The most incredible time of my life...has happened...
This weekend I invited two young ladies to join me in my home as my guests. The first time I met Chifundo, she was at a youth club meeting. We were sharing the vision of SC to the youth and she was so outspoken that when she spoke, the guys were quiet and listened. She commanded a certain authority that is very rarely seen in the village. Hearing her story was even more incredible. The bible says deep calls unto deep...and I know it has a deeper meaning but for me in that moment, her spirit and my spirit recognised each other. I wanted to know her and to spend time with her. She was formidable in a culture that has women docile and unsuspecting. She was ...beyond words. Looking at her you can see that life has taken its toll on her but she has come out fighting. For five years she has lived alone – a single girl struggling to make it. She has tilled gardens and worked for others just to put food on the table. She has been without help until now...
Loveness is an incredible, phenomenal woman. Her smile comes from such a depth that I envy it...in the nicest sense of the word. Her father was paralysed and bedridden and she had to become the breadwinner and take care of her family...while still putting herself through school. She lives in Mtandile, speaks English and is adorned with such a confidence that it is surprising. She overwhelms me and I fail to find words enough to describe her. But here she is in my home...blessing my heart with her presence.
Both these young ladies are a blessing. They are the future...the women not of tomorrow but of today. They have both, in different settings, refused the advances of young men wanting to get with them. They have vision and purpose...theirs is not a simple dream...they have set their limits further than the sky and this weekend and the others to come have something to do with that.
God had a plan...bring the girls into my home and watch their mindset change. Let them know how very precious they are...these beautiful darlings who may not be known by many but are known by Him...God.
When we arrived at the house they were giggles and squeals, peels of joy and laughter. None of them had ever been anywhere like where they were. Chifundo’s house is the size of my kitchen...how humbling is that. I feared she would pass out. In their room were laid out outfits for their weekend...skirts and blouses for their trip to town and t-shirts for hanging around the house. At the foot of their bed...a food parcel to take home after weekend was over. Both girls are new to everything they see and they are given a tour and instruction by Edward (who nicknamed himself, their paparazzi, snapping pictures every moment)...everything is new...the bathroom, the beds, the TV, the food...everything. They smile and laugh as they are showed everything. This is, of course after they steal away to pray and give thanks to God.
“I am dreaming...” Chifundo kept saying. I felt like I was dreaming. Their hearts are magnetic...drawing me to love more and more.
“I can’t believe this is happening. Me, in area 47, in this house, at this high table.” Linda, a friend and partner from Arizona was with us and I wondered what it did for the girls to just sit at home and chat with her and watch her serve them and just be there. What a stretch for the mind...
We talked for hours, finally saying goodnight around 10pm. I am too excited to sleep. They are in the next room. I wonder what they are saying to each other. It feels like I am on a high...off of them. Wow, imagine entering a world you have never seen. Chifundo has never seen electricity...she is silent and then bursts into a statement of wonder.
I tell the gils why they are there, how I have been desiring this for so long. How I wanted to remove the limits and boundaries that life has put on them...that they are precious princesses...deserving of everything that is happening. That this is not a once off thing but a beginning...
“ I want you to know that you can sit on a sofa and watch TV and spend time in this place...that it open up possibilities to you knowing that this is possible. No one should make you feel less than what you are. We are going to have a wonderful time together...this is a beginning.
We laugh and laugh together...
We talk about the goodness of God...
What else is there to say but that God is good....
Saturday the girls spent together. They went out to Steers and had ice cream. Neither had ever tasted it before...they commented on just how cold it was...and sweet! I am not sure what to do with that. My first memory with ice cream is too far back for me to recall...which makes this moment even more amazing. When I think about the many flavours I have tasted, and beside me sit two girls in wonder of the taste of ice cream.
Sunday we have to take my little sister to the airport and so we make our way to the airport. Loveness tells me that it is because of their names that they are here “Because of the Love of God and because of the Mercies of God.” How true. It is the first time for the girls to see an aeroplane...yeah and who knows if one day they could be boarding that plane...who knows the possibilities that God has for them...
We Say goodbye and there are tears. We pray and praise God together. It feels like time has stopped and we are in a place of peace and beauty. In all my life I have not felt this...indescribable.
I walk them down the road and they disappear around the corner with Edward....
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