Born Without Hope, Living by God's Grace!

By Dickson Tumuramye

Growing up from the hills of Buhweju district, Uganda, a hard to reach area, as a tiny short child, always bullied by older children in primary school, I thought there was no value in my life.

I went through 5 primary schools partly because of school fees and lack of school necessities. There is no single day they chased others from class that I was never among them. And to me, this was a normal routine, but something kept telling me, there is hope, one day you will make it. In my high school life, I don't remember any single term I paid full term school fees. No day you will dream of a bright future when school life was about survival, just hopelessness filling the mind. But today, all that is history. I have finally seen light at the end of the tunnel. Darkness and hopeless life is no longer part of me.

I am not alone who could have gone through such kind of life. Though sorrow lasted for nights, the joy of the Lord kept coming every morning. What the Psalmist assures us is that many are the afflictions of the righteous, but God delivers him from all (Psalm 34:19).

There are many untold stories of life challenges in our community especially in rural areas. Children and women face a lot of challenges, but they are voiceless.  While we have platforms like social media, radios, televisions, which give instant information and you get to know of what is happening, we lack good communication channels in our rural settings for them to properly voice out their issues.

Nevertheless, there is hope that one day even a cut tree will regenerate,……its stump may die in the ground but  it will sprout again (Job 14:7-9). No matter what these voiceless and hopeless children are going through, God will always hear the voice of Ishmael in the wilderness and he will provide for him (Gen.21:17). I can never be the same person people nicknamed hopeless names in my childhood.

As parents, it's our responsibility to give confidence to our children amidst life challenges. My life challenge was poverty. Your child's challenge could be different. But don't allow your child to live downcast because s/he is looking at her/himself from a negative perspective. Every human being has a thorn in the fresh. We all have weaknesses and strengths, but God created us all in his image, beautifully and wonderfully made; focus on the positive attributes in your child's life.

You are number one source of encouragement as our God is the source of our hope. No bad story is still written on my face unless told. I am living by God's grace, it has been sufficient enough to carry me through. I want to say you and your child don't lose hope with your circumstance, for the one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. He who called you is faithful and he will do it. My one source of hope and confidence has been the Jesus Christ I serve, the man who put a smile on my face and told me "humura" (worry not), I will never forsake you.

Raise your hope and for your child beyond all the impossibilities. This could be sickness, poor class performance, disability, financial, name it. My parents stood with me and I am now somehow an established man, a responsible husband and father and a child advocate. If it's your child who still doubts about his/her future, our Jesus Christ doesn't disappoint or shame (Rom. 10:11) and he will not forsake you/him/her.

The writer is a child advocate and parenting coach.

tumudickson@gmail.com