“Even though our supporters may be on the other side of the world, they are with us in spirit right now, sharing your pain and hoping to make a difference for you in the name of Jesus”
Hundreds of mission volunteers arrived at the Buskenyi Slum in western Kampala to clean the streets as an act of love and service to the community. The streets and gutters were piled high with rubbish and filth, but our team faithfully cleaned and witnessed to the community about Christ’s love.
The locals were so taken aback by what they witnessed, they could think of nothing else to do than to join them. It wasn’t long before our volunteers were working hand in hand with locals to clean up the dirtiest parts of their community.
It was here that Ben Campbell, CEO of AE Australia met Dickson. A man in his early twenties, frustrated and unemployed with a degree in social sciences. Ben noticed Dickson having an animated conversation with a young mother named Ruth who had joined the cleaning effort. Dickson was angry. “Why haven’t you cleaned the whole slum?” Dickson asked, his tongue loose from alcohol. “Do you know that if I came here and tried to clean on my own, people would beat me up?!” His anger hid a begrudging admiration for the mission team who had done something that he desperately longed to do; make a difference in his community.
Dickson invited Ben and Paul CEO of AE Uganda back to his home. He and Ruth are neighbours and do their best to look out for each other. As they walked down eroded and rocky pathways through the slum, they passed many small village shops and homes with people cooking and cleaning clothes in buckets. Young children stared and followed the group, giggling, their clothes torn and their smiles shining through dusty faces. Young men, drunk early in the day, called out, momentarily distracted by the visitors walking into their midst.
“You see how we live?” Dickson said, at pains to point out the shortfalls of their home. “I hate this place. I feel like I die inside when I wake up to this dump every morning.”
Soon they arrived at Ruth’s home. A 2×3 metre room at the end of a narrow alley. She shares one single mattress with her three children aged 10, 8 and 4. All her belongings were jammed behind a curtain and on her wall were posters praising God. “I love God,” she said in broken English. Her children gathered, eager to meet and welcome the new guests.
“You see how she lives?” Dickson said, still frustrated. “I do what I can to earn money to help her feed her children. But I desperately want this place to be better. If I die and have made a difference here, I will be fulfilled.” he said.
As Ben and Paul continued to speak with him, they discovered that Dickson attends a church but feels that his faith is empty. Seeing his pain, Paul encouraged him to open his heart to Christ. “God has given you an ability to see the needs of your community. Look for the bigger picture of how God can change your life and use you to affect your community.”
“I believe that the church is the only thing that can make a difference in our community,” Dickson said. “The government can’t help us, but the church surely can. Thank you for coming today, you’ve given me hope.”
Ben also took a moment to pray for Ruth and her children. He encouraged her on behalf of AE’s partners across the globe. “Even though our supporters may be on the other side of the world, they are with us in spirit right now, sharing your pain and hoping to make a difference for you in the name of Jesus,” he said.
Please pray for Dickson and Ruth that God would open the way for new opportunities and courageous hearts as they face difficult circumstances. Pray that the local church would gather around them for support. Pray that Dickson’s frustration would be turned into vision and action for his community.
“God is good – all the time.”
For nearly 50 years, Uganda and its joyous Christians have been etched on Dr Robert Claxton’s heart. As a former AE Australia Board Director and Doctor, he has made periodic visits to the beautiful East African nation at various stages in its tumultuous history.
He’s been uniquely exposed to the changing demographics, political climate and growth of both Uganda and its Christians, who suffered prodigiously at the hands of Idi Amin in the 1970s. Originally working as a doctor in Uganda 45 years ago, Dr Claxton revisited 20 years ago, and make the journey to Africa again this year to join the proclamation period of the 2017 Kampala Mission.
In September 2017, Dr Claxton visited the International Christian Medical and Dental Association at Mengo Hospital, and the Department of Surgery at Mulago Hosptial. At Mengo, an exciting project overseen by Indian missionaries Anil and Shalini, is training South Sudanese students in medicine and surgery. They are also discipling these students through daily devotions, prayer and singing. It is an exciting time to be a Christian in Uganda!
He also reflected on serving at Kinawataka Medical Camp, in the vast slum of Kinawataka, where 700 of the most vulnerable people were given free medical care to improve their health, and by extension, whole communities. They were also spoken to about the complete healing that can be found in Jesus Christ.
“We looked after slum dwellers, the poorest of the poor, who live in extremely crowded ad unsanitary conditions. We screened for Hepatitis B, C and HIV and offered advice to patients. An eye clinic was also organised to restore vision and hope to poor Kampalans.”
Joy is present in the churches of Kampala in a tangible form – genuine, generous love and care for new Christians, worship through song and prayer, and a real sense of community. It’s quite inspiring and an obvious manifestation of God’s love for his church.
AE Australia is so thankful for supporters like Dr Claxton, for helping to sow seeds to strengthen the Church in Uganda.
Robert’s prayers for Uganda:
- Praise God for the Church in Uganda
- Pray for its leaders and that it will remain faithful to the Gospel.
- Praise God for the many lives transformed during the Kampala Mission
- Pray that those who came to Christ will be enabled to grow in their faith and have the support they need to live for Jesus in the modern world.
- Praise God for people like Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, and pray for them as they seek to be salt and light in public life.
- Praise God for political stability.
- Pray this this may continue to the glory of God and the blessing of the people.
