Uganda: ‘Attacked by floods’

Kasese, Uganda: A river runs through it.

The town of Kasese sits at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains along the border of Uganda and Democrat Republic of the Congo in Central Africa. It is a gateway to a range long referred to as the “Mountains of the Moon.”

When Italian explorer Gaetano Casati first saw the Rwenzori in 1889 he declared, “Cold and horrible monsters are said to rule over it.”

Storied British mountaineer Stephen Venables called his ascent of Rwenzori highpoint Margherita in 1987 “one of the best mountain adventures of my life.” He climbed Margherita (16,761 feet/5,109 meters), as the legendary Tilman and Shipton had done before him, in a whiteout.

Crosswalk.

The Rwenzoris are notorious for producing beastly weather. On May 2, Pastor Rich Friday, a Climbing For Christ member in Kasese, emailed: “We have been attacked by the floods. Many peoples properties our destroyed. Our biggest hospital, called Kilembe, is totally down and the river has shifted in the midst of the hospital. People are leaving the mountains, coming to the city. Many people have nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat.”

High-water mark: the flooding reached just below the windows of some houses, below, and left streets and trails underwater, above.

Thousands of people live in the Rwenzori Mountains. “The Gospel is more than needed in the mountains,” said Pastor Rich, who was born in the Rwenzoris but moved to Kasese when he was 16. He is willing to return to the mountains to minister to the lost. Are you willing to GO?

In the meantime, he continues to operate an orphanage, where 382 children receive an education. There is urgent need for help for his Hope Mission International Ministries. Can you help?

HELPING HANDS: Please pray for Pastor Rich, his young family, and the orphanage he is trying to keep afloat (financially and literally). To support the work being done in western Uganda, send donations to Climbing For Christ, c/o Uganda Relief, P.O. Box 16290, Rochester, NY 14616-0290 USA. Or CLICK HERE to contribute online via PayPal. Email info@ClimbingForChrist.org if you are interested in serving on a possible Mission: Uganda in the future.

THE WORD: “...then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us...” – Psalm 124:4 (ESV)