We are driving with our friends Laila and Leo, to visit a small church 140km from Arusha. The last 30 km is on dirt road and goes through small thorn bushes, which seem to stay alive even though it all most resembles desert. There are no huts or fields, all is just empty.
Suddenly in the middle of this dried out area, a big lake shows up and the surround fields are green and full of life. The lake has been named (translated from Swahili) “Gods house”.
In this lake there are fish and there are many fishermen, who used to live by fishing. Unfortunately a rich man came to the area and he could afford a big boat and big nets and he emptied the lake for fish, so that now the little fishermen have nothing to live off. It all seems so unfair for the local people.
We drove out there on a Saturday and were to be part of the Sunday service, only 7 km away from this beautiful lake. The church was a small clay building, with grass roof and not much bigger than an old chicken house. But it had a great atmosphere of God’s presence.
This turned out to be a very special service, as the pastor and his wife told their life story that touched us all in our heats. The pastor had been given a calling to this area, as a pioneer as there is very little Christian activity in the village.
This episode took place 2 years ago, while they were in the field to work. They had rented some land by the lake and could water the land, they were growing rice, maize and beans. The husband had left very early that morning, as it was time to harvest the maize. The wife wanted to go out there to help him a bit later, but wanted to make food and after that put their little girl of age 1½ to sleep. The 2 older boys age 3 and 6, were to stay at home and take care of little Ruth when she woke up.
The mother goes out to help her husband harvest the maize, which they do by hand. Suddenly they see a big black smoke come from the village where they live, and something tells them that maybe it’s their hut. They quickly run home and to their greatest fear, they see it is their hut in flames. The little boy Ebenezer is only 3 and was so afraid of the fire, he ran to the church to hide. The older boy had gone into the hut to save the little girl Ruth, but he never made it out again. They lost both their loved children in the same day.
This has been a terrible loss for them and while they were telling about their horrible experience, not an eye was dry in the church.
We have through some time known this family and their difficult situation. We have helped their boy Ebenezer (who hid in the church) to go to school. He is now living in our lovehome and goes to our new school. He has been there around ½ a year and loves being at school.
In the middle of this difficult time, they succeed in March 2015 to get another little girl, who they have named Tabitha who is so full of life, she is sweet and dear.
Not long after the tragic accident, the pastor was involved in a motorbike accident. Often in the villages the only transportation is a motorbike. The pastor was sitting as a passenger, when the motorbike had the accident and he broke his shoulder in 3 places. It seems like the hospital is not able to put it back together properly, so it’s very difficult for him to use his arm besides that he is always in pain. He is not able to work in the fields anymore, which is a big issue in their economy. The income at the church is very little and they live very poorly. See the picture which is the entrance to their home.
We tried to ask them about their daily life and it turns out they practically have nothing in the house, as all their things burnt in the fire.
They had borrowed a bed from the neighbor, but they are lying directly on the boards as they do not have money to buy a mattress. They have pain in the body for lying on the bed and sleep only a few hours at a time. The pastor’s arm is hurting so much and the hard bed is only making the situation more difficult.
So we immediately gave them money to buy a mattress and for his hospital stay, as he still owed them money for that. We also helped them so they could buy some food, so they can manage for a while.
But now we are seeing such a situation we often think, what would Jesus do? I do know, we cannot help the whole world, but we do experience that those we do help continue with their lives.
We often ask Jesus to show us, where to help and where not to help, so when we meet people like this family then we feel that the Lord sent us there to help.
If anyone would like to help this little family, with a onetime amount then it would be a great help and big joy for this hard tried family.
Would it not be nice to build them a small house?
It cannot cost so much out there, as they use sun dried stones that get built with cement. I think for 20.000,-Dkr we can get far. So if anyone wishes to give an amount to this family, so they can continue their work they would be very happy.
Maybe one or two people get this on their heart, to support the family with 500,-Dkr a month so they can survive and they can continue to pastor the small church.
The gift can be marked “burnt house and children” and be sent to our missions accountant:
Willy Højgård, Reg. 9712 Konto nr. 0741 793075
We would like to thank you for your continued support, as we are getting when we bring these cries for help. We can tell you that the money goes only to the family, there is nothing being used for administration or such.
Love from
Tabitha and Torkild