I met a woman named Ellen. She is a missionary and she doesn't even know it. She has taken in several children that are not hers and then she has four of her own. One of her sisters died of aids so she took in her two children. Then, her brothers wife died and the sister to her was abusive to two other children so she took the two little ones so the abuse could stop. This woman's life is not easy. Being a single parent is hard enough with your own children yet alone adding other children to the family. I decided to visit her and listen to her story and see what I could do to help.
As I walked toward her house I passed Ellen's oldest son. He was working digging up sand, mixing in hay and water to make bricks. This young 17 year old boy was doing this holding crutches. He was born with a deformity that makes it impossible for him to walk normally. I really respect the fact that this does not keep him down. Then a bench was brought over from a neighbor's house for me to sit on. I look over, under a tree, and there lays a woman that is pregnant and in pain because her husband beat her up. She ran to this lady to help take care of her until she had the power to go against her husband again. Then here come all the little children in their tattered clothes. One by one shake my hand, he smallest not even afraid.
I begin our visit asking her general questions about her life and telling her a little about my own. She tells me about why she got the other children. I found out about the kind of abuse these little kids had to withstand. Their aunt would tie up the second youngest. Tie him up around his hands and his feet. Then keep him in the hut. When he would cry she would go in with pliers and pinch his skin around his stomach until the skin would come off, they showed me his scares. One of the neighbors witnessed this and informed Ellen on what was going on. Everyone around wants Ellen to take this lady to the police but she said that she is going to leave it in God's hands to punish her. I think that she is a little afraid of the police and the fact that the police are so corrupt that even if she were to try she would have to pay them money that she just doesn't have.
I ended our visit by giving her one of the bags that a woman in the Maranatha group left for us to fill with things that a person here may need and money to start a business. I also gave her a big bag full of many food items. I gave her an invitation to bring the smallest boy to the hospital because his neck is swollen under his ear, quite a bit. The next day she did come to the hospital and we pay for all the hospital needs. I gathered a big bag of clothes and a tooth brush for all the eight boys she has at her house.
I would like it if you would please join with me in prayer for this woman. I know I will be praying that she will continue to be a living example to others around her on how to have a missionary heart.
Thank you and God bless,
Tammy Parker
Jamie phone: +235 93 46 46 35
Tammy phone: +235 95 25 86 58
Jamie & Tammy Parker
Hopital Adventiste de Bere
52 Boite Postale
Kelo, TChad
Afique
All donations can be sent to:
Harrison SDA Church
P.O. Box 969
Harrison, TN 37341
Make Checks payable to:
Harrison SDA Church
Earmark: "The Bere Project"
Merci buja for all you do!
ReplyDeleteIt's hard for sure but just remember we are not fighting against flesh and blood.
Good morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys travelling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favour:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Chad? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Chad in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez