Rebecca’s Story

Imagine you’re Rebecca. You’re a young mom with five kids. You live in a small village right next to the Sobat river. Your husband, like all the men in the village, makes his living through cattle. You cook sorghum, beans, okra, fish, and sometimes goat for your family. You cook over a fire, and you like that because when you’re preparing food and cooking you have time to talk with the ladies around you. You sew your own clothes. You helped build your round, one-room home. It has thick, mud walls and a thick, grass roof to keep you dry and cool.

Your husband paid cows, cash, furniture, bed sheets, and dishes to your parents for the right to marry you. You may be his first wife, but you’re not ensured to be his only wife.

And then you blink.

In January 2014, two opposing armies meet at your village. You gather what you can and run through a wide, flat plain with scrub trees and tall grass with your five kids. You run from gunfire. That same gunfire cuts down both your parents and your husband. But you keep running. You make it to an oil patch where they have guards with guns. From there, you get on a plane with all five kids and fly to the capital city.

In that city that can’t support you, you cram your kids into a small bus and land in a refugee camp in Northern Uganda. You’re one thousand miles from home, and you’re alone.

Where does your hope come from? You hear about a bible school around the corner. You’re a christian, but you don’t know much about the bible. You wonder if they’ll let you attend. They do. You learn what God’s word says, and His great love for you. You’re lonely, hungry, tired, but finally buoyed with this truth and hope from God.

Thank you for supporting women like Rebecca. Now meet her. Watch her tell her story for yourself. You’ll be blessed and encouraged at the strength of Rebecca and the hope she’s found through God’s word.

Rebecca found an Empower One bible school Extension Center in Aiylo refugee camp just outside of Adjumani, Uganda. There were 26 other women in her class. In the past few years, we’ve had a women’s revolution on the field through women like Rebecca. They’re learning at North East Africa Theological Seminary (NEATS), our bible school with nine extension centers. Women are empowered. They’re empowered to lead and teach and disciple others in the word of God.