I was sure of one thing though. I wanted to be a boy. I talked to everyone about it especially during my questions stage when I was about 5. My Nanny had a ball with me. Telling me all kinds of things I could do to change my gender. So I sat in baskets ate boiled eggs though I hated them, ate standing up… so many things I tried. When I finally discovered George of the famous five I found a kindred spirit. Because boys seemed to have it all… no one worried when they climbed trees or slid down a balustrade or sat like a pirate or played with fire. And somehow I was surrounded by boys. Hence the need to belong.

2. A Whole New World

                  One of the books I first read as a child was the Lady in the Lake by Perry Mason and from then on every day was an adventure. A Case to solve. But my greatest confusion came from the little box of motion pictures we called a TV. It blew my mind the possibilities that were there. When I think of the fact that there was only one channel and that it started at 6pm and ended at 10pm it’s hard to imagine that it had much of an impact when I think of what we have in form of entertainment now.

All I remember is that that little box was filled with adventure and I could experience all of it. I was Bonny M on the Golden Oldies dancing with the mike stand, I was one of the kids in Sound of music hoping for Maria to marry our Dad and sing us into the future, I was on one of Perpenheimers’ adventures, or a cousin to the Cookie Monster on Sesame Street. Name it, I lived all these things. Je Je felt like a brother in Good Times and George Jefferson felt like that funny uncle we all have in the Jefferson’s. And then I discovered books. Anne of Green Garbles convinced me I had a twin out there and Sherlock Holmes taught me science and sarcasm.

3. An Identity Crisis

                 Anyway, I digress. In a nutshell, with my wild imagination and over active little body and tendency to verbosity, I did not fit in. Everyone seemed very good at sitting still, at being good, at remembering all they were supposed to do except me. And I was constantly reminded of this. So if you have a child that seems like I was, please remember that that might mean they also wonder why they seem different.

                Sometimes it made me sad, and when I lost my temper which was often and epic then I told my parents to return me from where I was adopted ( that was my coping mechanism; believing I was adopted from a family that was just like me). I got sad when I forgot again and again not to play with my Dad’s bike and ended under it. I was miserable every time I climbed the coconut tree and my dad had to get some man to bring me down. I was sad every time I returned home and realized I had lost two hours day dreaming. I was sad because it meant I wasn’t good. And that saddest thing was that ironically I was a people pleaser.

              Later on being different became a refuge, it helped me accept rejection, it helped me develop into the loner teen I later became because I accepted myself, grew into my skin and started to have fun. But that’s for later.

4. Hello Snowflake 

            What’s the point I am making? The point is you are a snow flake. A lot will make you different and people fear different. This sometimes leads to you experiencing a lot of rejection and then you begin the journey of hating and rejecting you. The snowflake God designed with so much love and so uniquely that he had you on His mind when he brought your parents together. And much earlier when He died for you. Dealing with who you are and who the world prefers you to be can be a stormy existence. A very stormy one. And my first real experience of some calm was when I was ten years old. 

5. I Meet Jesus

               All my life (yes all ten years of it) I had tried to be good but faced condemnation when I knelt to pray every night because someone in Sunday school taught me that my sins would add nails in Jesus’ hands.(I can see your eye roll) But one day, while taking a very unauthorized detour from my way back home from school I found a crusade at St James Church in my Jinja town and a man in a plaid shirt made a profound statement, “if you come forward and accept Jesus in your life He will come in and change you from the inside out”

                To my young ears this meant that Jesus could change me from the inside, without any help from me! So I stepped up to that podium and that man (I later learnt he was a young Pr Robert Kayanja) led me through a prayer and gave me a Gideon’s Bible.

            My ten year old self was elated, convinced of my transformation. I started reading that Bible… and soon asked my Mum for hers because it had the Old Testament and I discovered even richer better stories than my novels. Because these were true and they were about Jesus, who I was fast falling in love with, and how He transformed lives like mine. Needless to say I was less destructive and more distracted and meeting some Jehovah’s witnesses who I stressed with many questions deepened my journey. This transformation was very gradual... and more internal than external as Pr. K had promised. But it did happen.

6. A New Unfurling

              As He says in Mathew 10:39 it is only in losing oneself in Him that one can find themselves. There is no truer statement. In Him I found compassion love and acceptance. And then it started welling on the inside of me. I remember I started volunteering in Sunday school and would stay behind to help the Vicars' wife organize just to hear more stories about her and her walk with Christ.

             Every one of us has grown up with labels and masks. We need to take the time to pick them off us one by one and examine where these labels came from. When we mess up or make a mistake or act different we almost always experience rejection. When we do we respond either by brushing it off it we have a stellar self-esteem or by embracing that rejection and making it a label or a lens through which we see everything. Then we begin to respond that way. So what are the labels you have accepted about yourself? I am here to tell you that that may just be the lens. Step up to your Father and let Him show you who you are.

