A Good News Day at Neema Village

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A Good News Day at Neema Village

March 22, 2021

Don’t you just love to get Good News! Kim called this morning with her morning report from Neema Village. It was Thursday in Africa and the MAP moms were having their “Women’s Rights” class at the MAP Center when something happened that completely changed the day for Kim (pictured below with Dorcas).

A woman came in to the MAP center to ask for help. She was carrying a special needs baby, the family had no food, they could not pay their rent and were about to be evicted onto the street. 

This is not new, it is something we hear almost weekly at Neema Village now but the interesting thing was she had been to Neema a year ago looking for help. She had a husband then and did not fit our criteria, so we recommended that she take a three-month training course to learn how to care for her handicapped child.

But instead, the husband took her and the child to a witch doctor in a remote village. He left her there with the witch doctor. She had no money to get away and he kept adding to what she owed him for room and board so she now owed him a large sum of money and he would not let her leave. She had become a prisoner/slave.

Finally, after months of this she was able to get away and buy a bus ticket home.   When she got back to her home she saw that her husband had moved in another woman, the new wife had taken all her household items and stolen her children and they would not let her in the door.

She and her handicapped child were homeless, hungry and hopeless when they came to Neema Village. What happened next was the surprise.

Angel (pictured above with Zawadi who was returning home) and Anna, Olivia and Kim were visiting with the mom in the office when Kim finally said let’s tell her what we have been saying. That is Olivia below with abandoned baby Hope.

They had been talking in English in the meeting so the woman did not know what they were saying.  Finally Kim turned to her and said, “You have been accepted into the program, you are going to be ok, don’t be afraid, we are going to help you.”

When the mother heard that, she dropped to her knees, crawled across the room and began to kiss Kim’s feet and legs while crying profusely, thanking and blessing her. By the time it was over everyone was crying. Kim assured her that she had not done this, that God does all the good and we just get to help.

This makes us so happy, like Anna, below, singing her Happy Song which she always does after she sets a new women up in business.
Anna sings her happy song.

That evening at the volunteer house around the dinner table they were talking through the events of the day. We like to hear from our volunteers how God has worked in their lives that day at Neema.

Kim asked them, “What in your life could someone do for you that would make you drop to your knees and crawl across the floor and kiss someone’s feet to say thank you?”   Hmmmm, other than when we will all see Jesus, I could not think of a thing.  But I do know He will say the same thing to us, “You have been accepted, you are going to be okay. Don’t be Afraid.”

Surely it was a Good News day at Neema Village!

Michael and Dorris Fortson