God is Good
Maria* was only 14 years old when her mother passed away in 2006. Tragically only two later later in 2008, her grandmother passed away and a year later her dad. In a span of four years, Maria* had lost three of the people closest to her. The people that should be there to see everything that you do in life, and see who you turn out to be were not. Instead she was an orphan left to care for her brother and sister as an eighteen year old girl. Its under stable to think that after all this trauma that she has endured that she would want nothing to do with caring for the most vulnerable. Its reasonable to think that she would not want to open those old wounds and give of herself. However despite all of these obstacles and wounds, Maria* has made the choice to dedicate her life to serving the most vulnerable children within her community instead of walking away and not looking back.
I had the opportunity to sit with Maria* and talk with her about her life for about 45 minutes. Her story inspires me, she as a person inspires me. As we were talking I asked Maria* about what made her want to become a care worker. How she responded astounded me. "It pains me to see orphans" was her response to my question. I didn't know how to respond, I still don't. What do you say to someone who has given their entire life to serving and caring for the orphans and the widows, when that person themselves is struggling with wounds and is an orphan. As a result of becoming an orphan when she was young, it pains her when she sees other children going through the same things that she went through. So that is why she has given her life to the plight of the children. She is making a difference, letting them know that they are not alone in how they are feeling, and to what they are going through. She is becoming a voice for the voiceless within her community. She is helping to give a name to the nameless. She is letting them know that they are important. I can't wait to go back to this community and reconnect with her.
This past week I had the privilege of meeting Rosie* - 9 and Aniki*- 6. These two young girls are sisters, and devastatingly they are orphans. I met them while I was staying the night at the home of one of the ladies from the service centre. They have brothers still alive, but due to the things that some brothers will do to their younger siblings, she has decided to take them in. Aniki* captured my heart right away. In the evening she came and sat on my lap, and stayed there until I needed to go to bed - which was early considering the 4:30am wake up call. We played hand-games and she played with my hair. All I wanted to do was let her know how much she was loved. I hugged her and would give her a kiss on her forehead. I was desperate to let her know how important she was as well as the other children that I have met. The novel "The Help" is an amazing story. There is a line in the book where the maid is talking to the little girl of one of the mean moms. She tells the girl "you is kind, you is good, and you is important." Whenever I am in community with the children, and especially when I am cuddling them, I try to make sure that I tell them that. Many of our children grow up being abused, neglected, or not even noticed as a human being. They need to know that they are worth something. They need to know and be told that they are kind, they are good, and they are important. They are important to me and to the world, but most importantly they are important to God. God knows their name and everything about them and he cares for them even when we may ask the question 'where is God right now?'
Maria*, Rosie* and Aniki* all have one thing in common, and it is that they are vulnerable. Whether one is a care worker and the other are children is ire-regardless. They are all vulnerable and they all have wounds that are in need of healing.
This week I also had the opportunity to take several taxies with the team from the service centre to get to and from community since I was staying at one of the homes. If people are ever in Africa and are looking to experience something authentically African then I suggest that they take a taxi, as long as they are with a local that they know and are comfortable with. When you are the only white person and everyone is looking at you as though they have just seen a ghost and they are trying to speak English to you - to practice their english-, it can be entertaining at first, but after the eleventh taxi, it gets quite old and you get sick of having people look at you. I know that it is cultural, but really from my perspective we are all the same. The only thing that makes us different is the colour of our skin, our culture and where we live. I have the same blood in my veins, I sin, I cry, I get angry or happy etc. We are all the same, yet sadly enough the people here don't believe that. As we were walking past one home in the community I was staying, the lady that I was with stopped and talked to a gogo and her daughter living there. She was mentioning something about how I believe that we are all the same only except for the colour of our skin. The lady that we were talking to, said that no, we aren't the same. This discourages me. I wish that people could realize that we are the same and that we aren't different. It is a cultural thing but really if we take the time to think about it we will realize that we are the same. I am not more important than them, more valuable etc. If we ask God what he thinks, what do you think he would say? I personally believe that he creates us as equals. We are the same despite our colour, and the place that we were born.
