Mission in Uganda

The road to Uganda in the distant depths of the neighboring continent, started on 27.01.2007, when the mission of our Metropolis departed, with the blessings of His Eminence our Metropolitan, Mr. Amphilochios. It had begun months earlier with a spectacular response, -material and moral- by the local people.

Our joy, of course, is great. And it will seem paradoxical, but in poor Uganda it became even greater! Because we had a firsthand experience of the love and gratitude of the Ugandans, and all this because we gave them WATER! Because drilling is now an indisputable fact. And you cannot help feeling moved and re-considering your attitude about life, when you see that in the year 2007 there are people who walk for hours to get water from this drilling. This drilling which some people from the distant province of Kisamos, a place most likely unknown to the Ugandans, gave them out of generosity.

You also cannot help feeling moved when you see kids playing with this "game" as if it were the most beautiful and glamorous thing in the world, yet it is just water! You have no other choice but to believe more in God when you see the same people travelling long distances for the Sunday Mass, receiving the Communion, chanting not only in their language but also in Greek to honor the guests, truly wanting to be baptized and hoping for redemption. You cannot help but feel selfish and ungrateful seeing all these faces smiling at you incessantly. Because in Uganda there is no such thing as depression or suicide. Everyone knows that there is abundance of goods -besides, there are a lot of commodities imported from the western world (for the few who have the means)-and still, not only are they satisfied, but also happy even when they can have just a few. You can only bend the head, close your eyes and pray for these kids, when just by hugging them you realized that they had a fever and yet waited for hours, patiently and without protest, with smiles in their faces to be examined and take medicine, because they have a strong will even for this life, which they know is hard, despite their young age. You only want to revisit the same places, with the hope that you will meet the same people who will have got better and improved their daily lives.

With the money that you have offered from your savings you have helped these distant neighbors from the great neighborhood of the world to drink water through the drilling, to taste food through the farm we gave them, to claim their right to life through the infirmary that we are building for them and the scholarship that we provide to a student to become a doctor and work in it. You also helped them to dream of knowledge and make this dream come true, because the money collected was enough to even build a school for them. Finally, we baptized 37 small children in the hope that, in a few years, they will be the conductors of orthodoxy in the distant, yet so close African continent.

A warm thanks to everyone from the bottom of our heart.

Relevant photos...