Sometimes you meet people that help you understand the
meaning of the word ‘love’.
This lady, having raised her own family and seen her
children married, now, with her husband, cares for many orphans. They have six
children living with them; one boy has been there seven years, the youngest, a
baby, several months. This is not someone who has money. This is not someone
who is different from her friends or neighbours or even you. This is not
someone who will be well known for the good things she does. She is just
someone who saw a need and filled it. She is just someone who found she had
something to give. She is just someone who couldn’t walk past and leave a baby
lying in a rubbish heap.
We visited so that we could meet and spend some time with
the children and hear for ourselves some of their stories. Blessing was left on
the side of the road. Moses was picked up out of a pile of garbage. Joy was
taken from between the dead bodies of her parents. These children are alive
because of one lady’s kindness.
Maybe you think she is a hero. I posted a status on Facebook
about her (which apart from this blog is how many of my friends and family see
what I am doing over here). Someone commented that she hoped that she would be
recognised as a hero. But here, she is just another person living in poverty in
a mud house who sees her life not in those terms but as someone who has something
to give. She works cleaning a hospital and her husband does casual work for the
UN. Neither is paid much. Two of the children are quite sick. But she does not
see this as a reason not to do more. She sees this as a reason to trust God for
provision. And He does provide.
She is also not alone. There are hundreds, thousands,
millions, who take in children here in Africa. Not because they have much to
give monetarily but because they have other things of greater value. Family.
Love. Belonging. These things are so much part of the culture here. To be
without family is unthinkable. Here not only is your father, your father, but
also your uncle is your father. Your cousins are brothers and sisters. Your
identity is in family.
So because this link to family is so powerful, this lady is
giving these kids something that money can’t buy. These children that she has
taken in have no one else. The government sees them as her children. No family
has been found for any of them but they have been welcomed into hers.
Also this week we visited an orphanage. There, around 30
children, from newborns to preschool age, were being looked after by a group of
Catholic nuns. While these women are doing an amazing work, caring for children
who have lost parents, it struck me that what these children desire and maybe
require most, is family. Some of the children will go back to relatives when
they are older, those for whom no family can be found will stay at the
orphanage. But despite the care given to these kids, food, clothing, shelter,
medical care; it seemed from my brief visit that all they wanted was to be held
and played with. However, whatever my personal opinions, these children also
have been rescued.
When I see these people and what they are doing I am
reminded that the words “if only” have travelled through my head many times.
“If only I had more money, or time, or was better at that kind of thing, then I
would help”. And when I see them I feel that my excuses are rather small.
“No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.” Isaiah 58:6-7
Blessings
Bron
