Sheiba Mbabazi
In 1990 Sheiba Mbabazi was sponsored into a Compassion project in Masaka, Uganda. Sixteen years later she travelled to the Philippines to share her testimony with Compassion assisted children there. This is Sheiba’s story.
Divided by Poverty
In 1988, Sheiba Mbabazi, fearfully left her family home for Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. With four sisters and one brother, her small family home in the town of Masaka was overcrowded with hungry mouths.
The local banana plantation served as a toilet and the local hospital their source of water. It was little wonder that the children were besieged with malaria, German measles, chicken pox and diarrhoea.
Funds were scarce and to ease the burden one of the children would have to leave, as the oldest it had to be Sheiba. Many girls in Uganda are married to older men at the age of 12 or 13 and this is what Sheiba expected. To avoid this plight she was sent to live with her aunt in Kampala.
Kampala seemed like a long way from home, and in return for the bed and board at her aunt’s house Sheiba was responsible for all the housework and for caring for her young cousins. In short, she was the family slave. Life here was far from what she dreamed it would be.
After two long years of separation, 1990 brought with it a glimmer of hope. The Baptist church in Masaka was about to register a new group of children into their Compassion programme.
Sheiba’s mother was filled with eager anticipation. This could be the only chance her family ever had of being reunited. Tears of joy flowed from her family as Sheiba was registered.
The Advent of Hope
As a child Sheiba was just one of many thousands of poor children. But at the Compassion project she became someone with dreams, ambitions and most importantly hope. A hope that is inspired by her sponsors. “You don’t know the joy when they read out your name and tell you that your sponsor has written,” beams Sheiba. “You know, up to today I think my mother even has some of those pictures.”
As she had been blessed so Sheiba was able to bless others. She regularly led Bible studies and prayer sessions with her young siblings and even gave her clothing to her friends. But this was just the tip of the iceberg as far as Sheiba had bigger dreams, “My main goal was to work for Compassion, and maybe even be a sponsor. But to be a sponsor was such a far dream”.
Fulfilment of a Dream
When Sheiba left the Compassion project in 1996 her family’s situation had improved immeasurably. As she headed back to Kampala to study A-levels and live with her aunt again, it was with excitement and not fear. Following her A-levels Sheiba was registered into university. For three years she happily juggled a bachelor’s degree in tourism with her part time job at Compassion.
Sheiba passed her degree and moved to study International Relations and Globalisation in the UK. It was a remarkable feat for the girl from Masaka who by now had seen all her mother’s siblings pass away from AIDS, and one uncle killed in the Rwandan genocide.
Passing on the Blessings
However, for Sheiba, 27 February 2004 was even more memorable. She had been helping on the Compassion stand at Hillsong church in London and began chatting to her friend. “I said ‘I really want to sponsor a child but how can I do it? Will I manage? I don’t know how long I’m going to be here. I don’t know how far it’s going to go’.
"[My friend], he told me ‘just pray, just come and it will work’. So I prayed ‘God help me with some part time work’ and I just did it. It is now the second year I have been sponsoring and I can’t believe it.”
Sheiba has in fact surpassed all her dreams and gone on to sponsor a second child. All her siblings are now in school and working hard; certainly taking inspiration from their older sister. “My family will never forget that Compassion has picked me up from scratch and given me the foundation for all these opportunities. My life for those who know me is a testimony. It speaks for itself.”
Having achieved her two childhood dreams she now has bigger plans to work on a global scale to support children in poverty. And it is with great hope that she steps up to the next challenge.