Home
Newsletter
Newsletter Archive
In the Press-Local
In the Press-International
Press Release
Inspirations
Prisoners Letters
Children’s Letters
Testimonies
Ssuubi’s Collection
Donate Now

Battling with Human Irony

I think one of the amazing things about the humans is that our needs are insatiable to the extent of craving to fulfill desires that are far above fantastic and cozy than our actual day to day real life needs.
When all this is going on, we have been made blind to the suffering of others. Like in a drama, we are all actors, and at the end of the day we have two distinct teams on different sides of the universe, the rich and the poor.

The perplexing beauty of the human condition is that we have these wonderful desires that allow us to rise above the atrocities of everyday life like Haiti and darfur.

On the 14th February 2010 I found myself visiting a church of our accountant, because I wanted to process extra expenditure on the lighting needs at the school for children of prisoners we are operating. being a non working day I went to meet her there at their church just before she could go to facilitate Sunday school. After meeting her, I decided to attend their church, and there after proceed to do the wiring at our school.

The service was good, I liked the worship and everyone one looked smart. Before the pastor could do the sermon, he mentioned about the need for church members to fundraise for the packing lot, the place I was seated was overlooking the parking lot, so quickly I looked there, and I saw that the place was plane and smooth apart from a few small stones scattered, it did not look like there was a problem with it. The pastor goes on to say that his wife was complaining that the ladies shoes were being damaged by the parking lot . Immediately I remembered one of the boys Benjamin who reported last week on bare foot and with only one short and shirt and no beddings. So the pastor goes to say that they need about USD 30,000 just to modernize their parking lot, my heart began to ache because I remembered that we only needed about USD 75 for a day’s meal for the children last Wednesday, if it was not for our friends in the west to wire funds just in time, the children were going to starve.

I almost stood up to ask if they could fundraise for us also. He said that a couple in the church had pledged to give a gift that was seven times more than what the congregation would give, at this point I was just boiling inside me because I imagined the pastor should instead say let us fundraise for some people who are suffering or in need, but now the money they need is for their cars to park comfortably, I am very sure in that church there are people who are in dire need like us.

We need the good things in life and I am not saying brethren in that church do not need the parking lot(I pray God provides for them) ,but I am simply amazed about The human irony, and this is just an example, where we have people who are wealthy and desire more riches and on the other side of the same planet earth we have people in dire need subjected to unspeakable suffering with no one to care.

Rightly interpreted in the story of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31) – Jesus condemns the Pharisees for their love of wealth and neglect of showing compassion for the poor.

I had an opportunity on the 12 December 2010 to meet the Archbishop of the Anglican church in Uganda The Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, he reminded me that if we are to serve others in need we have to live a life of Paul where everything is trash compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ (Philippians 3:8).

In this day we need more people like Paul, because we seem to be drowning in the niceties of this world and not minding of those in need.

I think we should arrive at this point in life where we will allow God to re direct us and reveal to us the real things that matter in life, not to be sewn between life’s paradoxes and pleasures and may we respond to the divine call to awaken to the plight of the suffering in our midst.

Francis Ssuubi

Back To Top Of the Page