The beauties of this country, and the beauty of the relationships built here.
On Sunday, WMF celebrated "Princess Day" with five of the Lighthouse girls. The title sounded silly to some of us, that is, until our team leader reminded us that "girls are never [normally] treated nice here." A sobering reminder!
The teenage Lighthouse girls, for the second year in a row, were treated to a wonderful full-day beach outing. Eleven of us hopped in a chartered poda-poda at 8:30am and headed to Burray Town, a beach further town on the Freetown peninsula, about 2 hours away. The luxory of a paved road made the ride smooth(er) and problem-free. (Well, there were those two times our driver almost rammed into oncoming traffic and some people's hearts jumped into their throats, but whatever! ;)
At the beach, Cami shared the Bible story of Hagar, Abraham and Sarah's Egyptian slave, reminding us of God's ever-present love for us. He is the God who sees us (Genesis 16).
Then, we played some beach games, coordinated by the U.S. Servant Team ladies - one game I learned in the comfy and laughter-filled environs of my college apartment (the clapping animal game!) and the other I played once at my Trinity youth group. It involved human pyramids and making shapes in the sand with our bodies. Lots of laughter and squealing involved!
Florence (the girls' Bible study leader) coordinated the food - we ate shwarmas and pepper chicken for "snack" and then soda, juice, water and *delicious* couscous and vegetable salad and more chicken for lunch. We played in the ocean, helping the girls stay afloat and dive under waves and splashed around in the river. We did live like royalty for the day!
It all culminated in the "dressing of the princesses." Each girl modeled their new African dresses that the Lighthouse tailors had sown for them, and jewelry purchased with Florence. They looked so beautiful and were having so much fun.
Again, elements of this may sound cheesy, but it really is true - how often are girls appreciated here? Told that they're beautiful and valued and given a chance to just enjoy a full day like this? Even as the day was closing some grown men were hanging around our post and asking if they could "take" one of the girls as a wife. I was so disgusted I wanted to scream.
But they were given a day to be appreciated and loved. And I loved that WMF's heart and mission is to pour into these girls' lives; to encourage and love them despite all they have been through.
2 comments:
Dearest Katherine,
Your description of the Princess day is so vivid I can hear and see the girls at play. How powerful one good day in a young girls life can be. How fortunate that have you to show God's love and power for life giving purposes to them. Thank you for being the hands, eyes, ears and touch for those of us from afar.
Rest in His Care.
Love,
Kathy P.
Queen Katherine, As I re-read this I'm imagining myself helping the Lighthouse boys enjoy a similarly life-changing day, being treated like Princes. (Still, as is typical of 99.99% of my cognitive time in my cozy American condition--I am NOT imagining their prior or present traumitic realities.) Rebecca forbids me to play the M.S. card any longer, ):, so I can't rely on my usual excuse as to why I don't get over there and do the fantastically fruitful things you are doing. I can however, pray fervently that my mission finding sponsors for desperate children through Compassion International comes close. :)
May God bless you and bless you then bless you some more Katharine, during these last coupla days in Freetown--and forevermore!
Travel Mercies home!!
JeffreyC
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