By Egide Bizima, Africa T4T Director

Wilson’s spiral into darkness began when he was 10 years old. On his way to work, Wilson’s father was killed in a car accident in 2007. “After my father died, life took a turn for the worse. We had to stop school and move from the city of Kampala (Uganda) to the countryside to live with my grandfather.”“When my father died, he left my mother with seven children, and so we went to live with our grandfather.  Life was not easy at all; from that moment on, all of us, as brothers and sisters, began to lose our direction in life.” Wilson stated. As I listened to Wilson tell his story, I saw him releasing his past and healing from wounds he had carried for many years. His story touched my heart. Wilson Kagabo was one of the fearsome young men who lived in a place known as Kirombe.  Kirombe was a place that was inaccessible to anyone, and even the security forces were very afraid of gangs that lived in that place. It was said that if someone fled there, no one would follow him into that place.After a few years, Wilson was taken back to the city of Kampala by his uncle (the younger brother of Wilson’s father.) His uncle took him back to school, but things got worse when Wilson’s uncle couldn’t pay his school fees.  As a result, Wilson dropped out of school after the fourth grade. Wilson continued his story, sharing what happened next. “I started joining groups of young men (gangs) who were not well behaved. I started drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and eventually marijuana. Later I became an addict of so many kinds of drugs. My family tried to get me out of that place but they couldn’t because I was an addict.” Wilson said that although he looked very young, he was respected and became the leader of every group he joined.  Eventually, he and his friend Israel ended up leading the most notorious and feared gang in Kirombe. This Israel responded to the Gospel at For His Glory’s Kirombe Festival in June 2025. “Despite the fact that I couldn’t get myself out of that bondage of addiction, criminality, being hunted by soldiers every night, I desperately wanted to get out of the life I lived in. I survived many deaths that took lives of my gang members, many of them died in my hands. My life was extremely bitter. I tried so many times to commit suicide but I failed.” Wilson said with tears flowing from his eyes.

Wilson Kagabo sharing his story. In May 2025, Wilson visited his family in the countryside, but he couldn’t stay for more than three months because of his weird behaviors. So, he came back to Kirombe two months after the For His Glory festival and found their ghetto closed. When he asked whereabout his friend Israel, he was taken to a clean small house.  Wilson was shocked because he was not used to see his gang members living in a clean organized house. When Israel saw me, he jumped out of the house, hugged me and said to me that, I had come in an appropriate perfect time of God! It was my first-time hearing Israel speaking the word—God! I could see the joy he had in his heart but didn’t understand what was going on with him or what had happened to him.” Wilson kept saying. Israel told Wilson that there was a crusade in Kirombe and the Gospel of Jesus was preached.  They all discovered the love and mercy of God to all sinners through Jesus Christ.  Israel told Wilson how Jesus died for all the sinners of the world. “Still in shock, I was welcomed to Israel’s T4T (discipleship) group on that very evening. That’s when I started realizing how much God loved me and wanted to change my life for the better. I started feeling like a new person being changed from the inside out of me. I clearly figured out how I desperately needed Jesus in my life. As Israel started sharing the story about the life he and I lived, all the crimes we had committed; and about how God sent His servant all way from the US to reveal His love to us; tears started flowing and I couldn’t stop it even though I felt embarrassed. I felt transformation from the inside-out and surrendered my life to Christ Jesus. I am a new creature in Christ!” Wilson was moved to tears again when said this. “I thank God for watching over me after all the sinful life I lived in since 2015. I thank God that in all the unthinkable things that I did, I did not take any person’s life and that God preserved my own life even though I was really a very bad person. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for Your love and mercy upon me and life! I can’t believe that today God is using me to lead others to Himself!” Wilson said with his hands raised up in praise to the Lord.