Remarkable Reunion

2005

2019

I had the privilege of teaching this amazing woman 14 years ago  If you read my blog from Sunday ("At home") you will know that during my sermon I mentioned her by name and a lady in the front row put her hand up and told me that she worked with her! After the service she took my number, gave it to Christina and we met up last night and had a meal with my colleague Simon and our host Michael, who it turned out lives in the same neighbourhood as Christina!  It proved to be a very special time together.

 Christina was my best student at Msalato Theological College (Anglican) in 2005. She was the student who joined in with the learning process the most, asked the most questions and showed the most desire for knowledge (head and heart!). We lost touch about 10 years ago but I have often referred to her in conversations and sermons. She related her remarkable story since over food and soda. I have her permission to relate something of it. 

 She married and had a child, Asimwe - a daughter, and continued to work at a top Dodoma school, teaching Swahili on a meagre salary. She speaks 3 languages fluently. Her husband drained the family resources, never contributed a shilling to the family finances and broke his promise to renovate the family home. She still has plastic where there should be glass!

 One evening, after the family finances had reached zero, she decided to challenge her husband  Wives are not supposed to do that in this highly patriarchal society. He beat her about the head until the blood ran down and she lost the ability to hear in one ear. She took her 11 month old daughter and slept on the couch. Her daughter, now 5, remembers the incident in spite of being so young. Wife beating is not uncommon. I challenged it hard when I taught in the college all those years ago. I did again today.

 And then she got pregnant again. As the pregnancy developed she began to have medical problems. One morning she knew something was seriously wrong. Her husband wasn't interested, so in agony she took her daughter with her to hospital. Public transport was all she could afford. She barely made it and was rushed into the emergency room where she nearly died. She underwent emergency treatment but lost the baby. Her uncaring husband eventually turned up in the evening, probably because he hadn't had any food. He didn't seem that bothered by his wife's condition and the hospital staff asked him to leave.

 In spite of her ill health she started divorce proceedings and - unheard of in this country - represented herself. After 3 weeks of legal battle she was unexpectedly granted a divorce. She has been a single parent for almost 4 years now, still living in a house in much need of repair and still teaching and yet through all of this her trust in God has not wavered. As you might imagine I was greatly moved at this heartbreaking story - a remarkable reunion indeed. 

 Simon and I responded to her story by asking her about this culture with such a profound gender inequality and injustice. Did she feel that she could give voice to the voiceless thousands - millions - of women who suffer in silence? Her articulate,  intelligent and capable personality needs to be heard! Without hesitation she agreed. We hope to connect her with an organisation. Please pray about this, for Christina and Asimwe and the countless women in Africa who suffer abuse.

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