Missionary profile – Gilbert Oigo

By Mercy Kambura

Gilbert Oigo, Kenya

I’m a former street boy and gang leader who’s now reaching out to street families and gangs in my community. I help in trainings and run a mentorship to street families thrice a week. We teach the Word of God and help people recover from addictions and the street life that almost cost me my life.

Something tragic happened when I was age seven. The woman I thought was my mom revealed to me that she wasn’t my mom. She was my grandma, and my mom had died when I was a baby. Unfortunately, she too died soon after this confession. I was sent to live with my auntie and uncle in Nairobi.

Life with my uncle was unbearable. He was unkind and abusive – physically and verbally. When I couldn’t take the cruelty anymore, I ran way. I ended up in the city with the street boys, and my life on the streets of Nairobi and later, Mombasa began.

I was plunged into petty crime which graduated to full blown criminal activity. I became a most-wanted gang leader and was almost killed by the police but escaped by a whisker. I ended up in prison for six months to cool my heels and rethink my ways.

My heels cooled, but my ways didn’t change. After serving my sentence, I stole a digital camera. On my hawking spree to try to sell it, I met a man who was determined to talk to me. Fearing he was a cop, I ran. I met him again the following day. I decided not to run, and he turned out to be a preacher!

This man followed up with me, took me to church, preached to me and I gave my life to Christ. He started discipling me through a discipleship programme. I joined a Bible study and was happy to learn of the many ways to serve in Christ. I was told that God could use me to reach out to others. That was incredible to hear. I became a peer counselor for youths.

Later, I took the Kairos course and saw God’s heart for the nations. I took a mission trip to the Muslim-dominated northern Kenya, Marsabit. Then I volunteered in the children’s cancer ward in Kenyatta National Hospital. But I felt a burden to reach those in the streets and in the slums of Mombasa.

So I returned to Mombasa and started a few businesses to support myself as I reached out. I did Bible studies in the place I used to be a gang leader. The prayer meetings were powerful. I still volunteered in school camps and youth counselling. In one of these camps I came into contact with East-West ministries. Today I serve with East-West as the Assistant to the Field Director.

My days are filled with serving among the people that remind me of who I used to be, and I remind them of who they can be. Different hands need to participate in different ways.

How can your hands join the amazing, God-ordained work of missions?