Tuesday, September 11, 2007

You Can Feel the Joy of Abi

Written by Kali Stull:
Ashley and I met Abi Galeiwango at a home for former street kids in Kampale, Uganda. We were immediately drawn to him because as Ashley put it, "You can see the joy written all over his face." He is such a vessel of God's love and we wanted to know how he became so filled with the spirit so...here is are Abby's words:
"I was born in 1986 in a place called Natete. It's 5 miles from Kampala [the capital of Uganda]. I was born by a man called Gacoiwango, he was a muslim. As usual muslim men marry many wives. My mother was among the last wife he had. My father had 12 wives. When my mom joined that family she was mistreated by the other wives and she decided to divorce. She took her children with her. When we left my father became angry with my mom and her children so he didn't keep in touch with us and when he died of AIDS when he was 4, we discovered we were not in his will. After his death my mom was poor and couldn't take care of us- no schooling [in Uganda, there was no free schooling], we just stayed at home. We led a miserable life at that time. During those times, we could go to bed at night without eating, sometimes we would eat once a day. My mom wasn't working, life was not good. I suffered a lot for those 3 years. I decided to leave that life and live on the street. I was 6 years old when I joined the streets. I was persuaded by my friend to join the streets. He told me, "You go, make money, do whatever you want." At that time I was young and I couldn't work for money. I dug through the trash, sniffed gas and stole money from people during the day. At night I slept on the shop's porch. But if the police find you they beat you and chase you. Living on the streets was hard, but at least I could find food. I was there by myself. Some christians used to come and provide lunch and preach the gospel, but they never had a place to take us street kids. I used to abuse them because I came from a muslim background. I thought "leave me and I suffer", but I was ignorant about what I was saying. One day, the Rev. Sampunch had an organization called Africa Found and they had a home so one day they gathererd many of us on the street and took us to a home. At that time, no one wanted to go. Many people escaped from the van. We were used to life on the streets. In the morning I would wake up, pick pockets, sniff gas and if I fail I go pick garbage and then sleep. I had more food on the streets than in my mom's house. Rev. had the burden of looking after the 3 of us that made it to the house. At Africa Found, they took us to school, and gave us lunch and dinner and medical facilities. I was happy to start school. I thought, "I can't loose this opportunity and go back on the streets." I was in that home for 8 years. That's when Rev. joined the politics so he decided to use our scholarship money for political reasons. Some older boys told our sponsors about it, and they stopped providing money. So then Rev. decided to close the home and he told us, "Now you go out and find out how to survive." That moment my life came to a standstill. I couldn't communicate to my mom, I had to go back to the street. While I was at the house, they introduced us o Chrstianity and I decided to give my life to Christ. If you have Jesus, you have everything. So when I was kicked out of the Africa Found home, I started praying to Jesus, telling him I'm hopeless, I have nothing, but You are the one. I had heard a preacher say God does things and you never know what his final plans are so stop complaining and start praying. I prayed so hard. One of the people in Africa Found, Uncle Simon [a good, honest man] worked with the sponsors to find us kids who were kicked out. They advertised on radio and in the paper to find us. I remanined on the streets for 4 months. I felt so bad. That time on the streets I suffered so much. Because I commited my life to Christ, I couldn't steal. This time on the streets I worked for money to survive. I could go and build for 5,000 shillings a day [about 3 dollars]. Living on the street was a christian was difficult; though I was suffering I refused to go back and steal and sniff gas. God saw my determination and he opened dorrs for me. I stayed most of my time in a chruch-they gave me a place to sleep and some food because they saw the way I was loving Christ. When I was there I met a friend who said, "some people are looking for you, you have to go see Uncle Simon," so I went to find him. He and Peter [both men work for Cornerstone] said I could join a Cornerstone home. I was so excited and surprised, I can't tell you! Ah! From then I joined Cornerstone and they took me to school. The Bible says, " The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom," and you know, I was a wise guy. I completed school very well and qualified to join Mekere University. What I can say is all I have acheived is by the will of God. I have never regreted giving my life o Christ. I love singing about my love for God. I want to go and record. I am here, smiling, the mentors are good guys! Whenever people ask, I tell my testimony-they can't believe how much I've changed! Praise Him! You will never find me unhappy!

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