The text

Argentine's daughter Rachelle died a year ago. 

This year, on the anniversary of that date,

Argentine sent me a text. 

It came late at night.

As I lay in my own bedroom

with the blankets tossed across my bed.

And my daughter asleep beside me.

The sound woke me,

and I froze there for a minute in darkness

wondering what bad news might await.

Mustering the strength to pick up my phone, 

finally I did.

And there was Argentine's text...

"Sister" (she calls me)

We have finished a year without Rachelle. Pray for us"  

And in my own bedroom

my eyes dance away from those words.

Into the darkness.

My own daughter's face warm beside me

suddenly glowing in the pale yellow light of my phone.

And as I lay there 

I imagine Argentine writing this text.

Sitting in that small shack

in a refugee camp, the dirt rubbing at her feet. 

Her arm raised at an odd angle,

tilting her phone just so.

I can see how that pale yellow light 

would spill out in the darkness... there, too.

Illuminating the face of Argentine's new baby girl,

only a few weeks old, nestled in her arms.

The new baby is called "Asante Mungu"

Her name means Thank God.

I sit in that darkness.

"Sister"
I type my response.
"we remember."

 Baby Asante Mungu

 Baby Rachelle

From a refugee camp in Africa...

 

The steps for taking a family picture with a toddler.  (Apparently they apply no matter where you live.) 

 

Step 1:  Parents prepare for the picture

 

Step 2: Toddler stands still for the picture

Step 3: Parents give up on that

Step 4: Toddler celebrates

This is Mapendo and her husband,along with her 2 sons and the 2 nieces that she cares for.  They have been in this refugee camp for 5 months.  They previously were in another refugee camp in another country.  In fact they have been forced to flee their home in Congo at least 4 different times.  Both Mapendo and her husband wear metal leg braces and walk with crutches.  Can you imagine what it is like to flee for your life and carry these little guys with you...that one who won't even stand still for a photo?  Can you imagine what it is like fleeing with these young nieces through war zones in which rape is far, far too common?  The questions go on...

We have an amazing opportunity.  After years of being refugees, of fleeing in circles, again and again...Mapendo and her family (and Argentine and her family) are being sponsored for resettlement in Canada by Athabasca Interfaith Refugee Sponsorship Society.

It is a long process, involving a lot of documentation and a lot of waiting.  And a lot of friends helping us out along the way.  I have been working on filling out the documentation for months now.  It has been countless hours on the phone with each person, reliving the events that brought them here.  It is a crazy process.  Here is how Argentine and Mapendo described their trip to the refugee camp. 

We took a bus.  When we got on the bus everyone told us "that road is very dangerous.  You might make it or you might not.  All you can do is pray."  While we were riding in the bus we heard shooting up ahead.  Our driver stopped the bus.  He got out and walked ahead in the forest to try and see what was happening.  All the other passengers got out of the bus and hid themselves along the sides of the road.  But not us.  We just sat there in the middle of the bus.  Our disabilities make it hard to get in and our of the bus.  So we knew there was nothing we could do but sit there and pray in that empty bus.  After a while the driver would get back in the bus and drive us forward. We passed by the bus that had gone before us. It had been stopped by bandits and pillaged.  They took everything from those people, even their clothes.  Some people had been hurt.  Some people had been killed.  We drove on.  And then we heard shooting again.  The driver stopped the bus again.  All the people got out of the bus again.  And we just sat there...again.  And prayed...  That is what it was like...the whole way.

This was just one small story, of the road they traveled to get out of Congo.  But the truth is that each one of these 10 people has a million stories like this.  To listen to their stories is to break your heart again and again.  But it is also to marvel...marvel that they have survived.  And it is to understand...understand in an instant... what it would mean for these 10 people to have the chance to live in a place where the word "safe" has meaning...where the bus doesn't stop again and again., listening for the sound of shooting around the next bend in the road. 

 I love this picture of Mapendo's 2 sons. After months spent listening to the stories of war, it brings me back to hope.  You wouldn't know that these little guys are refugees.  They are just little guys.  Filled with lots of giggling and so much promise.

And like all of us, they deserve a future where they don't have to listen for shooting around the next bend in the road.  And the great news is that we have a good chance of giving them that.

*SHOP:    Argentine and Mapendo (along with 2 other disabled women who have remained in Congo) sew beautiful handcrafted bags.  Each purchase is an affirmation of their dignity, beauty and talent.  

  www.shonacongo.com  

 *Resettlement Fund:  You can donate to this fund on our website.  Donations here help us prove that our Canadian friends at AIRSS will have enough money to care for Mapendo and Argentine and their families when they arrive in Canada.

*Refugee Fund:  This fund helps care for the women and their families while they are still refugees in Africa.  It is a long waiting process until the group can get resettled in Canada and in the meantime emergencies happen and life is hard.  We are currently working on moving the women from the refugee camp to a safer place closer to a hospital so Argentine can give birth in a safe environment and so that they all can get better medical care. 

 

On what it means to be a "mother"

Mother's Day is exactly one month from today.  So now is the perfect time to stock up on SHONA bags to give to all the amazing women in your life.
 
 Because we are all in this together.



