Ladies Day

This morning after breakfast, we walked to the other side of the campus to the Ladies Group. Each week this group of ladies gathers at 9:00 am (I don’t know how they know to be there on time since there is no electricity in their huts) for Bible study. There are two groups of women, “the elderly” and “the not so elderly”. The women are not all from the same denomination, but they are there to fellowship, pray, study the Bible with Pastor Edwin, dance and sing together. The younger women (who have better eyesight) make beaded necklaces and bracelets that they sell. The women have set up a savings plan where they put some money aside and they share it in December to provide for a good Christmas. A good Christmas consists of a nice meal for their families, NOT what typical Americans believe is a “good Christmas.”

We met Angelina, the community’s oldest woman. She is somewhere between 90 and 100 years old (no one, including Angelina, is really sure!) We also met Agnes. Agnes sold Mama Lorna the first piece of land that would eventually become Point of Grace. Then it was all bush, not a valuable piece of land. Over time, the Meekers would buy more lots and expand to accommodate more and more children.

There are women from all walks of life that attend the weekly Ladies Meeting. There were widows in the group who either work at POGA or depend on POGA. These women are grandmothers and great grandmothers who care for their grandchildren and great grand children. There were women who were co-wives, meaning one husband has multiple wives, and there were women there who are married. All the women left with a large bag of food items, maize flour, sugar, oil, tea, rice, lentils, and soap donated by Grace Lutheran Church. The gratitude for these simple food items was overwhelming.

The women sang and danced for us, and they put on a play for us. Once again, members of the mission team, left feeling very humbled. These women have so little, but because of their faith, they have everything. The poverty is heartbreaking, their life experience is discouraging, and yet, their strength, belief, and faith is beyond measure.