I’ve talked about this family before; they lived in a 10x12 mud house with tin roof. Their home consisted of one room that served as a bedroom, sitting room and kitchen. There was a little 1x1 window that allowed minimal light in throughout the day.
On Friday; however, the TI team moved the grandmother and her five grandchildren to a new home. A home that has two rooms: a bedroom and a sitting room and an outside small hut to serve as the kitchen.
The old house....
We arrived at their old home, to see that they had everything packed and were ready to go. We hired a small pick-up truck to load their belongings in. Yes, all of their belongings…ALL of them….fit in the back of a small pick-up truck. We loaded the truck up, the community children gathered around to say good-bye to the family and off we went.
All of their belongings - fitting in the back of a small pick-up truck...
The community children coming out to say goodbye to the family....
My little Kevin...he pulls at my heartstrings...we have a special bond.
We arrived at the new home; the children were in awe of the little property they had, the trees that surrounded their home and the welcoming greetings they were receiving from the neighbours. The children could not wipe the smiles off their faces.
Their new home....
Anne and I met with the grandmother and grandchildren for a few minutes. When we were done talking, she ran over to Anne, wrapped her arms around her, kissed her cheek and shouted, “Thank you so much!” in Swahili. After she was done hugging Anne, she ran over to me and said the same thing, tears in her eyes. I hugged that woman back with all my might, told her that I loved her and we thanked God together for being able to make this happen for her and her grandchildren.
It was wonderful to see this family so excited about moving to a new home, a whole new community and starting fresh. It’s a little step for them…in the right direction. And it’s great to be a part of it.
After getting the grandmother and grandchildren all settled, we headed over to another family that we are supporting to do their monthly food delivery. This family is a disabled Aunt caring for her three nephews. She doesn’t have children of her own and is not married; she said she gladly gives all that up to care for her three boys. They are her family.
When we arrived at the home, it began to downpour rain. Not just a little rain, hardcore downpour…that turned in to hail balls. I was thankful for this opportunity; for I got to see the way they really live.
Their home is made completely out of tin sheets with wood framing. There is no window in the house, only the front door. They have two rooms: a bedroom and a sitting room. The sitting room also acts as the boy’s bedroom. They have no couch, just a few chairs and a table. The floor is the boy’s bed.
When you walk in to their home, you need to step down in to it. This normally wouldn’t be a problem, except when it rains. The front of their complex (like a rows of homes built together) floods and the water comes rushing under their front door, in to the sitting room…also known as the boys’ beds. The joints where the iron sheets meet, rain comes down in to the sitting room and the bedroom. Because the rain was so hard, it wasn’t just a drip-drip into the sitting room, it was as if a water faucet had been left on. We all had to move around the sitting room, trying to find a place in the small room where there WASN’T water leaking through.
This was reality to me…and that night, the children were going to sleep on a wet floor with no bed, no mattress and no blanket.
Anne, our social worker, looked at me. I had to hold back the tears. She said, “Meredith, do you think we could take some of the money (from the sponsorship) and have a bunk bed made for them today? We’ll buy mattress and a few blankets too. That way by tomorrow or so, the boys will be able to sleep on a bed.”
Of course! For the boys to have to continue to sleep on a wet, cold floor was saddening to me. That’s what part of the sponsorship is for….to care for these children’s needs. No wonder the boys have been sick so much in the past. No child should have to live like that.
It again, was reality of Africa, reality of a third world country, slapping me in the face. There is so much work to be done, so many children, widows and grandmothers to help.
Yes, it can be overwhelming, knowing that there aren’t a few hundred or even a few thousand out there that need help. No, it’s in the millions. If you look at it that way, yeah, you might want to give up, think it’s too much to do, to accomplish…but we don’t think that. We look at it in the way of helping one child, one family at a time and trusting in God to lead the way. Seeing a child’s smile come across their lips because now there is some security….security in knowing that he/she will have food every day, security that they won’t have to go to bed on an empty stomach for the second, third or fourth day in a row…that’s what it’s all about. Caring for the orphans and the widows…loving them they way they deserve to be loved, so desperately wanting to be loved. That’s what I love…loving them.
We may say, “What a small world”…but in fact, it’s a big world with BIG problems. We can’t turn a blind eye to it. Let’s open our eyes to more than just what’s going on in our own backyards.
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