Pregnant at 21 years old, Abbo *, decided she was going to abort her baby.
“I have no one to help me with the baby and no money,” she said. “The baby’s father is not financially stable, and he said he was couldn’t care for the child.”
Abbo was a Christian, and knew she had messed up, but she couldn’t see a way out.
“When I finished high school, I couldn’t do any further education,” she said. “I found myself with no money and no food, so I got into a romantic relationship with a man who got me pregnant.”
Desperate and frightened, Abbo thought the only option was to abort the baby.
Until she met a local evangelist during the Kampala mission this week. Reverend Susan, an assistant chaplain in one of Kampala’s hospitals, arranged for Abbo to visit the clinic and gain access to free pre- and post-natal care.
“I am so overwhelmed by the love I have received from fellow brethren in Christ and for Reverend Susan for her kind offer!” Abbo said.
“The AE evangelists talked to me about the love of Christ, how he forgives all sins and how He still loves me no matter what.”
Because of this reassurance of Christ’s love, and the help from her fellow Christians, Abbo has decided not to go ahead with the abortion.
Abbo and her baby have both been saved.
*name changed to protect individual’s privacy
Richard stumbles along the road in a long, tattered shirt, wearing shoes that don’t fit. At first glance, he looks like madman – dirty, unkept, muttering.
“I cannot remember the last time I had a shower,” he says. “Every time I shower, when I try sleep afterwards, I have dreams of snakes crawling over my body.”
Tortured by nightmares, avoided by other people who think he is mad, Richard feels like demons are chasing him.
But Richard is not mad. He is broken.
Richard’s wife left him and his children want nothing to do with him. He has no hope on his own.
“I feel like my life has no meaning,” he says. “I have no job, no family, I just loiter on the streets to see if I can find food.”
Having been tormented for so long and feeling pushed to the edge, Richard decides he is better off dead. He plans to go to Lake Victoria, and throw himself in the water to drown.
But then, a man approaches him and smiles. Richard blinks, tries to think if he knows the man. The man asks his name, reaches out his hand, and touches his arm. Richard is shocked into stillness.
He hears the man’s voice telling him about God, telling him that Jesus forgives all sins, no matter how great they are.
Richard finds himself crying and tells the man he wants Jesus to save him.
That day, Richard becomes a child of God, thanks to the work of an African Enterprise evangelist who reached out to a dirty, broken man on the streets of Kampala.
“I cannot express enough how grateful I am to you for praying for me,” Richard says. “Now all I want is to be reunited with my family. No more rejection! No more torment!”
Richard is broken no more.
Stay tuned for the final report which is almost ready for you! In the meantime, enjoy one of the testimonies from the Kampala ‘Return to Jesus’ mission below.
Veronica
On the dusty fringe of Kampala, where the old railway lines crosses the city, sits Kinawataka slum, crowded with some of Uganda’s poorest urban population.
Veronica lives in the slum with her two young children. For years she has struggled with alcoholism and has had a hard life.
“I have no stable job and no husband to help support me and my children,” she said. “So I turn to alcohol to try forget my problems.”
Though she became a Christian many years ago, Veronica has struggled to keep her faith alive through the hardships of her life. When missionaries from African Enterprise met her this week during the Kampala mission, they asked Veronica what she needed. Her answer: prayer. She has tried to stop drinking, but life keeps pushing her back down.
“For the sake of my children, I want to stop the alcoholism, I want to stop living this lifestyle,” she said. “But it is hard.”
The AE missionaries prayed with Veronica and shared with her the hope of the Gospel.
“I know that I cannot do this on my own,” she said,” not unless I involve God.”
Please pray for Veronica and her children! Pray that God would give her the strength to stop drinking and that He would provide for their needs. We are grateful for the work of the AE evangelists in Kampala! May they continue to touch lives this week during the mission.
And we are grateful for your support! Veronica said,
“Thank you so much for being God’s ambassadors.”
Today begins AE’s mission to one of the world’s fastest growing and most vibrant cities in the world – Kampala.
More than 500 Ugandan evangelists and 80 local churches are involved.
They join the AE International Team, the AE Kenya Foxfires and associates from Ghana in a goal to reach 300,000 of Kampala’s un-evangelised people with the Gospel!
For months, African Enterprise Uganda has been busy with preparations for this mission. Ahead of the mission, AE’s Team Leaders and International staff gathered in Kampala itself, for a series of meetings to discuss the very core of AE’s existence.
“The staff are here for a training and consultation whose main purpose is to refine and harmonise the AE mission training materials,” said AE CEO, Stephen Mbogo.”We are equipping staff with the knowledge and skills required to deliver on the AE calling and mission.”
He and 35 of AE’s leaders from across Africa met for three days at the Lweza Training and Conference Centre in Kampala, sharing information and resources, and above all, sharing their passion for evangelising the cities of Africa.
“I am so happy about what we are doing here,” said AE Rwanda Team Leader, John Kalenzi, “because we are harmonising our evangelism material, to contribute to having a ‘common ‘AE DNA’.”
At the end of the training, the Team Leaders joined other staff and volunteers gearing up for the Kampala citywide mission. Over the next week they will devote themselves to spreading the Gospel to the people of Kampala.
Join us in praying for the city! Pray for those who will attend the mission, and for those leading it. May Christ be glorified and may thousands of lost souls turn to him!
