Meet Alanyo Doreen, Director of the Abaana's Hope Kitchen

The Lord works in mighty ways, using all kinds of people of every age to do his will. God is capable of using anyone for His good, just like he used a young intern to lead Alanyo Doreen to Jesus Christ. He calls us to love each other deeply, loving one another as He has loved us. Sharing the Word of God with others is the best way to show this kind of love. 

Before Abaana’s Hope was established in Uganda, Doreen was living in Kenya with her brother. After living there for a few years, she returned home to Uganda to live with her father in 1990. At this time, the rebel activity, led by Joseph Kony, made life very difficult for everyone living in Uganda. The rebels posed a great threat to Doreen because she had been living outside the country. If the rebels found her at home, they would likely kill her or arrest her, thinking she might be an informant for the government. 

Doreen hid in the bush for several weeks, exposed to rain and mosquitoes. Eventually, she decided to go back home, and her father’s neighbors began asking questions. One man who lived close by reported to an army captain that someone from outside Uganda had come to the area.

She was arrested and taken to the captain. They asked Doreen many questions about where she’d been staying and about her life. Knowing that Doreen was a young, single woman, the captain then forced her to marry him. 

“By that time, my father was not able to take care of me, and the rebels were everywhere. So, I had to stay with that man. I stayed with him for eight months,” Doreen said, through a translator.

Doreen’s uncle tried to report this issue to the police, and after eight months, they were able to help her get out of the marriage and away from the captain. She left the captain and went to live in the city.

“I started struggling because things were hard by that time. There’s no way you can get money, so I started doing small jobs,” she said.

Doreen found work as a waitress and later became a cook. She married another man and moved to live in a village with him. Together they had four children. While living in the village, there were times when Doreen and her family had to flee and run back to town because of the rebels. 

Since 1987, Joseph Kony and his rebel army, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), ravaged northern Uganda, ripping families apart. It’s believed that Kony’s goal was to overthrow the Ugandan president to install a government based on his personal version of the Ten Commandments. To accomplish his goal, he would attack villages to abduct children he could indoctrinate into his ranks. The LRA abducted and killed thousands of civilians. An estimated 66,000 children were forced to be sex-slaves and soldiers and hundreds were orphaned.

This went on for almost 20 years. By 2006, Kony and his rebel army had started to disappear. They left Uganda and were forced into the surrounding countries of South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

“When the rebels left, it was so easy for everyone. When they were here in Uganda, things were not easy because everyone had to stay in hiding,” Doreen said. “Right now, people are free to move wherever they want to go, even the missionaries were able to come and stay here to share the Word of God. Many people got saved through being together.”

While the rebels were active in Uganda, Doreen said you would never find people staying together. Fear and threats from the rebels forced the people to become isolated while they hid from the danger.

In 2011, Doreen got a divorce after 12 years of marriage, and life became difficult again for her and her four children. By 2012, Four Corners Ministries had bought 100 acres of land outside of Gulu, which is now Abaana’s Hope. Doreen heard about the ministry and decided to go see what she could do there. 

When she arrived, people were clearing out the bushes and planning to build structures. Blessed with the gift of cooking, Doreen was quickly accepted to begin working in the Abaana’s Hope kitchen, where she is now the director. Doreen leads the 10 cooks in the kitchen as they feed two meals a day to the Living Stones Christian School students and the Abaana’s Hope employees. This job allows her to pay for her children’s school fees and care for her parents. Her father suffered from leprosy and is now lame.

When Abaana’s Hope was established in 2012, missionaries Darrell Hobbs and Roy Durham began leading Bible studies under a shade tree where they shared the Word of God with the Acholi people. Doreen grew up in a Catholic family, but she began to realize the gospel was not about religion. It was about building a relationship with Jesus and following Him. However, it wasn’t until five years later that Doreen officially made the decision to follow Christ.  

“There was one of the interns who used to come here with Momma Rachel. That girl really loved me so much. She had been sharing with me the Word of God so deeply,” Doreen said. “Around 2017, I received Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior.”

Doreen began learning more about God and saw her life start to change. Despite hardships in her life, she has a newfound sense of joy in Christ.

“The message of the gospel that I give to those who have not yet received Jesus to be their Lord and Savior is they should draw closer to Him because He is the way and the truth and the life,” Doreen said. “My life was not supposed to be like this, but Jesus helped me.”