Joari

Listening to their story and seeing the rusted tin and mud shack tacked onto a weathered cement fence where the holes in the roof had left a dried baby footprint in the mud beneath my feet, it was hard to keep from crying. The tiny foot print spoke volumes to me of what this young girl has been through. With a baby at 14, the sole care giver for herself, her baby and her 7 year old special needs little sister she was trying to keep it all together, while her sometimes father appeared occasionally to abuse her and disappeared again leaving her to fend for herself and her little family.

Then a cousin with a baby moved into the one room shack with her. There was no light in the house except what filtered in thru the holes in the mud. The cousin said life was just too bad where she was staying. I couldn’t imagine a place worse than what we were seeing.

We moved them out.  They are safe at Neema Village now. The father does not know where they are. The children have warm beds and blankets and there is food in their tummies. Erik Tryggestad with The Christian Chronicle helped us move them. Actually I think we were all pretty moved today.

Both girls will need counseling and some sessions with other women who have been thru what they have.  The Women’s Rights course taught at Neema will also help these young girls. As you contribute to the MAP program your gifts will set these young girls up in a business where they can successfully support themselves and regain some feelings of God Worth that was taken away from them.