Joseph Arineitwe was born into a family of eight (two boys and six girls). Two are deceased. When his father died in 1998, he was nine and life was hard for him without his dad. Two years later his mother became ill and paralyzed, unable to work. Because of the lack of basic care, some of his brothers went to live with other family members, and some took to the street. Joseph lived with a relative who believed in Jesus and while there, he gave his life to the Lord. Staying in school was a struggle for lack of funds. As a result he was chased from school to school attending four primary schools then finishing in 2003. Life stabilized in 2007 when Joseph joined the Rock home with his sister Prosy and brother Nicholas. Since then, life changed. While living there he was encouraged to keep the condition of his heart in line with God’s principles. As a team leader the younger kids looked to him as their mentor and role model as he coached and trained them. They loved him and there was mutual respect just like the children he taught in AWANA, a children’s ministry at church.
Joseph thanks God that he finished his secondary school and has joined Uganda Christian University in September 2010. He is grateful to God for the good things he is doing and told us he is the first in his family to make it to university. Through the years Joseph has been faced with standing strong for what honors God and standing against bribes and corruption. A quiet man he is a friend to many but when faced with challenges he stands firm. This is difficult in a culture where it is thought to be rude to say "no" to anything. The discipleship training Joseph has received has reinforced his identity in Christ and how to stand strong in the culture. He believes change can happen in the resource rich country of Uganda but integrity and honoring the Lord is the only way to solve the issue of poverty.
He is scheduled to graduate in October of 2013 with a Bachelors Degree in Public Administration and Management at Uganda Christian University.
