Unquenchable Ministries

UGANDA JESUS VILLAGE UPDATE

02/02/2010: Ps Gerald Mwebe's letter to Transform international in response to the recent disclosure posted on the TI website.

An open letter to Transform International – specifically to my friend Ken Greter

February 1, 2010

My dear friend, Pastor Ken,

I got your recent letter to partners and friends of the Uganda Jesus Village (UJV) claiming that both the Steams of Life (SOL) leadership and my activities are based on fear and lack of faith, and that we have implemented what you called a “slash and burn” policy. Seldom do I answer criticism of my work and ideas because I believe it leaves a man very little time for constructive work. But since I feel and know that you are a man of genuine good will and that your criticisms are second hand and misguided information I want to try to respond in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.

The Bible admonishes us in Proverbs 22:28, “Do not remove the ancient landmarks which your fathers have set…”, and again Proverbs 23:10 emphasizes the same point. “Do not remove the ancient landmarks, nor enter the field of the fatherless…” More than 167 times the Bible tells us to remember, remember, remember. One of the greatest sins of the human race is that we easily forget. We forget not only the great things our God has done for us but also the covenants we make with each other. Many people today have no clue to the importance of keeping covenants.

In case you have forgotten my friend how the Uganda Jesus Village vision was birthed, let me take you back a few years so that we can all remember the origin of the vision. It will help us put things in perspective as we forge a way forward and walk our different paths.

For almost a decade I served as the African Director for Fresh Fire Ministries. Fresh Fire along with Streams of Life church members went all over the African continent doing humanitarian and evangelistic missions. We fed hungry masses in Malawi, Mozambique, the Congo, Ethiopia, Uganda, etc. We visited, dressed and took care of the poor in the prisons of Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, etc. We took school supplies into several schools across the continent. The list goes on and on.

On all these missions that we did together with Fresh Fire we would always have a team of volunteers from Streams of Life, from all walks of life, 60 year old Mamas who were powerful intercessors, young college students carrying around heavy equipment and building platforms, high school girls ministering on the worship teams, the list is endless. The majority of these people were not staff of Fresh Fire, they were just volunteers who had a great passion and a fire in their bones to partner with Fresh Fire to see souls saved, bodies healed and Africa transformed to the glory of the Lord. For these people at Streams of Life, any Fresh Fire mission was their mission, their burden and their responsibility.

Fast forward to about four years ago, Todd Bentley the leader of Fresh Fire Ministries at that time, myself and other leaders involved sat down and agreed that, though we had done so much in the area of humanitarian aid, we needed to build a children’s home in Uganda that we would call our own and raise our kids with a DNA of our own – passionate for Christ and with the fire of God on them.

In principle the two ministries that I served so faithfully and loved so dearly, Fresh Fire and Streams of Life, came together to birth what we know today as the Uganda Jesus Village. Because my working relationship with Fresh Fire was purely based on mutual love and respect for each other we agreed that the UJV ministry would be a covenant partnership. Fresh Fire with its global influence would take on a father’s role to our UJV kids, going out to work every day to raise money through its network of partners. There were many times that I spoke on various platforms with Todd in North America as we did exactly that, raise funds for the kids – and the partners were generous!

At the same time we all knew that Steams of Life church , this humble church in Uganda, would be the stay-at-home-mom that did not bring even a dime but provided the most important things in life that money can’t buy; love, prayer, spiritual impartation, time, tears and laughter. All these are very important in the growth and development of a child. I can confidently say that although they might have failed to do it perfectly, this local body of Believers has to the best of their ability done exactly that; laughed and cried with the kids, loved and prayed with them. Bottom line, they have been there for the kids!

I must say that between Fresh Fire and Streams of Life, the father and mother scenario seemed to work, though there were some occasional problems here and there as expected in a normal home.

As many of you know, just over a year ago things went wrong with Fresh Fire and this shook everything including the UJV. The short of it is that Fresh Fire Ministries in Canada closed and a few weeks later re-launched under a new name, Transform International – Canada.

The most unfortunate thing in this case in regards to the UJV kids (please remember I am saying all this because of the kids) is that, it seems that the new ministry (TI) did not and still does not understand the unique dad/mom covenant relationship that made the UJV a success. As evidenced in what happened in the closing weeks of 2009. As you know on December 23, 2009 Transform International – Uganda loaded the children onto busses at 3:30 am to take them back to Northern Uganda claiming that the government was “forcing” them to do this. Transform International – Uganda did all this behind the backs of the local Streams of Life leadership.

As the Transform International – Uganda leaders were planning and preparing to take the kids in the middle of the night, that same afternoon the children and some of the leaders of the Streams of Life church were practicing for their Christmas presentation. The children had every expectation that they would be spending Christmas at the church. The church leadership had organized getting gifts for the kids. All the small group leaders were mobilized to buy gifts for each one of the UJV kids. Unfortunately the kids were taken away without the opportunity to receive the gifts from the people that loved them.

The Streams of Life leadership and I have been accused of wrongfully bringing the kids back to Kampala. It is true we have the children back in their homes and they will soon be enjoying working and playing on their land. When I traveled to Northern Uganda, each of the guardians and our children pleaded with my team and I to take them back to Kampala for a better life. As we have already reported in our blog posts and web site. You can still read these reports at www.StreamsofLife.co.ug or http://GoGlobalMissions.WordPress.com.

And yes, I agree with Wess Stafford’s statement…

“The only thing you truly give to a person without hurting them is an opportunity.”

