Grace for Orphans

B.G. has been a friend of our family for the last decade, beginning as
a little boy who hung out in our yard and played in the sandpile or
kicked a football. After his father and then grandfather died, his
uncles conspired to take over his father's land and leave him without
any inheritance. His mother remarried, and her new husband did not
want to take on another man's son. So B.G. was bounced between
relatives, at times staying in a room from which served as a bar for
customers of his aunt's alcohol brewing business. He finished at the
top of his class in primary school, and was the second boy we sent to
Christ School (following Ndyezika). Six years later he was one of the
handful of students from Bundibugyo who completed A Levels with
University-entrance-worthy scores. Though we have all long hoped that
our CSB grads would receive government scholarships under a quota
system, this has not panned out. The quota slots have been whittled
down year by year, and are gradually being phased out. In the
meantime students who have studied in more equipped and prestigious
schools in the cities come back to Bundibugyo to sit for the final
exams, and so displace the truly needy. So when B.G. received his
scores, we were hesitant about his opportunities. We encouraged him
to apply to some programs, and were cautiously optimistic when he
received several admission letters, though still ambivalent about the
cost. But with the press of visitors, interns, work, family, etc.
this summer, we did not carefully read the fine print, and with B.G.
being an orphan from a rural area trying to understand rules and
procedures . . . we missed the deadline for the down payment to secure
his position in our top choice, Uganda Christian University in Mukono
for a Bachelor's in Library and Information Science. By the time we
all realized our mistake, and sent him to belatedly pay the fees, it
was too late. He was told to try other programs. So we did. But the
other programs were all at satellite campuses, or night school, or
degrees with no relevance to his interest in computers and information
technology. Accepting the consequences as justice and a good lesson
would have been an option, but we were not quite ready to give up. As
a last-ditch effort I began emailing the admissions office and making
phone calls. Last week I connected with a woman who agreed to hear
our case. I explained that he was qualified for admission but that
living in Bundibugyo made it difficult to meet the deadlines, and
begged for mercy. She said she would take the case to the committee.
We all prayed.

Friday we got the good news that B.G. was forgiven, that he could
begin the program in September, in Library and Information Science as
he had hoped! He has been giving his testimony to anyone that will
listen, including the fact that he witnessed others trying to bribe
their way into the school and being turned away. I think that it is
rare for a kid here to have someone believe in him and push for him
when everyone else had accepted defeat. And to see clearly that God
changed a beaurocratic system, over-ruled the rules and let him in, by
His power and not by corruption. We are studying 1 Timothy this week
with our students/kids. In the first chapter Paul makes it clear that
the law does not change hearts, but that grace and mercy do. When
Paul experienced a merciful encounter with Jesus on the road to
Damascus, he emerged a changed man. As our students experience mercy
from God, grace from the authorities in their lives, and I-believe-in-
you kind of perseverant love from missionaries, it is our hope that
their lives will be changed too. B,G. has a legacy of alcoholism and
failure, deceit and loss, from his childhood. But God has given him
grace, and we pray that he will become the kind of leader our district
here needs.