Thursday,
November 13, 2014
Jeff Lampl
Jeff Lampl
because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love."
Romans 5:5 (NLT)
The
following letter comes from James and Truphena, the founders and
administrators of the Tamani Orphanage which you, the CLC are helping to
build. It’s a
poignant picture of power of love.
“This
is to you that believe in the power of God’s work . . . . even at
times when everything may seem to prove otherwise. So on this normal day
of working and moving all over in the slums. Sometimes stopping and
thinking ‘why should I do this for the whole day?’ there is always
the following day to look forward to fixing another issue, do some extra
follow up or just want to see how things are moving. This was one of the
days that is was so exhausted and it was to me one of those long . . . .
one of the days that you wish to get to the house and straight to take a
shower and engulf yourself in your mattress as is there is never going
to be another chance as such to sleep.
We
pulled over to my gate, my wife keeping me busy with stories as it was
heading to 5:30pm and I was totally spent! As I reverse the car so that
we may get inside the compound, I get a phone call from the local
administration officer . . . . the
first thing I do is to show my wife who is calling (we have a culture of
making each other more bored . . . . when we receive such calls at times
when the least we expect is to be called for a case in the slums in the
dying moments of the day ) and the first thing she says is that “hun .
. . . you know for sure that you have had a tiresome and long day . . .
. can’t this wait?" and I was tempted not to pick that
call. The ‘do-it’ side wins the battle and I was asked the obvious .
. . . ‘please come and
help us here . . . . there is a desperate case of two little kids and we
don’t know how to handle it because the police have asked us to sort
it, and its late . . . . please come!’
I
engaged into another battle . . . . my wife being of the ‘dont-go’
side and yes . . . . she lost! I dropped her off, she left and asked me
to be careful and in a while I was at the office, met by a middle aged
man, seated by himself at the far side waiting bench as is deep in agony
and thoughts. I knew he was amongst the reasons I was called. Getting
inside, there were two little kids of about the ages 3 and 4. Virtually
sick and with less energy. I sat for some briefing and I learnt that the
kids belonged to the man I walked past at the bench. ‘there is nothing
he has not tried, he has received help from the neighbors, the community
and even the government’ said the officer. Yes you are asking the same
question that I am about to answer . . . . . their
mother took off and left them unawares!
I
sat there and listened to such a long list of frustrations and
disillusionment from the officer and not long, he called for the father
to come in. “It all started when things in my life turned upside down"
started the old man.
"I lost my job as a cook, and I had to end up in the slums. She knew I struggled to make ends meet . . . . . but she was never patient. The worst happened when I was in the slums doing some odd job, and I fell my down only to wake up few minutes later and I was told that I had convulsed. My worst fear was confirmed when I was told that I had developed epilepsy. I had hopes of my wife being by my side during this tough time but things got worse when one evening I came back from looking out for means to keep us going, and she was gone . . . . leaving me behind with two young, innocent and helpless kids.”
"I lost my job as a cook, and I had to end up in the slums. She knew I struggled to make ends meet . . . . . but she was never patient. The worst happened when I was in the slums doing some odd job, and I fell my down only to wake up few minutes later and I was told that I had convulsed. My worst fear was confirmed when I was told that I had developed epilepsy. I had hopes of my wife being by my side during this tough time but things got worse when one evening I came back from looking out for means to keep us going, and she was gone . . . . leaving me behind with two young, innocent and helpless kids.”
I
had noticed that the man was not walking normally, he kind of staggered,
and as we continued to talk, he revealed that during one of those times
as he was looking preparing some meal for his family, he went into the
convulsion that epileptic people experience and he was all alone.
Unfortunately, he fell on the fire. This incident left him with a very
bad wound that was not cured. And he had sought for treatment in vain,
simply because the only health facilities that could help, needed money
that he didn’t have.
