Photo by Glenn Francis
The Rev. Sam Childers is a former Hells Angel who became a minister and, more improbably, a paramilitary commander. He left his home in Pennsylvania 14 years ago, after his first mission to Uganda, when he discovered evidence of the conflict engulfing the region: the dismembered body of a young child left on the roadside. He’s since dedicated his life to pursuing the rebel group responsible for that killing and thousands of others like it. It’s a quest that has propelled Childers, the self-styled “Machine Gun Preacher,” through Uganda, Sudan, and the Congo to track down Lord’s Resistance Army rebels and their leader, Joseph Kony.
Today, Childers’ charity, Angels of East Africa, runs one of the largest orphanages in Uganda. It also seeks armed confrontation with the insurgents. Childers works with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army and regularly leads about 40 soldiers on patrols and combat operations. In addition, he spends several months each year traveling through the United States, drumming up support for his organization. Next summer, a feature film based on his book, Another Man’s War, will be released starring actor Gerard Butler.
Childers will appear locally at Edgemont Bible Church (5100 N. Illinois, Fairview Heights, Ill., 618-277-3990, edgemontbiblechurch.org) this Sunday, October 10, from 10 a.m. to noon.
What’s life like on a daily basis for the people of Uganda and Sudan?
You’re living in a war—they’ve been in a war zone for 22 years. The average life in Sudan for a child in the bush: They eat once a day, never until they’re satisfied, it’s just enough to survive. They don’t go to school. They don’t have a bed. They sleep in a mud tuku, on a mud floor on a grass mat. Usually, there will be one blanket to five children or so.
What are conditions like for the kids at your orphanage?
It’s a lot better. They get three meals a day, they go to school, they’ve got safety. They’re in an orphanage that has armed guards, at least 20 soldiers. There hasn’t been anyone killed in my direct area in two years. We have two wells that have very good water. We have a clinic, and we have a nurse hired three days a week. But with as many children as we have, we’re always lacking something.
You’ve been fighting Joseph Kony and the LRA rebel group for many years. Does Kony know who you are?
Oh, yeah. I’ve invited him out to dinner and everything, but he doesn’t want to meet with me. You know, his soldiers have tried to attack my orphanage several times. They’ve tried to assassinate me. They’ve ambushed me over 10 times. He’s a coward. Anyone that cuts the arms and legs and lips off of little children, they’re cowards. For a while, he was claiming to be Christian and a messiah; now he’s claiming to be Muslim. He’ll force kids to kill people from their family—once a child kills a family member, there’s nothing else they could do worse than that. That literally makes them more of a killer than a trained soldier.
In regards to your faith, is this a case of the ends justifying the means—that in order to affect life positively for hundreds of people, you must resort to violence?
I’ve stopped caring what people thought of me a long time ago. I’m out on a mission, I’m out to save children. I will do whatever I have to do... Not just in Sudan, but anywhere in this world. Some people try to say I’m a radical Christian—that is not true. I am a freedom fighter. I believe that every man and woman has the right to choose who they want to serve, if they want to serve Allah, Buddha, or Christ. If you don’t want to believe at all, that’s fine. I fight for that freedom, that everyone can choose. And if you’re going to do something, you gotta do it now. It’s not about one person giving a lot; it’s about a lot of people doing a little.
There’s a movie about your life coming out soon that’s directed by Marc Forster and stars Gerard Butler, who will be playing you. Did you have much input in the making of the movie?
Gerard Butler stayed at my house in Pennsylvania for about a week. I hung out with him in L.A. a few times, and on the movie sets in Detroit. I hung out with him in South Africa for a few days, too, so he could get the character a little bit. And I worked a lot with the screenwriter, Jason Keller... But you gotta remember: He’s just acting. He’s just trying his best to portray me, okay? So he’s never gonna do that, no matter how good he is.
