Chasing the Chicken in Uganda

By Kristen Eshleman

We bumped down the dusty road together, chatting while watching a tangle of vehicles and humans push past our windows carrying shockingly creative and cumbersome loads. Children noticed us, shouting “Mzungus!” and waving at us with their dark eyes and gap-toothed smiles shining. Kampala is a beautiful, chaotic city teeming with life. Our team from New City Church and a team of Christian Life Educators from Edify Uganda had developed comfortable relationships with each other and were enjoying casual conversation that day as we rode through the city.

“You cook?” our friend from Edify asked, shocked by a new understanding of Americans who he had previously understood to be universally under the care of “maids.”

“Yes, I cook,” I assured him.

“What do you cook?” he asked.

“Well …” I was suddenly at a loss, shrugging. “I cook chicken.”

He asked how I cook chicken in the US. I explained that I sometimes roast it and sometimes cook it in a pan or on the grill. “How do you cook chicken?” I asked.

“Well,” he began with a look of pride, “first you chase the chicken.” He counted the steps on his fingers. “Next you wring its neck, and then you pluck the feathers. Then I put it in a pot with tomatoes, onion, potatoes, and spices.” He accentuated his pride with a chef’s kiss in the air.

I laughed at his story, picturing this college educated professional in a sharply pressed dress shirt chasing a chicken around the countryside for his family’s dinner. I had never before fully considered the luxury of driving to Harris Teeter and coming home with a plucked, cleaned and deboned chicken for dinner. I turned to my friend’s coworker who had been lost in conversation with one of my teammates. “Do you cook chicken?” I asked.

“Oh yes!” he said, “I am a good cook.”

“How do you cook your chicken?” I asked.

“Well,” he said, holding out his hand to tick the steps off on his fingers, “first you chase the chicken …”

The truth is that Ugandans are great at chasing the chicken, both literally and figuratively. Better than we are, honestly. They are survivors in every way. They dig for cassava or potatoes when there is no other food to be found. They sacrifice themselves quite literally for the sake of their children. They make medicine when they can’t afford to buy it, and they raise one another’s children when necessary. Together with their community, they find a way where there is no way.

Locals brag that Uganda is so fertile that if you drop a seed in the ground, you can have food – and this is true. The countryside is stunningly gorgeous and the produce is prolific. But how many people can raise the capital needed to own land? Most end up working someone else’s land, gathering tea leaves, harvesting fruit, digging for cassava, or crushing gravel. They are then paid by the kilo for their labor. Our friends tell us that entire families work together all day after walking 15 kilometers to work, only to get paid 60 cents per kilo, or $2.00 per load. Ugandans cannot even pay their children’s school fees on that income, much less provide housing, medicine, or food. Business licenses are easy to come by, however, so Ugandans also pursue other ways to “chase the chicken.” Small roadside shops abound, as do taxi services. As our friend Andy says, most Ugandans “hustle” for a living, doing whatever they can to survive.

We have been fortunate, as a church, to meet men and women of God who have found novel ways to help their local communities in Uganda. They are “chasing the chicken” as changemakers in Uganda, helping others to survive. They have seen needs in their homeland and have risen to meet them.

Andy at Hiinga has taken on the call to build hospitals in underserved parts of the country, although he never foresaw that the Lord would lead him to chase that particular “chicken.” He also supports small business owners, helping them to successfully manage their businesses and obtain loans when necessary.

Wilson, at All Nations, is tirelessly “chasing the chicken” to care for the invisible and unwanted in his community. We traveled with him as he visited prostitutes in the city who find themselves stuck in a career that they hate in order to provide for their children’s survival. He is currently developing a refuge for women who want to leave the business, allowing them to transition to a new career and learn new skills in a safe environment.

Innocent at Progressive Ministries has built a beautiful school that serves as a year-round home for students who would otherwise remain uneducated, malnourished, and often, homeless. While we were with him, we met Elizabeth, a young girl with a parasite called Jiggers that will take her life without treatment. We watched him provide food and clothing for her community and arrange for her future care. Today she is on a course of healing medication and living on his school campus. She has been given a new life.

Our friends at Edify are meeting the needs of thousands of schools across Uganda. Their curriculum, teacher education, and fair lending practices have already impacted over 2 million children in the country. Their success is astounding. They are chasing the chicken with Olympic speed, surpassing even their most aggressive goals.

Our missionary partner, Esayas at SIM has been so successful at training pastors and building relationships in Uganda that he will soon leave his team in good hands and relocate to Kenya where he will develop new relationships and cover a new country in prayer.

Our good friend Abel is caring for over 30 widows in his small village, meeting their needs for food and building safe housing for them. He saw a need in his village and took it upon himself to find a solution.

These Ugandan men and women are chasing the chicken – and they are doing it beautifully. We are proud to partner with them, support them, pray for them, and call them our friends. We have a great deal to learn from their faith, persistence, and hustle. They inspire us in our own faith. Their example leads me to ask which chickens the Lord might want me to chase myself.

Whether overseas or at home, may we each pursue the Lord’s calling in our life with the hustle and faith of our friends in Uganda. May we first chase after the Lord … and then may we chase the “chicken” that He leads us t