Called to stay.

So, I won’t be going to the Congo, for now anyway. I found out yesterday that Samaritan’s Purse will be shutting down their operations in the DRC, at least until January, due to insufficient personnel on the ground. The direct implication to myself is that the decision whether to leave ACTS in Uganda and join Samaritan’s Purse in the Congo is no longer an issue, which is somewhat of a relief to many of you, and to the staff at ACTS as well. In the larger scheme of things, Samaritan’s Purse’s decision to suspend operations has less positive effects. It means that the people in the Buganga IDP Camp, who have been benefiting from the water and sanitation program over the past month, will now be forced to revert back to relying upon unsafe water from unprotected and untreated sources. The biggest hope for them is that another NGO will have the ability to pick up and continue the work that Samaritan’s Purse has started there. So that is a continuing prayer request, for these people, and the thousands others who have yet to be reached by any NGO. You can read more about the work that Samaritan's Purse was doing on Patrick's blog, http://cochranestravels.blogspot.com/.

People waiting for food handouts in the Congo. (pulled off Pat's Blog)

I thank you for the prayers and concerns as I was struggling with this decision. This issue was definitely the most difficult decision that I’d been faced with in Africa, and even probably a long time before that. It definitely sucks to see that the work that Pat and John began will not be continued, at least without a month long lull. At the same time, I am glad that I will be able to complete the work with ACTS that I had begun thus far. It's ironic, one of my friends wrote the following to me last week before the Samaritan's Purse came knocking but I only just read the email after I found out that I wouldn't be going, "God's plan for you is with ACTS right now. That's your part of the body... Maybe there will be a time and a place in the future for you to play a different part of the Christian body, but right now, you are where He has called you to be."

In other news, we returned to Kasese on Sunday night, (yes, again), to check out one final potential source as well as to have a wrap up meeting with the Bishop and other members of the South Rwenzori Diocese. The meeting was this morning and proved to be a sound reminder to me of the reason that I was called here. I still have some questions and concerns with regard to some of ACTS’ decisions, but, to see the passion that these men have for helping their communities and their neighbours, I couldn’t help but be a little more excited by the work that I am doing, the small part that I can help play to aid in their efforts.

Oh yes, and the source that we saw yesterday, there was quite a good amount of water. More importantly, most of the samples came back clean, meaning that we have a good source with which we can design and put forth another project proposal. So it seems that we won’t be wrapping up our work in Kasese just yet.