Meet Okello Samuel, the Abaana's Hope Administrator

In 1998, when Okello Samuel was about nine years old, he got a phone call while he was at boarding school. He was told his father had been abducted by LRA rebels. These rebels were led by Joseph Kony, who terrorized northern Uganda, murdering, kidnapping, and enslaving thousands.

“I never got the chance to see him again,” Sam said. “After about 6 years, I got information that he died in the bush there.”

Despite experiencing grief at this young age, Sam found the Lord’s compassion and unfailing love through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Many years later, he was exposed to the truth of the gospel at Abaana’s Hope, which encouraged him to surrender his life to Christ and follow Jesus.

Sam is the second born in his family, and he has three siblings. He grew up in the Catholic faith, and after his father was abducted, his aunt and uncle helped raise him. During this time, Sam watched his uncle run a business and perform auditing and accounting tasks. This piqued his interest in business and led him down the path of studying business at Makerere University of Kampala.

He graduated with his degree in 2013 and began looking for job opportunities. A year later, his uncle reached out and asked him to come back and manage his business firm, which delt with construction and maintenance projects. He worked there for three years before coming to Abaana’s Hope.

One day, while Sam was supervising a road project for his uncle, he finally had the opportunity to meet Kevin Kiden in person. Sam had seen her at Gulu University when he was a part-time tutor in 2014, but he never had the opportunity to approach her. He knew she lived near this road project, so when he saw her, he told her he would like to get to know her.

“She told me, ‘If you want to talk to me, you have to come home to talk to my mom.’ So, I told her I would come by the next day,” Sam said. After this, one thing led to another, and Sam and Kevin were married. Now, they have two children – Asher Christian, 8, and Celine Martha, 2.

“At that time, our own church was against us getting married because I was still a Catholic and she was already a believer. Kevin told them that while I was not a believer, she saw that I’m God fearing and very honest. I got the chance to meet her pastor and some of the elders, and during those conversations, they okayed our marriage,” Sam said. “I became a believer in 2016 because where she started working, a missionary couple invited me to come. They got to know me, they started sharing the gospel with me, and finally, I surrendered to Christ.”

Kevin helped Four Corners Ministries as a translator at Abaana’s Hope starting in 2014. By 2016, she was hired as the social worker for the Child Development Program after she gave birth to their son.

“To be honest, during my school days, I used to see other believers, how they would portray their lives. At that time, I thought, if this is how believers are then I would never become one,” Sam said. “But, when I got the chance to meet the missionaries at Abaana’s Hope, they shared the gospel, and I saw the truth in what they were saying. The people here at Abaana’s Hope portrayed what it means to be a believer, and it was different from the others I saw in school. I saw that this is a true picture of what it means to be a believer, so I made up my mind and surrendered to Christ.”

Sam understood that good works, tradition, and additional doctrine could not save him. He realized there is nothing he can do on his own to receive salvation. It is through scripture alone, Christ alone, faith alone, grace alone, and the glory of God alone.  

“What matters is that Christ has already done everything for a sinner like me. I do not need to enforce a certain set of rules in order to achieve that righteousness. Christ has already done so. What I am meant to do is to believe and to live it out. The truth is that however much I try to be perfect, I cannot follow perfectly. What matters is that I need to always repent and seek forgiveness,” he said.

In 2018, Sam joined the Four Corners team as the assistant administrator for Abaana’s Hope. This allowed him to serve alongside his wife and to bring their family together in one place. Before accepting the position, Sam was away from his family for months at a time. Now, they are growing together as a family personally and spiritually, and they are raising their two children together.

One year later, Sam became the Abaana's Hope administrator. In this role, he handles petty cash and makes sure the ministry meets all the legal requirements and financial regulations put in place by the Ugandan government. He supervises the heads of each department, maintains financial records, and more.

“I want to thank all the others over there for their enormous support to Abaana’s Hope, and I encourage them to continue to allow God to use them the way he’s using them now,” Sam said. “The vision for Abaana’s Hope is to communicate and demonstrate the gospel of Christ to the unreached people, so I pray that God continues to use them in that same manner. Also, I want to encourage them that we are here to help achieve that vision for the glory of God. Whatever God is allowing them to do to extend a helping hand, we really appreciate. It’s helping our communities here. I pray that God continues to provide more opportunities for more people to help shape and achieve our vision.”