About a week ago a couple teammates and myself decided to walk through the village of where we are staying. We walked down by the river and made our way back towards the pastor’s house. As we walked passed this hut we heard girls giggling and one yelled, ‘where are you going?’ Here that phrase means one of two things; 1- where are you going? 2- How are you doing? Typically, we just answer both. Example: ‘ I’m good. I’m walking to the beach.’ To these girls I decided to yell, “We are coming to see you!”
We proceeded to walk up to the hut. There are four ladies inside making bracelets. We go inside and chat a bit. Sarah mostly talked to us because she was the only who could understand English. Did I mention she has a baby and is a single mom? Did I mention her mom passed away eighteen years ago? Did I mention she hates her step mom? Or that her sister’s won’t talk to her and told her to never see them again? Or her dad won’t pay for her school anymore? Sarah’s story is hard to chew. The Sarah I’m growing to love is full of joy and hurt and anger and smiles all at the same time.
Sarah is twenty years old. She had baby Axle a year ago. She use to live in the city before she had Axle, with her sisters. She was going to school there. She ran out of money and had to move back to the village. At some point she had baby Axle. She now lives with her dad and his wife and their three girls. Sarah is now the outcast of the family. She is basically the maid for them. She cleans, cooks, washes clothes, and takes care of her baby. I asked her about Axle’s father. She said a few choice words that I won’t repeat. The just of it is she has no idea where he is and he is not apart of their lives. As I listened to Sarah she wouldn’t look at me. I could see the hurt in her heart. I felt it was right to just tell her she is a good mom. That she is beautiful and I’m sorry for what she has had to go through. So I did.
I now see Sarah almost everyday. She makes her bracelets and plays with her baby. She wants to travel the world but she knows her responsibility is to take care of Axle. If you bought a bracelet here is a story of not only one person but two. All my love from the Islands!!
