Our history

ABOUT RETOM GLOBAL MISSION

RETOM is a local Christian NGO operating in northern Uganda and is an outreach agency for Christ Community Church Gulu. RETOM stands for Revival Time Outreach Ministries and was founded back in 2003, as a result of the war between the Government of Uganda and Joseph Kony’s LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army). The people of the Acholi region were forced to live in refugee camps and were constantly in a state of fear where their main concern was how to survive killings and hunger. . Many children were abducted by LRA rebels and many people were subjected to all kinds of brutalities during the war such as rape, torture, murder, and malnutrition. Disease, PTSD, and loss of hope were all too common. The social fabric and cohesion of the Acholi people was negatively affected by the war and many people resorted to bribery, theft, robberies, and prostitution in order to survive. After a peace treaty between the Government of Uganda and the LRA was signed, people started making their way back to their villages. Many found their possessions gone and homes completely destroyed. The trauma of this experience scarred many lives and led to hopelessness among the Acholi. Out of this, RETOM was born.

Pastor Peter Okwera and his ministry team began going out to the rural areas after the war, reminding people that God loves them, bringing hope for eternal life and salvation, and ministering to their daily needs. What kept these people's lives together was hope. Pastor Okwera would bring the Word of God to places where there were no church buildings, often under a community tree.Some of the immediate projects taken on by RETOM were the distribution of glasses along with other practical items such as shoes, soap, mosquito nets, and food. Shoes (flip-flops) were made locally by shaving the rubber off used truck tires. Soap, which is a basic essential for people, was unaffordable to many.

One of the challenges we have faced is ministering in communities affected by Nodding Syndrome. This mysterious disease is found in children between the ages of 5 and 15. It starts with head-nodding and progresses through epilepsy-like symptoms, to ALS (Lou Gerrig’s disease) symptoms, to death. You can find more information about Nodding Syndrome on Google.

RETOM also conducts parenting sessions to help the parents learn how to properly care for and raise their children, especially those affected by Nodding Syndrome and other diseases. Sadly, there are instances of parents killing their diseased children because they believe they would be better off in the afterlife than living in a world where they could wander off and drown in a stream or be eaten by a predator.

We thank God for what He is doing through us among the Acholi people. Many had abandoned the faith during the war years and many youth had begun to dabble in devil worship, drink heavily, and become promiscuous. But now we are making a difference and changing lives. We invite you to join with us by praying, serving, or giving as we reach out to the lost who do no know Jesus

The pictures above shows the typical housing that the Acholi were living in during wartime.

WHO ARE THE ACHOLI PEOPLE

The Acholi people (also spelled Acoli) are a Nilotic ethnic group found in Magwi County in South Sudan and Northern Uganda (an area commonly referred to as Acholiland), including the districts of Agago, Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum, Nwoya, Lamwo, Pader and Omoro District.

The Acholi people of Uganda maintain their sophisticated cultural beliefs about the spirit world and their social order. These shape their perceptions of truth, justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation, and they would like to use them for conflict resolution. They are the descendants of a variety of Luo-speaking peoples who are believed to have migrated three or four centuries ago from adjacent areas of what is now South Sudan into what is now the Acholi district of Uganda. The Acholi have small chiefdoms of one or more villages, each with several patrilineal clans.