Meet Namujjuzi, a former ‘man-snatcher’ turned street evangelist

Kampala is fairly blessed with a number of street evangelists but there is one who recently attracted my attention.

She is chocolate-skinned, somewhat fragile, intelligent in expression and her chic thinness character forces many road users, like myself to give her undivided attention.

Her name, (as I later discovered) is Joanitah Namujjuzi.

“Praise God, Praise the Lord,” are some of the words that Namujjuzi usually uses as she starts her sermons on the dusty streets of Kampala.

I sat her down after her preaching to know what inspires her to hit the streets and if she has been doing this all her life.

Namujjuzi said that no, things were very different a few years ago. “If you had bumped into me ten years ago, no girl would not want me close to their husbands and boyfriends. I was a known man-snatcher. But thank God who changed me for the better in and out,” Namujjuzi said.

EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

Namujjuzi said that growing up, she was a church member at the Pastor Robert Kayanja led Miracle Centre Cathedral Rubaga in her youthful days but her intentions were far from what is expected of a Christian.

Namujjuzi said: “We would go to pray every Sunday but all we wanted was to look good, which would have been okay, but we started doing a lot of things along the way. I could go to church, but still come back and drink alcohol, snatch people’s men and all sorts of things since I was fourteen years of age.”

POINT OF CHANGE

Namujjuzi said that one-day as she was sitting in a bar, she took a minute off and looked at the people around her.

This gave her a lot to ponder about.

“Almost everyone around me seemed to be very happy but I had this pain inside me. I was looking for a peace of mind which could not be satisfied by alcohol. I would feel better after a few bottles, only to go back home and realize that that I am still not happy,” Namujjuzi said.

She said girls would go barhopping with her just because they knew she would buy for them beer but they were not her real friends.

Namujjuzi however said that she is thankful that she went through such a life because it laid the foundation for what she has turned into.

HITTING THE STREETS

Namujjuzi said that as she settled more in church, she started feeling the urge to preach the goodness of God and would preach in her church and the youth department where she was placed at Miracle Centre Cathedral.

She is however quick to note that she didn’t see herself preaching on the streets because she lacked the confidence until this year when something happened.

Joanitah Namujjuzi

“It’s coming to 5 months Now. I got the motivation from the Holy Spirit of God Almighty. I have always seen street envagelist preaching and I would always say to myself ( if it’s not Gods instruction, I would never do this) 🤣 but Guess what!

GOD DID INSTRUCT ME

The Holy Spirit of God Almighty motivated me with confidence and boldness,” Namujjuzi said.

“On my first day I actually made sure I was fasting, because I completely didn’t know what was going to happen but thanks be to God Almighty that I wasn’t alone for the first time. I had a big number of team I had joined because for them they where well experienced with the street preaching. This made me feel calm and cool.”

“I kept repeating that word over and over again. Not because I didn’t have Scriptures to forehead my preaching but I honestly didn’t move my lips for a while by myself. Eventually in about 20minutes I jumped into the speed of the Holy spirit and thats when I started preaching John 3:16 that says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

I have read this scripture over and over again but this day the word of God was ALIVE to me. As I preached, the Holy Spirit opened up wisdom knowledge and understanding of the scriptures in a way that I can’t even explain to you Jonah.”

Namujjuzi said that on her first day of street evangelism, she felt a whole lot of joy and satisfaction that she had failed to find in bars for all those years she spent moving from one bar to another.

“We preached( me and my interpreter) and as I preached I just kept on feeling so much joy from the inside. As a pouring out of Joy into my heart. This very Love of Our God increased in me. I remember,it threatened to rain, and we still didn’t leave the streets (I told my friend Barbra, “this rain can’t stop us from preaching the Word of God On the streets.

This rain is actually a blessing.) It started to pour and we stayed there, working for the kingdom of God. ( I really wanted to leave the rain but my spirit was enjoying the Work) so we continued to preach and the Rest is evidenced by the eye witness of the Lord. The first day really humbled me. I now knew that the Lord needed me on the streets.”

CHALLENGES

Life on the streets has not been all rosy for Namujjuzi but she said that she takes every challenge as an opportunity to show off her God and she has seen more of Him at every challenge.

She said: “I got to encounter people who would look at laugh at us( and you also just look and be humble, and you keep Preaching) I also got to encounter so many people that probably thought they really knew me but yet they just had an idea about me.”

THIS IS THE REAL ME

As I stand on the streets, I saw the real me. The person God created me to Be.”

ACHIEVEMENTS

Namujjuzi said that life at the streets has helped her to know what she really is. Namujjuzi said that,”I have discovered who I am in Christ.

This is everyone’s Greatest desire. To know who they are. What type of authority and dominion they have over the earth and in heaven.”

 

 

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