That is exactly what we are doing; we want these kids to have the best education opportunities available in Uganda. Statistics in Uganda show that Amuru district where our UJV kids are originally from has been, academically, the worst performing district in the entire country. Just in recent history in 2008 of all the thousands of kids that finished primary school in Amuru district only one child in the entire district received a first grade which is a decent grade to enable a child to move on to secondary school. Of course that is a no brainer, what do you expect in a region that has been in a civil war for the last twenty plus years with every facility and infrastructure broken down.

With the help and support of friends and partners we want to give these kids an opportunity of a great education and a better life. There are thousands of orphaned kids in Northern Uganda, and it will take many peoples efforts and generations of rebuilding to see Northern Uganda return to normal life. My hope and prayer is that our UJV kids, when they grow up equipped with a great education, will then go back as medical doctors, teachers, pastors and political leaders, etc. to change Acholi land for the better – that’s the dream my friend!

And this dream is not just day dreaming, we have proof in our ministry that a former child soldier can be transformed into a great leader. Jennifer Lana Mitchell stands in our ministry as a living testimony of God’s transforming power. Jennifer stands out as a hero among our kids. Many times single handedly and sometimes under strong criticism from TI leadership, Jennifer has been a strong voice that has cried out for what’s best for our kids. Jennifer is not just an employee of the UJV, she gave up her better paying job two years ago to come and work with the UJV kids because she sensed the organization championed the cause of eradicating her past pain.

As you know Jennifer was abducted by Joseph Kony’s rebel forces when she was nine years old. She is a former abducted child soldier. None of us leaders can comprehend the pain the Acholi people have suffered at the hands of the rebel demoniacs more than Jennifer. For TI the UJV is just another project, for Jennifer this is her life. Jennifer is not just counting 62 orphaned kids from Northern Uganda. When she looks in the eyes of these kids she sees herself. That is why for me, as her spiritual father, I have stood with not only Jennifer but I will also stand with Jimmy, Lorna, Sunday, Alice, Innocent, Scovia and all the rest of our UJV kids.

My friend, I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also continue to pray and hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for us to meet each other and talk as brothers. Because you know I still have questions going on in my mind that we all need to find answers to, for instance;
1. Why all of the sudden TI is using the name Uganda Jesus Village when we both have documented proof that TI leadership dropped the name Uganda Jesus Village and took on the name Transform International – Uganda because you guys did not like the name Uganda Jesus Village?
2. What happened to the hundreds of thousands of dollars that was raised in Lakeland, Florida for the UJV kids??? We have waited and are still waiting to see our kids directly benefit from the money that was raised for them.
3. What happened to the spirit of adoption? For the last three and a half years we have been telling the kids that we have adopted them and we have become their fathers and mothers. Is it fair to them for us to wake up one day and just say to them, go back to where you belong? Is this consistent with the Scripture that says;
“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out Abba father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

I believe when brothers disagree they should do so honorably without shooting each other down. I am hoping that the dark clouds of false accusations will soon clear and the fog of misunderstandings will be lifted from our vision so that we can all see clearly the great future ahead for not only our 62 UJV kids but for all communities of Africa where we are planting churches and transforming communities.

If I have said anything in this letter that over states the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, please forgive me. And if I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a tolerance to settle for anything less than the truth for the sake of being politically correct, may God forgive me.

Your Brother,

Gerald Mwebe

5/01/2010

As many of you have heard, Evangelist Kira Mitchell has been camped in Gulu establishing the circumstances surrounding the abrupt closure of the Uganda Jesus Village. This was a home established in 2006 to cater for children affected by the War in the Northern part of Uganda,Gulu district to be precise.

On the 23rd of December these at 3am, these innocent children were woken up from their sleep and taken back to Gulu on the pretext that the Government of Uganda had ordered the closure. It is upon this incident that Kira and a group of Ugandans along with her brother Cameron Mitchel drove up to Gulu to try and help rescue the situation but above all to make sure that this injustice was stopped to the eyes of the waiting public, they needed to know the truth.

We set off on the 28 of december to go to Gulu. Its a six hour journey from the capital Kampala. When we got there, we quickly set off to find the children that had been calling us for help. They had my cell number and used to go to relatives or friends who had a phone to help them communicate their plight. We drove straight to the camps(Displacement camps) where the Ugandan government gazetted people during the insugency. Friends life is so hard here and its hard to imagine people living in these conditions. Fortunately many of our kids were at this one camp called Awere. They were excited to see us and consquently began asking why we had taken them back the way it all began. We met the parents and explained it was not us that had done this but we were also there on a fact finding mission.

The meeting lasted several hours, we visited their homes and the life here is what the west was probably 100 years ago or even more. The children make you cry just looking at how much they have had to endure.....Please continue on with the following download that has the full report and events that have transpired.

UGANDA JESUS VILLAGE REPORT.

TINSIDE THE LIFE OF AN ADBUCTEE: THE STORY OF A FORMER ABDUCTEE JENNIFER LANA. Download her story here.

HAPPENING NOW: The ministry that was charged with giving these children a future seems to be bent on walking out of this responsibility. This sort of stand off still puzzles many and we here at Unquenchable ministries feel we can not let this injustice continue. We can not walk away from the children when things appear uncertain, so we call upon the world to stand together with us as we solicit help to reignite the vision, give the kids a life and hope for a better tomorrow. Please Join the struggle!

More to details to follow.UJV KIDS BACK.DOWNLOAD

DONATE TO THE UGANDA JESUS VILLAGE CRISIS

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UGANDA JESUS VILLAGE UPDATE