November 5^th, 2011

As we ask for prayer for us while here in Uganda, I feel pressed in my spirit to ask all of you to pray for Uganda, that deceit and corruption would lose its hold on this country. It is a cruel task master. We read in the Ugandan papers every day of political corruption at every level, that Uganda is becoming an autocratic government with less freedoms all the time. But what isn't written about is how this plays out in everyday life. Lyle and I got a micro-slice of this experience the other night.

We had asked a man driving us, if we could stop at a shopping mall so Lyle could exchange some dollars into shillings, when the driver was near the entrance Lyle jumped out to go inside and I stayed in the car. The driver was backing up to go to a parking place ( the parking garages are as insane as the roads), he accidently hit the metal bar encompassing a pillar at the entrance. Immediately the car was surrounded by security guards with AK 47's and men with dress shirts and ties. They "escorted" him to a parking spot and when he got out to check the car for damage, he was taken away. I was left in the car, in the back seat, with it running and a security guard with a rifle in front of the car. Well I sat there for a few minutes praying and asking God what I should do, and I decided to get out, lock up the car, and wait for Lyle to come back. The guard informed me the driver would be back very soon, I thanked him, looked for damage, just some scraped pain on the bumper, and saw Lyle coming out of the doors. When I explained what happened, he went to talk to the guard who directed him to an office right inside the front entrance. I waited by the car, I saw Lyle go into the office and then get escorted right back out. What he said happened was they invited him in and the driver told him "No, do not get involved". What the driver explained later was that the security manager saw Lyle as a "mzungu," a white person with more money than the driver. The manager was trying to get the driver to pay 20,000 shillings for nonexistent damage to the pillar. After many minutes, they all came out to the garage examined the pillar and told our driver that he could go. He and Lyle no sooner got to the car when they rushed back out and took the driver back inside. So true to my nature, I had to use the bathroom :-), and so I told Lyle I would go and be right back. When I got back, the driver was deciding to call the police because the security manager was wanting his driver's permit and he was refusing to give it to the manager because he didn't want to have to pay a bribe to get it back from him. The manager asked all of us to come into the office, and when we did, he told the driver that we could all go but the car would be impounded. The driver agreed to this and the manager wanted to get Lyle's phone number. Lyle refused and said "you already have the driver's number, you don't need mine." Then the manager pretended to call his boss and discuss the driver's release. He was saying that the car was crushed and that he was the first on the scene. I spoke up and informed him of this inaccuracy, he was insistent until I mentioned that I was in the back seat the whole time. Then he suggested we go back out and re-look at the pillar, Lyle inserted that there was no way a plastic bumper damaged a metal ring. By now I think we had been there an hour. So this manager did a great job of looking at the metal ring, I reiterated that the bumper had only paint damage and invited him to re-look at it. As he looked at me, I said," I hope we can go back to the USA and tell people that people in Uganda have integrity." He then after some thought and drama told us we could go, as we profusely thanked him for his kindness and I added integrity. We saw that they had put a boot on the front tire of the car, but were in the process of removing it. The guard and another security man sadly shook our hands as if to say, sorry (my interpretation). I truly believe that if Lyle and I had not stayed with the driver, he would have had much more trouble, because they definitely wanted pocket money.

Lyle has spoken with an NGO being developed here in this arena and was told that corruption in Uganda is saturated from the top down, so the poor are extorted with no recourse, and mzungu's get stopped frequently with hopes of bribes. It was definitely not in my comfort zone and we praised God that He allowed goodness to prevail this time.

Please, please pray for this country that claims to be Christian, but what the majority experience is injustice, with justice being in the minority.

Lyle speaking.....Just to give an idea of how ingrained this is culturally, I was reading a story in the local newspaper. In the story a young boy left school during a break to go to the market and eat his fill of sweets. He was concerned of how he was going to get back to school without being caught. Sure enough, when he arrived back at school he was caught by a very strict teacher who asked him if he wanted 20 swats with a cane or to be expelled from school. The boy quickly thought and pulled out his remaining money. He told the teacher he had just found this money and was going to turn it in to him. The teacher looked around, saw no one was watching, took the money and let the boy go. When he got to class he was 5 minutes late. The teacher in the class asked him why he was late. Again, quickly thinking, he told the teacher he was in the bathroom and was constipated. One of the other boys began laughing. The teacher told the boy who had come in late to take his seat while he punished the other boy by telling him to come to the front of the class and explain what constipation means.

The whole tenor of this story lauded the quick thinking and cleverness of the young boy as he so deftly escaped any sort of punishment. One can see from this story how ingrained deceit is in the culture. It really seems to be valued. If you can get away with it, then it must be OK. As NGO's come into the country and are trying to work for justice on behalf of those who never see justice, they are fighting a spiritual battle that is deeply ingrained into the hearts and culture of this country. It will only be by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of individuals and by God's purpose and design that change takes place. Some NGO's are trying to do some good as they are able, but whether they realize it or not, the battle is first spiritual. Please pray for them that our Lord would transform the hearts of key leaders in this country.