Cutway Slums

Kampala, Uganda; Tuesday, May 26






In the valley, on the outskirts of Kampala, lies Cutway. Neither words nor photographs can paint a just picture. The smells are what define these slums. Just imagine over 1 million people living in extreme poverty, with houses jammed together, and endless trash piles along the open sewage ditches. I have traveled to a lot of poverty stricken communities, but this was something else. We arrived in the late afternoon, after the rainstorm. Since Cutway lies in the valley, all of the runoff from the rain mixes with the sewage and garbage and settles in the alleys.

Before I knew it, we were walking through the slums, jumping over trash piles and lakes of runoff water. We had arrangements to deliver food to six women there and to visit their houses. As these women led us through the maze-like slums, they walked proudly. They considered it a blessing for us to be in their home and didn’t mind our mud caked shoes on their floor. “It can be washed!” they insisted, beckoning us into the darkness of their home. I still felt bad. Washed? How can anything here be washed? One woman lived in a tiny two-room house with her husband and their six children, two of which live at Destiny.

I was humbled, standing there with my muddy shoes on her dirty floor, in her cramped house, being treated as an honored guest. The room was really dark, except for the daylight leaking in through a small window. There was no electricity. She smiled up at Kristen, Dale and I. We smiled back, and my heart hurt for her. But her faith still stands. We prayed for her and her family and encouraged her to draw close to Jesus. We delivered the food we bought and she sent us away with a kiss. It is easy to be discouraged after leaving a place like Cutway. Because the fact is that I am now here, sitting in a clean hotel room, and they are still there, in a dirty house in complete darkness. But God is sovereign still…and what we cannot do for her, He has already done.