          When Adam and Eve sinned their guilt labeled them naked. And they saw themselves naked even before God. When I  would make a mess or fail to meet my parents’ expectations I would lash out, so I “had a temper” or I would respond in self-condemnation and denial by pretending I was adopted… hence labeling myself different. And doing a very good job of convincing others that I was indeed different. And not in a good way. 

The Devil is such a liar but we sometimes help him stretch the tales. 

        Hannah Hannard in her Book “Hinds Feet on High Places” speaks of Much Afraid, the little cripple who longed to go with the Good Shepherd up the mountain. However when you read the book you find that most of the obstacles she experienced were those she had learnt to shelter within her. Starting with her name Much Afraid. Her greatest obstacles were her habits and companions. 

       Are your companions, fear, rejection, sorrow? Have you let them define you? Or is it even your name? Your identity that you believe should also be your destiny? What labels are those that stand in your way? That you have to let go of? Yes it is hard to do that and for every label you remove you must wear a new one and there is only one place you will get new ones that do not scar you. In Christ’s love. 

In His Word, where He says that

                “Because you are precious in My sight and since you are honored and I love you, I will                         give other men in your place and other people in exchange for your life.” In Isaiah 43:4

He says 

              “I have engraved you on the palms of my hands, your walls are ever before me” Isaiah 49:16

In Jeremiah 31:3 He says

             “I have loved you with an everlasting love, I have drawn you with everlasting kindness.”

                There is much more where that came from. So why not take a delve into His Word and start doing some label swapping?

7. An Adventure with Him

After just a bit of this in my own life ( and I am not saying that I have perfected it) As I have grown into loving who I am and even celebrating it with my mum, we have discovered that I am almost a carbon copy of who she was as a child! And the same happened with my Dad and brother! And it was the unconditional love of Christ that did that! I was already like them, but it is only seeing things through the right lenses that gave me the right perspective. I am not saying that you have to look for your parents in you… it might be the opposite desire for some… but that your identity gets clearer as you start to peel away the layers of unnecessary baggage.

So get your Bible, pen and paper and let's get peeling!

Kaaka Joy, A Woman after God's Heart and my First Leadership Experience

The woman I am proud to call my Grandmother was a tall light kinned beautiful and very reserved woman. She was also very emotional and wore her heart on her sleeve. She was also so demure that if she was angry or very happy she tended to cover her face shyly with her ever white pristine handkerchief. 

She had the most dainty hands, and later on in life I had the honor of massaging them whenever she had to endure a drip for her treatment for ulcers, something that ailed her all her life.

She had three passions in life, God, her family and her community.  She was widowed young and left with five children by a man who had loved sheltered her all her life. She managed to raise her five children and had almost 15 Grandchildren and three great grandchildren by the time she passed (That's Ethan Wall on her Lap). 

Her strict discipline and tough parenting helped all her children get a good education which was quite the fit for a woman of her times, who was never really educated. 

Growing up, all her grand children had a taste of her love and discipline. She named almost all of us. My name Nabaasa was from her. She named me Niwe Abaasa meaning "It's God who is able" but it was shortened to Nabaasa. She invested time in each and everyone of us. 

She spent time in our homes and we spent time in hers. She mentored her children in parenting as well. Cleanliness and godliness were her mantra. She was also very hardworking.  I learnt to weed the garden and some other chores from her. And most that I know about our culture I learnt from my time with Kaaka. I remember my visits to her home. I was a sickly child with allergies to hard water and yet she always found a way of treating the water to protect me. 

I was also very naughty. I had a very poor appetite and I remember one night in the living room they gave us millet and meat. Her dog was lying in the corner. I hated millet so I kept wrapping meat pieces in millet and throwing it to the dog sneakily in a dark corner since we used lamp light then. That night I was praised for finishing my food....but that dog betrayed me. He ate all the meat and left the millet which was discovered the next morning. That spanking was righteous I tell you. But despite my shenanigans she got me to eat somehow. 

She taught me about Christ. From the time I was three she always talked to me as if we were peers. She spoke to me of Christ but the true Gospel was the one she lived. Her home always had people coming for counsel, prayer and she would always see them off with gifts of food or some gift someone had given her.  Every night she would have us sing and pray. She was up at the break of dawn praying and then going to her garden. She taught me the Zabuuli or our local hymnal and taught me her favorite hymns. She is the reason I can speak my mother tongue. When I was nine she had me visit her for a month and forbade me to speak English or Luganda for that whole month. I had to learn Runyankole. Up to th hat moment I could only understand it not speak it. But by the end of that visit I was almost fluent. I was so proud to weave her a bag for her Bible when I was ten. And I was even more proud to have her at my Graduation,  and to bring her my children. The sadest but still a proud moment was that when she rested, I had the honor of preparing the Order of Service in English and Runyankole. Using the Zabuuli she gave my parents. These skills were all thanks to her diligence in making sure we knew where we came from and were proud of it.

