Feature on William and Beatrice Kasaija
Uganda
August 2005

To work as a NHS manager in Liverpool is demanding.  However, you don't need an armed escort to travel around the area in safety.

So when William Kasaija decided to return to his native Uganda earlier this year, in order to work as the new Regional Food Programme Officer for Samaritan's Purse in Africa, he and his wife Beatrice had to weigh up the inherent risks. William was exchanging a secure, well-paid job for the British Government for one which is vitally needed but with which comes a certain amount of personal danger.

Northern Uganda is certainly not the suburbs of Liverpool. Hundreds of villages have been ravaged by the vicious militant cult, the Lord's Resistance Army, in recent years.  Their savage attacks have left thousands dead and tens of thousands more displaced, with nowhere to go but refugee camps.

As the new Regional Food Programme Officer, it is William's job to assess the needs for food and medicine in the various camps for which Samaritan's Purse is responsible. One such is the camp at Lira, in northern Uganda, which is home to 6,000 people. William also makes sure food gets to the people who need it most.

William first came to England to study in 1995, a few years after completing his degree at Makerere University, Kampala, where he was converted. His deep Christian commitment, his skills in management and his love of people have guided his choices ever since.  William worked as a Marketing Manager in Kampala and then with a joint church-government project for street children in Kampala.  A stint at Bible College in the Wirral led to work with the Victory Trust near Liverpool, again working with young people in difficult circumstances.  In 2002, William completed his MA dissertation at Liverpool University on the NHS,  before joining it as a Manager and then working with the public health sector, especially with refugees. 

But by late last year, William was restless. "My heart was no longer in it." He and Beatrice were haunted by the suffering they had seen in Uganda on a visit home. "I wanted to do something to help, if I could." 

So William began praying. "I knew of Samaritan's Purse and when this job came up, I was delighted. I felt that God had answered my prayers perfectly."

Now William and Beatrice are based in Kampala and William is travelling extensively. His duties include training and maintenance of international standards in Samaritan's Purse Programmes in Africa.

At the moment, Samaritan's Purse is daily feeding over 1 million men, women and children throughout the African continent. Please remember William and Beatrice in your prayers.

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