What has it been like living during COVID-19 in Uganda? When the first cases arrived at the beginning of April, the president locked the country down tight. We had a curfew from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am. All public transport was shut down: buses, taxi’s and boda-boda’s (motorcycle taxis). All private transport without a permit was banned by the RDC (like the county sheriff). All schools were closed. All businesses were closed down unless they were essential—basically only grocery stores and farm supply stores. The regions looked like ghost towns. Public worship was banned from April to October.
Like most, after a few months of this, we were really feeling cooped up but we continued our work at the mission. We continued the farm project, though scaled down quite a bit. Maintenance continued, though it was difficult to get supplies. For a few months, we gathered with the Robbins family for worship on Sunday mornings and with the Folkerts on Sunday evenings. After the Robbins left for furlough we gathered with a few families from the church in the village. This turned out to be a sweet time of fellowship and was encouraging to see the desire of the church members for the fellowship of the saints.
As time went on, the government realized that this kind of lockdown was unsustainable economically. The virus had been contained to a few hundred people. Things have slowly opened up and many things are back to normal even as COVID-19 is spreading throughout the country.
One of the things the mission has been able to do is buy radios to hand out with recorded sermons, songs, and scripture. This has been a tool to penetrate into the villages and reach people with whom we would not normally be able to reach. Some of the church members have produced some new songs based on the Psalms and have recorded them for the radios as well. We are very thankful for the Lord’s goodness to us in all these trials, reminding us that he is still King and still in control, working salvation for his elect. We are thankful to be His hands and feet in such a time as this!