Polio. Amputation from infection gone untreated.
Third world realities lead to lifelong disabilities. But thankfully, Joni and Friends has come to Uganda to bring hope to these lives. One of the joys of working as the East African Hub for Joni and Friends is SOS’s regular visits to our neighbors suffering with disability.
Anthony Basaba, Director of Community Outreach, along with his team of SOS staff visit our friends in neighboring village communities to assess medical, housing, and job skill needs.
Just the other day, one of our Ugandan Community Outreach staff visited Abdul Kintu, a nominal Muslim who lives nearby on his family’s property. At a very young age, Abdul was diagnosed with Polio, which crippled his left leg and foot, limiting his mobility and causing chronic pain.
Despite this disability, he has been able to work by trading in the market. Through his hard work he was able to save enough money to purchase his own land, build a house, and start his own business. Sadly, Abdul made the mistake of entrusting the money he had saved to his brother who squandered it. When Abdul confronted his brother, he was threatened with his life. So now, Abdul has started over, living in a makeshift tent.
Please pray for us as we build a relationship with Abdul and strive to meet some of his obvious physical needs. Pray that the Lord might soften this Muslim’s heart to his greater need of heart transformation by the gospel. The rejection of all of his family due to his disability and poverty have caused him to lose faith in Islam and potentially soften his heart toward the gospel.
One of SOS’s Ugandan staff explains, “Most of the time when you visit these people and start identifying their challenges and care about them and love them, then when you preach to them about Jesus, in most cases, they take what you are teaching them as true. They believe that your good heart must be teaching them what is true.”
An SOS staff member also recently visited Sarah Nalugwa, a 46 year-old widowed mother of three. Sarah provides for her family by selling leftover fish remains to the poor who can’t afford to buy fish.
In 2013, Sarah’s hand became infected. As the infection spread to her arm, she received local herbal treatment, but the infection progressed to the point of necessitating an amputation of her arm from just below her shoulder. To this day, Sarah still lives with chronic pain on the amputation site.
Sarah currently belongs to the Seventh Day Adventist church, but as a nominal member. She seems very open to the gospel and is hungry for Truth. Her only access to the Truth is from these visits by our SOS staff. Our SOS staff plans to bring a Luganda translation of The Quest for Truth to Sarah and her daughters to be followed up with personal Bible studies.
Please pray for Sarah and her daughters to find lasting healing and provision in the Savior.
