JOY OF SALVATION

I took a day to be at the farm and interacted with some of the former street boys.They are getting rehabilitated from their former way of life where they lived on the streets in one of the slums and engaged in vices to survive.

It is so amazing how some of them have changed positively and have a zeal for serving God. They are optimistic for a bright future after completing the two years program which includes being equipped with social skills, modern agricultural methods, basic education as well as business skills.

Boys in class

One of the stories that touched my heart was from a young man called Davies who is currently waiting to be baptized after receiving salvation on the night of the eve of the New Year.

He is from a family of four children. His mother and father separated when he was two years old. He was taken care of by an aunt in their rural home while the father relocated to the city to search for greener pastures. He was later diagnosed with a rare skin condition where his whole body could bleed. This got the aunt worried and thought he had been bewitched.

The husband to the aunt and other family members saw him as a cursed child and asked the aunt to take the boy to his father. They traveled to the city with the aunt and Davies was left with the father who later sent him to school when the skin disease disappeared on its own.

As he was growing up life became really hard as the father was a drunkard and would barely provide food or proper clothing for him. He stopped paying for his fees in standard seven because he could use most of his money on alcohol. He was not getting along with his father who would beat him up regularly at a slight mistake. This made him to run away from home. He could stay in the house at daytime when the father was out for casual jobs and slept in a church at night.

No one in church knew he was sleeping there as he would sneak at night and sleep at a corner and leave very early in the morning. His life became miserable until one of his friends informed him about our program.

He joined the Osiligi farm in 2013 and has never regretted. At the beginning he was one of the stubborn boys who made life for others hard because of his past but later changed after realizing that life was much better there. He loves the life at the rehabilitation center because the activities carried around and the fact that he does not go to bed on an empty stomach. He also takes the other boys as his brothers and this has given him a sense of belonging.

Davies during the interview

The night he received Christ was after watching a testimony of a woman who had a vision about hell and how a big fire was readily prepared for the people who would not have accepted Jesus when He comes back. She said it was a fiery furnace with scary creatures burning. Then she saw heaven being a beautiful place filled with glory. The angels were singing and worshiping God. It was a place filled with gold. He desired to  go to heaven and his love for Christ grew. This convicted him to receive Christ as He is the only one who could save humanity. He has never looked back and is determined to serve God even after completing the two years program.

He is among five other boys who are preparing to be baptized as for him baptism is dying and resurrecting in Gods glory. He is a good role model as the boys who use to mock him as “holy boy” desire to get salvation too.

He really inspired me with his positive attitude for a bright future and the joy that salvation brings. Soon it was time for me to leave the center but wished I could stay longer. I left the center with more desire to serve in the Afri-Lift Missionary Society.