Eight children from four families have taken refuge with Christians in
eastern Uganda after their parents beat and disowned them for leaving
Islam or animism, sources said.
In another village in eastern Uganda, a high school student is
recovering from a serious head injury inflicted by the Muslim father of a
young woman he led to Christ, area residents said.
The eight children in Busalamu village, Bukanga Sub-County, Luuka
District came to Christ after visits from pastor Brian Mukisa, 29, who
began Power Gates Church earlier this year as people put their faith in
Jesus Christ. The new-found faith of the children, ages 9 to 16, angered
their parents, who beat them in an effort to deter them from sneaking
to worship services, and on June 29 the young ones took refuge at the
church building, area sources said.
The pastor on June 15 had moved the worship site 10 kilometers (six
miles) away to a temporary structure, providing the children transport
to services, after the angry parents led by a local mosque leader
destroyed the church’s initial, rented building on May 25, sources said.
The church lost chairs, tables and musical instruments when Muslims led
by Bavakuno Ibra, Kalemba Farouk and the mosque leader, identified only
as 48-year-old Imam Jengo, destroyed the first building.
“Your church activities will not be tolerated in this area,” one of
them told the pastor, he said. “If you do not leave our village, then we
shall soon come for your life.”
Pastor Mukisa had made a partial payment on land for a church building
in the village when the Muslim parents wrested control of it by offering
a higher price to the seller, also a Muslim, sources said. The seller
returned Pastor Mukisa’s partial payment to him.
The children, whose names are withheld for security reasons, are 9, 11,
13 and 14, and there are two 15-year-olds and two 16-year-olds. Some of
them have yet to fully recover from injuries sustained in the beatings
and do not have funds for medical care, the pastor said. Disowned by
their parents, they are staying with various church members but lack
fees for attending school.
“The parents have totally disowned them as infidels,” Pastor Mukisa
said. “They need prayers to come to terms with the separation from
parents for choosing Christ.”
The burden on the small church is heavy, and he asked for prayer for the church.
“Busalamu is a Muslim stronghold, and any church presence here will
meet with strong resistance,” he said. “We are worshipping in a
temporary church structure, and we also appeal for financial assistance
in assisting both the persecuted young children and our young upcoming
church.”
Wounded High School Student
In Iganga District, a 20-year-old high school student is still
suffering throbbing pain after the father of a young woman he led to
Christ threw a metal object at his head.
Waiswa Sowedi, who secretly put his faith in Christ two years ago, led
18-year-old Sera Muzamiru to faith in Christ earlier this year in
Nabidongha village, Nakigo Sub-County. In early June, Sowedi was on his
way back from a church service when he decided to check on Muzamiru. He
found her father, 40-year-old Makanika Muzamiru, beating her for
befriending Sowedi, whom he called a pagan and an enemy of Islam.
“I tried to persuade her father to stop beating his daughter and
explained to him that my intention of passing by his home was to assist
her on educational issues,” Sowedi told Morning Star News. “He could not
listen to this, and instead he became more furious and threw a sharp
metallic object right at my forehead that penetrated very deep.”
The young woman’s father told Sowedi, “I would rather kill you than let you mislead my daughter to a wrong faith,” he said.
Sowedi was rushed to Iganga Main Hospital, where doctors declined to
tend to the injury because of its severity, as the object was still
lodged in his head. He was transferred to a hospital in Mulago, where he
spent a week under various treatments before the removal of the object.
Doctors operated the second week after he regained some consciousness,
and he was put on drugs costing the equivalent of $10 per day, which he
said was more than he can afford.
After his release from the hospital, Sowedi was unable to return to his
Muslim parents’ home as his father forbade him to live there, and
Sowedi lacked funds to return to school. He has taken shelter with a
relative, and Muzamiru also has taken refuge away from her home.
Sowedi’s father, 45-year-old Muhamood Kayaga, suspected his Muslim wife
might have known about their son’s conversion and took a second wife as
a kind of contingency for himself and a reproach of his original wife,
sources said. Kayaga and Makanika Muzamiru are devoted Muslims from
Mohamood Mosque Nakavule, led by an imam identified only as Sheik
Mayaye. The Muslim fathers have informed the local council chairperson,
Muhamood Fundi, that a local church (undisclosed for security reasons)
was influencing their children to change the religion, sources said.
Both Sowedi and Sera Muzamiru said they are in serious crises, with
Sowedi still in pain from the head injury, medication farther out of
reach and prospects for continuing his education unknown.
About 85 percent of the people in Uganda are Christian and 11 percent
Muslim, with some eastern areas having large Muslim populations. The
country’s constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom,
including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith
to another, but Christians in eastern Uganda are suffering continual attacks by non-state figures.
If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit http://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.
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