Unexpected Blessings
On Thursday we spent the morning at another pre-school in “Tin Town”. This pre-school was a long time dream of the teacher, Mouna, and she has a lot to be proud of. She had attended the Micro-MBA course on Dieter’s property (now called Elim) and then opened her own $1.00 store… only so that she could earn money to open the pre-school. In her $1.00 store she buys things in quantity and then breaks them down into smaller portions, By doing this a family can buy enough food for a meal for N$5.00 that will feed an entire family… a coke costs N$4.60. Not only is she supporting her dream, she is helping the community by enabling them to be able to afford food.One aspect of her pre-school is that she feeds the children, normally a meal of rice or mealie pop. Today we decided to bring food to the children to take a moment of burden off of Mouna. So, the kids made enough peanut butter & jelly sandwiches to feed approximately 60 children and brought some oranges. It was such a blessing to watch the children pray for their food and give thanks.
As I was standing behind the teens as they were handing out the food, I turned around and saw a child standing behind me and asked Mona if that child had received food. Mona immediately grabbed the child and brought her to the food. She then told me that the child had stayed home because she was sick, but only lived right behind the school, so I realized she must’ve climbed through the fence. After the children had eaten, the teens gathered in a circle on the ground and began to throw a ball around. I was standing behind them feeling sort of useless and decided to see what else I could do. I noticed the little girl just standing off to the side next to another girl and I decided to go and talk to her. She was too young to really be able to communicate, so I sat her on my lap and she just sat there. I thought that she might be just too nervous or something, but I was not sure what it was. I felt compelled to lay her down in my arms… her forehead felt hot and I decided to rub her temple. At this point the other girls were standing behind me braiding my hair and a few moments later I heard Mouna say “Oh, look she’s asleep”. I did not realize that Mouna was standing over me due to the group of kids around me. Mouna then proceeded to tell me that this little girls name was Nambo and her mother left her and she only lived with her father. That she was not used to a mother’s touch and was really enjoying it. This is a story that I have never heard before... usually it’s a single mom without a father present. My heart still aches for this little one. I find it really beautiful how God attracts people to one another… the second I laid eyes on her I knew that she was in need of some love.
On the way back, I pondered the fact that we are not spending time in Vyf Rand as we had thought we would. This morning before the trip to Mouna’s we went with the band to Vyf Rand school and I desperately searched for children that I knew. I saw a couple of familiar faces… even the girl in the “infamous” picture. I took another picture, but it did not have the same impact… no baby sister on her back… but the same stoic look. It appears that Vyf Rand is not our mission at this time.
This evening we saw the sunset on top of “Monkey Mountain”. The place is not so scary to climb as it is after a night of no sleep from sitting around the campfire with the challenge of living every last second of the final night of a trip… but it sure is still a long way down… what a beautiful view from all sides. Mike T was too psyched to do some actual rock climbing in Africa.
posted by germaine @ 8:01 PM
