Her story was there for all to see. She
held her story in her arms.
With a soundly tenderized heart, I
watched this girl-child love the girl-child she'd given birth to and
love dripped from every move she made.
And I disliked this world all the more.
She lives on the side of a mountain in
Africa. She buys her baby's clothes from an open air market, the kind
that sells piles of used clothing from other parts of the world for
cheap prices in rural places. Huge bundles find their way to Mombasa
on ships. Merchants buy the bundles and carry them to every corner of
Kenya where local ladies buy the large bags of clothes. It's their
livelihood. They'll wash and re-fold the clothing and display it to
sell on market-day. (Display means – they lay them on plastic
sheets on the ground.) It's the “mall” in rural Africa.
For the young momma I watched ---- it's
the only “mall” she's ever seen. She can imagine no other.
Her darling girl wears a frilly dress
with thick grey leggings. The dress, a perfect fit. The leggings are
far to large. Her bib is an echo from my own children's childhood.
Chuck E. Cheese is printed across it with a comical mouse grinning.
Instantly I remembered birthday parties where that same mouse danced
on a stage and pizza filled the plates. It's a world away from this
mountain-side in this rural church where girls gather.
I ask myself many times ------- what am
I doing here?
“Surely they need someone with
something more than me.”
It's a plaguing thought that comes when
the need is so big and my skin feels too small.
But I have learned............
I have learned that my skin is not the
part that matters. What a relief.
The ONE who brings us to the side of
the mountain -------- HE IS THE ONE who can stand up to the need that
I shrink under.
Abba knows what to do.
He knows.
And I think of another young girl who
has given birth to a little girl in a place far from this mountain.
She too found herself with child.
She too faced the choice.
“Do I hide? Do I 'get rid of' the
little one growing inside me? Do I listen to the pressures of
others?” But she knew, both girls knew, “One reason this child
grows inside me is because I listened to the pressures of a boy-man.
He's long gone now. But I remain with a child growing inside. What am
I to do?”
The story's as old as dirt itself. The
momma is left to care for a child even if the “contributor “runs
away.
And both girls I speak of asked the
One who still saw them for help. HE still looked at them for
----- who they are ----- not for what they'd done ------ and He
guided them in ways the world would not have. Both girls now hold a
girl-child and love gushes between child-mother and baby girl.
And I feel the need to get on my knees.
This writing is not about pro-choice or
pro-life (although I always cheer for life). But I have had to face
horrific sights that have sent me to my knees and no judgement can
survive in those moments. I've looked into the eyes of girls who have
frantically worked to destroy the baby inside them or end it the
moment it was born, because she knew the horrors it would face if she
tried to keep it. I've held the girl who felt mercy was more
important than life. Some of them weep. Some are like stones. The
world is a cruel place. No judging is allowed.
The girl-child momma looked at her baby
girl with such deep-love. She had made her choice to deliver a baby
on the side of a muddy mountain and hold love in her arms for as long
as she could. Her girlfriends flocked around her; as if the baby-doll
they should have been able to hold as little girls was instead a
breathing-baby in their half-grown arms and they were thrilled to
hold something that would not hurt them. No judging is allowed.
We have come to this church to meet
with over 250 girls who do not have enough money to buy what they
need for their “monthlies” (as it is called here). Their parents
struggle on this mountain-side to provide school fees, so providing
even a few shillings more for private needs is something the girls
are left to figure out for themselves. For some parents it is
neglect. But for many, it's a reality of harsh life. When the choice
is either food on the plate or pads for the month ------- food wins,
every time. And so, as if out of a horror movie, the enemy of God
takes advantage of the need. He places a dark plan in the ugly hearts
of lusty old men. The crusty goats would provide a meager amount of
money to any girl who would “give” herself to him. She could then
go buy her needed pads, he would satiate his lusts, and he'd sit back
and wait until the next young girl rapped at his gate.
Then it happened. A group of Kenyan
ladies on that same mountainside met and grew courageous together.
They knew what was happening.
They knew why so many girls were
getting pregnant at 12, 13, 14, and 15 years of age.
And they prayed for God to help
them help the girls.
Prayers led to conversations. We were
asked to pray. We prayed.
Sleepless nights overwhelmed us ------ we prayed through the dark hours.
God was clear. “Ask others to help.”
The air was as
thick the morning we wrote our hearts out in an email and
asked for H-E-L-P from friends back home. We could feel the
weight like cement blocks on our chests.
Why?
Because the enemy of
our Father knew what we were asking for and he knew it would mess up
his dark plans for destruction on the mountain-side.
But we asked.
And then it came rolling in ------ the
support to buy pads and undergarments for the girls came.
Generous hearts responded.
When we prayed with gratitude and asked
God for guidance, He sent us to mentors for their thoughts.
Wholeheartedly, they confirmed our thoughts, we should use the money
given to carry a whole generation of girls in this community through
the tender years of private needs ------- and enable these girls to
get their education, grow up, become influential ladies someday, and
then they, the young girls all grown, could become the mentors for
the next generations. It would enable these wounded girls to become
warrior ladies who KNEW the need and could deliver the final blows to
the lusty-users on the mountain-side. And the plan was set in place
by the One who heard their cries for help.
It's why we go to the mountain-side.
The Kenyan ladies mentor these dear girls week after week and month
after month. When we are here, we join in and encourage them all.
It's beautiful. Really beautiful. Kenyan ladies helping Kenyan girls
rise above what would have smothered their future.
Sunday I shared Psalm 25 with these
precious girls. The church was packed, but the girls sat so still.
They listened to every word given them. Their numbers have grown.
They're calmer than they were 2 years ago when this all began. They
smile more. They are being fed in ways life on the mountain would
have left them starved and dying. 5 Kenyan mommas allow us to come
alongside them as they grow up a new generation of girls. On Sunday I
was allowed to offer them Jesus-in-their-heart. As their hands were
filled with what they needed, their hearts were filled with the
Answer.
So many wanted to accept Jesus as their
Savior. They raised their hands and prayed aloud. And I know, the
Kenyan mommas leading this group will disciple them week after week
in the ways of Christ. We didn't count how many prayed ------ but we
know that the One who loves them dearly held the number to His great
heart and smiled. They are saved. They are being rescued. He knows
the plans He has for them.
The girl-child holding her girl-child
-------- I got to talk with her that day. She could speak no English.
That means she has been unable to go to school as much as she needed.
Monthlies keep girls out of school when they have no pad to stop the
flow. She is/was one of the “casualties” of the mountain. She is
the living proof of what had been happening.
A friend had recently invited her to
come to the church to meet the ladies who are helping the girls.
That friend helped translate for me. It
was the young momma's first time to come to the gathering and she was
so happy to be received by the group and helped by the
Kenyan-momma-mentors. No judging allowed.
It's just such a beautiful picture of
the faithful way God moves in an unfaithful world.
He never gives up.
He does not turn away when we fall
down.
He is ever ready to respond to the one
who says, “Help me Lord”. Psalm 91:15
He is the One who “rides across
the Heaven's to help us”. Deuteronomy 33:26
She left the church with more lines
added to her story. Good lines. Love lines.
She carried a baby-girl in her arms
when she arrived that day.
She left with her baby-girl in her
arms, supplies for her monthlies in her hands, and Jesus in her
heart.
And Love's arrival on the side of that
muddy mountain could not be stopped.
