Meet our photographer Friday

I want to introduce you to our photographer Friday…I met Friday last year when I was in Uganda, he was working with another ministry taking photos, after meeting him I knew I wanted him to work with Project Yesu…so this year he has been spending about a week with us capturing photos, helping to paint our latrine, playing drums in church, and hanging out with us… but best of all becoming part of the PY family.

My name is FRIDAY SSEMUJJU, aged 25 a Ugandan, I was born in Ggaba a small village by the lakeside in the central part of Uganda. My family has six children, inclusive of one sister and five brothers.

Our father deserted us when I was four years old. In that period even my mother was earning so little that she could barely raise enough money to get us what to eat at home. A single parent raised us and that is our mother, she struggled with school fees, medical care and basic needs.

Through a lot of family discouragements I continued trusting God and believed him for away through. I came to learn several lessons that God is my fortress and strength. Our father disowned my siblings and us when our mother became a Christian; She loved the Lord so much that she helped us become Christians too and got us involved with church activities. Life became so difficult for us. On top of that our father chased us from the main house and we were forced to live in a small room because that is the place we could afford to pay for at the moment. We used to sleep down with no mattress and covers.

I really can’t count how many times our mother left us to go start looking for money and work to do so that we can survive, due to the poverty we lived in, I started selling snacks in different small towns and my other brothers. That also led me to do a lot of different type of work in people houses while our sister stayed home. Also my older brother joined the Uganda army till now. I thank God that my mother never at any one moment lost hope and she continued to trusted God so much.

She fought so hard to see that she can push us through school, We spent 3 years out of school because she could not find the money for fees and she encouraged us that despite the situation we were going through and God will help us to finish campus and graduate.

It was during the same period that our church introduced the sponsorship program and I was among the children that were chosen to be sponsored at the age of 7 years.

This helped me so much that I got a chance to go back to school through my sponsor, life began again. Life didn’t become better there and then but it gave me hope to work hard both in my life and school. Also my three brothers also got sponsored. Through the program they provide us with basic needs, like clothing, medical, books and other few things for school.

I gave my life to God when I got 10 years and I was introduced to many church activities like Sunday school, camping, reading the Bible, knowing how to pray and fasting. My spiritual life of knowing God started growing and I never stopped believing that following God is worthwhile.

God started opening more doors in my life and family, I completed my High school with good grades.

The program grew so big and there where many children that were sponsored, so it was was very hard for them to pay the full tuition fee for the high school and university for me any more, so they decided to pay half of the fee for tuition who ever finish High, My mother was not also in position to pay for me another half because the costs where too high for university and I stopped form there for 2 years again.

I didn’t stop believing God and trusting Him for my life. I decided to continue serving God at my church in children ministry and later I joined the media ministry where I was trained into video coverage and photography.

One day when we went on mission trip with a term that came form the United States to serve in Uganda, I shared my life story with one of people on the team and later when they went back I kept communicating with her. God was so faithful to me that her and his family decided to take me back to school and help me to fulfill my life dream

God helped me and used the family to sponsor me up to when I graduated Form University; I saw God’smighty hand and miraculous work on my life that my sponsors family trusted me and believed in me that at any point I didn’t waste their Money or disappoint them. God knew my name n also knew me when I was in my mother’s womb. Now I live because of God’s love. I give praises to God almighty for my life.