Kaaka was generous to a fault.  She would literally give the clothes off her back. She gave me my first watch when I was eight, a very expensive leather watch someone had brought her from abroad. She taught me to always have a clean handkerchief on hand and got me addicted to earbuds. 

I do not drink alchohol to this day because when I was three she made me promise never to do so. She said I was a special child from God. I believed her. I was very sickly as a child and I remember finding a letter from her to my mother saying that she believed I was a gift from God and that Mom shouldn't despair if I was too ill. She waa always a pillar to everyone and I remember when she passed all her children who even had grandchildren were so stricken... No one could imagine life without her. She was a force to reckon with.

I am proud to be told that I look like Kaaka. I do not have her light skin and regal build but I have her strong teeth and eyes and her smile. I also inherited her love for people and especially children. 

Her home was always open and her heart always learning. She was very resilient and raised strong hardworking resilient children and grandchildren. 

She is still alive in so many of us and today I celebrate her love for God, her resilience,  and her passion for family.

Some of Her Wisdom

1. Pray and read your Bible Daily

2. Always tell the truth

3. Appreciate honesty, it means well

4. Always have a clean handkerchief 

5. Work with your hands, it is blessed.

6. Love practically

7. Do not pursue material things

8. Spare the rod and spoil the child

9. Walk with Jesus Daily

10. Love your family, family comes first.

I love you Kaaka. 

Ninsiima Ruhang'Owakumpeire

The Role of Innovation in Promoting Access to Justice in Uganda

1. Background

Access to Justice is a subjective concept. This is because it differs from one individual to another. Just like an elephant, although we might struggle to describe it fully and precisely however we can recognize it when we see it, or even better, we are certain when we do not see it in actions.  Access to justice simply means understanding your legal rights, being able to exercise these rights and obtaining a just outcome.

Access to justice is a basic principle of the rule of law and it is a fundamental Human Right that is necessary for the protection of all other human rights. It is important to note that access to justice is not only about Physical access, it also entails affordability of legal services and availability of information pertaining to the law and dispute resolution. All these facets of accessibility should be coupled with non-discrimination.

2. Barriers to Access to Justice

In Africa today, there are many barriers to access to justice and this has accelerated the violation of people’s rights. Ugandans encounter considerable obstacles in terms of access to justice. These barriers may be through the country’s normative framework- or national laws or may be through the country’s institutional framework for justice which includes law enforcement and court systems.

According to HiiL on Justice Needs of Uganda 2016, one of the major inhibitors of access to justice in Uganda, is that many users of the justice system have experienced limited fairness in the processes and outcomes of their justice journeys particularly when they go through the justice system. Furthermore, the cost of legal advice and representation continues to push people away from accessing justice.

3. The Need for Innovation in the Justice Space

This is a call for us to continue to innovate for the betterment of access to justice by all. One of the saviors that has been presented to us is technology.  In this day and age the constant changes in technology are pushing us to think of new ways of addressing the multiple and complex problems faced by litigants, victims, witnesses and those accused of crime.

With innovation, we are able to create or take the necessary steps to promote fair, transparent, effective, non- discriminatory and accountable services that promote justice for all. In the recent past, the Uganda law society launched an App called “Pulida Wo” translated to mean “Your Lawyer” -an innovation that is aimed at extending Pro bono Legal Aid services to the masses.

Furthermore, innovation enables us to address the existing challenges that are affecting access to justice and changes the way we interact with the justice system. For example in the courts of Uganda today, it is possible to conduct a hearing via video conferencing. The use of these facilities is to reduce the constraints of time and distance as well as the possible intimidation of witnesses.

Another way in which innovation may promote access to justice is through creating access to affordable legal advice and services. The reason as to why many Ugandans do not use the justice system is because of the high price of litigation and other legal services which an average Ugandan cannot be able to afford.  The creation of a solution that will meet this particular need of the users of the justice system will not only promote access to justice but will also encourage people to resolve  their matters or seek redress through the system.  In this regard, there is an online platform called LegIT.com which aids people in drafting legal contracts in just a matter of minutes after which the document is sent right to your mail inbox at just a fee of about Ugshs. 50,000 which is relatively low considering what one would ordinarily spend on paying a lawyer to draft it. However this price still relatively high for  an average Ugandan.

4. Conclusion

Innovation and technology are scary to a lawyer as it seems like their jobs are under attack. However that is not the case. It is impossible to fully replace lawyers. It is therefore worth noting that technology driven tools can provide information and guidance where no support from a lawyer is available and can boost the work of lawyers through automation and online platforms thereby reducing cost and increasing accessibility.

Therefore promotion of access to justice is a journey that we all must embark on and it is through endless innovation that we will reach our destination- where there is a system of administration of justice by the courts of law where all citizens have unhindered access to constitutionally established court of criminal or civil jurisdiction which are free from bias. The citizens must also have the confidence that there will be no usurpation by any other person of the functions of the court.

Only then shall we claim to have achieved access to justice. So until then, we continue to innovate.