December 12, 2007--Our ABC missionaries, Sarah and Charles West, live in a residential neighborhood in Lusaka, the capital city. The dirt road in front of their home is busy with traffic all day long. It is not automobile traffic; it is foot traffic, and the streams of people walking toward the city begins before daybreak. Our delegation of American Baptist leaders stayed in a guest house complex across this road from the West’s home. Each of us slept in a small thatched-roof bungalow. One morning after breakfast together in the restaurant at the guesthouse, I caught the eye of one of the restaurant workers and smiled a hello to her as I returned to my bungalow to retrieve the things I would need that day. Our delegation was to depart in 15 minutes.
Back in my bungalow, with my mouth still full of toothpaste, I heard a faint knock at the door. I opened the door, and there stood the woman from the breakfast room. "May I speak to you for a moment?" I hesitated for a second. Time was short. I assumed that she wanted to sell me some crafts. But I opened the door wide and invited her in.
"They say you are bishops." (Whoa!) I explained that yes, we were church leaders . . . pastors . . ., from the United States. She began again: "I am having difficulties. Can you tell me what to do?" We sat down side by side on the edge of the bed and Pauline poured out her heart. Her husband of six years had connected again with a longtime girlfriend and had moved in with her. More than that, he had moved their household possessions into the girlfriend’s house. "I want to have a few of my possessions back. She won’t give them to me. Tell me what I should do." She told me her possessions were a refrigerator and stove, without which she couldn’t sufficiently prepare meals for herself and her two young children. We talked about her options, and glancing at my watch 20 minutes later, I suggested that we pray together before I had to leave. As we walked together toward the guesthouse restaurant, I asked her if she ever prayed. She had been raised in a Catholic family, but was not involved in church life as an adult. Again, she brought the topic back to her dilemma: "Tell me what I should do." I veered back to the prayer conversation, suggesting that she share her feelings and thoughts with God, and ask God to help her. I explained that I was confident that although she felt turmoil in knowing what to do right now, that God would settle in the midst of the flurry of decisions she had to make, and would give her a sense of peace and resolve about the option to pursue. That peace would be a sign of God's answer to her prayers.
The vans had not arrived for our delegation yet, so Pauline and I entered the empty restaurant and sat down at a table to talk more. We talked about the power of forgiveness and we talked about the divorce and custody laws in Zambia. We talked about extended family support. We talked about her meager savings plan to purchase another stove and refrigerator. And then she asked me: "If God hears our prayers, . . . and if God answers our prayers, will God answer the prayers of my husband’s girlfriend, who says she has been praying and praying that he will leave me and be with her?"
Oh God, tell me what I should do! "God wants goodness for you," I finally answered. "You’ve been married for six years. Imagine yourself six years from now in the future. What do you see?" I really don’t know which mental image she focused on, but it seemed to soften the sorrow on her face.
I’ve prayed for Pauline many times since that day. "God, grant her strength and courage and peace. Show her the way."
Reflections from an encounter in Zambia
Meeting the Women's Ministry Leaders in Congo
November 27, 2007--Last month I met with the Congo Baptist women’s ministries president at her office in Kinshasa, the capital city of Democratic Republic of Congo. President Alice Ngakieme Koba told me (in French) about their women’s organization, which encompasses 35,000 women in the Baptist Community of Congo (CBCO), and about their projects and ministries. Mama Marie Claire translated.
Alice asked me to thank American Baptist women for financing the construction of a women’s center at Mitendi. (AB Women's Ministries' past national mission project, W.I.N.G.S., contributed funds for the center in 2000.) Alice explained that during the recent war in Congo, soldiers had pillaged the women’s center, destroying everything. The now vacant buildings have no electricity, no computers, no furniture. The women are working toward getting the center up and running again, to train and educate single mothers and empower them with marketable skills. They want to provide computer training and teach English. They want to help persons with AIDS and children orphaned by AIDS, maybe even opening an orphanage. Their dreams are immense, but they feel that with God’s help and some funding support, they can do it. Alice remarked, “It is because of the women that anything gets done in Congo.” I brought home five specific project proposals from CBCO’s women’s department. One of the proposals seeks funding for equipment at the Mitendi center; the project will benefit “idle and girl mothers,” referring to the teenage girls who prostitute themselves for survival or who are victims of sexual violence.
Rev. Gabrielle Kaza-Vubu, immediate past president of the Women’s Department, was also at the meeting. I had remembered that in 2006, we invited Gabrielle and another women’s leader to come to the U.S. and participate in our National Women’s Conference at Green Lake, Wisconsin. In the last days before traveling to the United States, they were both denied visas. That fall, Gabrielle and her husband did travel to the U.S. – perhaps you met her as they toured and spoke in churches.
Our meeting in Kinshasa concluded with their gift to me of fabric imprinted with symbols of the Baptist partnerships between Angola and Congo and ABC International Ministries. Alice called over a young man who immediately sized me with a glance. “What kind of dress would you like?” Delighted and surprised, I pointed to Marie Claire’s outfit. “How big is your husband?” I held my palm high. Two days later, I was presented with a top and skirt to wear on Sunday for the opening session of CBCO’s Biennial Convention in Kinshasa. He had also made a shirt for me to take home to my husband. Amazingly, it fit!
If you click on the audio file link below (it takes some moments to load), you’ll enjoy the women’s choir that sang at CBCO’s Biennial session. Time and again I was blessed by the singing in Congo. At one point, I announced that I wanted to bring all the Baptist women home with me to sing to American Baptist women here. What a treat that would be!
Click here to download audio file.