At the beginning of April my husband Philip and I started our journey back to Canada from three months in the DR Congo. When we arrived in Ntoroko, Uganda and got in a taxi bus, I sat down beside the lady in the blue scarf. During our five-hour journey I asked her about her family and her children. Her youngest, Enochi, is about 18 and working as a motorbike taximan in Bunia, D R Congo, while waiting for funding to attend university. “He is a Christian,” his mother said, “and doesn’t drink or do drugs.” Thatcaught my attention as so many taximen are caught up in those habits.
For the past six years I have been sponsoring a teenager who had her right leg amputated in 2014. A
physiotherapist, who heard about Neema, got her an artificial leg. When I visited Neema’s mother in 2015, I
found she had gone back to school a month after her amputation and was living with her grandmother, nimbly
navigating the short journey on crutches. We decided that for secondary school she would do well in a
boarding school so that she would not have to walk so far. After two years in the boarding school, she chose
to go about 1/2 km to an excellent school that offers a commercial option with learning computers but
remained a resident in the dormitory. Fast forward to the first term in 2020-21, Neema was 5th in her class
of 40 and ready to graduate from high school. She would really like to attend Shalom University to study
Administration and Management, in Bunia. The big question was where would she live? We thought she might
live with a couple who were living right beside the university campus, but they moved. Our usual hostess in
Bunia would welcome Neema but she would need reliable transportation to the university campus, about 5km,
every day. Hence the need for a non-drinking, non-drug using taximan. ENOCHI! It was God’s timing for me
to be with Enochi’s mother in the minibus. God is providing for Neema’s need, and ENOCHI’s need for a daily
contract.
By Nancy Wood