Nobody expects a white person to be taking a taxi, yet there I was. As we were sitting in one of the last taxies that we had to take before we got back to the Hub the taxi behind us would NOT stop honking his horn. I believe he was trying to get people to come into his taxi or to get our taxi to more forward, but none the less I thought I was going to lose it. Talk about teaching someone patience in one of the most aggravating situations that someone with high-sensitivty to noise can be in. At one point during our travels, I was sitting in the back of a taxi in-between four people in 35 degree African weather. I don't really like having my personal bubble invaded. My personal bubble was not just being invaded, it was being shattered to pieces. However, all I could do really was laugh. I laughed because out of all the people in the world that may be better suited for these kinds of situations, God chose me. He chose a young 19 year girl named Celine, who doesn't like having people in her personal space, who has a high sensitivity to noise, and who at times can be very impatient. It amazes me that despite those things he chose me, and so that is why I laugh when I am sitting in a taxi full of people who do nothing but stare at me, while I am squished in the back. I am grateful for these experiences and I love all of these them depsite how challenging they may be at the time. I am learning how to cope with difficult situations and how come to actually enjoy them. I am learning more about myself and the women that I want to be and I love it.
As I was walking back to where I was staying in community, we walked past a home, whose reaction to a 'mulongo' in their community was most interesting. As I walked past this one home, two of the girls that were sitting in front of the house came running out to meet me. One of them shook my hand and then proceeded to give me a giant hug. She then proceeded to ask me if she could take a picture with me, and then ask if her sister could take a picture with me. She then gathered all the other little kids that were around and took a picture of me with them. She was so excited to meet a 'mulungo' and I could hear her talking and I can only imagine what she was saying.
Some mornings I still wake-up hardly believing that I live in Africa. The family here at the Hub is unlike anything I have experienced. Its not the same as home but its great. Its amazing how you can take people from all over the world even their differences and you unite them to do Gods work, and we become a family. However despite the love and family that I have here, I still struggle sometimes without my family, especially heading into the Christmas season. I think about the traditions that we have, and the amount of quality time that we spend as a family celebrating the birth of our Saviour, and I can't help but feel sad. I know that I will have an amazing Christmas away from home, but it will be different. I will not be surrounded by the familiarity of home, the warm goodies, and sitting by the fireplace etc. Yet it will be a special Christmas. A once-in a life time experience, that I still can't believe God has given me the opportunity to experience. So whenever I want to feel like Christmas, I lock myself in my room and listen to my Christmas music and watch Christmas movies, such as Elf, Christmas Vacation, Deck the Halls, The Nativity Story etc that I would normally watch with my family. Its Christmas everywhere you go despite whether you are with family or not. How blessed am I that I get to celebrate part of the season with my new family.
God is good. Whether I am sitting in the back of a taxi having my personal space invaded, listening to someone honk their horn relentlessly, feeling lonely, hanging with the Hands family, listening to my Christmas music etc. God is Good. I am thankful that God has given me this opportunity to serve the most vulnerable, and to live this life.
God is Good.
I had the opportunity to sit with Maria* and talk with her about her life for about 45 minutes. Her story inspires me, she as a person inspires me. As we were talking I asked Maria* about what made her want to become a care worker. How she responded astounded me. "It pains me to see orphans" was her response to my question. I didn't know how to respond, I still don't. What do you say to someone who has given their entire life to serving and caring for the orphans and the widows, when that person themselves is struggling with wounds and is an orphan. As a result of becoming an orphan when she was young, it pains her when she sees other children going through the same things that she went through. So that is why she has given her life to the plight of the children. She is making a difference, letting them know that they are not alone in how they are feeling, and to what they are going through. She is becoming a voice for the voiceless within her community. She is helping to give a name to the nameless. She is letting them know that they are important. I can't wait to go back to this community and reconnect with her.
This past week I had the privilege of meeting Rosie* - 9 and Aniki*- 6. These two young girls are sisters, and devastatingly they are orphans. I met them while I was staying the night at the home of one of the ladies from the service centre. They have brothers still alive, but due to the things that some brothers will do to their younger siblings, she has decided to take them in. Aniki* captured my heart right away. In the evening she came and sat on my lap, and stayed there until I needed to go to bed - which was early considering the 4:30am wake up call. We played hand-games and she played with my hair. All I wanted to do was let her know how much she was loved. I hugged her and would give her a kiss on her forehead. I was desperate to let her know how important she was as well as the other children that I have met. The novel "The Help" is an amazing story. There is a line in the book where the maid is talking to the little girl of one of the mean moms. She tells the girl "you is kind, you is good, and you is important." Whenever I am in community with the children, and especially when I am cuddling them, I try to make sure that I tell them that. Many of our children grow up being abused, neglected, or not even noticed as a human being. They need to know that they are worth something. They need to know and be told that they are kind, they are good, and they are important. They are important to me and to the world, but most importantly they are important to God. God knows their name and everything about them and he cares for them even when we may ask the question 'where is God right now?'