Do you remember when this picture of European parliament member taking her daughter to work went viral a few years ago?  When I saw it I thought immediately of this picture of Solange sewing.
 
What struck me wasn't the difference between these 2 mothers.  It was the similarity.  The way that across countries...across languages, cultures and economic differences... so very much remains the same.

And then I thought of this picture.

That is Solange again.  With a baby on her back again.  She is in the process of delivering SHONA stock to the post office.  But wait... it is different..that is Mapendo's son on her back.  Yet what strikes me again, is not the difference but the similarity.  Can you tell the difference between the photo where she is carrying her own child and the photo where she is carrying a friend's baby?  I can't. 

And then I thought of this picture.

Of the arms wrapped around Baby Marlaine.  Whose mama died in childbirth.  Whose family couldn't care for her, but who found the loving arms of Mama Sifa wrapped around her at Family Bethlehem.  And who grew up into this adorable little girl.  In part, thanks to many of you, who helped get her there.  Because they are all our children.

And then I think of Argentine, and her daughter Rachelle.

When Argentine lost her daughter Rachelle, I can't count how many of you wrote with stories of you own, of the loss of your own child, or the suffering of a friend who had been through something similar.  Because they are all our stories. 

And that is precisely why I want to share this picture with you today.

That is Argentine, in a photo from a few weeks ago. I am happy to announce that she is pregnant again.  That is one of the reasons why she needed to flee to the refugee camps again, she needed safety for herself and for the new life growing inside her.   It is why we are incredibly thankful to our friends in a refugee sponsorship group, who are working so hard to sponsor her for resettlement in Canada.  It is why we pray that will happen miraculously fast.  And why we continue to ask for donations to our Refugee Help Fund, in case that doesn't happen fast and we need to look for emergency medical care for her while she is still in the refugee camps.

But mostly it is why our heart breaks with Argentine, for all that she has lost, and soars again, for all that is still possible.

I have learned that this is what it means to be a "mother".  To love fiercely in the midst of whatever world we find ourselves in.  To offer our hearts to another, fearlessly in the midst of a fearful world.

 We love our own children, or the children we find next door, or down the street, or across the world.   We love the children we carry on our backs and we love equally those we carry only in our hearts.

Because, in truth, we are all mothers to someone.  And we are all in this together.

Shop SHONA and share the story of 4 incredible mothers this Mother's Day.  And remember that 100% of the profit from every bag goes back to the woman who made it...and the children she supports.  www.shonacongo.com

Mother's Day Sale: SHOP this week and get an amazing 25% off all your purchases.  Do you need another reason?  

Use code: mother in the discount box at the end of checkout. 

  

And the journey goes on...

Sometimes it seems as if life is forever muddy and complicated. 

And then there is this.  

A photo I could look at forever.

A photo taken a few days ago, with Argentine smiling.  After losing her daughter last year I wondered if we would ever see this beautiful smile again. 

 But here is Argentine smiling again.

 

And cuddling a child in her arms.

And joy, simply... inexplicably, seems possible again.  Surely this is the miracle of life..that however muddy and complicated and full of heartbreak the way gets, joy still makes appearances.  Hope still exists.  

Here is the news: Argentine and Mapendo have left Congo and fled to a refugee camp again. But wait...before you heave a sigh and your heart breaks for them again...know this. Despite the fact that they are sleeping in a refugee camp on the cold hard grown, under a tarp, they are counting their blessings.  Because for the first time in what seems like a year, they are able to sleep in peace again.  I received a message just today telling me "we are thanking God so much, so much, because we are not afraid here."

Argentine has fled with her boyfriend and his young daughter (in Argentine's arms above), along with Argentine's younger sister (above left). 

Mapendo fled with her husband, her 2 sons, and the 2 nieces she cares for Neema and Ziada (you will remember them from their journey to the refugee camp in Burundi a few years ago).  

Both Argentine and Mapendo were living in fear in Goma, with thieves often trying to break into Mapendo's home and Argentine facing personal threats on her life and safety.  The situation, ever since Argentine's daughter died, has escalated.  

But to flee and return to a refugee camp is no small thing.  We tried again and again to imagine a way that life could be better in Goma.  Was there a safer neighborhood or a safer way for them to work?  But for these women, with all that they have been through and all they are facing, they concluded that there was no other way forward.  So they fled.  Miraculously they made it, finding a way across the border and to a refugee camp, 4 adults (3 of them on crutches) and 6 children.  Just making it there safely is a cause for celebration.

They are in a transit camp and have been assigned to a tarp covered structure.  They made their beds by stretching out a thin mat on the cold hard ground and covering it with cloth.  And there on that ground, they smiled.  Because there was no sound of thieves at the door and there was no one threatening to hurt them.  They slept in peace.  And they woke up to a new day, and a new path on their journey.  Thank you for joining this journey with us.

Please keep supporting these amazing and courageous women by buying their beautiful, handcrafted work.

  www.shonacongo.com 

 There will be more news coming soon about what this new journey may hold for them but in the meantime thank you for sharing this journey with us.  We truly could not do it without all our friends.  And also, Riziki and Solange are both doing well in Congo and are still sewing so your purchases matter to all 4 women and the 12 children (or more) they care for!

 SHOP SHONA