Rose with her daughter
We met Rose in 2009 – actually we saw her being led and heard her sing in the choir, but we didn’t actually get to meet her until 2011. She was 42 years old at the time and her life would seem to be nothing but lack and need. Rose has been blind since the age of 12 due to lack of proper medical treatment during the horribly polluted war environment she lived in during the regime of Idi Amin in Uganda from 1980 to 1986.
Rose eventually married – and who did she marry but a blind man…makes total sense, doesn’t it? Hmmm… They had children, one of who is now a
pastor. Their youngest daughter, Angel, is 5 years old. Rose and her husband loved Jesus; they served Him with a passion and loved to tell others about Him. Rose’s husband developed sugar diabetes, but he didn’t let that, or his blindness, keep him from working in the kingdom of God. He began to speak in other churches and consequently ended up traveling on a frequent basis. We don’t know any more about Rose’s husband than that and we will never meet him. You see, he passed away in January of 2013. He spoke in a church in Kampala on a Sunday, got sick on Monday and passed away on Wednesday due to complications with the diabetes.
So what was Rose to do at that point? How would she survive? Who would care for her? Of course, the answer was, and still is, in the Person of Father God – the One who loves her; the One who has never left her; the One who has never forsaken her.
Somehow Rose was able to learn how to make sweaters for school children with a machine. She ran her hands over a child’s body and then made the sweater from memory. Amazing, huh? While we were visiting with Rose during our trip to Uganda in 2012 we felt prompted to give her some money for her sweater business. God prompted us again to send her $100 just before we heard of her husband’s death. It was God’s demonstration of love for her.
Rose was scheduled to speak in the church she attended the Sunday after her husband’s death. The family tended to the burial matters. Rose was told she would not be expected to speak that Sunday, given the emotional trauma she and her family were dealing with. But she said she would most certainly speak…she had made a commitment and she had something to say. She challenged the people that day by being available to serve the Lord of Hosts. The demonstration of this strong woman’s stand of faith brought people to tears, including us and we weren’t even there.
Life continues to be a challenge for Rose. The sweater business dropped off when the machines broke. She was given a tent and chairs to rent for events, which brings in some little funds for her needs. She encounters harassment at times because of her blindness, but she takes it all to God. Once she and another blind woman were referred to as “shadows” – as if they didn’t even exist – and were prevented from drawing water at the neighborhood well. She went home and cried out to God for Him to move on her behalf. It wasn’t long after that incident and her petition to God that water was made available directly to her property through the government! She had no idea it was scheduled to come! The “shadow” is now able to actually sell water to her neighbors!