Friday, May 2, 2014

Mothers

I'm in awe of these beautiful ladies. 
Sometimes I get caught up in my role as Team Leader and all that I have to do, I fail to stop and see; to see that the women right in front of my eyes, the ones I've come half way around the world to serve, have suffered for so many years. Most of them waiting decades to receive their healing, and in those years of waiting many have been abandoned by husbands, family, friends; have become the ridicule of the village; have lost babies and their ability to bear more; identities as mothers, wives, children gone because they were born on a continent that lacks adequate obstetric services and a culture that marries young. 
It's my mother's birthday today (Happy Birthday Mom!!) and Mother's Day is right around the corner. Some of these ladies won't know what it's like to be a mom. They've birthed babies that won't grow into children. But, as I sat watching the seven beautiful VVF ladies stand and sing praises to God for their healing, I was amazed. They may not be birth moms, but they're mothers in my eyes. I've watched countless times as they love and care for each other as mother's would their own children. Here's to all the mothers around the world, in the words of Dr. Itengre "The man is the roof of the house, he provides and protects. But the women are the house, there would be no house without them."