In this video – The Putti People thanking Jewish Heart for Africa.
I have a FB friend who pays money to ask me for help. His name is Uri.
Each time he wants to communicate, he needs to leave his village, trek into town and pay money to use the computers there.
He lives in a place where hunger and hard work are part of the everyday vocabulary. The children wear torn clothes and have no shoes; for many, a kitchen is a handful of tin pots in the corner of a hut. Since they have no mezuzot, they mark their houses by carving menorahs on their doors.
Their bare synagogue has no furniture, save for a simple ark, a table serving as a bimah and just two chairs for the elderly.
They eat twice a day if they have enough food and once a day if they don’t.
But here’s the thing, in all the time I know Uri, I’ve never pitied him. Did you see the video? For all that they lack, Uri’s people have an irrespressible spirit.
Uri is a member of the Putti Tribe in Uganda, a tribe that practices halachic Judaism while awaiting conversion.They live as Jews and study Torah, keep Shabbos and Kosher, learn Hebrew and go to shul.
I can’t write enough about these people. Every article I read brings to light more and more of their greatness. Look them up! www.PVAO.com They barely have food and their main worry is not working on Shabbos. They could be asking for anything and all they’re asking is for Rabbis to come and teach them, for a school for their children and for some help with food. All their writings are filled with earnestness and brotherhood and sacrifice.
And you got to think about it. What’s their secret? Look them up on youtube, and you’ll see video after video (taken by an American visitor) of the sweetest people on the planet. Wheres their joy from? Why aren’t they miserable?
I don’t know about you, but I woke up this morning miserable. Seriously. It’s a little crazy – I was in the coziest bed, in the warmest house with the greatest people and I woke up in a funk. Uh – why? (next post – how I got over it!)
I’m sure somewhere in Putti-land people someone wakes up funky, but overall, the light that they have is completely from a different world.
My kids have a book, and I’ll quote the first page here:
“The Jews in earlier times never had theaters or novels or exotic vacations to enjoy. They didn’t need them because they enjoyed life. to them, each day was full of pleasure and happiness.
They enjoyed everything G_d gave them…
They enjoyed the Torah;
they enjoyed the mitzvos;
they enjoyed the sun;
they enjoyed their parents;
they enjoyed the trees;
they enjoyed their children;
they enjoyed their friends;
they enjoyed the air;
they enjoyed their food;
they enjoyed their hands;
they enjoyed the day…..
and more and more. As I go down the list I feel myself exhaling…. Ah – the amount of possiblities we have sometimes clogs our basic ability to enjoy life. Thank G_d for Shabbos!
When I see the Putti tribe. I think, they’re so lovable – they’re hungry and they need our help but they have a purity that comes from simplicity.
I asked Uri to write to us so we could hear about this village in his own words. We have so much going on here, but every little bit counts. Earlier in the year I sent them a package of books on kosher and the holidays and I can’t tell you how good it felt to go from ” sigh”, to actually doing my part. Here’s Uri:
PS. He wrote this with considerable sacrifice, paying for every minute with money that could go to feed his children.
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