Our first trip to a Compound

Today was a day of fulfilled God-given dreams of usefulness for His Kingdom.  We went to Chunga Compound to learn Nyanga with our teacher Nancy at her home.  This saves her two hours of travel time, bus fare, and the lost time with her children.  So, once a week we will travel to her house, and once a week, she will travel to us.  As we were learning our vocabulary words, right in the middle of the lesson, Nancy stopped to tell us that she has told many people about our ministry to children who have intellectual disabilities.  One of the friends she told, Rosemary, has a girl who has Down syndrome who is 25, and never leaves her home.  She sent her son to go see whether she would come, see how interactive our children are, and what they are able to do.  She came, and only spoke Nyanga (which made learning it today all the more important, not just a fun side thing to do with our ‘spare’ time).  She was patient while we greeted her in Nyanga, and the kids did too.  Muli bwanji is the word for hello, how are you?  And Sam says a loose variation of it, something like moody bwanch, and everyone cheered!  “He knows Nyanga! they said.  Then Mollie, grinning, and holding her hands said mooey bwanch, to more cheering.  Then Maggie, moody hello, which sent folks into fits of giggles.

This Mom was so choked up the entire time she  was visiting, she could barely speak.  Then Mollie sang “great is Thy faithfulness” and Sam said a few verses, and she turned into a puddle on the floor.  She was surprised, flabbergasted, unabashedly joyful, and emotionally overcome.  Nancy also mentioned that they have another friend with a 15 year old who has Down syndrome, who also doens’t leave the house.  They, in turn, knew one more child who has a cognitive disability that we could go see. They asked if we would please come back and see their children.  And, it was at that moment, we could clearly see God’s hand on us through these past two years, preparing us for just that moment, when His gifting in our lives, and the experiences He has provided to us, came together to support, encourage, and meet the needs of three parents, on an unmarked “street” (rutted dirt path), in a little-known or respected area of a large and very poor city in the middle of central Africa.  So, we will go back on Tuesday to meet these children, and support these wonderful parents, who have so little. What a remarkable day!