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Johnson and Betty Ogema left their home at 5 am for a 300 km trip to the West Nile Province of Uganda. With purpose, prayers and less than a half tank of gas, Johnson reports: We left for the journey with only the diesel that I had bought earlier from Kampala. There had been no fuel in my town for two days! About a third of the way into the trip, the Lord gave us diesel in a very remote trading center located in an Internally Displaced Persons' Camp.
FIRST ANSWER TO PRAYER
Where were they headed? To the town of Paidha, which lies close to southern Sudan, just over the border from northeastern Congo. From 2003 to 2006 thousands of refugees fled here to escape the Rwanda-style massacres, which took place between the Hema & Lendu peoples just over the border in Bunia, DRC.
Why were they going? To lead an ICM sponsored conference.
Paidha is a place where few visitors from outside the region venture. Although the town of Paidha itself is secure, to reach it one must run a hundred mile gauntlet through an area where rebels have regularly attacked buses & trucks. The Lord's Resistance Army have been terrorizing Northern Uganda for the last 21 years, killing multiple thousands of innocent people. Even with a full tank of gas, traveling to Paidha is not without its risks.
Residence of Internally Displaced Persons' Camp
Darkness hung over the road as the ICM team drove along the bumpy road. As dawn broke, Johnson saw a man, camouflaged in rebel dress, appear suddenly from out of the bushes. His eyes followed him as he walked onto the road. Johnson recalls that morning clearly. He crossed fifteen meters a head of us, holding his "gun" with both hands, like a soldier on the battlefield. All of a sudden he stopped in the middle of the road and aimed his "gun" at us!
My wife Betty stooped down to the floor of the vehicle expecting a gunshot any second!
I hought very fast of what to do next. At this point we were all convinced he was a rebel ready to rob or shoot us! I pretended to be stopping, but instead, engaged a lower gear and with full flight, drove straight at him. He jumped aside and acted disorganized. Only then did I realize we’d been deceived. His “gun” was a merely a piece of wood shaped to look like a weapon.
God saw us through this drama! Later we wondered if the man could have been a former rebel still possessed with the spirit of highway robbery.
SECOND ANSWER TO PRAYER
After a grueling, & bumpy drive from Kampala, Johnson and Betty finally reached the small mountain town of Paidha. Most of the populace live in straw-roofed huts. There is no electricity, except for only a few hours each evening in the main part of town, which consists of a few dusty streets of small shops. Most here have been deeply touched by war and evil. Marriages and family life are in disarray. Polygamy is commonly practiced. One man with three or four wives, whom he considers his personal property, is all too often the norm.
ICM’s conference on marriage and family, House or Home, was attended by over a 130 eager learners. Using materials from the seminar, A Biblical Portrait of Marriage, Johnson writes: leaving, cleaving and becoming one flesh are basic principles we see in the Bible. They are true in every culture and help a man stick to his wife after leaving his relatives. Both Peter and Paul talk about how each partner should treat the other! I like to remind them that a wife is a partner, helper, companion, comforter and queen! When I say, “A wife is not property. The husband does not own her as he owns his cattle. She should be loved, listened to and protected,” I am teaching Biblical truths, which are revolutionary principles in our culture.
THIRD ANSWER TO PRAYER
Johnson and Betty Ogema are willing to step out in faith and pass through traumas and trials to teach the truth to their fellow Ugandans, especially those in remote, forgotten places. Seeing the joy on new believer’s faces, hearing how shattered lives are being transformed and tasting the goodness of the Lord makes their journey and job worthwhile.
Johnson finishes his report with praise: We traveled back home feeling tired but strong!
Thanks for your prayers! Johnson and Betty Ogema
 NEWS FLASHES from Northern UGANDA
Joseph Kony is the rebel leader of The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), who has been killing people in Northern Uganda for the last twenty-one years. The LRA has abducted thousands of children, subjected them to torture or sexual violence and forced them to fight in this violent guerilla army. In hopes of providing protection from this rebel militia, the Ugandan government forcibly evicted its Northern citizens from their homes—giving them 48 hours to relocate into Internally Displaced Persons' Camps. Today, more than 1.5 million Northern Ugandans remain far from secure, suffering nearly 1,000 deaths per week due to inhumane living conditions in these camps.
Because of pressure from within and from international community, peace talks have begun. Kony has now taken refuge in the Congo.
Johnson baptizes a new believer in the same water that not so long ago was used by Joseph Kony, the LRA rebel leader, and his army for drinking and washing
Yet roughly 95% of the people in Northern Ugandan districts forced to evacuate their homes are still living in camps in absolute poverty. One quarter of the children in Northern Uganda over the age of ten, has lost one or both parents due to life in these camps – suffering starvation, disease and nighttime attacks from the LRA.
Alcoholism, sexual abuse, HIV/AIDS, inadequate sanitation and lack of education have caused immeasurable damage to two generations. Water is scarce and people are reliant on food to be delivered by foreign aid. If the food isn’t delivered, the people starve.
Johnson Ogema and fellow ICM students and graduates pastor churches in this region of UGANDA. ICM’s provides a foundation in Biblical training coupled with practical ministry skills, which is equipping these healers in the “true” Lord’s army. They are Jesus’ hands and feet, providing a practical, restorative and hope-giving presence to the region.
April 20th, 2007
BREAKING NEWS: The U.S. Govt. Supports Uganda’s Peace Talks and Ceasefire
The United States Government welcomes the agreement between the Government of Uganda and Lord's Resistance Army to extend the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement and to resume peace talks on April 26. A durable peace agreement that puts an end to the 21-year old conflict and the suffering of hundreds of thousands of displaced northern Ugandans is vital to the region and to the future of Uganda.
U.S. Department of State
UPDATE: on ICM E-news story from March E-News
* ICM- UGANDA’s CLI Director, Johnson Ogema, collided with a gasoline tankard in February. The vehicle he was driving was crushed beyond repair. Johnson and all passengers miraculously escaped death as their vehicle overturned three times. Johnson reports, “ My health is still not normal. I feel funny pains at different spots even in areas that I was not aware of before the accident! One of my arms still cannot carry anything heavy. God's grace is sufficient t!”
*
Pastor Johnson and wife Betty have been married for the last 21 years. He claims to having lived a good life with “manageable challenges!” They have five biological and two adopted children and are sponsoring three additional orphaned children in school.
* Johnson also works with four others to oversee VICTORY OUTREACH MINISTRIES, home to 103 church branches. VOM sponsors a Christian school, primary health care centers and agricultural projects. VOM, which is committed to church planting, sent a team to England and birthed a church in Gellingham-Kent. After one year, the Ugandan team returned to Africa, leaving behind a healthy body of sixty believers.
* Betty is an excellent seamstress and co-worker in ministry. She enjoys sewing the fabrics Johnson brings home to her as gifts from his various journeys.
*Johnson and Betty send greetings to ICM Family! Move ahead and never give up!
These young candidates from the Christian primary school, which was launched three years ago, sat for their first National Exams recently. All passed and did very well!
Two of them, including Ogema's daughter Mercy, were sick and discharged from the hospital on the eve of the exams. ICM prayer network was of great help for all of them!
Hope of Africa Fund
The Hope of Africa is Jesus, nothing more or nothing less. We in ICM are committed to partnering with you and those in Africa to ensure that every man and woman has a chance to hear the Good News of Jesus and to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Your donation to this fund helps make this goal a reality. To donate on-line just click here.
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