Ruth: Discovering the Home of Kampala’s Street Children

Ruth with kids in Kaabong The trip to Karamoja was an answer to my deep wishes of discovering the place where the Karamojong children are from and why they run away from their homes. I wanted to know their roots and share the gospel with the people of Karamoja. Ruth is a young lady of 20 years old and a student at Makerere University in Arts/Psychology. She has a heart for children, she loves them and she is involved in Calvary Chapel Children’s Ministry and at the same time in the Frontline ministry that focuses on less privileged children, and helps them to allow God to change their lives. The team in which Ruth was mainly stayed in Kaabong district, but before reaching Kaabong they passed through Abim and Kotido. On our route: ABIM-KOTIDO-KAABONG Before leaving Kampala, we were told that the place and the people are dangerous; mind what you say, wear, the way you behave, says Ruth. I am from the West of Uganda where the landscape has highlands, it is hilly and green. As we entered in ABIM, I was breathless: what a beautiful place! There are rocks, hills, the place is dry but the rocks, hills are arranged in an artistic way, no doubt, there is a real God who created this splendor. I was expecting to see naked people, but they were dressed, and most surprising they are very warm, they were happy to see us. People from ABIM are Luos, and they are not cattle keepers. KOTIDO: people from this place are cattle keepers which makes the place a bit dangerous as they have always to fight with warriors who come to steal their cows. The landscape is dry, flat with a center which is at least developed: some few infrastructures, electricity and running water. One question was constantly on my mind: “How can these people cover themselves with heavy clothes under this heat???” My first night in Karamoja was stunning! The sky is so dark, full of many bright stars that I could not stop staring at them. With a friend, we were hosted by a young lady who works at the Diocese and we slept in her hut: it was very clean, cemented and even in the morning she wanted to give us warm water for a shower!   UPDF soldiers in Karamoja KAABONG: we are in the real Karamoja now, the most dangerous place, where warriors are. But it was a bit reassuring to know that UPDF (Uganda People’s Defence Force) was also in the area. There is a place we were told not to stop at all, if you lose something keep going, otherwise you might get killed. Alongside the road, we could see some crosses symbolizing that some people were killed in those places. Besides that, Kaabong is a green place, people planted crops but unfortunately there was no rain. The Gospel in Kaabong /Karamoja this strange place we all hear about! Secondary School, Kaabong Our first visit to Kaabong Secondary school, and I was so surprised: people are so lovely and welcomed us warmly. We presented a short play about sin, explaining how a person falls into sins and how he can be saved and cleansed by the blood of Jesus. But of course we had interpreters who helped a lot in translating in the local language. The following day, we went door to door preaching the gospel. Amazingly, sometimes other people passing by would also join freely. The biggest challenge we faced is based on rumors that have been spread some years ago about “born again people”. Those rumors identified barokore (born again) as followers of Kibwetere. In 2000, Joseph Kibwetere, the 68 year old self-styled Bishop of the “ Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God”, led his disciples to a horrible mass death apparently because he believed the world was about to be destroyed for not obeying the Ten Commandments. His followers gathered in their church in the remote town of Kanungu in South-West Uganda, sang and chanted for several hours, then set the building on fire. After that atrocity, searchers found more bodies around the church, speculation increased that many of the dead were murdered rather than willing participants in a mass suicide. Because of the above mentioned rumors, it was not easy for people in Karamoja to believe us, and what we tell them, as in their minds we were pictured as Kibwetere’s people who had come to recruit them. This situation did not discourage us, and in some places people were open to talk to us and to listen. We would tell them that Jesus loves them, He is their Savior and their answer usually revealed how tired they are of the whole Karamoja situation: “if you say that your God is real, tell Him that what we need is peace and rain”. Children, Karamoja What brought me joy is to see people accepting Jesus in their lives. Children were the most interesting, you would tell them your parents love you but there is a God who created you and your parents, and He loves you more than your parents. For them, it was a huge discovery: “really? Does such a God exist?”, they would ask. To see these kids get to know Jesus and accepting Him, it melted my heart. Besides, these kids are very smart; when we taught them songs in English they got them quickly. They are intelligent, they have potential if they were given a chance, they could become important people and succeed in life. The Jesus film was shown, we moved door to door sharing the Gospel with the people, and the most amazing thing we realized is that some adults have heard about Jesus before, but never heard that He loves them, died for them! They have never heard that Jesus is the only one who can reunite them with God, put them right with Him and not good works. A very challenging place People are so poor, they live in huts, some houses are almost falling, they barely have schools, churches (the few existing ones are from a very far distance). For example, Kaabong itself has only 1 hospital, 2 Primary Schools and 1 or 2 Secondary Schools. In the Schools, looking at the lists, boys are signed up but they dropped out to go to keep and protect their family cattle. Hence, their attendance is very low. Karamojong women For girls, it is more complicated: they get married when they are 15 years old or below, they have babies at an early age; there are killings around their places and the only way out is to run away from their homes and end up in Kampala or other cities. Alongside Kampala roads, you can see them begging, carrying their babies. Even boys, when they get their chance, they run off, and escape the harsh conditions of Karamoja: they lack peace, have no food, no rain.     The beauty of Karamoja In addition to the splendor of its landscape, Karamoja is land of welcoming people. They were warm to us, friendly, they gave us time to talk to them and they listened. Even if they would not accept Jesus immediately they would say: “I will think about it”. Or others would politely say: “Thanks for coming to visit us, but I don’t want to accept Jesus”. I went to Karamoja to help people, but after the mission, I was the one who was more helped! Karamoja, 2009       It is a place where I was spiritually strengthened. I visited a young man, in his early thirties, we shared our experiences. He asked me what I do, I explained that am an University student and that t is not always easy, sometimes I have no school fees… This young man is a Christian and he really defied me. He told me how he lost everything: he had 15 cows, all of them were stolen, and he planted maize but no harvest due to the aridity of the land. Then he said: “do not worry; things will be alright, I will be praying for you. Me, I lost everything but I still have God, that’s what matters most.” He really defied me. Before leaving Kaabong, we prayed to God to give them rain. On our way back to Kotido, we got a phone call that it was raining! It was so exciting to see how God can answer prayers quickly, at the same time ashamed of my little faith, because after praying I thought maybe it might rain in 2 weeks time or more. The trip to Karamoja pushed me to trust God more than I used to. Even if I pray and He does not answer immediately or in the way I wanted, I know that He still cares.