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6 February 2005
Hi to you, or better yet, I can greet you with the local greeting.
Sunnu!
I am sending on this picture of one of our students and her mom and young brother. All of our girls come from remote villages and live in the mud huts without services of any sort. We have gone out on the past few weekends to visit the families and greet them with the news that their child, the teen girl we have at the center is doing well in school and that we are grateful that they would let her come to us for furthering her education and gaining valuable skills that will make her an asset to her family, village and maybe her country. The girls appear to have good situations upon our visits. Many come from loving families who have suffered severe poverty, multiple deaths, deaths of parents. What doesn’t show up in the pictures is the past of beatings, slavery, abuse and extreme hunger that some of them faced while in the village setting.
The picture here shows a round hut on feet. It is used primarily for storage of grain from their meager farming of millet or guinea corn. Or, it may be used to house the chickens during the rain season. The fields are bone dry right now and we see no food available. Their common meal is made of a fine grain called acha. It is kind of like cream of wheat or couscous. They almost always season it with pepe. A hot cayenne type of pepper. That is the meal of the day and week and month, day after day until the rains come.
We are invited into the homes. This picture shows the humble interior of a hut. We were greeted with many smiles and heartfelt curtsies and hands clenched and tapped on the heart of the greeter. One of the mud block rooms has dirt floors, swept clean and everything is quite clean in that manner. A mat on the floor is evidence of the sleeping arrangements at night. Not much to see here for furniture or “stuff” If the family has ever received a greeting card, chances are it is tied to a string and hung on the wall from the rafter. I will forward a picture I took of one of the houses that had furniture and even a loose tile floor of asbestos tiles.
You will also receive a picture of several of the kids who come to see who these strange visitors are. We greet them, hear the stories, pray with them and then on our way out, we are stopped to be introduced to several orphans who need homes and people to love and care for them. Many times they have been too old for us to take here, as we only take in the ones under 5 years old. It is heart breaking. We must pray for God to send more help for these people. The kids are suffering for nothing they have done. They suffer a lot.
So many come to ask us to take the kids who have been left behind as the parents die. They are great in number and need. May God bless those who are caring for them at this time and may He protect them from further abuses. Who needs this extra mouth to feed and body to bed down at night. I have met some who are growing so tired and weary because they have taken in so many over the years. They are old and wrinkled and still responding.
I hope that these pictures tell the stories that some days I am just to weary to tell, or speechless upon remembering. In spite of the poverty of the families, we were gifted with a live chicken from 2 of the families we visited. It took a long time to find the chicken. They would not let us leave until we accepted it. It was almost impossible to accept. I said, “no, no. please, we cannot accept.” I was quieted and reminded that the insult of not accepting these gifts would be harsher on them than the loss of their offering was to them. I think of the bible stories of sacrifices of the animals or grains or first fruits. ( we were also offered bags of acha) stories of God accepting these gifts as pleasing sacrifices and evidence of what the heart attitude was. Here, we see that same thing in this culture. The heart attitude and culture and custom. I am not to judge any heart attitude, but my own. I certainly would have not let on that I even had a chicken if I were them. Could I have given my last meat meal to visitors ?
There is much joy and much sorrow. But we find more joy! The families were quite glad to have something of value to share.
I am slowly learning my way around the customs and language and area. Some days I feel so grossly inadequate, and other days, so rich with experiences and hope to share. I pray God will make me useful as I forge along wondering what to say and what to do.
Please keep praying for our usefulness as we show up every morning. May God’s grace be poured out upon each of you as you also wake up to each morning with the same desire.
With love and care for each of you too.
Auntie Jude
Posted by libbystokes at February 6, 2005 09:53 PM