Christ Reigns in our Purity Clubs!

As a young man growing up in the villages of Uganda, my eyes were kept away from the immoralities of this world. All i knew was that one had to grow up, by the age of 15 if he or she wasn't at school or was deemed over aged, the elders advised him or her to get married. The young man's aunts would then recommend various good girls where they themselves were married to the young man and he would pay his aunts different visits to have a look at different girls and from among them, he would pick for himself a wife! This was the way, the sure and respected way for every young man.

With years however, the trend started changing and young people would just pick one of their classmates when they reached adolescence or puberty and get married, or the boy would make the girl pregnant and in return, the girl's parents would chase the girl to marry her "husband". Getting young people who went through their teens without getting married started becoming a rarity.

After primary education, my sister took me to the capital Kampala in search of better quality education. Not did i only see some new and interesting stuff like many cars, tall buildings, new kinds of dressing by the females, i also witnessed immorality at it's peak! My cousin, the one i used to share a room with, a student like me just a class ahead of me one night shocked me when he brought his "sweet" stealthily to our room as i was sleeping. I later woke up and the scene wasn't good. After pleading and vowing not to do it again, i didn't report him. But as they say some habits take long to die, my cousin repeated the same thing after a few days and i walked out in the wee hours of the night for about a half kilometer to where my elder brother was staying. Surprisingly when i told him why i was knocking at his door at such a time, he wasn't amused and curtly told me that "don't mind, one day, you will also grow and go though the same experience". I didn't know what to make of his statement, a curse or a statement of fact?

Some how, these events, coupled with what i was seeing all around me, made me curious and many questions started to linger in my mind. After three years in the city, i decided i couldn't take it any more and returned to study in my sweet home town Soroti. I thought the foolishness and wickedness in Kampala hadn't reached Soroti, how wrong! 

In Soroti, my classmates would talk about sex and how they enjoyed sleeping around during broad day light and all these things. I was shocked to hear all these nonsense. What made it even easier for students in Soroti was the fact that over 98% of them were renting and staying all by themselves in various ramshackled houses. They were their own bosses and couldn't control their appetites. From this set of events, my roommate, who was another cousin of mine was sexually active even though he was much younger than me. After hearing lots of lies and cunning words, i got a girl that i had known for some time and lost one of the most precious gifts i possessed. All the lies i was told didn't make up for any slight enjoyment i had been made to believe. I was broken, full of regrets and even doubted my salvation after this fall. I thought God was angry with me, but thank God after years of feeling the full weight of guilt, i forgave my self and all those who convinced me and helped me sin, and once again, i felt the full love of the Father and started serving him in knowledge and in truth.

When i reached university, albeit after lots of other hurdles, i came to realize the full extent of the broken sexual world around me. My university room mate was addicted to sex and tried several times to make me follow suit, but my earlier experiences made me resolved not to fall under this temptations again. With the grace of God, i sailed through university and came out intact. But inside me, i felt there was a part of the story that was not being told. A story of Love and Reconciliation, a story of a God who forgives and restores. I had a thirst to teach young people that all talk about the bliss of teenage sex was not as nice as they are being made to believe. I wanted to start a campaign that would counter the condom lies, but the time wasn't right. I shared this idea with several friends, but none of them seemed to care about it.

It was later after i got married to my dream wife, that one time i shared this dream with her, only to realize that God had put the same thing in her heart. How God managed to locate two people from different continents to come together in marriage and unite forces to stand for the same cause, shows his awesomeness! with other friends from church and outside our church, we teamed up to start Loveworld Community Development Initiative (LOCODI) to champion this cause as well as child sponsorship for many orphans, some of whom are orphans because their parents engaged in pre-marital sex and conceived them as well as getting infected with the deadly HIV virus. The death of my Kampala cousin from HIV/AIDS early last year left me thinking of many other young people who are destined to go the same road, unless someone told them the truth and the benefits of waiting until marriage. Today, we have purity clubs in two primary schools and one secondary school with participation and membership higher than any other club in these schools. Many other schools are inviting us to start the same in their schools, but we can't because we are short of volunteers. In just less than a month, we have led over 200 students to Christ and are now in the much tasking task of discipling them! Jesus is now reigning in our Purity Clubs and the joy and the laughter that takes place during these sessions, is just amazing. Today, after sharing in Pioneer primary school, a host of students came to greet me and as if they were trained to say the same thing, they all kept saying "Thank you for teaching sir, may God bless you". I was startled and elated at the same time. God is doing a lot of stuff through us and there's no better opportunity to partake of what is happening than now, you can partner with us today and if you are already a partner, we want to say thank you very much for making God's dream come true. Now we need Bibles and other christian materials for our new converts.

Sorry the post is long, but i hope you enjoyed it. With much love, we say, God bless you and may the knowledge of him and his grace increase in your own lives.
Ruudy and Beckie.