Life at the Girls Home

I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. The girls were sharing their dreams and then it somehow went into how the village people respond to them being a bit special. They are called the Kedesh girls. Kedesh is the orphanage that is strictly boys just across the path from our place. I suppose it is ok for John to get credit for all my hard work as long as it is good credit. Really I can see so much of God’s protection and their feeling cared for by the boys of Kedesh as well as their own brothers at HoB.
Some men talk about how they would like to have one of my girls but they are always in a group and they are not able to talk with just one. One young man tried to get Julia to help him with his English lessons while Deonicio, who is very good with English was right there. He hounded the guy until he left Julia alone. Sometimes the men will do a hissing sound to get their attention. If our boys are around they either rebuke them or act like it is them that they are hissing at. They have some fun with it while our girls keep on walking.
The stories include men calling them and following them and what they hear them saying as well as those protecting them. Papa has actually marched out to rebuke those men at times. One time when he was walking from school with some of the girls a man grabbed an arm of one of the girls. After Papa was finished with him I would be surprised if he ever touched another girl. Most girls in Moz actually like attention from men. If my girls do they are hiding it very well. Some have actually come home in tears after being harassed. Usually, though there will be a Kedesh, or HoB boy there to defend them. What a blessing they are! Moz is not a place where girls are respected; they are usually taken advantage of at an early age. It is the way of life here.
While the girls are sharing Joaninia is hanging on my shoulder playing with my hair. I don’t know what was going through her head. She was not protected; she was taken advantage of at an early age. She refused to walk in the protection of the group. A little rebellion goes a long way here. Tomorrow I will take her to the AIDS clinic and get her connected with the program there. Before I do, though, I will go with the police to get the man who abused her and bring him to jail. This is something I had not planned to do because it’s too messy here to do such things but a couple of weeks ago this man was harassing her about having his baby and it dying. He considered her suffering a joke. I got angry. Should he be free to continue doing such things? I felt it was right to go after him and bring justice to the orphan.

I did what some people may consider foolish and others heroic this morning. I drove to the police station at 5:00 AM and picked up 2 very drunk policemen and sent one of my girls and one of my boys with them to get the man who had bragged in the open market near us about having made Joaninia pregnant and her baby dying. He didn’t brag, though, about giving her diseases; one of them being AIDS.
It was troubling to me but my boys said that I did the right thing. I returned to my bed and asked for something in the Bible to justify what I had done. The word “defend” came to mind and I found in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 17 and 23: Lear n to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them.
I did the right thing.