Hope in the Ashes

Most of the morning was spent at Jenny’s pulling zinc panels off charred wooden poles and cleaning up what was left after the fire burnt itself out last night. We managed to fill a good sized bowl full of salvaged beads that weren’t melted together, but that’s about all that was left. Everything else, clothes, food, money, Miriam’s textbooks and school uniform, birth certificates, blankets, photo albums, Jenny’s Bible, all reduced to soot and ashes.

Apparently one of the young girls had knocked over a candle and ran out, but never told anyone about it. Jenny’s room was separated from the main brick house which they started to empty of belongings in case it too caught on fire. None of the onlookers wanted to use their precious prepaid water cards to help put it out, so all they could do was watch everything they had be consumed by the flames.

At twenty-three years old Jenny is the single mother of two small children and taking care of her four younger siblings with virtually no help from their father except for this small plot they live on. This tragedy comes right on the heels of Jenny returning from her cousin’s funeral, the only cousin that helped financially support her and her siblings. Not only that, but the family she helped clean house for moved away last week, so now her sole source of income is from her woodcarving shop. It reminds me of Job, when the next servant came with tragic news before the previous one even finished speaking. All one can do is sit in stunned silence. Does it ever let up?

But as usual, God raises hope from amidst the ashes. We’ve been talking with Jenny for a while about moving on to her own plot to free her from the authority of her father (since it’s his plot, abusive relatives wander in and she has no authority to kick them out). There’s also talk of Hope’s Promise helping support her as a foster parent for her siblings. These all sound like very good options, but we must be very careful wading through the muddy waters of dependency and entitlement hoping to find a better solution on the other side. Whenever whites “swoop in” to “rescue” the Africans things can quickly become very dangerous. So please pray for much wisdom for all involved. Pray that we would follow God’s leading and not force our agenda on to Jenny and her family. Pray that God would continue to provide, and for us all to trust that He ultimately knows what’s best. Pray that Jenny wouldn’t be ostracized from her family by getting Social Services involved. And pray for unity in the body where philosophies of ministry heavily collide.