That first day when I was visiting with Zipporah, I also met Sarah for the first time. I had seen her before on the street. I remember being markedly impressed by her beauty. It was during the time while Zipporah and I were still standing outside the compound. 10 kids were still vying for my attention. I was still looking up the street waiting for my teammates to come walking out. I was trying to get used to her accent and keep my English at an elementary level. Out of the gate pops that beautiful face I would soon learn was Sarah. Later while Zipporah and I were talking inside, her and her husband left with cordial greetings on their way to the market.
We did not talk outside of cordial greetings that day, but the next day she was at church. Clearly Muslim with her bright colored head covering, Sarah sat in our worship service and praised God with great earnest. After the service she talked with Erin and Casey for a while. The rest of us were ready to head home and sitting in a van expecting them to just walk home later. We were growing agitated with our vans not moving us toward our home, we were swiftly joined by Casey, Erin and… Sarah! Erin climbs into the back and starts telling this woman’s story while Sarah sits very close to me.
This woman’s parents had died when she and her sister were very young. They had been taken in by a Christian children’s home in Rwanda where they lived until she was considered an adult. At this point they made sure they had a home and they were on their own. School was still a struggle for Sarah and her sister. They could not make the tuition payments, much less pay for uniforms, books and other supplies. Sarah desperately wanted to be able to send her sister to school.
A business man heard about their dilemma, knew about Sarah’s desperate desire and decided to offer a solution. If she would agree to become his wife, he would send her sister to school until she was finished. She agreed. They were quickly married and her sister started attending school again. Sarah soon found out her new husband was actually a Muslim man and he expected her to live as a Muslim wife. He has another wife at his home in Busia, he burned her body to mark his territory, he forced her to wear a covering and he dictates every move that she makes. The phone he allows her to have can only receive phone calls from his phone and will not make outside calls. On top of all of this, the money soon ran out and her sister’s education was no longer being funded. He had moved her away from her home in Rwanda to Kenya and cut all contact with her family.
