“… I wanted everyone in our village to know… I wanted to make it publicly known that my life has been transformed…”
Deborah Robhi Nyangi is a twenty years lady, married as a second wife in a polygamous marriage of Mr. Juma Warioba. She was forced into this marriage by her father as soon as she completed her primary school studies four years ago. Robhi says her greatest quest has been to experience life of peace and joy because she has never experienced any since she came in this world. Her life has been that of a victim and a firsthand observer of abuse from her dad to her mother; and as the results deep in her heart she hated men and made a heart decision that she was never going to get married.
Deborah recalls,
“… for no good reason or reasons that I did not know, my dad would come home late in the night and start beating my mom and he would go further to beating me and my siblings – that was so unfair of him. I was filled with bitterness, anger and un-forgiveness. I hated men!” She goes on into saying, “… the same man who would inflict such pain on my mother and me, received some cows from his friends that I would be married as a second wife without my consent…”
Deborah has prayed to accept Christ as a response to what the Nyihanga mission point’s pastor and his wife consistent house visitation. In her own words Deborah says, “…this man and his wife have been coming to our house more than three times. They have been sharing this good news and told me how my life will experience total change…It was on the fifth or sixth visit that I accepted and prayed to receive Jesus in my heart.” She has been going to church since then and attending Bible study sessions to help her grow in faith. In one of the sessions, she recalls “Our pastor taught us from the bible that baptism is an outward demonstration of an inward change…”
Since that was her desire, she has been praying over it and kept troubling the pastor with one question, “When will I be baptized?”
When the day of baptisms arrived, Deborah discovered that there was a scheme by her husband to stop or make her arrive late at the place of baptisms. To her surprise, there were a lot of house chores assigned to her that morning and a lot of plans were put before her to have them accomplished during the same day. Meanwhile, she was told by her husband that it was her turn to take the cattle to the field for feeding and get water. Deborah figured out how she was going to execute all those, she says “God gave me strength and speed to do the house chores and as I was going on something popped up in my mind… I will use the cattle grazing as a room for me to be baptized.”
Deborah decided to lead the flock near a water dam where baptisms were taking place. She would observe baptisms taking place from a distance, she would hear the songs and felt the excitements and she said, “I kept telling myself, I am going to be baptized today…” She was counting down the number of people being baptized, and as the last person was making his way in water, she ran so fast and queued as the last person. This brought such a surprise to the pastors and church members who were there. When she got baptized, she came out of water with a new mind she says, “… it is as if the water wiped out the bitterness and hatred that was deeply hidden in my heart.”. When I returned home that evening, none could resist that I became a new person. I forgave my husband right away for all the hindrances that he was putting before me and started sharing with him about the love of Christ.