Touching Lives

When Eva came to the Luke Society of Uganda, she was in desperate need. Her husband had recently died, but not before giving her the AIDS virus. She was without support and couldn't find a job. The symptoms of the illness had begun to impact her daily life, and she had nowhere to turn.

She heard about Rebecca Wasswa, director of the Luke Society of Uganda (LSU), from a neighbor who served as a community health care worker. Eva not only found help at the LSU; she found new life.

George William Mali, the LSU staff evangelist, visited Eva at her home. George told her about the free gift of eternal life offered by God through the work of Jesus Christ. Eva had never heard this before. George explained the gift of God to man, and she eagerly asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior.

Since then, as Rebecca describes it, Eva has "been living positively with AIDS." Physically, she has good days and bad days, yet she's turning her life around. She enrolled in a LSU program that provides loans to women who want to start businesses. The loans help break the cycle of poverty by enabling women to generate income. Eva had good sewing skills. She applied for and received a small loan to buy a sewing machine and rent a small space in the village to set up a tailor shop.

Today, if you walk the dirt road from the LSU office and cross the main road through the center of Lubya village, you'll see rows of one-room mud structures. In one of these huts, in front of a burnt wood storage, Eva will be working away at her black crack-arm Singer machine. She sews and repairs cotton skirts, called kangas, and silk sashes for formal Ugandan dresses. And in all things, she sings to Jesus knowing that He who began a good work is faithful to complete it.

On Wednesdays, Eva attends the Luke Society AIDS clinic under the care of LSU Board Member Dr. Mukooza. On Sundays, she is in the pews of Luzane Church listening as George teaches her about her Lord. In all this, she gives all the Glory to God.

Eva is just one of more than 100 AIDS patients receiving treatment from the Luke Society of Uganda. The disease is so prevalent in some villages near the city of Kampala that no one older than 16 or 17 is left alive. The Luke Society of Uganda is offering hope to those who have none.

And we thank God that He is faithful to pursue His chosen and that He uses the work of the Luke Society to touch lives in Jesus' name.