This month we’re featuring stories of “The One” — the men, women, and children whom Racers will never forget.
While in Namibia in December, Rachel Lyons of 2015 T Squad met a woman who dedicated her life to caring for abandoned and unwanted children.
Wilhelmina grew up in a poor village in Namibia, Africa. In fact, her village was so poor that at 16 years old, she had to leave both her family and her village just to survive. Knowing she had more opportunities for jobs in the capital, she left for the city of Windhoek.
But when Wilhelmina arrived in the city, she couldn’t find a job or a place to live.
To make matters worse, the government passed a new law making residents of Windhoek register and have proper documents to live in the city — documents she didn’t have and couldn’t get.
Wilhelmina knew if she were caught, she’d be forced to leave — and leaving meant her survival would be at risk.
So she hid.
Wilhelmina and a few others found refuge in the city dump, where she lived hidden amongst the piles of trash.
Together, their “community” dug through the trash to collect food, make clothes from scraps of fabric, and create holes to sleep in. Living in, from, and on trash, Wilhelmina even had to make her own underclothes from plastic orange bags.
*Photo by Laura Bush
The one bright spot in her life was Ruth, a wealthy woman who brought homemade food to the residents of the dump in exchange for the batteries they collected.
This simple task changed Wilhelmina’s life forever.
One day, while Wilhelmina and her friends were scouring piles for batteries, they stumbled across a horrific scene.
Hidden in the piles of trash were the bodies of infant children.
In Namibia abortion is extremely prevalent. There are posters everywhere advertising “safe, quick, and easy” abortions. And if an abortion isn’t successful, or if a woman can’t afford the procedure but does not want the child, she will wait until full term, have the baby, either smother or drown them, and then throw them away.
When Wilhelmina saw the discarded babies, her heart broke.
Then things got even worse.
Some workers hired to maintain the dump discovered the bodies — and a few of Wilhelmina’s friends. Wilhelmina was able to hide before they saw her, but from her vantage point she watched those workers accuse a friend of birthing and killing the babies.
Then they stabbed her with a broken beer bottle and left her for dead.
After they left, Wilhelmina crawled out of her hiding place and held her friend as she bled to death. In that moment, she made a covenant with God: “Lord, I will take care of any children who are not wanted if you will save me from this place.”
Not long later, Ruth returned with another hot meal. When she learned about what happened, she decided to help Wilhelmina, and they left the trash piles together.
As Ruth nurtured and cared for her, Wilhelmina learned more about the Lord. Years later, she kept her promise to God. Putting her total trust in God to provide, 16-year-old Wilhelmina gathered the funds she could and began to take care of the children of Windhoek who were abandoned.
Today Wilhelmina is rarely referred to by her given name; everyone who knows her calls her “Mommy.”
Since the day she stepped out on faith, there have always been children to take care of. At one point she lived in a small house taking care of 110 children all on her own. Wilhelmina doesn’t make any money and the government doesn’t help at all. She has relied completely on God to provide for her and the children.
They are fully dependent on God.
I got to meet and serve with Wilhelmina while in Namibia in December. My team was the first Race team to serve at Moria Grace Orphanage, the home Wilhelmina eventually started. Some of the children there are true orphans; others simply come from families too poor to care for them, and still others have been removed from unsafe family situations.
All together, there are 84 kids in the home today, ranging in age from 3 to 20. They are loved, fed, and nurtured by Mommy and Papi, Wilhelmina’s husband, who is every bit as much a father as Wilhelmina is a mother.
On most days the children have only porridge to eat (maize meal). Their only toys are donated and often look like they came straight from a trash pile. Occasionally they will get half-rotten vegetables and bread to fill their bellies. But no matter how little they have, they sit together as a family, each getting their portion and thanking God for what has been provided.
They thank God for His provision where many people would ask for more.
Through Wilhelmina’s story, I have witnessed the miracle of how God can save one heart to call many others to Himself.
The family of Moria Grace knows the Lord. They sing praises and study the stories of the Bible. Even though they don’t have their own copies, they still know these words and hold onto them dearly. It is their bread when they don’t have anything to eat and their promise that they are loved when they are rejected by those who should have loved them most in the world.
I have witnessed the living testimony of a woman and a man who have truly given up everything this world could offer them to serve the least of these. By being the mother and father to so many who who were called worthless, they gave worth to them.
The children who were seen as trash have become treasure because Mommy and Papi see them the way Jesus saw them: full of life and worth dying for.
*Photo by Brooke Leffelman
Even though she is not my birth mother, Mommy has become a mother to me too.
Through her example, I’ve seen a beautiful picture of a woman of God living her calling and changing the world, one child at a time, despite any inconvenience, hardship, or difficulty on her part. I’ve seen what it means to choose the Kingdom of God over the treasures of this world and to live with eternal purpose.
When she went to live in the dump, Wilhelmina could have given up and believed she was worthless. When she found the babies, she could have looked the other way. When Ruth helped her leave the dump, Wilhelmina could have conveniently “forgotten” her promise to God and never looked back.
Instead, she realized God allowed that dark time of her life for that very reason. In the most difficult season of her life, Wilhelmina found her calling — at age 16 — and has become a mother to hundreds of girls and boys throughout Namibia.
Does Wilhelmina’s story inspire you to make a difference?
Do you want to serve in Africa while on the World Race? CLICK HERE for Race routes to Africa, including August Route 1 to Namibia!
