Get to know Josepha
Do you remember Josepha? I met her while she was begging on the streets of Kigali last June, and in July GFR sponsors bought her a sewing machine and a generator to help her get off the streets. She is paralyzed and her legs folded into her torso. She is such an amazing person, that I always have to meet with her to get a JOY fix from her when I am in Kigali.
So I had Cyprien phone her husband and invite them for a wonderful dinner. Ok, update…she brought a surprise…a brand new little baby!! SHE WAS PREGNANT when we had bought the sewing machine and she did not know it and we did not know it! So, she gave birth to her 3rd daughter and named her Sandrina. She is so adorable.
Well they arrived at the restaurant, and here is this beautiful paralyzed woman, dragging herself up 35 stairs, holding my hand. As we walked in to our table, everyone was starring holes through us. Was she embarrassed? No way, she was holding her head high and smiling huge. She scooted very slowly so the stares seemed to last a lifetime.
At the table, I told them to order anything they wanted. They were so excited. I found out that her husband Simon goes out to fetch water late at night for the next day’s supply, and rises very early to shop for the food they will eat for the day, then goes to work till dark. When he comes home, Josepha has dinner ready for the family. Tonight was to be very special. There first meal in a restaurant! At dinner I held baby Sandrina so Josepha could eat a hot meal. Cyprien and Claudette switched off with me. You could see the satisfaction of every bite as it went in their stomachs. My favorite part of dinner was dessert. Would you believe they had never had ice cream before!??!
The dinner conversation was fun. I found out how Simon had been her neighbor, and then he had moved to Kigali. Back in his home village he used to dream outloud with the other boys about how they would marry a beautiful, tall woman someday. Simon mentioned that he would marry whomever God had for him. All his friends teased him that God would give him a handicapped wife. He met up with her in Kigali and this time fell in love with her. Boy his friends back in the village were so shocked when he brought her home to marry!!
There was some disturbing conversation also. This precious mother of three had been through HELL and back. She had been poisoned as a little girl of 5 years old, she remembers it like it was yesterday, it was 10:00 am when the man made her drink the poison. He poisoned a little boy at the same time. He died a few weeks later, but she lived, paralyzed. Later as a 18 year old young woman, the horrific genocide broke out in Rwanda. She wandered around while people were being slaughtered everywhere. She kept wondering why she was not being killed. Finally a man who was murdering so many people brought her in his house, and told her that she was “already dead and did not need to be killed twice” referring to her paralyzed body. She watched him continuously clean and sharpen his machete and brutally kill hundreds of people. I could not look at her. I put my head down on the table, begging God for tears to match my lump in my throat and pain in my heart.
How can someone live through that? How can someone smile as big as she does now? Seeing that and being paralyzed for life…She lives in a junk yard, in a room no bigger than my master bathroom back home. I asked her how she does it, how she survives and thrives. She says her husband loves her so much, and with help from Jesus, she has much joy. Could I say that if I was in her shoes? Could you?
Well, I got updates on the sewing business. She and Simon have saved up 100,000 RWF since August last year. I can’t tell you how proud I am of her and Simon. They work so hard. They scrape by, and one day hope to have a house of their own, for now they rent this horrible hole in the wall 7x9 room for all 5 of them. I could probably relocate them in a place of their own for $3000.00 USD. If anyone feels led to jump at this opportunity, please email me immediately. Ben.pahlow@Globalfamilyrescue.org
I am also looking for someone to commit to sponsor her and Simon on a business sponsorship to cover the cost of business rent for her sewing business. I need someone who feels led to help, commit to 12 months at $75.00 so she can have a storefront area. She will be able to profit approximately $54.00USD per month after 6 months in a new location. Thanks for considering this.
Do you remember Josepha? I met her while she was begging on the streets of Kigali last June, and in July GFR sponsors bought her a sewing machine and a generator to help her get off the streets. She is paralyzed and her legs folded into her torso. She is such an amazing person, that I always have to meet with her to get a JOY fix from her when I am in Kigali.
So I had Cyprien phone her husband and invite them for a wonderful dinner. Ok, update…she brought a surprise…a brand new little baby!! SHE WAS PREGNANT when we had bought the sewing machine and she did not know it and we did not know it! So, she gave birth to her 3rd daughter and named her Sandrina. She is so adorable.
Well they arrived at the restaurant, and here is this beautiful paralyzed woman, dragging herself up 35 stairs, holding my hand. As we walked in to our table, everyone was starring holes through us. Was she embarrassed? No way, she was holding her head high and smiling huge. She scooted very slowly so the stares seemed to last a lifetime.
At the table, I told them to order anything they wanted. They were so excited. I found out that her husband Simon goes out to fetch water late at night for the next day’s supply, and rises very early to shop for the food they will eat for the day, then goes to work till dark. When he comes home, Josepha has dinner ready for the family. Tonight was to be very special. There first meal in a restaurant! At dinner I held baby Sandrina so Josepha could eat a hot meal. Cyprien and Claudette switched off with me. You could see the satisfaction of every bite as it went in their stomachs. My favorite part of dinner was dessert. Would you believe they had never had ice cream before!??!
The dinner conversation was fun. I found out how Simon had been her neighbor, and then he had moved to Kigali. Back in his home village he used to dream outloud with the other boys about how they would marry a beautiful, tall woman someday. Simon mentioned that he would marry whomever God had for him. All his friends teased him that God would give him a handicapped wife. He met up with her in Kigali and this time fell in love with her. Boy his friends back in the village were so shocked when he brought her home to marry!!
There was some disturbing conversation also. This precious mother of three had been through HELL and back. She had been poisoned as a little girl of 5 years old, she remembers it like it was yesterday, it was 10:00 am when the man made her drink the poison. He poisoned a little boy at the same time. He died a few weeks later, but she lived, paralyzed. Later as a 18 year old young woman, the horrific genocide broke out in Rwanda. She wandered around while people were being slaughtered everywhere. She kept wondering why she was not being killed. Finally a man who was murdering so many people brought her in his house, and told her that she was “already dead and did not need to be killed twice” referring to her paralyzed body. She watched him continuously clean and sharpen his machete and brutally kill hundreds of people. I could not look at her. I put my head down on the table, begging God for tears to match my lump in my throat and pain in my heart.
How can someone live through that? How can someone smile as big as she does now? Seeing that and being paralyzed for life…She lives in a junk yard, in a room no bigger than my master bathroom back home. I asked her how she does it, how she survives and thrives. She says her husband loves her so much, and with help from Jesus, she has much joy. Could I say that if I was in her shoes? Could you?
Well, I got updates on the sewing business. She and Simon have saved up 100,000 RWF since August last year. I can’t tell you how proud I am of her and Simon. They work so hard. They scrape by, and one day hope to have a house of their own, for now they rent this horrible hole in the wall 7x9 room for all 5 of them. I could probably relocate them in a place of their own for $3000.00 USD. If anyone feels led to jump at this opportunity, please email me immediately. Ben.pahlow@Globalfamilyrescue.org
I am also looking for someone to commit to sponsor her and Simon on a business sponsorship to cover the cost of business rent for her sewing business. I need someone who feels led to help, commit to 12 months at $75.00 so she can have a storefront area. She will be able to profit approximately $54.00USD per month after 6 months in a new location. Thanks for considering this.
