From soldier to spy to spokesman for God!
By Pastor Andrew
Think Deaf, African, Christian, James Bond and you’re getting close to understanding who Thomas is.
Thomas Bimazubute’s humble beginnings bely the extraordinary trials and adventures which were to come throughout his life. He was born Deaf into a loving family, but love does not always equate to wise practice, or bring immunity from the persecution of outsiders. His parents and 8 siblings loved him, but their neighbours frequently tried to force his parents to throw him into the pit latrine to remove the curse that they believed was upon the Deaf.
His parents and 8 siblings loved him, but to keep him from wandering off while his parents went to work, they would poison his eyes so he was temporarily blinded. When they came home from work, he could feel them but not see or hear them. Thomas was so angry with his mother for doing that. He struggled with complicated emotions of love and resentment toward his parents throughout his childhood.
These feelings weren’t aided by him sitting at the window, alone, heartbroken, each morning watching all his siblings go off to school. It was years before he would be introduced to a school for the Deaf and this turned his life around in more ways than one. Yes, he finally found a community that he belonged to; and yes, he could now get an education. But the only way to get to school was by car and that was the first time in his life that Thomas had ever ridden in a vehicle and that was perhaps, for him, the best thing of all!
Yet his adolescence was stolen from him when civil war broke out in Burundi in 1993. Aged 16, he was recruited by the rebels to fight against the government in a war which killed over 300,000 people in 6 years. Thomas fought every year of that bloody war, seeing his friends butchered and his life threatened more times than he could count.
It was the Bible that gave him hope.
Some of the other soldiers gave it to him and though his reading of it was elementary, he loved that Bible. He carried it in his shirt pocket every day till the end of the war and treasured it as the Word of God.
In 2001, the war ended, but hostilities remained. The chief commander asked Thomas to enter the secret service, working for the government but feeding information back to the rebels. It was cutthroat, cloak and dagger stuff. If he’d been caught, it wouldn’t have ended well. At the same time, he supplemented his income by working as a carpenter and then a chicken farmer. I’m surprised he didn’t have a crack at plumbing, too. This was a crazy way to live, a dangerous lifestyle for anyone, let alone a Deaf man.
But God had other plans for Thomas.
In the spring of 2003, Thomas met DMI’s David Bulime who came from Uganda to Burundi on a mission trip. Thomas, who had lost his way a little but never his love for God, was amazed that a Deaf man could preach! Thomas was so inspired by this, it redirected his life. He met DMI Burundi Director Fabien at this time who encouraged Thomas to go to DMI’s Bible school in Uganda.
Two years and a thousand struggles later, Thomas graduated and began ministering to Deaf children in a village outside Kayanza in Burundi, then later in the heart of Kayanza as well. The twists and turns kept coming. He married, moved back to Bujumbura and began working two jobs – one for DMI as an evangelist, the other working for the President of Burundi – right where he had been spying for the rebels five years earlier! You can’t make this stuff up! To this day, Thomas works for the President but also serves with DMI, going out to minister to children in the countryside villages and chairing the DMI Board in Burundi.
And I thought my job took me places!
Thomas finishes the interview sharing his passion for the gospel and how he plans to spend more time ministering to the Deaf in remote villages. That’s where his real heart is. He also expressed his sincere thanks to DMI for always supporting him and giving him a life worth living.
A motorbike is one of the most useful tools for pastors and evangelists in Africa. They enable more ministry, more widely, more efficiently than any other form of transport. Thomas needs a motorbike. If you would like to contribute towards a motorbike for Thomas, please click the red button below, or mail me at info@deafmin.org
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