Katerega Julius Kithy – Founding Director

MY LIFE STORY:

My father had a polygamous family and I couldn’t live with them because my step mother didn’t like me. So I went to live with my grandmother. Life became more tough and ended up dropping out of school because my grandmother could’nt pay my school. I resorted into doing some petty work in my village like raising rabbits and chickens.
Along the way my aunt asked my grandmother to live with her. Was so happy to go stay with her in another small town village called Ggaba which was new to me. I was a little younger then and life seemed to be so adventurous.
A few more months later, my aunt heard about a child school sponsorship program called Compassion International at a local community church where I went to be enrolled. It was a struggle to be filled in for the program because there where alot of children in need of sponsorship. A month later, i got enrolled into the program by the grace of God, regardless of the hundreds of children who were waiting.
My school journey started then and my first time school in a long time was filled with alot off new things. I was told I go it a sponsor was going to pay for my school all the way. This was one of the sweetest things in my life even when I was younger. I spent alot off time with my aunt because she loved as a child and never got time to see my family and not even my dad. This was quite challenging but I continued in my school life. They came after a while to visit me but I was grown into a youth.

One day at this local community church, a Jesus movie was showed, the gospel preached and I ended up finding Jesus as my Lord and Savior! I still remember this day and the evangelist (Martin Wandera) who the Lord used to let Jesus have a place in my life. The movie was so touching and salvation became real that day!
I started to find purpose for my life in the Lord, study His word, belonged to this church family, attended youth camps and fellowships, i joined the church choir and two years later I got a vision to start a music group with my 5 friends and the name was ‘Boys of Faith”.
We went to sing on several occasions, in schools, crusades, in churches and wherever the Lord called us to go. We inspired many people and through that, the Lord continued to speak to me about reaching out to more people with the love and the hope we have in Christ. People got saved on these music concerts and many lives were transformed. The music group later split because my friends got caught up with other responsibilities and other journeys of life.
As I was singing alone reaching out through music asking the Lord the next step to follow. The Lord gave me another vision to start a charity organization and the name came as ‘Pumziko’, a Swahili word meaning ‘rest’. The scripture came to me from Mathew 11:28; “Come to me all are heavy laden and I will give you rest”. These are words of Jesus promising to give us rest when we are found in Him. I later called a few friends of mine to share with them the vision and I realized they have the same vision and a heart for reaching out with the love of Christ. They became part of the vision after we had shared alot together.
My heart for people continued and one day I attended my friend’s birthday and was given a cake to take after the party. As I moved on the street back home, the weather was too called and there was a heavy storm. On the street, I saw two little kids of about 5 years old shivering due to the cold. They spread their hands wanting something to eat. I knew they were so hungry and i stopped with tears coming from my eyes. I couldn’t help but all I hand in my hand was a big piece of cake rapped. I gave them the cake and suddenly many other kids gathered wanting to share the same cake. I was so touched by this situation because it was so devastating to see these kids staying on the streets helpless. My heart and passion for people in need of help especially orphans, widows, and single mothers continued. With my ministry team, we stepped out into vulnerable communities sharing the hope which is only found in Jesus. This has been evident with hundreds people who have accepted Christ through Pumziko. I believe success comes only from God and with Him, all things are possible!