A former drug dealing biker, who helps war torn orphans in South Sudan, says Australia should ship violent Sudanese gang members back to Sudan to experience what life is like.
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“A Sudanese that comes here needs to thank God they got refuge in Australia,” controversial American missionary Sam Childers said.
“From what I hear a lot of these so-called Sudanese gangs are children that were actually born here. I think they need to pack them up and send them back to Sudan, let them experience real life.
“Maybe I’m a little bit hard but … if some of these Sudanese are being unappreciative of what Australia has to offer them … put them on a ship, put them on a plane.”
The 56-year-old ex-heroin addict, known as the “machine gun preacher”, was in Devonport to talk at the C3 Church about the orphanages and schools he built in East Africa.
He also visits Australian schools and prisons to talk about the effects of drugs.
“A lot of times children have somebody telling them to just try it one time, it won’t hurt. I was a heroin addict but my son wasn’t and my son just tried it and he died,” Childers said.
After coming to Australia for a decade, Childers recently struggled to get a visa due to his outlaw bikie past. He disagrees with some of the laws and restrictions put on bikie clubs.
He said he found out one per-center biker clubs also did a lot of good things.
“One of the biggest charity runs in the US called Toys for Tots was started by a one percenter bikie group,” Childers said.
He said he is still involved with bikie clubs as a chaplain.
“You can get on the internet and find good stories and bad stories on me.”
Childers gave up a life of drugs and crime in a bikie gang after he was almost killed in a bar fight.
His work in Africa started in 1998, when he saw a child's body on a church mission to rebuild huts destroyed by war.
He sold his construction business to build the first orphanage.
Armed with an AK47 and a bible, he rescued kidnapped children from militia groups such as Joseph Kony’s Lord's Resistance Army.
Childers’ story was told in his biography Another Man's War and turned into a Hollywood film called The Machine Gun Preacher.
Through his charity - Angels of East Africa - Childers built five orphanages, three training centres, 40 wells and a farm to teach children how to make a living.
“We want to teach a skill and a trade that can change lives,” Childers said.
“In Third World countries in most orphanages children have to leave at 15 and more than 70 per cent end up in prostitution, so our big thing is teaching a trade.”
Childers said he hoped to bring people to church and motivate Christians.
