ICC details Dorika Kabuo, children’s persecution from husband after converting to Christianity
(International Christian Concern) Two years ago, Dorika Kabuo and her four children were chased from their home by the one they called “protector and provider,” Dorika’s husband. This happened after Dorika and her children committed their lives to Christ and left Islam together.
While speaking with International Christian Concern (ICC), Dorika confided, “My husband of over 20 years turned violent against us when we converted to Christianity and joined the nearby evangelical church in Bwera, Western Uganda. The man we looked upon for love and care turned into a beast, beating me and my children daily because of our new faith in Christ Jesus.”
Sarah, one of Dorika’s children, remembers that time with pain and loss. She shared, “During that period, our father stopped paying for our school fees and taking care of us. He also used to beat us even without reason. He refused us to go to church, but we could sneak and go when he was away. If he learned that we were in church, he would pick his rubber whip and flog all of us.”
The persecution facing Dorika and her children did not stop them from pursuing an intimate relationship with Christ. Dorika’s son, Christopher, pointed out, “Nothing could stop us from fellowship with other brethren because that is where we got encouragement, nourishment, and love. The church became like a home for us. The more we insisted about remaining in Christianity, the more my father’s hostility escalated.”
Dorika’s story is just one of the many cases of Christian persecution in Uganda where family members have been rejected, tortured, or even killed for leaving Islam.
“Although life has not been easy after converting to Christianity, we are determined to finish the race and keep the faith.”
“My children became my inspiration because of their unwavering commitment to Christ and readiness to overcome any obstacles in the way. Being a Muslim family, my husband’s relatives joined in fighting us even to the extent of abusing my children whenever they met with them.” Dorika told ICC.
“One evening,” shared Dorika, “my husband beat us up and threatened to butcher us the following day if we continued professing the Christian faith. That very night, he chased us away. We packed a few belongings and left the place we called home to Kasese, not knowing how we would get there or where we would be staying.”
Dorika and her four children were taken in by a pastor from the All-Saints Church of Uganda, Kasese, who offered them a small rented room where they could stay. However, this did not stop her husband from pursuing his family with the intent to kill them. “He used to send Muslim sheikhs who pledged to hunt me down and poison me, but the Lord protected us. We have since changed our names and it is hard for anyone to identify us now.”
Dorika proclaimed, “Although life has not been easy after converting to Christianity, we are determined to finish the race and keep the faith.”
Though the majority of people in Uganda are Christian, there is still a very active Sunni Muslim population as well. They make up approximately 14% of Uganda’s population. The biggest problem is that people who convert to from Islam to Christianity often face similar persecution from relatives like Dorika did. This same extremist Muslim population has also attacked churches, pastors, and other Christian families in the past.
Check out the ICC post HERE
Image/CIA
