Hope and dreams in Banda slum - by John

A trip this morning to Banda made quite an impact on me. It was part of my series of trips into the communities to ask lots of questions and find out what their priorities are and what they want training in. Although I've got bags of ideas, I need them to tell me what they feel is important - at the moment anything to do with food growing, health and small business help is a winner.

See those containers next to the homes? Full of petrol!

After talking to several mamas <'mothers' in English> I got a real sense that each had a fairly well thought out dream for their lives, and some even a thorough business plan! I shouldn't be surprised as I'm a strong believer in the power and importance of dreams in our lives, I did my degree dissertation on the power of 'envisioning' a utopian future for our lives and society. I even put some stuff about dreams in our leaflet for coming to Uganda. But when you speak to people about how they want to sell charcoal at such-and-such a profit so that they can invest in a piece of land with goats and cows to farm and provide for their children it's really humbling. It's also hard not to act like a bank and offer to provide the capital they need right there and then, but more on that in another blog to come.

I think it reminded me of the importance of having vision in our own lives so that we go somewhere. Ironically, the word utopia is a play on words, meaning 'the nowhere place'. In other words, 'why dream of a perfect world, you know it won't happen.' But that is part of the point, it will only start to happen as we dream and have hope where there seems to be very little. I want to help these mamas kindle their dreams, and be careful not to fan too much expectation on them to begin with, but to help keep their dreams going and growing.

As I was thinking this walking around Banda, (yes, I do get myself into deep mode at times), an unexpected event happened that took me straight back to the here and now. A group of men, many holding gnarly sticks, ran angrily through where we were standing shouting and pointing into the distance. I'd heard of this happening - it was mob rule. They were after a man who had cheated and stolen money from them and they were getting fed up with it, so they took it into their own hands to finish him off, and yes, I do mean finish him off. The only hope for him was that someone had called the police. I was fully expecting to half watch this man being bludgeoned to death and was told there was nothing we could do as they were set on punishing him and people who interfere get the same.

Thankfully the police intervened.

It was all over so quickly. Mercifully, a policeman did come, and the mob strangely gave in to him straight away; perhaps the AK47 helped. The man was taken away to the station and it was over. Except that it wasn't. As we made our way over to the street, the mob was advancing again, now looking for the man's accomplices along with the police. The rest of the story? I don't know. They were angry and as I took this shot, they threatened me, so we thought it best to leave them to it.

What has this to do with the first half of this post? Well, after talking to my friends Bumba and Soloman, I learnt that this 20 something had been beaten to within an inch of his life many, many times before. Soloman had shared about the love of God with him several times, but he wasn't interested. This man had no dream, no hope. He knows at some point his nine lives will run out and the mob will get their justice. His only dreams are immediate; stealing and cheating people out of their money, despite the dire consequences. And although he fulfills his short-term dream time after time, he'll always come back for more until it's too late. But there is still hope for him yet.

So, what to make of all this? I'm not wholly sure. But I know that the power of what we dwell on in our minds, and dream about, has profound consequences. It has galvanised my intention to do my best to help people have a hope and to take steps towards their dreams. 

Let's see what happens. 

I'll also let you know what the end to the mob story was as soon as I can find out - I don't want to leave you in suspense...

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