Since 2020, we have seen God restore and transform the lives of the most vulnerable: the victims of the war.
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves;
ensure justice for those being crushed.” - Proverbs 31:8 (NLT)
Who are we?
Our vision (of the future).
We want to see godly men (and women) raised up in the society. We believe that through their changed lives, the communities and society will change as well.
Our mission (in the present).
We work for transformation and restoration of the lives of ex child soldiers; empowering them body, soul and spirit.
Why child soldiers.
They are (at least in our opinion) one of the most vulnerable groups there is because of the trauma they carry. Their lives cannot truly be changed without a heart level transformation, and only God can do that. Also, there are not many organizations working with them and the need is great! Only in South Sudan, there are about 19,000 child soldiers - world wide about 250,000-300,000!
You can read from below how it all got started but this work is God’s dream that He gave to our CEO.
Our core values (that we live by).
Everything in our organization circles around two things: loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves. We believe in one God that is three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and we believe in His Word, the Bible, as the truth and live according to it.
2 Peter 1:3 (NLT):
“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.”
We believe that in knowing Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we have everything we need to live a godly life.
Background, present and the future
How it all got started.
Our CEO and the founder Mimmi Pekurinen first felt the calling for missions to South Sudan in 2014. During the following years she served there and elsewhere in Eastern Africa as a missionary and God started to break her heart for this people group: ex child soldiers.
She had also started to realize her calling as a mother to spiritual sons and daughters and she had heart for the outcast and the most vulnerable in the society so focusing on this group felt natural!
Mimmi received Isaiah 35 as the founding Scripture for the organization and after years of prayer, the operations finally started in May 2020.
What are we doing now.
You can read more in-depth descriptions of our programs here.
We have invested in 9 young South Sudanese men, all former child soldiers, at Biddi Bidi refugee settlement in Uganda since May 2020. Numbers definitely matter, however, we want to truly encounter these young men and see their lives radically changed. We believe they will be future leaders of their communities! And they are already experiencing it: they themselves say that they want to be sharing the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ and their testimonies with their people and it’s wonderful to see them do so!
We’ve been running a discipleship program for them since the beginning and in December 2022 we launched a vocational training program that equips them with professional skills and deepens their understanding of their identities as children of God!
What does the future hold.
Well, God only knows but we would like to see as many lives changed as possible and we dream about spreading our organization to surrounding nations in Africa as well: next step will be naturally South Sudan where our current beneficiaries are originally from, and at the same time we want to get Blooming Desert registered in Finland as well in order to have more fundraising activity. In the future we’d like to see ourselves in nations such as DRC (the Democratic Republic of Congo), Chad, Eritrea and Somalia.
Our team:
We are a team of passionate Jesus lovers from across the world!
Here you can find a short introduction from all of us:
“Hey, I'm Mimmi Pekurinen from Finland, the founder and the CEO of Blooming Desert Africa. On this page you can read about how God gave me the vision for this organization already back in 2015 and how He has amazingly opened all the doors for us and given the right connections - it's really been mind-blowing to follow in His footsteps!
My passion is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to make disciples. God has also broken my heart for those who are easily labeled as outcasts in society.
Jesus has saved and transformed my life and I know He can do it with anyone else as well; even with those whom we might consider as hopeless cases!”
“Hello, my name is Peace Hoven Kisakye and I come from Uganda.
Currently I’m a personal assistant to the CEO of Blooming Desert Africa and the secretary.
However, before this position, I was volunteering for the organisation for about two years and the incredibly amazing work that I have seen Mimmi do in order to help the ex child soldiers attracted me to seek more involvement with Blooming Desert Africa.
I really love my job because it makes me interact with different people which is something that I am passionate about.”
“Hey, I’m Yatta Satimon and I come from South Sudan.
I am the coordinator/operational manager of Blooming Desert Africa Bidi Bidi program.
What interests me is the cause; to see lives restored and transformed for the Glory of God!”