Seeking Hope for Refugees in Uganda
UGANDA - Jade and Shelah Acker began to feel a new call from God while they were living in war-torn Southern Sudan. It was 2001, and they were working alongside people who had been displaced by one of Africa’s longest civil wars. The people they came to know there had lost their homes and families. Jade and Shelah began working with the children in the camps. But these kids weren’t just fleeing the war; they were former child soldiers. In the camp where Jade and Shelah worked, there were 350 children who fought in Sudan’s civil war.
In Sudan, child soldiers were often used by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) to fight on the front lines. Many of the children joined the military because they thought it was heroic. The SPLA allowed many of the children to leave the military in 2001, but even after they left the army, exposure to war had extreme consequences.
Home Sweet Mission Field
Saudi (pronounced Sudi) was one of the boys that Jade and Shelah met in Sudan. Saudi thinks he was about 10 or 12 when he first joined the SPLA. He was in the military for four years and even served as an officer.
During his time in the army, Saudi saw death all around him.
“I have learned that wherever there is war, death is there,” he said. “I have counted many deaths. Many friends, I lost them – best friends… but there’s nothing I can do – I can just remember.”
But today, Saudi remembers from a safe place. He’s finally in school, one of the top schools in Uganda. And he’s brilliant. In 2010, he received one of the highest scores in all of Uganda on the standardized test in history.
Most importantly, Saudi is looking ahead to the future. He knows God saved his life for a reason.
“I also learned that God has a purpose for me. Why didn’t I die? Some guys died, but I was alive. That’s what encouraged me to have a very personal relationship with God.”
Saudi reflected on the thousands of children who served in the SPLA and knew that most of them never had an opportunity for education. He considered himself blessed and knew that this blessing carried with it a responsibility.
Saudi now lives with the Ackers along with five other Sudanese boys, three of which are also former child soldiers. Another former child soldier who used to live with the Ackers now lives in Kenya. Another returned to Sudan.
“We have eight extended family members,” Shelah said. “I would say they're like our sons. We've known them now since 2001 and have seen most of them go from being young adolescents into adulthood.”
Jade and Shelah have raised money to put the boys through school. In the next two years all of them will have completed high school. Their lives have been transformed because Jade and Shelah responded to God’s call in a very personal way.
One of the boys, Lino, was not a child soldier but was affected by the war in other ways. As an orphan, Lino lived on the streets. He said when he was young he would jump the fence to get into the camp, posing as a former child soldier so he could find food to eat. In these encounters, Jade and Shelah got to know Lino well. Today, he’s their son. The Acker’s have guardianship over Lino, and he’s become a wonderful big brother to Jade and Shelah’s two young girls.
For the Ackers, their home is not a retreat from the world, but part of their calling. It is a space where justice is lived out over large family dinners and soccer, basketball and volleyball games in the front yard.
Providing Refuge, Living in Hope
When the boys are not away at boarding school, they are part of the Acker’s ministry in Uganda. They organize soccer games and tutor children. They also volunteer at Refuge and Hope, the non-profit organization the Ackers started in Kampala.
The biggest ministry Refuge and Hope offers is their Center of Hope, a community center for refugees that offers English classes, Bible study, sports, sewing, cooking classes and computer instruction.
“At the Center of Hope, we're mainly working with refugees,” Jade said. “And they're urban refugees, so they have a bit different needs than those who are living in refugee camps. Many of them come to Kampala, the capital city, in search of jobs, in search of a better future for their children, in search of a better life.”
By helping these refugees with English education or computer skills, the Center of Hope gives them the tools to start their lives over.
Because the Center of Hope is a new ministry, there is still much to be done. Jade looks forward to the day when the center can open a library and a reading room. This is especially important in a place like Uganda, where many students cannot afford to buy the textbooks they need for school.
Meeting Refugees Where They Live
The Ackers work does not stop with their ministry in Uganda. Because they feel called to reach out to those affected by war and conflict, their work often brings them to war zones. The Ackers have partnered with Pastor Bamoleke from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to help people who are being affected by the ongoing conflict there. Like Sudan, the DRC has been greatly affected by prolonged conflict. The fighting, which began in 1998, has claimed more than 5 million lives. It has so destroyed the infrastructure of the country that preventable diseases and malnutrition all too often lead to death.
In 2008, the conflict in Eastern Congo, which borders Uganda, began heating up. Jade described the region as a “very volatile area.”
“You have militia groups, rebel groups, government troops, and even UN troops thrown in, and it's a mix,” Jade said. “You can't tell who's where or when.”
The 2008 conflict forced refugees across the border into Uganda. When CBF churches heard about the conflict, they gave money toward an emergency fund, which allowed the Ackers to help refugees living in the camps.
By partnering with Pastor Bamoleke, the Ackers are continuing their work in the DRC by sponsoring students.
“We have 24 students that we're sponsoring and helping to get back in school,” Jade said. “Some of them are former child soldiers. Some of them have just been affected by the war. Some of them are girls who have been traumatized or can't get back into school. So we're just assisting them to get back into school.”
Pastor Bamoleke, who started Shalom Transformation Ministries, was a student of early missionaries in the Congo. He decided to go into the ministry because he felt a burden for his country. He knew that Congolese people needed to step up and minister rather than leaving the work to the foreign missionaries. As Pastor Bamoleke walks through the village paths of Rwankuba, you can sense his burden for the people – his people. The school of his childhood is just around the corner from the school where he now facilitates child sponsorship programs.
Pastor Bamoleke is grateful for Shalom’s partnership with CBF because it provides for children in his community.
“You have girls and boys who lost their parents and who without any assistance will never be able to go to school,” Pastor Bamoleke said. “You have some kids who were raped or saw their mothers being killed or raped and so forth, their houses being burned. And as we went around and identified those kids, we even found those ex-soldiers, child soldiers. They lost their chance of going to school, and we feel like if we have a way of getting them back to school, that's the best thing that can be done.”
God’s Mission, Your Passion
In the three years the Ackers have lived in Uganda, God has done amazing things. Refugees crossing the border have been helped, and refugees living in Kampala have found resources to start a new life. The boys the Ackers sponsor have found schools in Uganda and have become even more intertwined in their lives and ministry. Yet there is much to be done. Because the work in Uganda is in many ways just beginning, the Ackers are eager for CBF churches to join them in their work.
CBF churches can join the Ackers in this ministry by praying for their work, volunteering in Uganda and giving to the CBF Offering for Global Missions.
“We could not be here doing what we do if it wasn't for the CBF Offering for Global Missions,” Shelah said. “Our work would not be possible. That's the way that we're able to do what we do here.”
When you give to the CBF Offering for Global Missions, you are supporting the important work the Ackers do each day. You are joining them in providing refuge and hope to refugees. But most importantly, you’re joining in God’s mission by simply living out your passion.
By Melissa Browning for CBF Communications