This week has been very busy. We arrived Tuesday evening and jumped right into ministry early Wednesday morning. The week consisted of us doing street evangelizing, partaking in youth groups, ministering to kids in the villages and in orphanages, as well as leading church services.
Today was by far my favorite. We went back to the orphanage and ministered to the caretakers that work there. The kids don’t call them by their name but instead call them “Mother”. The women that work there get paid very little. They don’t work an 8hr shift but rather live they’re with the kids. They sleep, eat, pray and do everyday life with their assigned kids. (1 mother gets about 12 kids of various ages to look after) They get maybe 4 days off a month to be able to go back and visit with their own children and family.
Why would someone want to do that?
LOVE.
I sat and talked with 3 women: Susan, Justina, and Agnes.
The love that they had for children was unspeakable. They explained to me that this job made a difference, it wasn’t a typically job as a means to “get by” but a career where they were able to change lives. Yes it was hard and trying at times but well worth it. I was so moved by their selflessness. I would work 8 hrs back home with 3years olds and would be totally drained by the end of the day; the weekend off definitely wasn’t enough! And here these women were living their life as a stand in mother to children whose parents have died from AIDS or who simply abandoned them.
What love, what grace, what an awesome example of Jesus!
It was so amazing to be able to encourage them, pray over them and read scripture. I shared with them how my biological mother did not raise me but God provided me with a “mother” who showered me with love, who raised me with so much care. I told them that what they are doing will make such a huge impact in those kids lives.
Pray with me for these women, that God would strengthen them in the hard days and would bless them for their sacrifice.
