Entering in to the unknown

On Monday we picked up a team of Family Hope International members who work in Africa’s largest slum, Kibera. We had a beautiful week with them. We spent a lot of time sitting with families in the townships of Blantyre and in the villages 2 hours from the city. We spent time laughing in between serious conversation. How people survive off so little will always be perplexing.

I have always described my life as an interweaving of tapestries. On Thursday we held a business training for 19 or Brothers in Arms graduates. The 19 year old wife of Bondoki (one of BIA’s former students who was murdered) was there with her seven month old baby. I held her baby as she wrote out her business plan.

Seven years ago, one month and one day before, I had sat in the same spot, with a similar chair, nursing my twins as we attended Asante’s church. I probably met several of the guys who were a part of the training. I may have even met Bondoki that day.

It encouraged me that Kossi and my aim over the past 7.5 years in Malawi has been to be faithful in each season to what God leads us to. There has been purpose through all the years, even in the moments we felt like we were drowning, especially as new parents with newborn twins. And yet in that day, as I held my newborn twins, God knew I would one day return to that same space to care for one of the boys’ children.

Later that day we walked through their township, sitting in their homes, hearing their stories. I was encouraged to see that the beneficiaries of Brothers in Arms are doing so well. Of course some are in a better position than others, but generally, it feels as though they are on the right path. The photo below is of one of the boys who has been connected to BIA for 6+ years. Many around the world supported BIA in reconstructing homes for the families of the boys who lost their homes in the cyclone. This is one of those homes.

There are those who are impoverished, but manage to get by, and there are those whose families may not make it. We met one such man, who had sent his wife and children back to the village because he couldn’t provide for them. In the meantime he rented a room in which a typical bed couldn’t even fit in to.

His rented room was along a row of 3 homes on each side of an alley. Inside these homes were all families who were just scraping to get by. We are so thankful that Family Hope International can embrace them, disciple and mentor them and equip them with skills that will help them move in to cleaner and better living situations.

Amidst the pain, there is always an interlacing of joy. While interviewing one of the future beneficiaries, three little girls played in the corner with rocks. They kept themselves busy by putting the rocks on their back as if they were baby dolls. That is something I see everywhere we go, little girls copying their mothers, aunts and sisters by trying to put something on their back to carry.

A place is always foreign to us until we take the courage to walk into the unknown and befriend those who are different than us. Spending time outside the safety of my home and bubble has been life giving; there is so much hope in the world despite the hardships we see around us.