The Impact

Today I went with Brenda and Beatrace to a house across the road from the Village of Eden. We went there because a man had died the day before.  We know some of the people in the family and we wanted to show our respects.

I drove the car, through the bush to their house.  There was no road, just a foot path, indicating that cars rarely come to their house.

 We got out and the family immediately took us to what I call the "death hut".  It is customary here for the family to sit with the dead for a day or so before the burial.  The family is usually waiting for family to come from other villages.

The body is laid out in the floor of the mud hut - on a straw mat or mattress if the family can afford it.
The body is wrapped in a blanket and in today's case, only the head was visible.

All around the inside of hut the women sit on straw mats, talking, crying, just being together.  The children and men mingle outside in small groups.

They took us inside the dark hut and being guests of honor, quickly found wooden stools for us to sit on.  We sat with the other women inside the hut with the body as the center focus.

We talked quietly with the widow, Gertrude.  Brenda mentioned something about her children.  Gertrude became excited and began talking to someone outside the door.

Soon, people began coming into the hut, standing around the body, some sitting on the body's mattress.  Finally, Gertrude was content and took the hand of one of the women closest to her.

"This is my first born."

We shook her hand.

"This is my second born."

We shook her hand.

"This is my third born."

Again, shaking hands.  We continued this 15 times!  Gertrude has given birth to 15 children, the youngest being about 18.

 She was so proud to be able to introduce them to us.  You could also feel the pride in the children.  It was an odd kind of family reunion, all the children around the mother, with the father's body lying in the floor between all of us, many of the handshakes done over the body.
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Then, God began blessing me.

One daughter asked if Brenda remembered the first time they had met - Helping Hands helped her get treatment for a broken arm.

Another son mentioned when he did some work for us on our fence, helping to provide for his family.

Brenda bragged on Gertrude who is one of our ladies that cleans at the Village of Eden - seeing all the family made me realize that she is one of the sole providers for this huge family.

By this time, many children had peeked or sneaked into the hut's doorway.  I recognized them as faithful Saturday Esangalo students (receiving the Word and food each Saturday).

Many of the girls were wearing dresses we had given out.

A couple of the kids are students at our Village of Eden school, receiving a free, quality, Christian education.

I say that God began blessing me because He opened my eyes to see all of this and realize the impact that God, through Helping Hands has made in just this one family - as large as it may be.

I realized that even though we are having troubles and the work here is NEVER easy, there is an impact for His Kingdom!  His love, His Word - HE is being shared.  It was a wonderful and humbling time for me - being able to see the work of the Lord through Helping Hands in this village.