Celebrations and farewells

This may be my final post until we return. Tomorrow we head for the land where the Village of Hope is being built and where the men have spent their time. I did ask about posting pictures but William, who runs this internet cafe, said that his dial up speed was too slow. I will post a few somewhere online after I get home. I will make a final post stating where you can find them.

Today was our final day with the girls. They all wore the t-shirts that they tie dyed and we wore African Freeware -- basically a caftan. The girls were excited to see us in our outfits and said we looked smart. They were so proud of their shirts.

Denee shared today about how the girls were special in God's eyes and so were their children. She had a white box decorated with craft jewels. She told them that inside the box was the most special thing to God. Then Carmelita took the box around to show the girls. When they opened up the box, there was a mirror inside and they saw themselves. You should have seen the smiles.

Denee wanted to give each girl a mirror to remind them that God thinks that they are special. She searched but could not find one that was cost effective. She went online and found them on ebay but they were larger than what she wanted. She emailed the supplier and told him what we were doing and asked if he could cut them smaller and what would it cost. The generous man donated 55 mirrors, so we had enough for every girl.

When she was finished teaching, we asked the girls to stand and tell us something that they liked about themselves. One of them said that she liked the fact that she was alive. She said that many people did not live to her age (15 or so?) and that each morning when she woke up, she was grateful to God that she was still alive. And that not only was she alive, but that so was her child.

One girl said she was glad that God had given her the gift of bravery. She shared that she had spent the early part of her life as an abductee. She had been given to one man to be his wife. One day, they gathered up all of those who had been abducted and put them in one hut. The were going to burn the hut down. She suddenly was filled with bravery and kicked down the door. She grabbed her best friend and ran out of the hut. She and her friend were the only ones to survive. These are the kind of stories that grab your heart.

Once these girls became pregnant, they could not go back to school and many of them miss it. Without an education, it is hard for them to get a job. We made certificates for them, had taken and printed their picture with their baby, we had one of our group shots for each of them, a picture frame to make and a piece of chocolate for each of them. They really seemed to like their picture.

Then one by one, many stood and thanked us. They thanked you too. They recognized that we had taken time away from our families and friends and they wanted you to know that they were grateful. And they said that they would pray for us. Those who have so little would pray for us.