Congregations ask for things

I was recently in an area that has two Lutheran congregations and my experience there compels me to put to paper (or to electronic bits) some thoughts that have been developing over the last year or so. Maybe it was the sharp contrast between this place and my recent experience in Amudat that has finally brought my thoughts into focus.

I was in an area that is led by a church leader who is wealthy by my estimation, farming a large plot of land, with chickens and several goats, several buildings in his compound with tin roofs, and even a brick building at the road which he is intending to turn into a shop. He has several able-bodied sons to help him in his farming. His family is easily able to support him in his church work as they do what his family has done for generations in that area. There are two congregations there that this leader works with, about 10km apart.

The first congregation we visited meets in a nice church building. It was built by the congregation over a decade ago with a good thatch roof and mud-and-stick construction similar to what we see everywhere in Uganda. Mud-and-stick buildings with thatch roofs do require some maintenance but will last for decades with a little annual care.  The congregation spent considerable time telling us about how they needed to buy land because the church was built on land owned by someone else. We asked if there was a risk they would be evicted from the land. No, they assured us, we won't be forced to move. Is the land the church is on now for sale? No, it's not for sale, but the owner wants us to buy it so it would be for sale to us if someon gave us the money. Is there any risk the owner would sell it to someone else? No, the owner won't sell it to anyone else. So why do you need to buy it? Because the owner wants us to buy it. Finally, they admited that the church leader owns the land. He wants someone to give the church several thousand dollars so the church can "buy" the land from him. From that point the congregation continued to list their needs. They needed money to establish a nursery school. They would buy land and build a building for their nursery school. I asked what their very nice church building is used for during the week. They replied that they don't use the church during the week. So I asked why they couldn't start their nursery school in the church building. Then they asked for money to buy a bicycle for their leader so he could get to the other congregation. It's too far to walk, they said (which, of course, isn't the case - it is far but could be walked in two hours). I asked why the two congregations together didn't buy him a bicycle (I didn't ask why he didn't buy himself a bicycle). They insisted the congregations were too poor. Then they wanted money to build chicken coops to keep their chickens safe. At this point I kept my mouth shut (which I probably should have done earlier). I later asked a trusted friend if you can keep chickens in a stick structure or a mud-and-stick building like those everyone constructs for free to live in. He replied that of course you can keep chickens in a structure like that.

The next day we visited the other congregation in that area. Again we received a long list of needs, the vast majority of which were things the congregation could do for themselves. If just 10 families between the two congregations each sold only one chicken, I told them, you could buy your leader a bicycle. And that brings us to the deeper issue. Uganda has suffered decades of handouts.  That's right. I use the word "suffer." The spirit of many of the people has been broken. Why do for yourself, they wonder, what someone else will do for you for free? As I drive down the road in the villages children stop playing to call out "Muzungu" which means "white person" and hold out their hand to me - asking for a gift. In a trading center, the first thing a man wanted me to know about the people was that they were poor.  Look at them, he said - they are so poor. Give them something.  Is that how you really want to be known, I asked him? Not that you are hard-working or that you are good farmers or that you have started your own schools for your children or that you cherish the land your families have owned for generations or that you are proud of your culture or history or that all of these shop owners in the trading center have worked themselves into the merchant class? You want me to know primarily that you are poor? This is what I see all over Uganda. A congregation that worships under a tree asks me to build them a brick church - every member of that congregation lives in a building, some mud-and-stick, some brick. If they can build homes for themselves, they can build a worship space as well. But why do for yourself what someone else will do for you for free?

I'm reminded of Glen Schwartz's article, I meet two kinds of people in Africa (PDF on missionfrontiers.org, 76kB). After decades or research and work on issues of unhealthy dependency in the developing world, Glen Schwartz (who also wrote the required-reading book, When Charity Destroys Dignity) asserts, "I keep bumping into two kinds of people in Africa. One kind believes in the capability of the continent to help itself, and the other does not." Unfortunately, if you tell people for long enough that they don't have the capability, they start to believe you. As one of my friends recently pointed out, Uganda is one of the most lush, fertile, priviliged lands in East Africa and they could easily become the bread-basket of the continent. They have not only the capability but also the resources. Instead of "doing for," let's "walk alongside of" and together work towards a successful, stable, healthy future. -Shauen