My name is Jovan Balikoowa. I am a servant of the Lord and I minister with my family in Kiroba, Uganda. Preaching the gospel and serving the poor are my highest callings and I consider it a great honor.
I tell my story with the hope that you will prayerfully consider partnering with us in reaching the unreached with the gospel. God has put on my heart a burden for the orphan, widow, hungry, imprisoned, and homeless. In 2005, the good Lord gave me a vision to preach the gospel and help the forgotten people of Kiroba. Since that time, dozens have come to know and love the gospel of Jesus Christ and have been baptized and received the power of the Holy Spirit.
They are growing in faith, love and obedience to His Word. Every man, woman, and child in the village are precious to me and even more so to the Lord who created them and desires for each to thrive and become all that He has designed them to be.
Though I resisted the Lord’s call, He wrestled me down and made it clear that He had chosen me to be His servant. He wanted me on mission to proclaim the gospel, teach the Word and be a shepherd to an unreached people group in Kiroba.
Because of His call, and the great needs of the people, I humbly ask you to prayerfully consider partnering with me in these ways:
- Prayer
- Sending over short term missionaries
- Offering strategic business and ministry planning
- Financial gifts
Financial gifts will allow us to continue our work of preaching the gospel , feeding and educating, (Kingdom Sons Junior school) the orphans, (300+ plus are being fed every day) as well as providing them with clothing, shoes, and personal hygienic items including housing accommodations, i.e. dormitories.
Currently, my wife and I are housing 21 children in our home and others are using the small office room at our church. In addition we need a borehole for clean water, medical facilities, stable transportation,(a van to transport children to surrounding areas to meet different needs) and salaries for hiring new teachers for more children.
The Lord has also laid it on my heart to build a permanent church structure, as well as more classrooms for our school. Miraculously, we just finished the construction of six classrooms with a library block and office block. However, we need three more classrooms, a kitchen, and medical room, school uniforms, books, pens, desks, chairs, pencils, and other scholastic materials for the children and teachers for the three terms of the year.
Right now, we survive on kindly donations from sisters and brothers in Christ who have a heart for the children of Kiroba village. It is my desire to acquire a large piece of land to grow food for ourselves to feed the children and have surplus to help fund the other monetary needs of the school. We are also looking at putting up other farming projects like poultry and animal farming to also help support the work.
There is a need for funding to put up temporary classrooms for the school. This need is for most of our children who finish Primary level with us and qualify for the secondary level but sadly they are failing to join the secondary level (space issues and lack of financial resources) and as a result they become frustrated and dropout of school and are tempted to enter into an early marriage and child labor.
If they had an opportunity to have a secondary education then they could enter a training course and develop their special talents and gifts and put them to good use so that they might provide for their future, living right and wise.
Please know, it’s been my prayer from the beginning to work towards seeing the Kiroba people become self sustaining with each family owning a plot of land, farming it, and providing for themselves while living in a well constructed home with clean water, mosquito nets, and toilets.
My dream is that every child living in a family home with parents or guardians, or those children who would live in our future dormitories, would value their relationship to God as a first priority, attend church, and school and receive a good Christ centered education to improve their knowledge of God’s Word and world, and become literate law abiding God fearing men and women who have gained valuable life skills to be productive citizens that will make a difference for good in their families and communities and bring honor and glory to God.
With the above being said, please understand that it’s not in my heart to receive ‘hand outs’ but to receive ‘hand ups’. There is great dignity in teaching a community how to work and provide for themselves. But the Kiroba village people are struggling to do this and suffering. My heart breaks for them.
Thank you for taking time to read my story. Do know I believe that God is the true hero of my story and all glory and honor belong to Him.