Today, Susan, Jamii Bora’s National Outreach coordinator, took us to the headquarters. Some of the 50 beggars who were part of Jamii Bora at the start welcomed us with music and dance and such warm gratitude. CJ says it’s like a scene from The Gods Must Be Crazy. We spent the day listening to the stories of survival for the women and men who have been with Jamii Bora from the beginning.
Beatrice told how in 2 years’ time, she had lost 7 sons and her husband during a time of fighting. She had 3 daughters to feed and raise when her grief made her think death would be blessing for them all. Jane told how she was a young married woman whose mother got sick. She went to her mother’s home to care for her until she died a few weeks later. Jane came back home to find her husband had taken another wife, so she returned to the slum where her mother had lived. There she joined the prostitutes for food. Ann told how she’d lived on the streets for 23 years with no hope for a better life. She’d begged using drink and sniffing to ease the pain. People from JamiiBora brought a turning point and hope to each of these women’s lives as the women moved out of dire poverty through the loans they obtained.
Their stories brought us to tears. Microfinancing and all the support structures have brought dignity and new life not dreamed possible. The energy we have felt at home among you in your generosity was what they received. Words can’t convey the difference it has made for them.
Some poetic reflections:
We have entered a stream of salvation
that is concrete and real.
There are machetes
and griefs too huge to contain
in one heart
or one neighborhood.
It is dirty with broken paths that can pour mud in the rainy season.
It is elegant in high heels, ironed whites and suits.
To be there is everything.
Jesus knew it.
To keep coming back
to open a door of hope from the table of our plenty,
and we are served courage and meaning and music and sisterhood.
(These strong women are fierce enough to guard food for their families–
“You shall not kill him.”)
To be drenched in disillusionment:
and divide with gossip
“The feast will not be for us.”
To be there
in this great stream of life called out of our comfort
of too much
is to be saved.
May all of you be blessed for the energy you are sending,
Much gratitude,
Mary Lou
Sr. Toni is a Woman of Achievement
Sr. Toni will be recognized for her achievement by the Hellenic Spirit Foundation at the Athena Awards Luncheon on Novmeber ... Update from Africa: July 15, 2009
My dear friends,
We have been out of touch across the great savannah of space and time...we came back so late ... 
