The Week That Was

It has been difficult since Sharon disappeared. A lot of time, energy and even money has been spent to try and find her. Our hopes have gotten up several times, but only to come crashing to the ground. The feeling of helplessness overwhelms me.

But as I was complaining to God yesterday that he has not returned Sharon yet, He reminded me of what he has been doing this past week. On Monday when we were looking for Sharon, we found another runaway girl and we were able to trace her home and school and get her back to being a young girl again. Later in the week we picked her up on the way to watch some of our girls play their secondary school district tournament. It was good to see her interacting with some of our girls and be a normal 14 year old.

On Thursday, we went to visit a young girl that gave birth last year. We offered some encouragement, joked around with her a bit and prayed for her. Then we visited the homes of a couple of our new girls in the football club. The first one was a 6th grader, Maurine. She has 7 other siblings in her family and her parents are trying to provide for each of them through any job they can get on a daily basis. She had been sick and out of school for 4 days so we were able to give her a ride to the hospital so that she could get treated. The family was so happy that we made the effort to visit their home.

We also visited Winny, a tiny, energetic girl from another big family. She also has 7 siblings that her father tries to provide for by fishing. Going out into the community to visit homes still deeply impacts me, even after being here for almost 8 years. It reminds me of the challenges these families face with high food costs, low income and many children to provide for. Each family was so happy that their child was joining the football club. Both fathers talked about how much their daughter loves playing, even when they are sick or injured. They were happy to encourage them to develop their God-given talents. They commented that the club gives them a ray of hope in their life.

On Friday, I took a boat to Mfangano Island. As we boarded the boat a young third grade girl came and sat next to me. She was all alone so I tried to take care of her. As she snuggled up to me, she told me about her school and that she was going to visit her father on the island. When we reached, she ran to hug the father who was driving a motorbike. He became my angel that day as he ended up carrying me all over the island to see different people and to look for Sharon. He took me to the school of one of the girls who had played with us during the Primary School ball-games. When Nancy saw me, she ran and gave me a hug. The school's head teacher and deputy were happy for her to be able to join the club but said we needed to get permission from her guardian who lives on the other side of the island. We were also searching for another man who was the father of a young girl who is in a boarding school in Mbita. By God's Divine Providence, it turned out the man we found was both the father of the young girl and the guardian of Nancy.

We had a great conversation and he narrated to me the story of Nancy. She had told me this a few months ago, but the guardian confirmed that Nancy's father died back in 1996 and Nancy's family came down from the top of the island to live on the shores with the father's brother. In 2005, the mother died, leaving Nancy and all of her siblings in the care of the uncle. She sat her national exams in 2008, but failed (probably because of missing a lot of school because of the lack of fees). She was out of school for two years before the guardian decided to let her go back to 7th grade to get a better foundation and try again at the national exams in 2012.

These visits just remind me once again of the way poverty, disease and death are destroying many lives in this district. I returned to Mbita that evening, though we had quite a scare on the way back when the boat almost capsized.

On Saturday, we brought some of our students and some of our football players to Asumbi to watch a few of our secondary students play in their district tournament. Two teams were having several of our club players and CGA students. Unfortunately they had to meet in the semis where Asumbi defeated Magare 2-0. Asumbi went on to win the finals. Three of our girls star for them. It is fun to watch them play and hear people in the crowd (who don't know us or them) comment about how good "that little one" can play or that the goalkeeper is so skilled, etc. Watching our girls shine in their secondary schools (in class and on the field) is always one of the highlights of the year for me.

On Sunday, we had a great church service where they prayed over me individually and the sermon was excellent.

So in spite of the struggles and challenges, God is so good!