John’s Story…

John M. was singing when he was found.

The war took his mom, his dad, his home — all the 4-year-old had known. In the chaos, a stranger helped John flee to a displaced persons camp.

This was 1997, and Uganda was at war with itself. A rebel group called ADF wanted to set up a radical Islamic government, and it carried out acts of terror along Uganda’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, including John’s hometown district of Bundibugyo.

John was too young to understand any of this, but he knew his world had been turned on its head. And so he sang.

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Ronald K. was orphaned at age 2. His dad had long since run off with another woman when his mom died. As he grew, he bounced among the homes of extended family members before being shipped west to Fort Portal to live with an uncle at age 12. At 17, he met Jesus. His uncle, heavily involved in devil worship at the time, kicked him out of the house.

The merging of his faith with his story led Ronald to a simple conclusion: He would try to be Jesus’ hands and feet to the orphan. Blessed with the opportunity to manage a eucalyptus tree business, Ronald went about clearing land, planting trees and earning trust — and income.

He used the money to put orphans he came across through school, from primary all the way through A-level, the Ugandan equivalent of high school. There were 10 orphans in all, five girls and five boys: Rebekah, Hester, Christine, Brenda and Jen; Faizo, Ronald, Jeffrey, Patrick ... and a boy from Bundibugyo named John.

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“From the word go, John was a singer. I would go to the displaced people’s camp, and John was always singing even when he was a small boy,” Ronald recalled. “... I come from a singing family, and seeing John as a singer really melted my heart.”

John credits Ronald with leading him to Jesus, not so much through evangelistic counsel as through a lifestyle saturated in the love of Christ. When Ronald became a pastor and started Living Spring Church, John was invested from day one, saturating himself in what he calls the “church life.”

Today, that life is shaped like a full circle. Now 25, John spends his days checking in on orphans and the widows who take care of them. There are more than 500 orphans and 99 widows currently connected to Living Spring’s ministry. John checks on the kids, plays with them, encourages them — and takes them to Living Spring’s medical clinic when they are sick on his “boda-boda,” the Ugandan term for a motorcycle.

Ronald calls it the church’s ambulance, and he isn’t joking that the vehicle is a lifesaver. John’s efforts — coupled with an improvement in access to food, milk and medical care over the past three years — have drastically improved the health of the church’s orphans. Ronald said it used to be commonplace for 15 Living Spring orphans to die in a year. In the past year, there has been one. John’s estimated 20-30 clinic trips a month — a sick child rolling in on his motorcycle — has everything in the world to do with that.

But John doesn’t see himself as a hero; he simply sees himself.

“Honestly, I know what being an orphan means. I am not a widow, but I know what being a widow means,” he said. “If you do not find someone who can bring you comfort, who can show you love, who can care for you, who can encourage you — man, you can feel like there is no god. Actually, you feel like you are coming to the end. ...

“I just imagined, if people never showed me all that love, if people never cared for me, where would I be right now?”

As it stands, right now he is pointing people to Jesus — orphans, widows, men and women in the cell groups he leads in the evenings, as a translator for Living Spring’s radio ministry. And come Sundays, he stands on the stage at Living Spring Church and ministers in the way that is perhaps most natural to him of all.

He sings.

Want to help people like John continue caring for the medical needs of widows and orphans? Contribute through ABIDE to the multi-plex rental project or mark your donation for medical needs.