Walking Ghosts

“They told me that if I didn’t kill my brother now . . . they would kill me,” Moses said. “My brother kept yelling, ‘Do it . . . you will live . . . do it!’” Moses told me he was crying and kept saying that he couldn’t do it, but the soldiers were screaming at him and pushing the end of a gun hard into his head. Before he knew what happened, Moses had pulled the trigger and his brother was lying in the dirt.

—Excerpt from The Forgotten Children

On a recent trip to Africa, I saw firsthand the same desperation that I witnessed on the night I met Moses: Generations of children who are simply trying to survive, fighting enemies like AIDS, poverty, and the devastating violence that has swept through the continent.

Me with Moses on my recent trip to Uganda.

Multitudes fled the LRA and sought refuge in makeshift displacement camps or city slums. But thousands of children were unable to escape.

The LRA’s tactic was to shame and humiliate each victim—brainwashing them continually—making them ashamed so they could never go home again. They became like walking ghosts.

Our World Help staff found hundreds of child mothers and former child soldiers in Northern Uganda and brought them to the campus of Good Samaritan Children’s Home, a place of safety where healing could begin. Today, the same children who were once in desperate need are working to provide hope to their community by establishing a church in the heartland of Ugandan poverty—the slums of the capital city.

Right now, I’m asking for your help as we reach out to restore hope to countless Ugandans who have been directly affected by the LRA, the AIDS crisis, and the vicious cycle of poverty. Your generous gift will help us establish a church in the heart of Kampala’s worst slums, a sanctuary where thousands of struggling people can find hope and healing for the very first time.

While in Uganda, our team had the opportunity to visit this church plant in the capital, Kampala. It was amazing!

The crowd grew and grew. People came right off the streets and from the slums. Barefoot children in tattered clothing came running, hearing the sound of the worship music. Families emerged from makeshift shacks and joined the growing congregation. More than 400 people from the community have already become Christ followers as a result . . . can you imagine the potential for growth?

This strategic church believes they will be a beacon of hope to the more than 2,000 people in their surrounding community. At this rate of growth, the church is expected to double in size over the next few months.

But funds are desperately needed in order for this vital ministry to grow. The cost to fully equip Christ the King Church with critical start-up necessities is about $30,000. This investment will help provide items like Bibles to distribute to the surrounding community, a large tent to meet in, seating and furniture, sound equipment, essential supplies, and more.

For just $15 per person, we can launch a church where none has been before, and spread God’s Word throughout the neighboring slums.

Our goal is to reach 2,000 people for Christ before the end of the year . . . and we can help them today!

Just think: A gift of $30 toward this church can impact two needy children living in the slums. For only $120, you can impact two families of four. And $1,200 will bring hope to an entire community!

I can’t think of a better way to leave a legacy than to invest in the local church—God’s catalyst for changing the world.

Moses, the once traumatized and forgotten little boy I met years ago, is now a grown man. He is passionately working to reach other victims of the LRA within his community.

There are thousands more children in Kampala’s slums who are waiting for this same chance . . . waiting for an answer to their prayers . . . waiting for hope to arrive.

Please send your best gift today. Together, we can help restore the next generation of Ugandans through the freedom of God’s love.