A few weeks ago my parents were here for a visit. Several of the little girls spent a lot of time sitting on my dad's lap. One of the little girls, S., often walks around the Center very sad. There are occasions when she smiles and laughs but they are rare. The week my parents were here I saw her smile and laugh, and it was so good because her smile lights up the whole room.
Later, on a quiet day at the Center, I noticed she was very sad again. She came and sat on my lap and I asked her several times why she was so sad. She eventually told me that she misses her papa very much. Her father died in a boat accident over a year ago. After that S. lived in the village with her mother who tried desperately to care for her children but could not so when TRS came and offered a home, school, food, and hope to the family they sent S. with her siblings to live at The Covering.
I recently was visiting some villages outside of Freetown and was reminded of how different the rest of the country is from the city. I tried to imagine what it had been like for all our Shenge kids to leave the "bush" and travel into Freetown for the first time. They left a place where they rarely saw a motor car to go to a place filled with too many of them. They left the quiet for the noisy! They left the small village for a home with 80 other children. And they've adjusted so quickly it's easy to forget how scary and difficult that journey was. It's hard to imagine what leaving ones home, language, food, and family behind is really like for a 8 year old.
S. misses her dad. She told me that she used to help him on the farm and spent much of the day working alongside him. Her favorite memories are of sitting on his lap and playing with him. She knows that he died on the boat an that he is never coming back. I got to remind her of my daddy and how she got to sit on his lap and that there are many uncles at TRS and she can sit in their lap and talk about her papa and that it's okay to cry. We also talked about Papa God…the Father who will never leave us and wants to have the type of relationship with us that we crawl up into His lap and share our grief and joy with.
S. will grow up at The Covering, surrounded by aunties and uncles who love her and protect her and teach her about Jesus; surrounded by brothers and sisters who have lost their fathers in the same accident. Please pray that she will be reminded everyday that she is loved by Papa God; pray that she will grow to trust Him with her tears and joys; pray that she will find joy here…that as she talks about her papa and shares her sadness that God will heal her heart and fill her with gladness.
From S.:
My favorite activity is basketball. I can dribble and I have made 4 baskets.
My favorite color is yellow because that's what house I was in for sports day (S. was the only girl in her team that could run most of the races, she worked very hard for her team that day and one 1 medal)
In Shenge I lived in a house with my papa, mama, 4 brothers and 2 sisters.
The think I like most about TRS is playing balance ball with the other girls.
When I grow up I want to be a teacher and teach class 2.
In school I am very good at my ABCs.
I thank Papa God for saving us.
My favorite song is "My Head, My Shoulders, My Knees, My Toes…All belong to Jesus!"
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