The Hands of Friendship

While we’re in Uganda for Scott’s work, I’ve had the honor of meeting and building deep friendships with women who are also considered, “Trailing Spouses” in the expatriate community. These families are here for work in the diplomatic community, with NGO’s (non-profits), missions work or business development.

For most in the expat world, one spouse comes for work and is entitled to a “Work Permit” attached to his/her passport. If you are here on a “Dependent Pass” you can not have a paid job. So these spouses are creative with their time and intentionally pour into their new country, city, and neighborhood.

There are a few male spouses but I have focused my connections on the women. And there are some remarkable women. They have lived all over our planet and bring a tremendous heart for our world. They have lived lives of sacrifice while they have often been posted in difficult countries during tenuous times. These woman are fearless. I never hear them ask, "Is this safe?"

Folks come and go so there are lots of introductions and goodbyes. People move in and are usually very open to new friendship. They say “yes” to invitations that they would never agree to in their home country because time is short, spouses work a lot and often travel a great deal.

Two different groups of women have become “home” for me while we’re in Uganda. Women from Ethiopia, Uganda, the UK, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, South Korea, Cambodia, Australia, South Africa and the U.S. come together for a book group on Mondays and a different prayer time on Thursday mornings.

As folks move, they tend to stay in the What’s App groups. There is nothing as powerful as sending out a prayer request to these women and having women pray in Australia in the middle of the night, Cambodia later in the day and from Europe and locally here.

One of my favorite Bible verses is James 5:16 “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

These are righteous women. God has moved mightily through their prayers. Kids have been healed, difficult to secure documents resolved, school challenges overcome, breakthrough with family members and reconciliation at work, family or marriages.

We prayed one day for the quick return of a child’s passport from the embassy so the daughter could travel to her home country for her grandma’s funeral. The passport wasn’t expected back for two weeks and travel was the next day. Before the prayer time was over, the mom received an email that the passport was ready for pick-up that day.

These kinds of answers happen all the time. It is a privilege to walk through this season with these remarkable women.