Ssuubi Means "Hope"

"Ssuubi," I learned recently, is the word for "hope" in a local Ugandan dialect. And this word seems to describe well the efforts of many who I have met recently working in and for Uganda.

Today, I met a Professor at the School of Social Work at Columbia University: Fred Ssewemala who founded an organization called "Ssuubi" to create educational savings accounts for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in the southern Rakai district of Uganda. His project has garnered a lot of media attention recently. I spoke with him about his work and learned more about his vision and motivation for undertaking his research in our conversation and in this article in a Ugandan Paper (click here).

Laid back and easygoing, Prof. Fred spoke enthusiastically about his work in Uganda and his desire to help children develop long-term goals for their future by giving them the resources to plan and work towards post primary education. He shared that many young students became involved in crime, drug-related activities, prostitution or early marriage because there was little hope for their futures.

I admit that I still feel quite ignorant, going to Uganda. I hope that speaking with people like Prof. Fred and others will give me more of a glimpse of this country, its people and culture. The meeting with Prof. Ssewemala confirmed my intuition about the country and its people - he immediatey offered to help me in any way once I was in Uganda and mentioned that he had a wife and large extended family that would be enthusiastic to meet me. This, after a short 30 minute meeting! And he shared that the people of Uganda are very welcoming, warm and friendly...he warned that people may try to manipulate or ask for help or money from foreigners, but otherwise I would learn alot about what life is like in a third, "or actually" fourth-world country. He went on to state that there is a level of poverty which I may not have seen before. In some ways hearing these little details did help put into focus and confirm my own impressions - that Uganda was very poor but in some ways rich.

He showed me a number of photographs from his last trip to the Rakai orphanage where a number of children were given books and registered for savings accounts. As the pictures flashed across the screen and I saw the smiling faces of these young children in the Rakai village, I began to tear up. I know, it sounds a bit cheesy, but seeing those faces, hearing about the work of Prof. Fred and knowing that there are people making a real difference in the lives of young children half a world away really moved me to tears. I guess this is just an echo of what is to come. I have a feeling this will be a moving, eye-opening and yet emotional trip. Putting it all into words right now is difficult; but let's just say it's where my heart keeps pulling me to go. And now that the opportunity has finally come. Well, I'm at a loss for words.

But hearing the sounds of even one word, ssuubi; seeing the beautiful photos; listening to the good work of Prof. Ssewemala, and learning more about this place called Uganda has made me, well, simply grateful for the opportunity to learn what ssuubi really means.

It's an old word made new - and I have so much more to learn about what hope really means.

Planning Uganda

Typhoid, Meningoccocal, Yellow Fever, Polio.

These are just a few of the vaccines I need for my trip to Uganda this summer.
What a sobering series of preparations to think about before going to this country Winston Churchill once called the "Pearl of Africa."

Disease, Poverty, War. These are just a few of the things I expect to encounter when I visit Uganda. And yet...

I know too, that there is a vibrancy, openness and sense of community that will be there when I arrive. Why is it that in the poorest countries of the world there is also a kind of life and community that those on the outside are often moved to recount and share when they return home? And this, in contrast to the sterile suburban cities of our wealthy country, the USA. I can say these things, because I am myself the product of a privileged, middle class family, raised in the suburbs of a US city. And though I am thankful for having a loving home, safe streets, a good school system, tranquility and health - I always sensed there was more to life than owning a house and living in the 'burbs.' What that is, I am not sure, but I expect to find at least a part of, on my upcoming trip to Africa.

The vaccines against the various diseases I may be exposed to on my trip to Uganda are sobering and good reminders of the dangers of traveling to foreign territory. Despite the things telling me to be wary, afraid and even repulsed by this country miles and continents away, there is a stronger pull - one that goes beyond consideration of my own health, safety, security. It's the pull maybe, of Jesus himself. I am reminded of a statement made by Vinoth Ramachandra, a theologian in a talk he gave a number of months ago in NYC. He said, "It's not that the poor need us, but we in the wealthy West need the poor." Yes. That's so true. The profundity of that statement has hit me more and more since I heard those words. We need the poor. I need the poor. I need to see and live a life that goes beyond dependence on material sufficiency. In fact, those who have nothing are in some ways blessed. True dependency and reliance on God and on Jesus is a blessing. I want to see how people manage in conditions that are less than ideal in a material sense. I sense that there is true life to be found in unexpected places - in places where people struggle and cannot take for granted their material well-being or even their health.

Yes, indeed. We, the wealthy, the well-provided for, need the poor.