How two rural, Ugandan, Muslim villages became united in love through Kibo Group.

By Alex Walyomu, Co-Manager of the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Program

Many nonprofits that work in Africa segregate by religion. Christians work with Christians, and Muslims work with Muslims. There is little to no collaboration. But that’s not true here at Kibo Group.

Kibo doesn’t benefit only Christians. In the Busoga region of Uganda where we work, many villages are half-Christian, half-Muslim. We believe that individuals can only thrive when the entire community is healthy and flourishing. It doesn’t matter what religion they affiliate with or what tribe they come from.

While most of the villages in Busoga are part-Christian and part-Muslim, two of the villages we work with right now are almost entirely Muslim: Kiteigalwa and Kasuleta. And both had a problem with conflict and disunity long before Kibo arrived.

When the program I co-manage, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), started working in Kiteigalwa village, there was a huge division between the Shia Muslims and the Sunni Muslims. The Sunnis hated the Shias and said they weren’t their neighbors. The Shias hated the Sunnis and said they were too different for partnership to work.

But their hearts began to change when they saw that we staff members — as Christians — not only tolerated the Sunni and Shia Muslims, but deeply cared about their health and happiness. They started to see that the person living next to them wasn’t an enemy, but a true neighbor.

Kasuleta village also had a lot of conflict, but for a very different reason: 99 percent of the village is Muslim — and almost all of them are related to each other! They were so close to each other that it created disunity. People felt like they couldn’t hold each other accountable, because they were uncomfortable confronting their brothers, cousins, or great-aunts.

But when they saw how we staff members were able to correct people with love and compassion, they were able to start communicating in a healthier way. They saw that to be a family does not mean to avoid conflict or pretend like problems don’t exist, but rather to address conflict and differences in a way that brings unity rather than division.

Of course, we at Kibo are vocal about the fact that we are Christians, and that Jesus is the motivation for all we do. But Kiteigalwa and Kasuleta villages didn’t even have to hear the name of Jesus to experience Jesus’ transformative love. They like it when we tell them that Jesus loves everybody, and they love it even more when we show them Jesus’ love directly by helping their families live happy and healthy lives. We know that God is working in Kiteigalwa and Kasuleta. We can see that the seeds of love and unity we sowed are already bearing fruit. And only God can be glorified for a miracle like that.

This article was also published here by The Journey Church.