I
sat for close to an hour listening to the man pour out his heart, tears
flowing down his cheek as if to soother the pain that life had subjected
to him but in vain. And I then interrupted and asked him how I could be
of help. And he wanted to have me take care and custody of the kids. Yes
you may have another question in your mind but I can answer it . . . . .
Indeed he had tried to take
the kids back to the grandmothers of both sides. . . . . but again in
vain. Even his own people had rejected him and went ahead and sold his
piece of land for inheritance. This was one of the many reasons the kids
could even spend some night out in the slums as the man could be drunk
and passed out, never to come home at night. We agreed to have the kids
go to Tamani, I sent for the caretaker to come and get them for we
agreed that I was to head to his house and get the clinic cards, birth
cards and documents for the kids, with their clothes. Getting deeper in
the slums, we got to a lonely house, nothing seemingly of value but a
bed with only a mattress and nothing else. I quickly wondered how he was
sleeping and staying with the two little kids. He asked me to sit and we
again started talking.
‘Young
man’ . . . . he stated, ‘I want to say thank you. I didn’t know
that I would get this type of help.' He told me that tonight was his
last attempt to seek help. To make his actions genuine, he bent down
under his side of the bed and pulled out a hand written note and gave it
to me. Allow me to paraphrase its words in English.
“to
you out there. I have tried to make ends meet but I have failed. It is
now one and half years since my world turned its back on me. Today is
the last day of my life. I apologize to everyone for what I have done. I
realize that there is no one out there who could understand my pain. I
had to end it with this life, together with these little ones. I know
how bad it is to kill, to commit suicide but I was left with no option. I
could not think of leaving them in the world alone and that is why I had
to take their lives too.”
I
sat in that dusty bed, tears filling my eyes, not knowing what I was to
utter the next time I was to say a word. My mouth went dry as my heart
pounded so hard. I struggled to accept the hard reality that this man
was poised to take his life and that of his two innocent kids. No sooner
had I gathered strength to address him in a way which I never knew how,
than he handed me a used soda bottle that had some liquid inside of it.
Yes, that was the evidence what he had mixed, so as to have to kids
drink, then himself. ‘when were you to do this?” I asked. And he
said he was never going to spend the night alive, if he didn’t find a
solution to where he could take his kids.
After
a few mins. of talking and having him encouraged, I asked that he could
come with me to Tamani and see where his kids were (for he had no idea
where they were going, and he in turn seemed not really concerned to
know) we never talked until we got to Tamani (tears not drying in my
eyes as I asked myself thousands of questions with no answer!) upon
arriving, we found the kids seated, one of them crying. I headed
straight to the little girl and carried her to my laps. Embraced and had
her calm down. I was informed that she had been crying since she arrived
there. Then I asked her what she wanted. To our surprise, she said that
she wanted us to pray. We were all quiet and we asked her to go on and
pray.
“Mungu
Baba (Swahili for God Father) thank you the good home, thank you for
taking care of us, Amen” this was another moment that we were left
with soaked eyes as we and nanny Stella told her that she was going to
be fine. I stayed holding her, knowing well of what was to happen, had
God not intervened in the lives of these innocent kids, oblivious of
what was to be another headline story in the slums. This is where I have
to end my long story (before you save this document and decide to
continue reading it during your free time.)
Maybe
just to let you know why I kept you this long reading about some old man
who had come to the Brink of giving up on both hope, and life. God is
never asleep!! I was
reminded of a verse that I once read and the words stuck to my spirit .
. . . THESE THREE REMAIN . . . .FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE . . . . BUT THE
GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE!! Friends, we serve a God who did, does
and will always Love us, without any conditions! We should never get to
a point of being lied to, or fooled to assume that the normalcy of life,
is because it was meant to be like that . . . . there is a God who
orchestrates everything to be the way it is. May you have your
hope renewed in God, may He show you how His unlimited power is at work
even at times when you may feel otherwise.
For
more:
follow on Twitter @jefflampl
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