Life Ascending Uganda (LAU) Movement: The current situation
byMargaret Mugeni, its president
LAU entered the Year 2020 with a BIG BANG of an invitation to the International Conference on the Pastoral Care of the Elderly in the Vatican. As a new movement which started in 2018, an apostolate movement of Christ’s faithful within the Catholic Church in Uganda and affiliated to Life Ascending International for the purpose of achieving all of its objectives, we felt very blessed to have such an opportunity of joining the Conference at the Vatican. The Catholic Church authority encouraged us to attend and five lay members with one priest were able to make it to the Conference.
We came back excited, inspired and motivated to roll out Pope’s message across the country. Within one and half months after return from Rome, we were able to share with a number of Bishops, Clergy and lay members, who were very welcoming and assured us of full support. We were full of hope that LAU would be set on fire across the country by the end of 2020.
However, the speed of LAU development was curtailed by COVID - 19 lockdown, from March 20th to October 2020! Little did we know that the virus would lock us up throughout the year! Fortunately, we did not have very high infection and death rates and now the situation is coming back to normal. During the lockdown, gestures of solidarity, and support for the most vulnerable like the elderly were evident and since our elders mainly live in the countryside, the youth and working-class citizens were enforced to stay in the towns even for Christmas to avoid infecting the elderly. However, the most affected age group in Uganda is between 20-45 years of age! The elders are not so mobile; this lowers their possibility of getting infected. Also, we do not have retirement homes for the elderly, they stay in their family homes up- country (countryside), mostly alone or for the richer ones they have house helpers, some with grandchildren.
In regard to the Movement, we have noted that the elderly generally have challenges of loneliness, poor health, poverty, low self-esteem and are denied most of their rights. Therefore, we designed programs in line with these most common challenges.
We now have a fully established National Executive Committee and some dioceses have established working committees. Activities re-started in October 2020 with the excitement of possible hosting of next VMI International meeting 2022. Full scale activities are still restricted due to Covid-19 though the situation is balancing up into the new-norm. However, several activities have been achieved in line with our objectives.
- To enhance spiritual growth – we have programs on Radio Maria and one Diocese has developed “I Thirst” program which enhances understanding of the Word.
- To promote platforms for social interaction among older persons and intergenerational interactions – we have partnership with the youth Apostolate and in December 2020 we presented a paper at the National Youth Conference on the Theme “The Elders are our Grandparents”. We then had a great sharing with the youths.
- To promote healthy aging, nutrition, dietetics and physical fitness – workshops are organized aimed at enhancing knowledge in these areas.
- To promote, improve and strengthen good social morality and Catholic ethos among children and youth in the communities- elders are now involved in church councils. This is especially in the dioceses of Gulu Ecclesiastical Province, Lugazi Diocese in Kampala Archdiocese and Jinja Diocese in Tororo Archdiocese.
- To create awareness, lobby, and advocate through dialogue with relevant authorities, for the rights of the elderly. This is a great opportunity for strengthening and improving on Elders rights. In the event that the LAI executive meeting takes place in Uganda, I would humbly request that the five members of parliament representing the elderly be given opportunity to interact with the LAI executive for purposes of boosting their morale and sharing experiences.
Our flagship Plan of Action for 2020-2022 among others is to establish and operationalize a formidable National force of Trainers, who will ensure harmonized and uniform establishment of LAI structures at Diocesan and Parish levels.
We continue to focus on the important role of the elderly in their communities and enhance the achievement of their Life missions.
Uganda Martyrs Pray for us.
Be blessed.
Margaret Atim W Mugeni
President - Life Ascending Uganda