Exam weeks...always a stressful and tense time at any school. Here in Uganda, the pressure is high to perform well on exams...the students will pass or fail based on their final exams! Success cards have been given and the reading and studying have been done...now it is all up to the work of their brains!! One Success card i read said "may God bless the work of your brains"!! It is a very serious time where whole families futures may depend on one student's pass or fail.

As a result of this stress and pressure, many things have been happening around the school during this past week...students have fallen sick, students with headache, stomach ache..students possessed. Yes, you heard me! We had a student from the village who was possessed...she was kept safe, prayed for and her parents were called to pick her up. This was not a huge deal to anyone at the school - apparently a common occurrence during the crush of exam weeks. The students however have enjoyed the show, though some were scared by it, and they feed off of the energy...and get ideas...

So, we had another "possession" the other day, this one left several other girls weeping and wailing and terrified...but it was a hoax! A prank! And the laughter and hoots and hollers that ensued could be heard for miles!! What a good one! The effects however on the students, especially the girls, were real. A fear began to grow...fear of the darkness, fear of going to bed...students began to have nightmares and loss of sleep. fear was building until several girls came to us and said that they beleived a "black human form" was coming into the girls dorm at night, pulling off bedding and scratching them. They feared the darkness (something you cannot avoid very easily here) and they feared to sleep.

Well, the Youth-Care-worker side of me kicked into full gear, and I immediately offered to keep watch, and do a "night-shift" in the girls dorm. i would stay awake, while they slept...and i would keep them safe, and watch over them...therefore they could get their sleep and hopefully do well on their exams in the morning. Problem solved, right? Wrong. My offer was promptly declined, and I was told that I would not BE ALLOWED to do that. Well, I have to say, that we discussed this for the next hour or so...me explaining the logic behind an adult showing the children that they were indeed safe, explaining my youthcare experience, talking about being protected by prayer and my faith...etc. etc. All to no avail. The answer to my offer was a simple "no". Finally I agreed, that if we could arrange for some extra light in the dorm, and that we talk to the girls together before they go to bed ... maybe I would let go of my "night shift"Idea...

So, that is what we did...all of us piled in among the bunks of the dormitory - girls in bunks that almost reach the ceiling, girls piled three to a bunk, girls on the floor, girls standing on top bunks and girls dangling feet from bunks near the rafters - all of us gathered in the largest space to have our meeting,....extra light was arranged, and we talked with the girls...we laughed with the girls...we prayed with the girls... and then the most beautiful thing.... those girls began to sing... they sang to their creator, they sang in worship..they sang in praise...they sang in thanksgiving....the whole place was filled with the light that shone from their eyes, their hearts, their very souls. Any fear that had remained was dispelled by those voices, Muslim and Christian joined together in unified praise. "God's Love is like a circle, a circle big and round!!" My heart filled up, and as I listened, I tried to memorize every note, to etch in my mind every smile and clap and dance....to take with me, and always remind me of the amazing power and pure joy of childlike faith. Their voices filled the space, in joined faith in a God that would protect them and keep them safe through the night. A lesson in unity.

"Then the gates of her heart were flung open, and her joy flew out over the sea."
-Yann Martel