I am so excited about today's guest post. I’ll let Alex introduce himself in his post below….. I hope you are as encouraged by his story as I have been.
Alex, Aaleyah and Faith Mutagubya
My Experience in Compassion’s LDP
My name is Alex Mutagubya. I am from Uganda where I grew up on a small fishing village in the suburbs of Kampala city, along the shores of Lake Victoria. I entered Compassion’s Child Development Program at the age of 8. At the time, my mother was struggling to feed the four of us and later on take us through school. In fact, as the youngest child at home, there are times I had to go to the market, not to buy food but to go through the garbage the vendors had thrown away to try to find something our family could eat or use at home.
With the sponsorship, things began to turn around. Not only were my school fees paid; I was assured of at least a meal a day. When I got sick, I had medical care. I got a school uniform and a pair of shoes. At the age of 14, I finally surrendered my life to Christ, even though I had grown up in a Christian family. Because I was in the sponsorship program, every Saturday, we were taught the Bible, and on Sunday we were all required to attend church. When I surrendered my life to Christ, I already had so much of the Word of God in me. I began sharing the gospel with every body I knew and ¾ of my classmates gave their life to Christ. With a few friends of mine, we began a Christian fellowship in that school that grew from 15 students to 700 students.
With the child development program, I was able to have elementary education and to go through high school. Two years before I finished high school, compassion introduced the Leadership Development Program in Uganda. This program was to equip outstanding students from high school who had demonstrated strong Christian character, academic excellence, leadership potential and vision. At the time I finished high school, they were only taking 20 high school graduates through out the country, and by God’s grace I was chosen to be one of those few. On top of university education, we attended leadership-training workshops every semester holiday, in which we were exposed to great leaders in our country in business, education, politics, church, social work, law and many other fields. Each of us was also attached to a mentor for an opportunity to lead under the mentor’s supervision. In fact, my mentor later ended up being my boss.
My years in the child Development program set me on a great foundation in my life. However, the three years in LDP did and still continue to shape my life with vision and purpose as a Christian Leader in my community, church and family. It was during those years that it became very clear to me that God had called into ministry as a preacher of his word to help disciple others and empower them for transformation; most especially, spiritual transformation.
The way this happened is that God allowed me on two particular occasions to stare, up-close, in the face of corruption in our country. At the university, I was doing a Bachelor of Adult and Community Education to prepare me for community development. I got to do an internship with this Organization that was helping slums in Kampala get water, sanitation and health training. But what this community development organization actually did, was write a very good proposal and sent it to five potential donors. Three donors agreed to fully fund the proposal. They used the money from one of the donors to do what they had said in the proposal, and the money from the two other donors made the bosses rich. They were exploiting the poor for their own gain.
The second instance was more personal because it involved an auntie of mine who is infected by HIV/AIDS. In 2003, she almost died because the doctors required her to pay a large sum of money for her to be put on the list to receive the government’s free antiviral drugs. Our country is poor and our people are dying not because there is no help coming in, but because sound leadership is lacking. The people with power and access are full of corruption, and the systems set in place enhance this corruption. All this is because the fear of the Lord is lacking.
What LDP did for me was to help me realize, I can be the difference our communities so desperately need; even more so because the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords reigns in my life. For greater is He that is living in me than he that is in the world. But what if we can multiply this? How about if Uganda has leaders in business, law, church, politics, education and family that know that they are serving the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords; Leaders that will do what is right just because that is what is right. Leaders that have been transformed by the Spirit of God and know that they are accountable to the most high God.
That is why am excited to return to Uganda. For the last few years, I have been studying in Portland Oregon, finishing my masters of divinity. I am returning to Uganda to establish a ministry that will empower our people for transformation in the name of Jesus Christ. I want to train and equip a generation in our country that will actively and creatively engage our communities for the purpose of transformation.
That is what Compassion’s leadership program is doing for us. It is making us think beyond our given circumstances. That is what Compassion is asking you to participate in. God is already working and here is an opportunity for you, or your church to join in what He is already doing.
The question is, will you join in?
