"Therefore Go..."
The young man holding the guitar is Walulya Julius. He was eleven years
old when he first began attending Grace Primary School at Village2Village in Ganda, Uganda.
He is one of the many stories of children who have been rescued, encouraged, inspired and
transformed by the hope of Christ through the ministry of the church and school at
Village2Village in the last 15 years. Please take a few moments to read Julius’ story.
The Waluya Julius Story
Julius has six brothers and sisters who were raised by their mother. Their father deserted the family when they were very young to pursue his future unhindered by the responsibility of caring for his wife and seven children. Unfortunately, this is an all too familiar story and certainly not limited to Uganda.
Julius described those early years as very difficult and unsettling. The family was without shelter, had very little food to eat, wore ragged clothing, and were exposed to the streets and the dangers of those ready to take advantage of their volatile situation.
During the day Julius’s mother would care for the youngest while going about gathering maize when possible. She would take the maize, add water, then heat it over a small wood fire to make a diluted porridge to both sell to passersby and to share some small portions with her children. His brothers and sisters lived and moved about on the red dusty streets of the village spending their day looking for food or something discarded by others they thought might be of some value to someone else when cleaned and repaired. He and his siblings would then head to the marketplace to hopefully exchange what they had collected for food or a few Ugandan shillings.
They would look for cabbage leaves to sell, offer to clean putrid drainage trenches, find
discarded plastic containers to clean and resell. Anything they discovered which they considered valuable was collected for the purpose of exchanging for food to see them through another day.
Theirs was a difficult life of poverty with little hope for change.
However, even in their times of seemingly desperate hopelessness, Julius said his mother would
always rally and tell he and his siblings to not lose hope, for God would somehow provide.
And indeed, one day, a turn of events materialized when they met a kind man who offered them a tiny, dusty shelter in which they could live and call home in exchange for them cleaning and working around his residence nearby.
A dream Julius’ mother long held in her heart was that somehow one day, her children might have an opportunity for an education. She did not want them to be illiterate as she was, but have a chance for a better life, and above all have the opportunity to better learn of Christ so they might have “Jesus in their hearts.”
Her dream began to be realized when she met a “Good lady”, a member of the church located at
Village2Village on the same grounds as the school. She invited her to come to church so that she might be introduced to the pastor, who was also the director of what was then a small and fledgling school with a handful of children. This meeting soon occurred, and the plight and story of Julius’ family was heard by Pastor George which penetrated his heart. He asked her to return with her family so he might be introduced to her children. The meeting led to George agreeing to
sponsor Julius as a student at the small school which continued Julius’ journey of transformation in Christ.
Since then, in his own words, Julius writes:
"I got a smile on my face for the great chance I had got, I thank God I had a talent of singing and love to play instruments and with this passion I learned how to play piano. I started living at the church and pastor George became my spiritual father and his wife Rose my spiritual Mum. Since those days my life has continued to change. I joined the school choir and later became part of the church choir. God started using me, by and by and I became the vice youth leader of the church and again later became a young pastor in the church leading a certain group.
God started connecting me with good people, I got good sponsors and through
VILLAGE2VILLAGE many people of my kind regained their hope that was lost. I completed my primary level (first through eighth grades in Uganda) and joined a secondary school. Upon completion I went on and learned basic mechanics and now I do tour guides and driving, I got my license and certifications. I have never lost hope; I love worship and praising my Lord for he gave me peace and hope. I am working now and earning a living and able to help
my fellow siblings.
I walked alongside the trenches in the slums of Kampala, smelled the stench, and watched children fend for food and play in filth. Maybe some of the very places Julius has referenced in his story.
I have talked and prayed with a young single mother as she sat in her small hut in the Kampala slums holding her sick baby, his right arm with an IV port for medication to fight the Typhoid attacking his frail tiny body.
I’ve sat on the floor inside a poorly lit, hot and humid room, and held the quivering hands of a tearful desperate grandmother begging for her granddaughter’s healing. The granddaughter in the next room was lying on the floor with only a thin cushion as a bed, an old musty smelling blanket acting as a wall to separate the two rooms. The granddaughter, with a persistent cough, was dying of Aids. Her young child was a student at Village2Village. Please help us, please pray
she asked.
I have met children, many children, who were abused and exposed to horrible living conditions and injustices wanting to rescue them all. And they represent only a fraction of the innocent little ones in our own communities and around the world with little or no hope. I have watched as children and adults sift through huge heaps of trash for food or anything which they determined
might be of some value for survival.
I have had young children so desperate for hope and rescue, they asked me if I would please be their father and care for them.
I could continue filling pages with stories of what I have seen and heard firsthand over the decades, but the stark reality is, compared to what many people who are trying to help the wounded, broken, abandoned, disenfranchised, abused, frightened, confused, and hopeless, I
have been exposed to very little thus far in my half century of ministry.
The truth is I feel I have not done nearly enough, risked enough, given enough or sacrificed enough in loving and serving Jesus Christ by sharing his vision, message, and mission for the world.
Village2Village is trying to complete its first building with the goal of establishing a mission center for whole-life discipleship based in the Fort Smith, Arkansas River Valley. A mission center where we are serving our local community, but also gathering, mobilizing, equipping, and
sending
Our vision is to see a mission center which receives, inspires, encourages, equips, and sends people into the world with the greatest source of transforming hope. That hope is in Jesus Christ alone. His vision, mission, and life-giving message is the world’s only hope.
We are praying to complete the first multi-use facility with an estimated $400,000 still needed. We are also praying to resolve the remainder of the $547.000 mortgage for the 12-acre campus.
Yes, this is a very large sum for our small ministry, but we have seen God provide in unusual and unconventional ways during our past 15-year journey since the beginning of Village2Village.
When I look at what I am capable of, I am not very encouraged, but when I remember and look to what God has done and can do, I am very encouraged and see before us great opportunity. I am resolute to not deviate from the course of Christ and his life-giving mission.
We are very close to completing phase two of our cornerstone multi-purposed building. Phase one has already introduced many new ministry opportunities. Phase two will provide for the much broader expansion of existing ministry and ignite several new ministry endeavors.
The goal is to reach and disciple people. Buildings are merely facilitation tools.
Please pray and help us complete the multipurpose facility at the Village2Village mission center in Ft. Smith, Arkansas.
Two ways to give:
Mail: USA Postal Service: Village2Village, P.O. Box 756, Van Buren, Arkansas 72957