Introducing Cor Koelewijn
I come from an evangelical family upbringing. Except it has one rather
un-evangelical aspect; my parents where divorced! When I was 6 years
old my mother left with another man. This is too much for a young boy
to handle and it left me growing up without an understanding of what
family life was supposed to be like. I grew up well, considering the
circumstances but did not want to hear anything about that God of my
parents.
My father kept making vigorous attempts to get me saved but the more he
tried, the more I resisted! I didn't go too worldly though; I
just wasn't going to be another hypocrite. I was doing okay in my own
eyes until I came to a point when I was working on a coaster, belonging
to my relatives, and the atmosphere on board became so hostile towards
me that I jumped ashore at the first opportunity when the ship docked
in Rotterdam.
The period after that I was completely shuttered! I was doing my best
to be good to my own relatives but they abused and rejected me. I wad
depressed for almost a year when I was invited for the birthday of my
brother-in-law; Ben. When I was there I always enjoyed the company of
that family. In my eyes, they where the perfect example of a good
family. My sister noticed the struggle I was going through and asked
me: "Why don't you come with us to church on Sunday?" I refused of
course but she kept coming at me and insisted that I need the Lord and
that He could get me out of the loneliness I was in. As if she could
see right through me!
She was probably the only person in the world who could say that to me
for I accepted and that Sunday I was in church. Once there I tasted the
love that was real and could not resist any longer. I accepted the Lord
as the Lord of my life.
The Lord changed me completely and I enjoyed it. Little by little He
removed all the hurt and I even became able to forgive the people who
hurt me.
As the Lord changed me I asked Him to give me a new purpose in life and
give me a job in His kingdom. A little later my brother Peter asked me
to help him with the sound system as he was asked to assist a church in
Aalsmeer with a children's choir. I wasn't so impressed with it for it
would mean spending most of my weekend touring through Holland with the
sound system which is hard work and I would miss the regular church
services which I had started to enjoy so much!
Well, on the first meeting with the children I was convinced! I
suddenly became aware of the fact that this was what I had prayed for.
Immediately I told my brother: "you stay at home, I will do ALL
concerts." And so I did. I knew I was right in the center of God's
will. When the tour came to an end I again asked the Lord to lead me on
and show me the next step. He did. There was a small group of people
going to Uganda where these kids came from and I knew I was to go. We
spent 4 weeks in Uganda where we where to build and do all kinds of
practical work. Well, we really didn't do much and on the way home I
asked the Lord whether that really was useful.
On that same flight home the Lord showed me the moments I had spend
holding those young children in my arms and just simply showing love to
them. I wondered. Did I need to come all the way to Uganda to show some
kids a bit of attention? Yes, that was all the Lord needed from me at
that time. Again I asked him to lead me on and show me the way. He
clearly showed me the next step. I was to go and leave my job to join
another choir of young kids from the same organization. We toured in
Wales and North Ireland and continued again to Holland.
After that period the Lord led me to do some training with YWAM in
Heidebeek the Netherlands. Following that training I went to Uganda to
serve the children of that same organization. I believe this was a
training period for the time, which was coming. For two years I worked
there. I found it to extremely difficult. There was so much I needed to
learn. This culture was totally different from my own. I truly believe
a person actually needs that whole two years to get just a little bit
accustomed to such a different culture.
After that period of two years the Lord led us to start a new
organization in Uganda where I was to be the team leader. Now that was
again a new challenge to me! I believe that up to today, I actually
never said "yes" to that request by my superiors. However, I had
learned that sometimes you need to accept your leaders opinion as a
push from the Lord in the right direction.
In 1990 we first registered this new organization and called it the
Children's Welfare Mission. The next year we purchased 50 acre of land
right at the same place where 100 years ago the first Christians where
burned on the steak for their faith. That same year we built our first
block where we could house the kids. It was the following year that we
asked the pastor of Kampala Pentecostal Church where I had been
worshipping all that time, if he knew of a person who could help us
with take care of the children who by that time where already reporting
to us for help.
It didn't take long and the pastor reported to me that he had found a
young Christian lady ready for the job. Her name was Grace Omalla...
Next: Let Grace tell her side of the story.