![]() ![]() Such was the journey of Sister Ardern and me, in the company of Sister Camille Johnson, our General Relief Society President, and her husband, Doug, and Sister Sharon Eubank, director of the Church’s Humanitarian Services, as we travelled in Uganda, a country of 47 million people in the Africa Central Area of the Church. They have gathered to receive help and hope, and you have arrived to share it. ![]() You look around and know you are amongst a people who love God, and you instantly feel God’s love for them. In this place, you notice there is no running water, no electricity, no flush toilets. The meeting place is not a hall or even a tent but rather under a few large trees providing shelter from the sweltering sun. Two hours pass and you arrive at a secluded, shady clearing. She represents one of every two households in this area where women, young and old, walk more than 30 minutes each way, each day, to a source of water for their family. Ninety-two percent of the youngest children you see on this journey live in food poverty, and your heart groans with anguish.Īhead, you see a mother carrying a carefully balanced five-gallon (19 L) container of water on her head and another in her hand. The children smile and wave, and you wave back with a tear and a smile. The few cattle which cross your path are more bones than flesh and are being driven by a blanket-covered Karamojong herdsman who, with sandalled feet, trudges on in hope of finding vegetation and water.Īs you navigate the rough and rocky road, you see several groups of beautiful children and wonder why they are not in school. You see from the parched and barren earth that rain has not fallen in any measurable quantity for too many years. Imagine for a moment the rural, red dirt of Africa. You won’t see any lions, zebras, or elephants, but perhaps, by journey’s end, you will see how thousands of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are responding to Christ’s second great commandment to “love thy neighbour” ( Mark 12:31). This morning, I invite you to join with me on an African journey.
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