Before coming to Uganda, we made sure we included a reasonable collection of books in the air freight. Some books were for our leisure, others for our work. We had to be selective because of weight restrictions, but managed to augment our collection with several weightless ‘e-books’ and ended up with a reasonable library at home.
Books are things we take for granted, and especially if we’re teachers or students. Can you imagine a world without books? Even if you don’t have the particular book you want, it can usually be found at Waterstone’s, on the Amazon website (what a wonderful institution!), or in the local library.
So, in our recent tour of the diocesan Archdeaconry Training Centres (ATCs) it seemed reasonable to look at their libraries. ATCs are responsible for training the majority of lay church teachers to lead local congregations. Students are mostly full-time and live in thatched mud huts (pictured above), often with their families. They are taught in classrooms, such as that pictured. Their training lasts up to three years, but separated by periods of time ‘in the field’. These lay leaders represent the grass roots of church leadership, and may go on to ordination. Their ministry is crucial for the health of the church in Uganda.
We were shown several ATC libraries, and the photographs speak for themselves
. The largest library had around 200 books. Some books were new, but the majority were old, and few were suited to students whose first language was not English. Many I would have found heavy-going and most I would have cleared from my bookshelves a long time ago. Indeed, many of them probably came from a similar source! 
But the custodians of the ATCs cared for these books as best they could, after all they were theirs in trust. In one library I found one book two-thirds consumed by termites. It had been retrieved, and carefully stored with all the other books now kept in a termite-free environment. 
The smallest library we saw had just 12 books and a few dog-eared booklets. Its most recent book was dated 1927.
I was close to tears as I thought of the resources I had brought with me and the books I had left in the UK. Many pastors in dioceses like Madi/West-Nile have few books of their own, and most lay leaders will have none. If there are no books in the ATCs, how will these church leaders be fed? And yet we found amazing faith and resilience amongst the ministers we met, a sacrificial commitment to ministry that put me to shame, and all of it pursued against a most challenging social background and with staggeringly limited resources.
It is impossible to come to a country like Uganda without becoming acutely aware of the inequality of distribution of the world’s goods. It is truly heartbreaking when you realise how much it extends to the world-wide church as well. It will take some time to process this experience.
Books are things we take for granted, and especially if we’re teachers or students. Can you imagine a world without books? Even if you don’t have the particular book you want, it can usually be found at Waterstone’s, on the Amazon website (what a wonderful institution!), or in the local library.
So, in our recent tour of the diocesan Archdeaconry Training Centres (ATCs) it seemed reasonable to look at their libraries. ATCs are responsible for training the majority of lay church teachers to lead local congregations. Students are mostly full-time and live in thatched mud huts (pictured above), often with their families. They are taught in classrooms, such as that pictured. Their training lasts up to three years, but separated by periods of time ‘in the field’. These lay leaders represent the grass roots of church leadership, and may go on to ordination. Their ministry is crucial for the health of the church in Uganda.We were shown several ATC libraries, and the photographs speak for themselves
. The largest library had around 200 books. Some books were new, but the majority were old, and few were suited to students whose first language was not English. Many I would have found heavy-going and most I would have cleared from my bookshelves a long time ago. Indeed, many of them probably came from a similar source! But the custodians of the ATCs cared for these books as best they could, after all they were theirs in trust. In one library I found one book two-thirds consumed by termites. It had been retrieved, and carefully stored with all the other books now kept in a termite-free environment. 
The smallest library we saw had just 12 books and a few dog-eared booklets. Its most recent book was dated 1927.I was close to tears as I thought of the resources I had brought with me and the books I had left in the UK. Many pastors in dioceses like Madi/West-Nile have few books of their own, and most lay leaders will have none. If there are no books in the ATCs, how will these church leaders be fed? And yet we found amazing faith and resilience amongst the ministers we met, a sacrificial commitment to ministry that put me to shame, and all of it pursued against a most challenging social background and with staggeringly limited resources.
It is impossible to come to a country like Uganda without becoming acutely aware of the inequality of distribution of the world’s goods. It is truly heartbreaking when you realise how much it extends to the world-wide church as well. It will take some time to process this experience.
1 comment:
Is there anything we can do?
Jan
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