Weary in Well Doing
by Neema House
The one room house is barely big enough for the bed where she sleeps
with her two children. It’s better than many houses in Africa, at
least it’s cement, not mud. She rents the room for seven dollars per
month. There is no kitchen and no bathroom, just the small bedroom
with only enough room to walk around the bed. But it is neat and
clean and she has an infectious smile.
Mama Noela lives alone there with her two children, Noela and the new
baby who is three weeks old. They call mothers by their children’s
names here. Mama Noela’s name is Felister. She has been carrying
this seven year old girl on her back for seven long, weary years. She
loves the child and would have continued to carry her but she became
pregnant again.
We met her at a local church where she had the seven year old on her
back and was eight months pregnant. She was totally exhausted from
carrying this big girl. Her minister asked if we could help. I
told him God’s people are good, surely we can find help.
So we found a home for handicap children and drove to Moshi with the
child’s bag packed, but they wouldn’t take her. They told the mother
if she loved her child she would continue to care for her and then
told her they would find the husband and make him pay. They didn’t and
she does love her child. She is just so weary.
That kind of government help makes me weary. So we have hired a house
girl to help her with the children.
We are giving her $30 per month to pay the house girl. Now with our
new MAP “Mother’s Against Poverty” program we can work to set up a
more permanent solution for Mama Noela. I suggested making jewelry to
sell which she could make in her room. Later she showed us her
chickens in the chicken coop and asked if we wanted to buy some eggs
from her neighbor. Below is her chicken coop made from old mosquito
nets.
We realized she was more into chickens than jewelry. Through our MAP
program we can help her get started in an egg business. But first we
will need to build her a bigger, better chicken coop! Below is where
she cooks for her family when she has wood. Other times she cooks on
the porch with charcoal. The chicken coop is behind the kitchen.
Since this is our second egg/chicken business we know how much it will
cost to build a wooden/cement block chicken house and buy 40 chickens.
About $400.
If you could help Felister set up her chicken business, she would
appreciate any amount.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we
will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galations 6:9
Bless you!
Dorris
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