As I sit on the kitchen floor flipping through a Swahili-English grammar book, I can’t help but wonder .. who writes this stuff? In what situation would I find it necessary to say “The leopards are dead” in Swahili?
But as I clumsily read these silly phrases to the ladies in the kitchen and they burst out in laughter, I’m happy that I’m able to bring them joy with the absurd statements. I’ve actually picked up the language rather quickly, and between my broken Swahili and their broken English we’ve been able to form fast friendships.
This first week in Tanzania has been a whirlwind. From cradling babies with AIDs during the day to casting out demons at night, it’s hard to believe we’ve only been here for 10 days.
Ministry this month has turned into something completely unexpected. We were told that we would be doing “Child Advocacy” for the month, which was vague and left us wondering what that would look like.
When we arrived in Singida, we were greeted by Pastor Paulo and his wife Janet (who insisted from our first meeting that we call her Mama). Their family is one of the most loving I have ever had the privilege of meeting. Pastor and Mama have three children of their own and adopted her sister’s two children last year after she passed away from HIV.
Pastor started his church in 1999, and for over 10 years they met in a classroom in the village school. In 2001, they were finally blessed to be able build the single room church building they now call home.
The first day he took us to see the church and surrounding village, I was overwhelmed by the amount of children who emerged from every possible nook and cranny of this small village. They came sprinting up to us – complete strangers – with giant smiles and outstretched arms, just bursting with love and laughter. We each scooped up a child or two and carried them with us as the rest followed behind us, the way newborn chicks follow their mother.
While we sat playing with the children, I began to survey my surroundings. There weren’t nearly enough adults in this village for this many children, and many of them looked badly neglected. So I asked Mama where all of the children came from – where did they live? Her answer brought me to tears. She said that many of them are orphaned by AIDs or abandoned by single parents. She then told me that these children are their main reason for choosing to build their church in this particular village. She and her husband are so burdened for this village of lost children that they want to do all they can to help them.
Mama is a 1st grade school teacher at the nearby school and two years ago she and Pastor started an organization called the Greater Grace Foundation to help give these children a chance at an education and a better future.
I stood in amazement as Pastor told me with great pride that in two years they have had five children sponsored through the program. He brought the five lucky children one by one to show me how nice they looked in their school uniforms and bragged about how he was able to buy them all new shoes with their last support checks.
On the way home that first day, I asked the Pastor as gently as I could, how it was possible that in two years only five children had been sponsored out of hundreds. He explained that the only way the children are sponsored is if, when missionaries or groups come to Singida, they visit the village and decide to sponsor a child. Outside of people physically coming to the village and falling in love with the children, he had no way of getting the children sponsored.
“But .. don’t you have a website?”
With tear-filled eyes, Pastor explained that he had been praying for a website for years but had no idea how to go about creating one. He knew that it was the best way of making the need known – he just didn’t know how to do it.
Before I even thought about what I was saying, I blurted out, “I’ll make you a website! I’ve never made one before, but I’ll do whatever I can – we are going to answer your prayer this month.”
And from that moment, the website has become my mission.
God willing, greatergracefoundation.org will be up and running by the end of the month.
Every day this week has been spent photographing and cataloging the children – many of whom don’t even know their own birthdays.
Pastor and Mama’s love for their community and for these children is contagious. It’s amazing to me how little time it takes to catch a vision; to fall in love.
I came into this month praying that we would be able to leave something tangible behind – something that would outlive our time here. I should have known that God already had a perfect plan in mind. One that would answer my prayer and also use us to answer the longtime prayer of a faithful Pastor in a tiny Tanzanian village.
