Her mother just didn't love her.

This week I heard one of the saddest stories I have ever heard. 

I was sitting with a young teenage girl who was impregnated through a violent rape. She is angry, hurt and cries uncontrollably, a lot.  I sat with her and asked her to tell me about her mother and father, and she got very angry.  But then she spoke.

When she was in 7-years-old her father was very sick (Tuberculosis she was told) and her mother moved away with all the other children, but left her alone to care for him, saying that she wasn’t the girl’s mother.  It took five long, painful years before the father finally succumbed to his disease(s) and died.  The young girl was left alone, but not for long.  When her mother learned that her father was dead she moved back home with the other children and kicked her out.  That was in 2012.  She was only 12-years old, but was sent away to live with a half-sister who was 21-years old and living with a man and their three children.

After she reported the rape the police went searching for her mother and found her. When they told her about the rape, she laughed.  They asked her to help her pregnant daughter, who was clearly distraught, but she refused. Not only that, the mother then went home and ran around the community, laughing about the rape and pregnancy. She even went to far as to go to the rural school to report that the girl would not be going back to school, because she was pregnant.  The girl tried to commit suicide and kill the unborn child.  That is when I was called by the police for help.

One thing that I have not been able to get used to here is how people laugh when they hear about someone else’s pain.  It’s very common and I find it disconcerting, and cruel.  Maybe it’s nervous laughter?  Maybe its what they have been taught?  But it’s hard to hear someone laugh when they hear about rape or child abuse.

I did not laugh when this teenager told me the same story that I had already heard from the police officer.  I wept with her, and told her how very sorry I was.  I told her I was sorry that her mother is cruel and inhumane. I told her I was sorry that she had to care for a very sick father and watch him die. I am sorry that she is pregnant. 

I also told her that my birth mother was 15-years-old when she got pregnant with me, and that God clearly had a plan. I reassured her that God has a plan for her life, and a plan for her unborn baby’s life.  She did not seem at all reassured, and remains very angry and hurt, but she has been told. And I will tell her again and again.  Please pray with me for her joy to be restored and her heart to be healed, by the only Father who will never leave her nor forsake her. 

Live from Swaziland … praying for all of the women in Swaziland.

Janine

PS - On a happier note, today we were able to deliver food to all of people who were retrenched when we closed our farming operation due to lack of water.  BIG shout out to Judy Wilferth and our friends at La Croix Church in Cape Girardeau, MO for hearing the cries of the people and providing 2-months worth of food for each and every person.  One lady said that last night her family ate the last bite of food that they had, and she didn't know what she was going to do.  She cried out to God for help, and today He answered her prayer.  Amen.