Hannah* is a sweet 10-year-old girl who at the age of 18 months got severe malaria which resulted in brain damage. She can walk and speak a few words and she likes going to the local village school, even though she has difficulty concentrating and has not been making much progress. Every two weeks our team member Esther takes a long ride on a motor cycle to Hannah’s village. She plays with Hannah and encourages her parents to keep stimulating her development.
A few weeks ago, the Nyandengoh! team got a concerning message from the village. A local pastor had said some offensive things about Hannah, creating tension in the community and deeply hurting Hannah’s family. It was a Thursday afternoon, and Sylvanus had planned to travel to Bo the next morning, to get the team’s salaries from the bank. In a culture where people often live hand-to-mouth, it is not easy to have a delay in salary payment. But the team decided to forego their salaries till the next week, so they all would be able to travel to the village.
When they arrived the next day, people started gathering on benches under the trees to discuss what had happened. The pastor was there too, but he denied saying anything negative about Hannah. In the context of a shame culture, it is very difficult for people to confess to any wrongdoing, and the fact that this man was a pastor made it even more unlikely for him to own up to the matter. This did not stop Sylvanus and the rest of the team from taking the opportunity to teach what they had learned from God’s word about the value and importance of children with disabilities. After a good time of sharing, Sylvanus decided to invite the pastor to pray for the group before they would all return home. To everyone’s surprise, the pastor said he first wanted to share something with the group. It was then that he confessed that he had said all these bad things about Hannah. During Sylvanus’ teaching the Holy Spirit had convicted him of his wrongdoing…. His confession brought tears to the eyes of many. Afterwards, Sylvanus reminded us all of a Scripture he had read in Isaiah 58:9b & 10:
If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
We are so grateful for the commitment of the team as they faithfully address the injustices against children with disabilities in Bonthe district.
A big THANK YOU to everyone who blessed Nyandengoh! with donations from our Amazon wish list. It was fun to receive the packages and see what people had bought. The Yoders’ trip to Sierra Leone has been rescheduled to August due to Covid travel restrictions and an unexpected mission to Peru, but some of the items will be sent ahead with missionary friends who are hoping to travel soon. In the meantime, Heleen stays in touch with the team through Skype. This week we’ll start the first of a series of weekly training sessions.
The last time we promised you some pictures of our Christmas celebration but sadly we were not able to get quality pictures of the gathering. However, we can show you some of the families who received the donation of rice, oil and spices, made possible by Hope Universal www.hopeuniversal.com). We can assure you there were big smiles hiding behind those face masks!
Please join us in prayer as we recruit a new outreach worker/teacher. It is not easy to find qualified people who are happy to live and work in a remote area of the country.
Blessings to all of you!
* To protect the identity of the people around Hannah we have used a pseudonym.