Simon Guillebaud is a young man with a mission in one of the most dangerous parts of Africa.
EN: Could you tell us something about your background, (so the readers find out who you are and where you are coming from), your family and how you came to Christ?
SG: My Mum brought me up as a Christian, and forced me off on a Scripture Union camp when I was 15, where I made some sort of ‘commitment’; but I was a mixed bag at boarding school, excelling at sport and so having a big ego and being quite nasty with some people as I thought I was so wonderful. I definitely did believe and have a real faith, but there was a disconnect between what I said and what I did — I was the main student helping to run the Christian meeting while at the same time leading in a different way with a little drugs ring! My year out was a defining time for me as I look back. It was such a miserable experience of loneliness; I was teaching in the bush in South Africa, living by myself, with no transport. Yet, in that loneliness God made himself real, and theory became practice through being forced to truly depend on him. Then came Loughborough University, lots of fun and sports, some whacky short-term stints overseas, in which my faith was stretched, and finally a respectable job as a Business Development Executive in Woking.