Robert Rajab had a pleasing childhood with his mother while growing up. She was his friend and companion as a child. She was his cushion for life’s storms and performed excellently her responsibility as a mother. However, in 1996 when he was joining the teens, she passed away and this was the beginning of his misery, before he received salvation. He told his grave experience of loss and redemption to Pauline Akello.
After the passing of his mother, Rajab’s hopes for attending school were summarily dashed and he did not have a formal and consistent guardian.
It became quite clear that he did have caring kinship and that no one seemed to be concerned for his wellbeing.
His supposed family showed indifference towards his situation and no one tried to help.
He found himself on the streets trying to fend for himself. Some good-hearted people tried to sponsor him to attend school but time came when money ran out.
Search for a father
Rumors swirled about his possible lack of paternal relation but there was an unwillingness to confirm this, and he was left hanging in the balance.
Time came when he resolved to search for his father, who had left him in Soroti district in Eastern Uganda.
Rajab decided to travel to Kampala, hoping he would find a better life.
It was a distressing time as he was left on his own and he opted to find work. He found a job as a causal labourer but meals were continually irregular.
With all that anguish, he thought of committing suicide.
“I tell you the pain and agony ran deep. I thought, let me go and jump in front of those trains so that I can end this. The questions I had about my identity, about who I really was barraged me and yet none offered the answer. I was like a nomad in a people, not by choice,” he says.
Receiving Christ
In 2005, while at a crusade in Kisenyi, Kampala, he decided to get born again and received Christ.
Having been an itinerant most of his younger days, he lived with many people who stipulated he practices their religion, but he made a sole decision this time.
As a new Christian, he started to search for Church to join and eventually settled at Rural Evangelical Church in Bugolobi.
He was mostly attracted by the entertaining choir which always made service vibrant. Without a home to live, Rajab started staying in Church, while also serving as a guard, a labourer and an usher.
He was still going through difficulties and uncertainty again started to creep in.
“I then started to have doubt, because of the difficulties. But by God’s grace I held on and remained persistent till when God called me somewhere else,” he says.
Shifting tide
Rajab cannot count the number of missions and crusades he has attended during his salvation walk. They were training ground for his future work and service to God.
His favorite Bible verse is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
This verse reassures him of God’s presence in his life regardless of what he went through.
Due to past experience, Rajab is a firm believer that God blesses the works of our hands.
When he learnt this lesson, he was pushed to widen his vision and find work opportunities outside of Church.
He also begun to ask God for his next assignment.
He says with a passion and natural ability in electronics, he began wiring small tools for his personal use.
He would pick abandoned batteries and fix them to repair radios and through relentless determination, he mastered the art of sound engineering by himself. This earned him an average income till he went back to serving God.
Serving God
In 2017, he was led to begin the Rajab Ministries International with a mission of spreading the Gospel and doing charity work.
Along the way, God has connected him with other fellow Christians who share the same passion for the Gospel and charity, especially caring for children.
His sincere appeal goes to parents to always share the truth with their children because they suffer with uncertainties in case the parents pass away.
“Issues of true parental status are very painful when the parent is long gone and the child is left to fate. I thank God who was able to adopt and anchor me into His family. But not many may be like me,” he says.
Richard Musinguzi, a youth minster at Bugolobi Church of Uganda compliments Rajab for his commitment and hardwork.
“I have worked with Rajab in different Curch media teams and I must say he is gifted in sound and passionate about missions. He shows a lot of commitment and sacrifices alot for his work. He loves to serve,” Musinguzi says.
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