Light from Dawn

The bright February sun was spreading fingers of light across the Ugandan sky when a beautiful baby boy, Mugerwa David was born. He spent most of his afternoons running and playing in the barracks with the little boys in Kibaale district in Uganda. As David grew older he started to notice tension that was at home. After playing with his friends on his way home, loud screams and shouts would fill the air. At the sound of this he knew that once again, his mother and father were in a heated argument. “This went on for a long time”, David recalls. David’s mother could no longer yield to the ill treatment. She separated from her husband. Shortly after his mother’s departure, David’s father was transferred to Luwero district. David, and his younger brother Joel, moved to stay with him. while there, their father found another wife.

David’s situation was yet to worsen. Life with his step mother was hard. One of the events David vividly recalls is when he sat on a chair at Nalongo’s house, his neighbour (Nalongo, a name given to mother of twins in Uganda). Scratching his chapped sore skin and licking his pale lips with his eye lids were red and swollen, he could feel the rumbling of his stomach with hunger from 2 days of starvation. He had slept outside all night after succumbing to serious beating from his drunken step mother. “How can one be so spiteful and inhuman to me?” David thought to himself. He had taken solace at his friends place in the morning to take a cup of porridge and warm his shivery body. He wondered where his brother Joel might have gone.

Joel had run away from home for 3 days and there was no word of his whereabout. Joel could not stand maltreatment any more. Prior to his disappearance, he had a thumping headache for a month yet could not see any specialist. He also had excruciating pain because of sores on his body from frequent beatings. His hands were stiff because of digging and carrying lots of heavy Jerry cans of water.

“Will there ever be an end to all this trouble?” David wondered. He sat thinking about all the times in Kibaale District when his mother still lived with his Dad, and there was plenty to eat. The bitterness towards his step mother was great. What he did not know was that, soon things were about to change.

One day David’s mother visited them. The children quickly mentioned their grievances, and their mother agreed to go with them to Mubende District in Uganda where she was eventually married to a christian man. A new phase had dawned on them. They were taken to a new school, one of the best in Mubende. However, though they had moved to a new location David was broken by the pain of the past trauma which greatly affected his performance in school.

By the time he was in Senior 5, he did not want to continue with school because of his poor performance. It was at this point that his new family decided to reach out for help. David’s Step Dad was a great friend to Joseph¹. He had been involved with Covenant Word Ministries (CWM) while serving time in Kigo prison in Wakiso District. He desired wanted his children to be a part of CWM’s discipleship program. under its Mission Apprenticeship Covenant Institute (MACI). His sons were eventually registered under the MACI Centre.

“Joel, we are going to Kampala”, David said. With great anticipation and excitement, they packed their bags, and off they went to the nation’s capital city. David was given a place to stay and began going to a new school in Kampala. Through the MACI Centre, David was encouraged to become economically independent. He learnt how to be enterprising, a skill which has been beneficial. For many years David had thought wealth was only for a few individuals. He came to realize he had believed a lie. He was baffled that he was earning an income. He stared at the money he had earned from a popcorn business, farming, and retaining matooke (bananas). The money was enough to pay part of his college tuition.

After completing secondary school, He enrolled into nursing at Nsambya School of Nursing. CWM helped meet half of his tuition. He was able to pay the other half using the money he earned from his micro enterprises. College was interesting for him. He told everybody he had an opportunity to get close to, about Jesus. He let them know that there is hope if only they dared to believe in God. “All my teachers were fond of me”, David explained. They loved the way I expressed myself. While at College David attended discipleship meetings with Joseph every fort night. These meetings were so enthralling to David. He was discovering new truths in the Word of God. David muttered to himself: “how could I be blind to the truth for this long?” He came to understand his position in the Kingdom of God. He knew he had been given all things and there was no more reason for him to fail in life. He began leading his life with great confidence. David gained boldness and eventually took up leadership positions at his Nursing school.His two years in medical school went by quickly. He soon thereafter got a job at a Medical Center and continued his micro enterprises. During this period, he financially supported both his step mother and step brothers with school fees. “Forgiving his step mother took time,” David explained.

At the time of this interview, David was partly working as a Service Trainee with the Leadership for Inspirational Farm Enterprises (LIFE) Program on the grounds of the MACI Centre in Kasanje, Wakiso District. As a service trainee he is over seeing a 4-acre cassava garden which he has intercropped with Egg Plants. “I am now a responsible man,’’ David explains. To his delight, his labour was rewarded with green and fragile looking seedlings gaining strength day by day. David is always excited over the weekends as this is when he travels to the farm. He spends time sharing Jesus with the gardener and other workers on the farm. They take time to discuss financial stewardship as they grow together relationally. David believes that despite the challenges, failures and struggles one faces, there is always hope for a better tomorrow. In a world where people are filled with questions that need answers, David sees himself as a light that points them to Jesus, the hope of the world.