My name is Sharon Anena, also known as Sharon Ransomed, born and raised in the Republic of Uganda in East Africa. We lost our biological father at a very young age, thus leaving our mum a widow with five children. I must say our mum did a commendable job raising us until we also lost her when I was 9 years of age.

Torn Asunder

Divided among relatives, each one of us went our separate ways. Some experienced kindness beyond measure, while others experienced violence to the extreme. Unfortunately, I was among the category that suffered abuse. Besides the emotional and physical abuse, we lost everything our mum ever worked for due to the injustices in our communities.

Now, the time had come for us to put whatever our late mum had taught us about trusting God to practice because all hope seemed gone. Matters got even worse when, due to accumulated unpaid tuition fees, one day the headteacher of my school decided to send me home for good! So for about a year, I was home helping my grandparents with house chores and not schooling at all! 

Redemption Around the Corner

At the peak of confusion, of both the mind and the heart, one day our grandmother sent my cousin and me on an assignment. As we walked through the neighbourhood, we found a church, and I heard a voice say to me, “This is where you belong.” When I told my accompanying cousin, she actually laughed out loud.

Long story short, the very Sunday of that week, I visited the church. After about three weeks, I joined the children’s church and started to serve. After about a year, one day I went to serve at 6 am, as usual. Little did I know it was going to be the day the Lord was going to answer my prayer. Everything seemed the same except that there was a man who happened to be watching everything I was doing that day, from carrying the chairs from the auditorium to arranging them in the children’s church tent to cleaning them. After I was done, he approached me to inquire about my parents, who brought me so early to church. Then I had to tell him the unexpected, that they were no more.

With a surprised look on his face, he quickly asked who I was living with, so I told him about my guardian grandparents. Suffice it to say that is the day I joined Watoto Child Care Ministries. Started in 1994, Watoto Child Care Ministries is a branch of the Watoto Church in Uganda that builds villages with schools, churches, medical centres, and homes and populates them with new families built from orphans and widows. With the support of Dad and Mum Perbi, through Watoto, I got a new home and was able to get settled back in school, thus a chance to dream again. Sharon restored.

Sharon Ransomed, Sharon Restored

Now, my major journey of restoration begins when Dad (Dr Yaw Perbi) visits Uganda. And he comes to see us at the Watoto village. It was a priceless moment because for the first time I experienced a father’s love… and knowing that I had a family that got my back changed my entire perspective of life. However, there’s something that Dad Perbi taught me unknowingly. Every time they would send me support through Western Union, the test question was always, “Who is your provider?” and the answer was always “Jehovah Jireh.” This taught me to continually trust in the Lord as the all-time provider. 

Above all, whenever I called, Dad Perbi responded positively, whether it was psychological or financial, and I must say, in just minutes. Therefore, by the grace of God, I am a social worker by profession at the diploma level, but actively involved in the entrepreneurial industrialisation of okra and the extraction of okra oil into products like body wash and shampoo, which are currently under trial. My social work skills have helped me greatly in achieving this simply because when I joined the social work class, cognitive skills were a must-do, thus we learned how to make bar soap, liquid soap and candles. Long story short, my chemical supplier continued to mentor me as I made other finished products alongside body butter gels and shower gels, until we arrived at this okra plant solution by the grace of God.