We talk about ROI (return on investment) a lot at AIM, we always want to measure what we’re investing with the benefits we see from it. I wanted to share a story that I recently came across that I hope will show you some of the return on investment you are getting from supporting this ministry.
Our Real Life teams are out for the summer, ministering in various parts of the world. One girl, on a team in Uganda came across a young boy who had been kidnapped. Witchdoctors told his captors that he could not help them until they had made a child sacrifice. Hours later, Allan was discovered, castrated, with a stab wound to the neck, an ax to the skull and whimpering in a pool of his own blood. All at the age of six. Katie shares the story here…
I never realized how much the phrase ‘it changed my life‘ actually meant until I look back on the past week I spent in a village called Kyampisi. It was a life changing week.
A year ago, Allan had been attacked as an attempted child sacrifice. Child sacrifice is still an epidemic in Uganda- even though it sounds like something from the Stone Age. Witchdoctors tell people if they sacrifice a child, or bring back a part of the child’s body, that something good will happen to them – prosperity in a business or healing of sickness. Allan was attacked at the age of 6 after coming home from school one day. He was stabbed in the neck, castrated, and an axe went into the side of his skull. He was found whimpering in a puddle of his own blood left for dead. This is a reality that happens way too often here. However, Allan survived, and serves as a true testament of God’s unfailing love. I would come back to the ministry after a days work and he would be ready to sit beside me and talk in a language I know nothing about. His smile melted my heart and his songs in English that he repeated for me over and over again were precious.
Two of the Real Life girls have committed to sponsoring Allan so he can live at the Kyampisi house.
Kyampisi is launching the ‘End Child Sacrifice’ Campaign. Check them out.
Tomorrow, July 14, Allan has surgery on his skull. After the attack, they closed it with tissue, but his brain is still exposed so they are going in to put plastic or some other material to close it back up. Please keep this little boy in your prayers; we are praying for complete physical, emotional and spiritual healing.
Redemption stories like these encourage me as I work from the office to make it possible for more people to go to the field. I hope it encourages those of you who give and pray. Your investment is making a difference. I thank you and I am sure that Allan and children like him thank you.
This story makes me gasp. The theme of man’s inhumanity to man still has the power to shock.
i did gasp. almost get nauseous, too.
[sigh]
Incredible.
It’s hard to believe anything like this can actually happen, much less that it’s happening over and over again. What an awful thing.