A festive flying cinema is uplifting rural villages struggling with isolation in the Uganda lockdown.
After months of strict lockdown, the Ugandan Ministry of Health announced a further easing of Covid-19 restrictions on 9 November, allowing up to 200 people to meet.
With the Christmas period and a general election both on the horizon, President Yoweri Museveni argued the country could not perpetually remain under restrictions with the future of the economy at stake.
Uganda's lockdown has been considered one of the most severe in sub-Saharan Africa, limiting the incidence of coronavirus to 25,000 cases and 219 deaths.
Cinemas, gyms and places of worship also reopened on 14 November within a 6am to 9pm curfew. The latest lockdown easing has allowed political campaigns to take place, and communities to gather for Christmas celebrations.
In light of the announcement, Director of Jesus Film Ministries Pastor Sam Tsapwe jumped on a humanitarian aircraft and flew with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) to Mbarara in western Uganda to visit a small village in the mountainous Rukungiri district.
The 50-minute flight – a route only flown by MAF – would have taken a whole day by road. The trip was to encourage believers who had been isolated for many months, offering prayer, teaching and a socially-distanced outdoor cinema showing content from Jesus Film including a Nativity.
"Easing the lockdown to allow more people to meet is such great news," Sam said.
"Now Christians can gather and encourage one another. A lot of time they don't have hope, their little churches comprise about 8 or 12 people, so gathering is important so they can rejoice together."
Sam is planning more Christmas outreach celebrations for rural churches on Bukasa and neighbouring Ssese Islands in the coming weeks, locations that MAF aircraft are able to access.
"Christians will gather at Lwanabatya, hear the Word of God, sing, and watch presentations from surrounding churches," Sam explained.
"After the service, we will eat together before watching a Nativity film and close in prayer before curfew time. It will be such an encouragement."
Sam has been supporting rural churches in this region for over 18 years – which began with just 20 believers. Today, the church has 1,500 members and Sam has flown on hundreds of MAF planes to grow this ministry.
"When we come, large crowds turn up because they are so hungry for the Gospel," Sam explained.
"On our recent trip, we did outreach in three different locations to control the numbers. The church in Rukungiri was uplifted by our visit. Sharing a time of fellowship, warmth and love helped make them strong again."
Since the easing of the lockdown, MAF has increased its regular air service to rural locations to enable these and other Christian outreach plans to take place across Uganda for Christmas.
MAF is the world's largest humanitarian airline, supporting more than 2,000 NGOs and Christian missions to reach some of the most isolated communities in the developing world.
Admitting that the coronavirus pandemic has hit rural villages very hard, Sam says that Uganda's strict lockdown has challenged every aspect of people's lives.
"It has been very difficult," he said. "[Coronavirus] has changed everything, affecting everyone's livelihoods and even their faith."
Hundreds of households are reliant on community markets to sell crops and livestock, which were banned on 31 March. For many people, small, daily incomes have been squeezed or even evaporated during 2020 – and it is thought that the socioeconomic consequences of Covid-19 are likely to heavily outweigh the positive health impacts in Uganda.
"These people have no savings," Sam says.
"Some are questioning why God has allowed this to happen. Others have left their faith because churches have been closed. Many people expressed a sense of abandonment.
'Being able to fly to these places makes this ministry much easier," Sam concludes.
"If we came by road, we would be so exhausted once we arrived. Because MAF is available to us, we are able to go wherever our hearts want to be, blessing people that are hard to reach. We know that there is hope in Jesus and we come to share such hope, joy and peace."
