Footprints Podcast | Season 1 | Episode 18 | What Would Marilyn Do?
No one wants the word “quitter” written on their gravestone. In this episode of the Footprints Podcast, Marilyn Skinner shares her riveting journey as a leader of stalwart faith amidst seemingly endless contingencies. Her unfaltering strength of character inspires courage as true leaders do not shirk responsibility or quit, but remain steadfast in their purpose.
Marilyn Skinner, née Marilyn Dawson in 1955, was raised in a Christian household in Canada. Marilyn shares fond recollections of spending time with her grandmother and playing the piano, an instrument she began studying at the age of three. Despite being a shy girl, initially, she found solace in the Church, where she played the keyboard for the choir. At sixteen years old, she joined a Christian rock band that concentrated on evangelizing to the youth in her area. This experience was pivotal in her life as she discovered her true passion; which was preaching and inspiring others to lead better lives through the love of God.
She resolved to first complete her high school diploma, as per her father’s guidance, before traveling across America with the band for evangelism as an official member. Marilyn states that it was the ‘most rewarding thing she ever did,’ as she witnessed the transformation within her communities and country. Their campaign not only addressed the subject of faith but also drug addiction amidst the contentious ‘hippie culture’ at the time.
In 1974, Marilyn married Gary, the guitarist of the rock band, and the duo served as youth pastors in smaller Churches in Canada where they hosted worship events and programs for teenagers. In 1979, they moved to Zambia and later to Uganda for missionary work. She admits to having been reluctant about coming to Uganda as she had heard of the extremist leadership of Idi Amin and the pogrom that came with it. She recalls several traumatic incidents such as driving over numerous corpses on a daily due to the indiscriminate massacres, strict military curfews that resulted in the shooting of pregnant women on site when they exited their homes past curfew due to labor onsets, and a burglary where her life, and that of her children, was threatened. Marilyn emphasizes that it was only faith that God would continually protect her family that enabled her to persevere and believe that she had a purpose to fulfill through her work in Uganda.
Marilyn and her husband felt led to start a church in Kampala to transform lives and give hope to the youth in Uganda. In 1986, they miraculously acquired the present day, Watoto Church Building in downtown Kampala despite the civil wars and power transitions in the country. Marilyn cultivated the music ministry at Watoto Church using her gift for music and its instruments to mentor the children there. She contributed to the set-up of homes to shelter orphaned children during the AIDS epidemic and later supported their formal education.
After 41 years of service to the community at Watoto Church, Marilyn and her husband retired from the ministry. She states that the transition was seamless as they had made preparations for it, five years prior. She shares how the hardest part of it all, is adjusting to the slower pace of life in retirement. Marilyn shares how she is gradually adjusting to her supportive role to the new leaders of the church as opposed to her initial duty at the frontlines of their ministry and is grateful for the endless protection and love of God that sustained her over the years.
Marilyn’s journey is one of perseverance, resilience, and faith toward a vision to bring hope to a community that was experiencing very tragic times. She inspires leaders to not give up and choose faith over their fears because leaders must have courage to face change and bring forth transformation.
© Blurb written by Divine Karungi
For more on CivSource Africa's Change Ready Initiative, click HERE: