In Just One Moment…..

In just one moment your entire life can change. I know this has happened to many people. For some this happens when they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. For some this happens when they are married or have children. For others it can be a horrible experience that they never thought would happen to them. September 11, is a perfect example of how just one moment changed many lives forever.

Below is a picture of Winnie, for being only 16 she has overcome some seriously horrible situations. Oh how I admire her as she believes her God will once again deliver and save her. Here is her story, and then I am going to ask you all to please pray for her as I send another letter to the group that saved her once before. Then if you think about her story please continue to pray for her future, as in one instance, her future was destroyed and she sometimes finds it hard to have hope in it and the possibility of her ever having a life after this tragedy.

Let me preface with Winnie’s immediate family members are very strong Christians, her father is a pastor in a very small village. I was allowed to preach and give my testimony there on Sunday. I would estimate that there were approximately 30 adults and 20 children there. Usenge has a population of about 2,000, they are very close to the border of Uganda. Pastor Alfred has donated some of his own land to build the mud and stick church where they once used to grow food for their own family. The plot they have donated to the church is also large enough to build a primary school (K-8), which we are praying and believing a grant will provide within this year. Just recently they donated some of their land on their home properties to build an orphanage, I will be writing that story soon. So excited for what God is doing here in Sega, and its surrounding small communities.

About a year ago, Winnie was kidnapped, held prisoner and repeatedly raped. The young man who did this was seriously disturbed and still has not been caught or punished. She was locked in a storage facility for grain for quite some time. During this horrible experience she became pregnant. I am told that her father received a report about where she was held hostage, and he went there with the police to rescue her. That experience in and of itself was horrible, but what happens after this is even more horrifying.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done and the saving of many lives… ~ Gen 50:20

Winnie as you can see is a very small girl, in American junior sizes she is probably considered a size 0 to size 2. Then the baby seemed to also be a very large baby. So getting to the hospital was a big deal as they are about 3 miles from any form of transportation, and riding a piki piki (motorcycle) could have been horrible for her situation. I am told she was carried by a wheelbarrow to the hospital that is near their village, and underwent her first of many surgeries.

The first surgery was to try and deliver the baby. When she went into labor there apparently were many complications. The baby was too big to deliver naturally and so the doctor had to do a C section. Somehow there were other complications that didn’t make sense to me, like the baby was on top of her bladder. Of course the baby was under stress because it was too big for her small body, but she too was under stress and weak. Because of a combination of the complications, the inability of getting to the hospital on time, and horrible medical attention, the baby died. Then somehow, the doctor said that her uterus was destroyed and gave her a hysterectomy, at the age 16 years old. CAN YOU IMAGINE?

What makes this whole situation so horrible, and now an utter atrocity, is that in her culture she is now considered a worthless woman. She will not be considered for marriage because she cannot conceive. No man will give her a second thought. I have met women who couldn’t conceive, or were having difficulties because of cystic fibrosis, and/or generational curses that needed to be broken, and they feel so worthless it breaks my heart. I have met women who could not conceive and after they hit menopause their husband divorced them to leave them for a woman who could conceive. I have met women who where terribly fearful they would end up one of them because after many years they could not conceive. I am believing and standing on God, and that HE will provide Winnie with a husband that sees the light of Jesus radiate from within her, like the rest of us do. That this husband does not care about conceiving his own and will be willing to adopt orphans. I know God can work miracles, but for this culture this one seems to be a long stretch for my faith to believe it can happen. But then again…

For with God nothing is impossible. ~ Luke 1:37

Even my Pastor’s father chose to marry again because it took way too long (8yrs) for wife number one to conceive. He has three wives, and they are all Christians they all go to church together. This culture is all about reproducing, as they are the Luo tribe. They are the tribe of President Obama’s ancestors, and his village is about 25 miles away. I haven’t had the desire to go there yet, as Sega is the village where God has me right now and it is my concern at this point and time.

Well Winnie was in recovery for quite a few weeks. She had scratched her incision a little bit, as it was itching her, and out of it came a string. When she was able to get the doctors attention a few days later, he pulled on the string and part of a glove also came out of her incision. The doctor said she had to go back into surgery immediately. So she did, she didn’t have a choice. Well this was the surgery that really messed her up, as now she urinates constantly and has no control over it at all. I am told this condition is called Fistula in the medical profession. She is ashamed, she wouldn’t even look at me for a moment as I was being introduced to her. Pastor asked me if I noticed she was urinating all over the ground, I hadn’t as I was looking at her eyes, not the ground. Anyway this child has been through so much, I just don’t know how she keeps such a beautiful smile on her face without the love and hope she finds in Jesus.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ~ Jeremiah 29:11

Anyway back to the hospital stay, if you have read some of my other notes you know that going to the hospital here can be very taxing on people when it comes time to pay the bill. You either pay the bill, or you stay as a prisoner until you can pay. Or you work off the bill by working for the hospital as you stay there till it is paid off. This concern became huge for Winnie and her family as the bill was over 21,000 /= ksh, or about $262 in USD. It might as well been a million to them as people in the area are extremely poor, unemployment is about 90%, and as I saw on Sunday some even tithe with crops. One man tithed with 3 avocadoes, that was a first for me to see something like that happen in church. Even if the entire town could donate 10 ksh it wouldn’t be enough, see most of the 2,000 people in the town are children as families here usually have five to seven children. There is also such a segregation between churches and religions that there is no unity within the village, like there is in my home town, so that was not an option. So they were besides themselves on what to do to pay the bill and take their daughter home.

But God had other plans, because when she was getting close to dismissal there was a group of Christian medical professional from America touring the area. They were doing some missionary work in various remote locations. When the church found this out they wrote to them in desperation asking if they could help Winnie’s situation. By the grace of God they paid her hospital bill and she was able to return home. I will be writing to the Matibabu Foundation asking if they could once again help her have another surgery so she doesn’t constantly urinate all over herself. Please pray over this letter, as I begin to write it and if you would like to proof it before I send it I will welcome all proof readers.

So thank you for reading Winnie’s story. Also thank you always, for constantly praying. I so covet your prayers, as I wouldn’t be able to make it without all of you praying for me and what God is doing here. I know God is going to use Winnie to help many women recover from horrible experiences through the hope that they can recover from anything that happens to them with the love of God. He saves, He heals, He delivers, us all.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of all those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose. ~ Romans 8:28