The BUSH

I have been putting off my "bush" post for a while, I know. I'm not sure why exactly, except there just didn't seem to be words. For me it was an almost spiritual day. Like the fruition of dreams that God had planted in my heart as a child and the beginning of dreams He is currently planting. . .Words cannot truly express what I felt. It was amazing and difficult all at the same time.

Today, I am ready. I just read a post by Courtney (read it and the post she comments about)about the pain and joy of adoption. The pain of knowing that your kids hurt. It reminded me of a lesson the Lord taught me many years ago. At that time, I was running a small group bible study program for inner city kids. People would come in once a week to interact with the kids and teach them. I was there every afternoon and grew to LOVE these children. What came along with the love was incredible pain. I remember driving home one day just weeping. I had just found out that 3 of my special littles ones had been abused in every way possible. I wept and felt alone. I felt like I had no one to call b/c no one else had really grown to love them like I had. I felt alone in my pain and cried out to God. He answered. He spoke so clearly to my heart, "Why are you complaining? You should feel humbled, awed and amazed that I allowed you to feel a part of the Heart of God for these special children. Would you rather that no one hurt for them b/c it is too difficult for you?" I stopped in my tracks Oh my dear, this pain is special. This pain is nothing compared to what God feels when He sees His children in pain. . .when He sees His children causing the pain. It was then that I began to really allow myself to hurt for them.

This lesson brings me to the Bush of Liberia. I have had a couple of people comment to me that while I was in Liberia they had to stop reading my blog b/c it was just too hard. I know the feeling. With all of this knowledge of suffering, comes great hurt. . . with it, also comes responsibility and we don't always know what to do with that. It's easier to just not know. But, again, I ask you what my Daddy asked me, "Would you rather have no one hurt for them? Would you choose not to experience a little slice of the heart of the God of the Universe?"
The Bush is basically any village outside of Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia. So, Buster and Daikou picked us up and we started driving. We had stopped to pick up bags of candy and cookies and lunch for ourselves. We ended up driving about 3 hours outside of town and stopped at villages along the way. These villages were exactly what you picture Africa to be. They were mud huts with thatched roofs. They sometimes had a well, rarely a school and none had a clinic of any kind. The people were all barefoot and their clothes were tattered.
We stopped at almost every village we passed. We would get out and start to hand out candy to the children while talking to the adults about the needs of their village. We feel like, if God is calling us to be involved in Liberia, who are we to determine needs. . .we needed to really get out and ask the people what their needs were. Unanimously, the answers were the same everywhere, "Water, Education and Healthcare"

The first village we stopped at, we got a tour. These women were willing to show us their homes, their community bathroom and their dirty water. (they had a hand pump well, but it broke, so they were using the dirty creek water). I think I've posted these pics before, but I'll post them again. They are a reminder to me. Do NOT complain about your home! This woman lived in this hut with her 6 children. It was smaller than any of my rooms.
Here, Buster immediately jumped out and just started talking to this little girl. Her house is pictured below
This is the inside of that home.

This is the outside of the home of a woman and her 6 children.
Here she is with just some of her children
Their bed
Their cloudy water

Their Community Bathroom
My favorites were our last couple of village stops. These were the largest villages with probably 150 people living there (?). Buster and I began handing out candy and were immediately swarmed! There were probably 50 kids pushing and shoving to get closer to us. If you know me at all, you know my heart just swelled. I LOVED this. Funny thing is, I think Buster may have loved it as much as I did!

At the same time, Greg and Daikou took their time to gather the village "elders" (the men present) and look at this village's school house.

The kids took me to their well and showed me how it worked. We walked and played and the mamas kept shoving their babies at me to hold, kiss and play with. The kids and I played "school" with me as the teacher. I took the opportunity to teach them a Bible verse with actions. Some of these babies were so tiny. I just couldn't imagine their lives. There were a number of children who I guess have TB in their spines as they have the same hump like Isaac. Knowing what his docs have told him, I knew that these children would not live. Would not live. . .this little girl was probably 6 and I knew she wouldn't live. Not just that, but would probably ever even see a doctor. Truth be told, I could hardly look her in the eyes b/c I knew I would start sobbing right there. I just touched her. . I touched every child I could possibly get my hands on. I rubbed their faces and told them how precious they are in God's sight. I didn't want to leave! One funny story from this village was a little girl. She kept hiding behind one of the men and peeking out to see Greg. Greg started playing with her and tried to offer her candy. She would not come out, though. One of the village men laughed and said, "She's afraid b/c she's never seen a white man before!"

The last village we visited was a special stop for Buster. He had been stationed out this way as Chief of the Patrol. He grew to love the people of this particular village. It was actually an "employee village" of Firestone plantation. Yes, Firestone as in the rubber. .yes, this could be a whole post about ethics of organizations in the countries they work in but, I'll save that for another time. . .The village was not mud huts, but rather row houses that were completely delapidated. We didn't tour the inside of any (didn't think to ask b/c we were running out of time) but Buster said they are really bad. There is no school in this community and someone recently dug a well, but apparently not deep enough b/c the water was bad. I just looked at the faces of these children and thought, "you can't go to school" How ridiculous is that? Yes, school and education is a big topic here in the states, but it's WHAT school not IF school. These are the faces of children drinking dirty water. These are the faces of children with no hope of attending school.

The child who broke my heart the most, however, is not pictured. I couldn't bear to take out my camera and take shot. In fact, I wasn't even out of the care. Buster just pulled over to the side of the road to jump out and give these few kiddos some candy. This particular village was small and it must have been bathing day or something because EVERY child was naked. They all came running, though, when they heard the word candy. One cute little boy was sitting on a low wall of some sort with his mama. He was under 2 years old and naked as a jay bird. As soon as he saw Buster he got down to come over. What I saw broke my heart. As he climbed off the wall to stand up, he immediately went to his knees b/c both of his feet were clubbed. He crawled over to Buster excitedly as Buster bent down to hand this little boy candy. This little naked clubbed foot boy broke my heart and I broke down in that car. I knew he would never see a doctor. He will live his life on his knees and with the germs and diseases, his life will probably not be long.

Does it hurt? yes. Should it? I think so. Why? My pastor preached this Sunday on missions. His point? Among other reasons that God calls us to missions is one that's about us. We need it! We need the perspective. We need it to remind us and stretch us in our selfishness. Now I guess the next question I am taking to the Lord is: What do I do with this hurt? How can YOU use this passion for these people? How can I help? And, Yes Lord, I'm willing to hurt and I'm willing to help, just show me Your way.