Then, a more definite door not only appeared, but opened. Months ago, though we were unaware, a team from our church was invited to attend an annual cross-denominational event called the Karamajong House of Prayer. This is a fellowship of believers who gather to pray for the region. We later learned that our church was one of only two or three which was invited from outside the region. When we heard a team from our church was invited to go, we decided to take a day-trip in order to join them in prayer, and to also see whom God would connect us to.
However, Ceasar had arranged a meeting at the Diocese headquarters with Rev. Florence. We went to her house and told her we needed fuel for prayer. It’s hard to pray for a people we know virtually nothing about. She and a missionary couple with Africa Inland Mission (AIM) filled us in, and we saw that the picture we got from the town is an altogether different story than in the villages.
- The Eastern side of Kotido district is arguably the place with the least gospel witness in the whole country.
- Roughly 95% of the Karamajong who live in the villages cannot read or write, and the vast majority do not speak English. This means that getting Karamajong believers to become church teachers will require years of literacy training, and that translators are hard to get. This also means any missionaries going to Karamoja need to learn the language well in order to be able to teach and train local Christians in how to lead the churches.
- The Church of Uganda only has one completed church building in the whole district, and it is in the town. They only have 4 church teachers (catechists) who work in the villages for the whole district. That means only 4 churches have a lay pastor. Most of the clergy, except for 2 who work at the Diocese Headquarters, are not Karamajong but from a Luo tribe (cousins of the Acholi) in Abim District.
- The few village congregations that do exist meet under trees and are listening to one chapter of the gospel each week (provided by the AIM missionaries we met) and discussing. They have no preachers to interpret the Scriptures or provide the context. And virtually all the members are women and children, yet it is men who “hold the keys to culture.”
- The staple food is actually a drink made of fermented sorghum, which means that alcoholism is deeply entrenched in the culture, even for children.
- Families used to be completely nomadic and move together with their cattle, not owning any land. This has changed, however reaching the young men is a particular challenge as they are now the ones who are on the move with the herds.
One step at a time!