"Poverty is a culture in itself" Nettie

When we arrived at Somebody Cares office for devotions at 7:30 am, our hearts were overwhelmed as we worshipped. Then, Fatimata, one of the staff who has lived with HIV/AIDS for 17 years, shared a devotional. Her life giving words included thoughts about: realizing that we could have gone to Miami rather than coming to Africa, that many people think of Africa as a dark country and it was good to have us here to see it is a country of joy also. She realized that many people we know may not understand the reasons for us coming and really wanted to affirm our presence here and that they as a staff truly appreciate what we are leaving behind (sacrificed leaving our families for 3 weeks) which really touched our hearts. She informed us that SC staff pray for their donors on a regular basis. Although there were 25 people present, we felt she was addressing each of us individually and personally. An amazing God focus at the beginning of a challenging day.

We have seen poverty in the "slum of slums" known as Mgona, in the village of Njewa and tomorrow we head to Mngwangwa. We've seen the children, young mothers, widows, and men in various stages of HIV/AIDS ; but today was the most heart wrenching. We were brought to a home to meet 13 year old Pampini. Her mother and father had died of AIDS and when she went to live with her aunt and uncle at age 10, she was raped repeatedly by her uncle while her aunt went to work in the garden. She was given strict orders not to tell or she would die. After awhile, she ran away and went to live with her grandmother. Her physical injuries were so severe that she is still healing from the rape. How do you pray for this girl when we have no clue as to how to relate? Debbie did an awesome job of assessing, distributing meds, and praying for her.

The Bible Study on Naiomi and Ruth went even better today. Our team of ladies plus a recruit from Baltimore portrayed this story in a very convincing fashion. (Only we were told that for a woman to sleep at a man's feet meant she's a prostitute-not so good).

Some of the experiences of this day, revealed the desperation poverty and disease create. And so we continue to pray about the effect this has on women and children.

Lydia