I want to paint you a picture. Obviously, I don’t have a brush, and I’m not the greatest writer, but I want to still help you see this story. It is of my friend Ronald. I wrote about him earlier as one of the boys at the disciple house. However, being the old man I am and having things slip my mind, I named him Robert in that post. Correct names and all, Ronald has given me permission to tell people his story. So let’s get to painting.
Ronald was born in Kampala, and was raised in a home. At some point, he doesn’t remember when, his Mother and Father were separated and his Father remarried. Ronald had all the opportunities a child here could want. He was enrolled in school and did very well. However, around the age of 10, Ronald, in his own words, became a “bad guy.” He found himself getting involved with doing opium. This became a regular habit for him. His desire to be educated disappeared, and everything he had been taught growing up soon followed. He became very disobedient to the teachers and to his fellow classmates. He continued to buy opium each day with the money his mother would give him for lunch. Soon Ronald began to skip class and just go and do drugs each day. Finally, when he was 12 he was kicked out of school.
His mother was not ready to give up on him yet, and she enrolled him in a new school. However, Ronald’s problems and habits continued. He recalls, “I would go and skip class every day. I would just go and do opium with the older boys. When it was time for report cards, I made one up and took it home for my mom to sign. She never knew I wasn’t going.” Finally though, he was caught and was kicked out of the school he didn’t really attend. Again his mother would not give up on him. She talked to his Father who was now remarried and asked for help. Ronald’s father was able to pay for him to be sent to boarding school. He says, “My mom was always praying for me too. She was a Christian and tried to give me that but I didn’t want God.”
It was a new school, but the same old story for Ronald. He says he was the worst behaved kid at school. He didn’t want to learn. He didn’t want to do anything. So, he would cut holes in the boarding school fence and would run away. As you can imagine, he was finally caught and kicked out. When he arrived home his mother told him, “I can’t deal with this anymore and I can’t pay for you. You need to go to your father’s house.” Off he went to his father’s home but his new wife would not let him in. His father was supporting the 13 children he had and it had caused him to lose his job and forced the family into poverty. So, they told him to go back to his mother’s house.
Since Ronald had nowhere to go, he hit the streets in 2008. He thought things would be OK because he wouldn’t have to do anything. Life would be the way he wanted. No school and no rules. Ronald says, “Life became very hard on the streets.” He did his best to survive. “I dug around through the trash, and I had nowhere to sleep. It would get so cold at night.” Ronald is not a very big guy. He is probably 5 foot 5 and 125 pounds. At night the bigger boys would come and beat him up and take anything he had. Ronald hated the streets.
One day he was approached and told about a street reach where he could get food. He started going regularly and met some people who really cared for him. “I met Auntie Erin. She would just sit and talk to me about God as long as I wanted. Eventually, I gave my life to Christ. It wouldn’t have happened without her.” Giving his life to Christ didn’t make everything easier. He was still living on the streets, but he at least had hope. Ronald soon got a job from one of the other street boys. “We can sweep out taxis and they will pay us. That is what my friend told me. It was my first job.” So for 200 shillings (8 cents) they would sweep out taxis at the end of the day. Being at the taxi park helped get him another source of income by carry luggage for people. As Ronald continued to earn money he saved enough to become a street seller. Street sellers walk around the taxi park or have their own box and table where they sell goods. “I tried selling all sorts of things, apples, flowers, and toilet paper. Eventually I made friends with a restaurant owner. He would let me sleep in the storage shed out back with the bags of supplies. It was the only time I really ever slept on the streets, because he would lock me in and I was out of the cold a little.”
However, it was another change that was more important. “I really started to pray and I started going to church at Calvary Chapel. I met Uncle Derrick and Aunt Ruth. They opened up the Bible and started teaching me more about it.” Ronald ate it up. He developed a strong appetite for the word of God. He attended church regularly and started volunteering on Sundays. Last December Derrick offered Ronald a spot in Calvary Chapel’s Discipleship House. “I thought it over for about a month and then decided to do it.”
Now he lives with his 5 brothers in Christ and two uncles who help him study the Word of God. “I go to school and love it. I don’t do drugs. I even get sick at the smell of them. I want to be and engineer,” he says with a huge smile on his face. I ask him, “Ronald can I tell others about your story?” He gets a shy grin on his face and gives me a nod. “Is there anything you would want me to tell others about you?” I ask. He says, “Yeah, tell them that God has used my mistakes to mold and shape me into the person I am today.” Ronald is excelling in school. 2 weeks ago he celebrated his 19th birthday. He volunteers with street kids on Saturdays and assists in Sunday school for the boys on Sundays.
It’s true that you don’t have to come to Uganda to find a story like this. These stories happen out of our sight all around the world. You may even have one similar yourself. The cool thing is that God is still into redemption. It isn’t something he quit. Maybe you still need to be redeemed. Maybe God is wanting to use your mistakes to mold you into a new creation. I know he has with my friend.
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