Maria*, Rosie* and Aniki* all have one thing in common, and it is that they are vulnerable. Whether one is a care worker and the other are children is ire-regardless. They are all vulnerable and they all have wounds that are in need of healing.
This week I also had the opportunity to take several taxies with the team from the service centre to get to and from community since I was staying at one of the homes. If people are ever in Africa and are looking to experience something authentically African then I suggest that they take a taxi, as long as they are with a local that they know and are comfortable with. When you are the only white person and everyone is looking at you as though they have just seen a ghost and they are trying to speak English to you - to practice their english-, it can be entertaining at first, but after the eleventh taxi, it gets quite old and you get sick of having people look at you. I know that it is cultural, but really from my perspective we are all the same. The only thing that makes us different is the colour of our skin, our culture and where we live. I have the same blood in my veins, I sin, I cry, I get angry or happy etc. We are all the same, yet sadly enough the people here don't believe that. As we were walking past one home in the community I was staying, the lady that I was with stopped and talked to a gogo and her daughter living there. She was mentioning something about how I believe that we are all the same only except for the colour of our skin. The lady that we were talking to, said that no, we aren't the same. This discourages me. I wish that people could realize that we are the same and that we aren't different. It is a cultural thing but really if we take the time to think about it we will realize that we are the same. I am not more important than them, more valuable etc. If we ask God what he thinks, what do you think he would say? I personally believe that he creates us as equals. We are the same despite our colour, and the place that we were born.
Nobody expects a white person to be taking a taxi, yet there I was. As we were sitting in one of the last taxies that we had to take before we got back to the Hub the taxi behind us would NOT stop honking his horn. I believe he was trying to get people to come into his taxi or to get our taxi to more forward, but none the less I thought I was going to lose it. Talk about teaching someone patience in one of the most aggravating situations that someone with high-sensitivty to noise can be in. At one point during our travels, I was sitting in the back of a taxi in-between four people in 35 degree African weather. I don't really like having my personal bubble invaded. My personal bubble was not just being invaded, it was being shattered to pieces. However, all I could do really was laugh. I laughed because out of all the people in the world that may be better suited for these kinds of situations, God chose me. He chose a young 19 year girl named Celine, who doesn't like having people in her personal space, who has a high sensitivity to noise, and who at times can be very impatient. It amazes me that despite those things he chose me, and so that is why I laugh when I am sitting in a taxi full of people who do nothing but stare at me, while I am squished in the back. I am grateful for these experiences and I love all of these them depsite how challenging they may be at the time. I am learning how to cope with difficult situations and how come to actually enjoy them. I am learning more about myself and the women that I want to be and I love it.
As I was walking back to where I was staying in community, we walked past a home, whose reaction to a 'mulongo' in their community was most interesting. As I walked past this one home, two of the girls that were sitting in front of the house came running out to meet me. One of them shook my hand and then proceeded to give me a giant hug. She then proceeded to ask me if she could take a picture with me, and then ask if her sister could take a picture with me. She then gathered all the other little kids that were around and took a picture of me with them. She was so excited to meet a 'mulungo' and I could hear her talking and I can only imagine what she was saying.
Some mornings I still wake-up hardly believing that I live in Africa. The family here at the Hub is unlike anything I have experienced. Its not the same as home but its great. Its amazing how you can take people from all over the world even their differences and you unite them to do Gods work, and we become a family. However despite the love and family that I have here, I still struggle sometimes without my family, especially heading into the Christmas season. I think about the traditions that we have, and the amount of quality time that we spend as a family celebrating the birth of our Saviour, and I can't help but feel sad. I know that I will have an amazing Christmas away from home, but it will be different. I will not be surrounded by the familiarity of home, the warm goodies, and sitting by the fireplace etc. Yet it will be a special Christmas. A once-in a life time experience, that I still can't believe God has given me the opportunity to experience. So whenever I want to feel like Christmas, I lock myself in my room and listen to my Christmas music and watch Christmas movies, such as Elf, Christmas Vacation, Deck the Halls, The Nativity Story etc that I would normally watch with my family. Its Christmas everywhere you go despite whether you are with family or not. How blessed am I that I get to celebrate part of the season with my new family.
God is good. Whether I am sitting in the back of a taxi having my personal space invaded, listening to someone honk their horn relentlessly, feeling lonely, hanging with the Hands family, listening to my Christmas music etc. God is Good. I am thankful that God has given me this opportunity to serve the most vulnerable, and to live this life.
God is Good.
Your words made grandma and I both cry! We r so proud of you. For taking a "chance" on yourself and God. To allow Him to mold you and stretch you and use you.
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