December 2011
“…because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Zechariah’s Song, Luke 1:78-79
Eli is pregnant with twins.
She just joined the Suti Sana program, along with four other girls, and her pregnancy is about as far along as mine. But with twins, she’s a LOT bigger than I am. And her pregnancy is a lot harder. In fact, the doctor ordered her on absolute bed-rest. Which she absolutely refused, and stubbornly kept coming to work.
It’s a tricky situation. Eli obviously needs bed-rest, but we know that if we sent her home (even with full pay), she’d work harder cooking and washing laundry by hand for her other four kids, probably putting her unborn twins in even more risk. And how can we tell a single pregnant woman, “There’s just no room here for your situation.” Especially this close to Christmas.
A friend once mused, “I think we could avoid most conflicts if we were just a little more creative.” So we racked our brains in pursuit of the best solution for Eli and her future daughters. We dragged a bed out of storage, dusted it off and, lo and behold—bed rest! (kind of) AND her new workspace, surrounded by pillows for support and purses to clean and quality check. Instead of making her climb the three flights of stairs to our Suti Sana classroom, we’re bringing Economy classes, therapy, and Bible lessons down to her. We’re stuffing her with pre-natal vitamins and delivering her lunches to her, where the other Suti Sana women keep her company instead of eating in the more comfortable tables upstairs. We’re praying for her, and her tiny growing girls.
Most development theory is concerned (and rightly so) with the problem of enabling. We don’t keep feeding them fish, by golly! We teach them to fish, and send them off to make a fishy living! Some people might argue than we’re enabling Eli, by spending extensive amounts of time to accommodate one woman and her half a dozen children.
Honestly, I don’t know if it’s the right decision. I can’t guarantee that Eli won’t head back into prostitution in a few months, like she’s done before.
But there’s something about this season, when you’re smelling fresh-baked Christmas cookies and the scent of real pine, or when it starts to snow when only a cold, dry night was forecasted, that begs a wisp of mercy from us. A rub of grace. That asks us to shelter the orphan and feed the widow. And not ask anything in return.
Love and peace,
Cara (and Mache and our little growing daughter)
PS. We finally have a webstore! Check out www.sutisana.com for Christmas presents that support transformation and freedom!