Some of you might remember the neighborhood and people I lived with during my time in the capital of Narnia in 2006-2007. For those of you who don’t, I lived with a very precious and welcoming local family in the midst of a despairing red-light slum district. My evenings with this bi-racial couple and their children brought hope to me day to day as I also faced the realities of child prostitution, violence and abuse under the excuse of “religion”, drugs, brothels, extreme poverty and poor living conditions.
One of the daughters in the family, “Zia” was 8-9years old at
the time and was spunky and intelligent. I tutored her most evenings, believing
that she had a chance at going farther in her education than most girls here
go.
Flash forward 5 years! For the third time in the last 3
years, I went back to my old neighborhood to try and find my old host family. The
previous two times I found that everyone in my compound including this family,
had moved out. No one had contact info for them, and I felt I had exhausted my
sources for how to find them. This time the street I lived on looked darker
than ever. Directly across from the place I lived now there is a school for
witch doctors, with paintings of demons and snakes on the sign. I was
discouraged. I lived almost 2 years here and tried my best to pour light and
hope into the people around me. Now it seemed worse than ever.
As I walked away from house, someone called my name “Mariam?”
from across the street. A lady came running with a look of surprise and joy as
we embraced. She was my host mother’s older sister! We were quickly invited to
her home and exchanged greetings and news over a cold orange Fanta. She offered
to take us to see my old host family later on that week.
Four days later, we travelled a half an hour by car to the
edge of town and had a great reunion with them over cups of mint tea, chicken
and fries (a feast meal!). “Zia”, my spunky, clever little friend, was now a
married woman (at age 14) and had given birth to her first child 2 days before
we saw them. She had gone on to study until she got married, which is farther
than most girls go! It was such a joy to see them and it reminded me that God had
been continuing to show mercy and grace towards them long after I was gone.
I hope that this reunion is the beginning of another phase
in our relationship and that we can continue to bring them the truth about the
Light of the World, Jesus.
