The other day I received an e-mail from one of the staff members at Women At Risk in Ethiopia, the project that I took a CRED team out to in July. The e-mail contained profiles of the ladies that we had visited on homevisits, and also some of the children who had been at the children's summer project that we had helped at for a week.
Today, I started to read the profiles, as I want to use them in respectful ways to help prepare the next team going out, and also to raise awareness of the issues that these ladies, and the Women At Risk project, are contending with. And of course these aren't issues unique to Ethiopia; these are issues that women (and some men) across the world are struggling with, but it's through these profiles that they stop being faceless, generic issues, and instead become specific, and have faces and names.
I have been given permission to use these profiles, but even so I am going to use initials only for the people, out of respect for their right to confidentiality.
Anyway, I started to read the profiles, but only actually managed to read the first one. By the end of that I was torn between anger, sorrow, frustration and several other emotions.
The profile I read was of a mother AT, and her 10-yr old son S. AT was forced to marry at an early age to a man whom she didn't like and who didn't treat her well. As a result she ran away to a relative in a nearby city who took her in and helped her find work in a cafe. However the pay was not good, and the relative sold AT to a 'broker' in Addis who forced her to work in various domestic situations. For a while things were fairly good, and AT met a man who ended up being S's father. For many months she resisted his requests for her to live with him, as she didn't want to have a child before marriage. Unfortunately however, it took just one time of giving into temptation, and she found herself pregnant.
Because of her pregnancy, AT lost her job and moved from job to job as best she could until she had her son. During this time her health wasn't good and the father of the baby also abandoned her; after S was born AT was unable to get any work due to having the baby with her.
With no paternity payments from the father, and no welfare system to turn to, and no extended family to help out, AT felt that she had no alternative but to turn to prostitution to earn a living. Her son is now 10 years old, and has spent most of his childhood either sleeping under the bed whilst AT 'did her work' on top, or being locked in the house whilst AT went out in search of work.
AT's health has not been good ever since the pregnancy, and she has also tried several self-inflicted abortion methods, including taking a range of medical treatments.
The profile ended with a comment by AT that S is a very kind child, who cares for his mother, and worries about her, and always wants to do the best for her. AT is just so grateful to Women At Risk for the support they have given to her, and to S, and she is now seeking alternative methods of earning an income.
By the end of reading the profile, as mentioned earlier, I was a mixture of sorrow at reading such a harrowing story, anger that anyone should have to endure such awful experiences in life, frustration at feeling so unable to do anything more to help, and relief that there are organisations like Women At Risk.
The confusion of emotions left me struggling to settle to anything, and so I ran to the gym to work off some of the emotions (and those of you who know me won't be surprised to read that was my response!)
Whilst pounding out the miles, and with the story of AT and S going round and round in my mind, I had my headphones on playing a random set of songs. The words of one of them really penetrated deep into my heart and helped me work it all through. Nothing new or deeply profound, but just sentiments that I needed to hear at that precise moment.
The song was 'God Only Wise' by Eoghan Heaslip
Look it up on you-tube or google it for the full words, but it talks about how God is God of everything, and everything He does brings life.
Then it goes on to say
'take every hope and longing God,
take all our joy and pain;
use us to bless this broken world
use us to bring you praise'
The words helped so much just at that time in the gym - a reminder that the pain I feel can bring good - can fuel the determination to do my bit to make the world a better place.
And that's what CRED is all about, and why I am so passionate about the work it does. Because first and foremost it's about making a difference to the lives of the people involved in the partner projects, about helping God's Kingdom come here on earth. It's about being a blessing to a broken world.
Today, I started to read the profiles, as I want to use them in respectful ways to help prepare the next team going out, and also to raise awareness of the issues that these ladies, and the Women At Risk project, are contending with. And of course these aren't issues unique to Ethiopia; these are issues that women (and some men) across the world are struggling with, but it's through these profiles that they stop being faceless, generic issues, and instead become specific, and have faces and names.
I have been given permission to use these profiles, but even so I am going to use initials only for the people, out of respect for their right to confidentiality.
Anyway, I started to read the profiles, but only actually managed to read the first one. By the end of that I was torn between anger, sorrow, frustration and several other emotions.
The profile I read was of a mother AT, and her 10-yr old son S. AT was forced to marry at an early age to a man whom she didn't like and who didn't treat her well. As a result she ran away to a relative in a nearby city who took her in and helped her find work in a cafe. However the pay was not good, and the relative sold AT to a 'broker' in Addis who forced her to work in various domestic situations. For a while things were fairly good, and AT met a man who ended up being S's father. For many months she resisted his requests for her to live with him, as she didn't want to have a child before marriage. Unfortunately however, it took just one time of giving into temptation, and she found herself pregnant.
Because of her pregnancy, AT lost her job and moved from job to job as best she could until she had her son. During this time her health wasn't good and the father of the baby also abandoned her; after S was born AT was unable to get any work due to having the baby with her.
With no paternity payments from the father, and no welfare system to turn to, and no extended family to help out, AT felt that she had no alternative but to turn to prostitution to earn a living. Her son is now 10 years old, and has spent most of his childhood either sleeping under the bed whilst AT 'did her work' on top, or being locked in the house whilst AT went out in search of work.
AT's health has not been good ever since the pregnancy, and she has also tried several self-inflicted abortion methods, including taking a range of medical treatments.
The profile ended with a comment by AT that S is a very kind child, who cares for his mother, and worries about her, and always wants to do the best for her. AT is just so grateful to Women At Risk for the support they have given to her, and to S, and she is now seeking alternative methods of earning an income.
By the end of reading the profile, as mentioned earlier, I was a mixture of sorrow at reading such a harrowing story, anger that anyone should have to endure such awful experiences in life, frustration at feeling so unable to do anything more to help, and relief that there are organisations like Women At Risk.
The confusion of emotions left me struggling to settle to anything, and so I ran to the gym to work off some of the emotions (and those of you who know me won't be surprised to read that was my response!)
Whilst pounding out the miles, and with the story of AT and S going round and round in my mind, I had my headphones on playing a random set of songs. The words of one of them really penetrated deep into my heart and helped me work it all through. Nothing new or deeply profound, but just sentiments that I needed to hear at that precise moment.
The song was 'God Only Wise' by Eoghan Heaslip
Look it up on you-tube or google it for the full words, but it talks about how God is God of everything, and everything He does brings life.
Then it goes on to say
'take every hope and longing God,
take all our joy and pain;
use us to bless this broken world
use us to bring you praise'
The words helped so much just at that time in the gym - a reminder that the pain I feel can bring good - can fuel the determination to do my bit to make the world a better place.
And that's what CRED is all about, and why I am so passionate about the work it does. Because first and foremost it's about making a difference to the lives of the people involved in the partner projects, about helping God's Kingdom come here on earth. It's about being a blessing to a broken world.
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