She was sick and weak. Her parents were killed in the genocide and at some point she was sent from her village to the city to find work. She was taken advantage of, as many young girls are in this place, and she ended up with AIDS. She didn't know she was HIV positive until Chuck and Debby started helping her and got her tested. They got her involved in Link Ministries and found her a little place to live. Another young girl is living with Elizabeth to help her and make sure she takes her medicine and gets the right nutrition. We have visited the center twice, and Debby took me to visit Elizabeth and Felicite at their house today. They live in what I would call a slum section; the very poorest houses. They live in a concrete house the size of a small bedroom. The roof is made from slabs of corrugated metal. The house is divided into two rooms, one holds two twin mattresses, the other holds a small table, two chairs, and an assortment of pots, dishes, and water containers. It is truly the barest essentials. Their house in surrounded by other similar shacks and lots of dirt, which turns to mud in the rain. No pretty view or nice manicured lawns. Not even a decent, child-friendly yard with bare patches here and there. I can't imagine living with so little, and in such dirty conditions. Yet they are happy and grateful to have even that. It is a far step above Elizabeth's former accommodations. And she is stronger, her health is much better, and she has something worthwhile to do with her time. It is amazing what little these people can make do with. Here are Elizabeth and Felicite in their house.
Here's a shot of their mattresses stacked up.
After visiting awhile the girls took us over to see another of the girls who works at the center. I will call her Grace. Grace is also HIV positive, along with the oldest of her two little girls. They live in a house built by the government that is divided into four square sections. One family lives in each room. Her room is not much bigger than half of Elizabeth's house. Her girls are five and seven years old, but they look three and five, sizewise. Grace has been very difficult for the center to work with; she does not like to work. She claims to be 21 but no one knows for sure. She doesn't know when she was born and never knew her parents. Her mother was a street girl and gave her to an old woman in the village. Grace lived with this woman until she died; then Grace went to the streets to try to survive. She must have been around 14 years old when she gave birth to her first child. Imagine not knowing where you came from or who your parents are. It's like having no identity. The way these women think is entirely different. They are traumatized by their past, by the lack of love, provision, and training. They can't get out of poverty because they have no concept of thinking for the future, saving money, or how to properly care for themselves and their children. For all practical purposes, they are still children themselves. They have not had the guidance to reach mental and emotional maturity. They seem to learn skills quickly at the center and can make beautiful things. If they had the mentality to work and plan for the future, they could make a decent living. But they can't seem to think that way. Instead of making a quantity of their product and selling it at one time, they want to take one item as soon as they make it, sell it, and then spend the money, often for clothes or other things that aren't practical or they don't need desperately. Food is not as valuable to them as other things. It's amazing, but they tell me that people here will often go for days without eating and it doesn't seem to faze them. It's just the way they live. They are hard-wired for survival and used to scraping by with very little. We don't understand how they can survive the way they do, and even they can't explain how they make it. Many of them will gladly go without food for a day so they can go to school. Or, as these vulnerable women, they would rather buy something pretty and let themselves and their children go hungry. Grace simply does not like to work hard. They have tried to get her to see that she needs to work so she can feed her children and get proper nourishment herself. They do receive a meal at the center on the days she works there. But for awhile she was very upset with the director and didn't want to come anymore. She thought she had it all figured out. She would put her kids to bed and they would just sleep all the time, so they were being good and she thought that made her a good mother. She wouldn't have to work because they would sleep and she wouldn't have to feed them. Obviously the poor kids must have been so weak from malnutrition that they couldn't do much else but sleep. The worst thing is when the children suffer for their parents' faulty reasoning and unwise decisions. Yet we don't want to just give them handouts, because they have to learn to work honestly for what they need. A lot of times if someone would give them a bunch of food or clothes for the kids, they would just sell it and buy something else. It's a tough dilemma, especially with kids involved. I believe the situation with "Grace" has improved, but she still would rather not work. She was not at the center all this week because she has been sick. Despite the obstacles, these women need someone to love them, and they need hope. We must pray that if nothing else gets through, the love of Jesus and the hope of eternal life in Him does.
Here is a parting shot of me, "Grace", Elizabeth, Judith who is the overseer at the Link Center, and Grace's two girls.
Please pray that the love of Jesus will be real to these young women and their children and that everyone here who are trying to help will be His love channel and know the right thing to do in each situation.
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