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Christina
In March of each year, we celebrate International Women’s
Day; not just to recognize women as we do in the US, but also to advocate for
the safety and respect of those who live in a country which the United Nations
describes as “the worst place in the world to be a woman”.
Proverbs 31, a higher authority than the UN, speaks of the
noble character of women. I’d like you
to meet one such woman in the Democratic Republic of Congo who humbled me when
I sat in her home and listened to her story.
Her name is Christina.
She is 67 years old, but has the stamina of one much
younger. She rises in the early hours
before dawn and treks across the Rwandan border where she uses money made the
day before to purchase sacks of charcoal and corn, bringing them back by
motorcycle taxi to her home, built from volcanic rocks, in the crowded market
quarter of Goma.
After boiling water and preparing breakfast for her own
family, who wait patiently for her return, she starts the daily process of
preparing food for those who will visit the market. Sitting in front of her home, she shucks and
boils the corn before roasting it. She
then breaks the large chunks of charcoal into burnable pieces so other woman
can come and buy a cupful for their own cooking needs.
Any unused charcoal will be saved for the next day, but the
corn not sold must be dried out for popcorn.
Fresh corn for the following day will mean another pre-dawn 3 mile walk
across the border.
On weekends, with money saved from the corn and charcoal
business, she buys a kilo of precious potatoes and makes samosas to sell
locally in the market. She cannot keep those overnight…so only makes what she
expects to sell. Sunday is a day of rest and worship. Monday she is up again
before the dawn breaks.
Christina has already surpassed the life expectancy for a
woman in this part of the world. Her
husband is an amazing 70 years old (cared for by a cherished wife). He “repairs radios and small appliances”,
though looking at his near empty lean-to repair hut, it is clear that Christina
is the ‘breadwinner’ of the family. But she is much more than a financial
provider…
Her daughter had 4 children, three boys and a girl. Her
son-in-law died and the daughter remarried a man in the military, who was
killed in action during one of the many uprisings in this part of the
Congo. The youngest boy died, followed
by the mother. One can only speculate the cause of death of a mother and young
child in this part of the world.
Christina took in the 3 remaining children (her grandchildren)
to raise as her own. She is determined to not only provide for them but to
ensure all three have the opportunity to go to school, an expensive endeavor.
She struggles with the cost of school fees, telling me they “eat small, but
schooling is more important.”
Not surprisingly, she is a leader in her community. She is the President of a group of women,
Solidarité Umoja, who care for orphaned children in her neighborhood. Sadly
there are many. She reminds the
community of their obligation to care for such children, the majority of whom
are homeless and on the street. She
works with younger women in the program to help them provide for their own
families and ministers to those who are sick and hungry. She is regarded as a
‘wise woman’ and mediates family conflicts in her neighborhood when asked.
This region of Congo is insecure, far from government
control. But that doesn’t stop Christina. She reached under her shirt and
pulled out a woven cord to which was tied an old sock. She unwound the sock
from her waist and reached deep to show me the $50 she had saved during the
year toward the $150 goal of helping her grandson attend a training program to
become a security guard. She keeps it safe knowing the $150 will be the key for
him to earn a job in the city…and to avoid being conscripted into the army or
worse, one of the many militias in the area.
She told me, “I had lots of problems in the past but now,
Gloire à Dieu, I have money, I have work, I have children, all three of whom
are well educated.” The oldest grandson is a servant leader at church and her
granddaughter is a soloist. The
well-being and future of her grandchildren is what gives her determination and
stamina each and every day.
Proverbs 31 talks about a woman of noble character. Christina
is that woman.
A wife of noble
character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.
She is like a seagoing
ship that brings her food from far away.
She rises while it is
still night, preparing meals for her family and providing for her women servants.
She dresses herself
with strength and makes her arms strong.
She reaches out to the
poor, opening her hands to those in need.
She opens her mouth
with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
She looks well to the
ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children
rise up and bless her; her husband also, and he praises her.
Favor is deceitful,
and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the
gates.
May we all grow in our faith, to become more like her!
With love and joy,
Bill and Ann