21. Julius

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But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”  Luke 10:29

In a remote village in the town of Oyugis, about six hours drive from Nairobi, Kenya, lives a quiet, unassuming young man whose life has been radically – and irrevocably – changed by neighbours living on the other side of the world. His name is Julius and he is in his final year of schooling, a schooling enabled by DMI sponsors and the tireless work of another quiet, unassuming man named Neville from the remote Melbourne suburb of Beaconsfield.

Julius’ childhood was harsh. His family lived in abject poverty. His father died when he was an infant. His mother was left to raise four children on her own; the youngest, a daughter, disabled; the oldest, a son, delinquent. The strongest memory Julius has of this period, even though he was a child at the time, was the feeling of utter hopelessness. They had no comforts, no help from anyone and almost nothing to live on.

The saving grace for Julius was school. He began to attend his local primary school where he was a keen learner and was able to make many friends. He enjoyed school. It gave him his first glimmer of hope. 

Then disaster struck. 

Toward the end of his first school year, at age 5, he fell sick and his ears became very painful. He was confused and distressed at this illness. Julius’ eardrums then ruptured and he fell into a world of silence and isolation. He couldn’t understand what was happening to him and asked his mother where the sickness had come from, but she had no answers for him. More so, she no longer had any way to communicate those answers even if she had had them.

Deafness was just the start of Julius’ problems. Because of the perforation, his ears became very dirty and smelly. They drooled with pus. It made him a pariah. His friends wouldn’t go near him. He dropped out of school. He felt oppressed. Julius is forthright about what this did to him. “I lost my whole world. My friends all deserted me. I was alone all the time. And I began to think that there was something evil in me.”

But then he met Neville.

For the first time, Julius felt like he had worth. With the help of DMI supporters, Neville began to build a school for Julius and the other Deaf children in the area – the Emmanuel School for the Deaf – located in Ringa, just an hour’s drive from where Julius was living. On attending school and learning to sign, Julius’ whole world opened up again.

He shares with great enthusiasm about what this has meant to him. All the kids at school, he tells me, were so eager to learn. They were really hungry to be educated. Until then, Deaf kids were merely seen as stupid. A problem. But at the school they could learn to communicate, understand, become knowledgeable and accepted. 

Of even greater value than this, Julius tells me, was simply the relationship they had with Neville. He speaks in glowing terms of this gentle Melburnian. He says the first time he met Neville, he felt so good. For the first time he had someone who would listen to him – really listen to him – support him and provide practical solutions to life’s problems. Julius could share all his fears and challenges with Neville and he never tired of listening, there would always be a patient and wise response. Unlike anyone else, Neville believed in him and the other students and demonstrated this belief by building the school and equipping them with life skills.

Where would he be now, I ask, if Neville had never come along and DMI had never supported him? Julius is quick and precise in his answer: on the street. “I would have had no chance,” he tells me. “There would have been nothing at all in life for me.”

It’s not surprising where this outpouring of love has led him, and when he begins to talk of his faith and his future, he breaks into the biggest African smile I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen anyone so happy to talk about Jesus. Pastor Josephat at the Emmanuel School for the Deaf led him to Christ as a young man, and Julius’ life has been transformed ever since.

“Before I knew nothing about Christ,” he says, “but then I was born again, I became new in Christ and I learned that if we seek the Kingdom of God, then there is nothing to fear and everything to gain.” The stark contrast between the way of the world and the way of God was instrumental in Julius’ faith decision. “I saw how much suffering there was in the world, all the abuse, the abandonment of friends and the lack of any goodness. I’ve learned that God will always be a good friend and He is ultimately our only true help.”

This message can’t be kept in. Julius’ desire to work as a preacher of the gospel to the Deaf is palpable. He would love to be a full-time pastor, preacher, missionary – anything that will allow him to tell people about the gospel, to be a neighbour to those around him.

What an extraordinary path of development Julius has been on from a hopeless little ostracised Deaf boy to a young man of tremendous joy and faith, all because Neville and DMI’s supporters were a neighbour to him all those years ago.

Today there are 95 Deaf kids studying at DMI’s Immanuel School for the Deaf in Ringa (including 19 who have gone on to the local high school, just as Julius did). 21 remain unsponsored. 

Julius asks me to pass on his profound thanks to the DMI supporters who have continued to support him and the school in Ringa. “Thank you for remembering us. Thank you for your kind sponsorship. We are praying for you and praying for Neville and other sponsors too. May God bless you in Jesus’ name.”

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