A group of Sudanese women receive food packages as well as new mattresses and blankets and experience that God has not forgotten them.
“This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” – is written on the wall in one of the classrooms. Next door, the group of women who meet four times per week for literacy classes, is already gathered. Today they will receive well-needed food packages for their families. Their voices echoes out in the hallway as they worship together: “Lord, you came to save us. Hallelujah!”
They are Sudanese women, all mothers of children attending the school for Sudanese refugees in the area. At first, the school started as a way to meet the need of the children in the community – they found it hard to attend the local schools because of discrimination and bullying.
“We celebrate Christmas because Jesus chose to become one of us”, shares one of the volunteers. “He could have come to earth in any way he wanted, but he chose a baby in a simple family, probably similar to yours.” All women in the room have fled their country years ago. Now they all want to leave for other countries where they can be safe and give their children a future, but protracted paper work stops them.
“In the Bible we read that Jesus had many names”, continues the volunteer. “One of my favorites are ‘Prince of Peace’. Jesus did not always experience peace around him – one of the first things that happened to him in life was that he had to flee his country, but the Bible tells us he grew up to have the inner peace that made him able to sleep in the middle of a storm. Jesus came so that we also could experience that inner peace.”
As they leave, they all get a bag of food to bring home – milk, sugar, oil, rice and more, together with a plate of eggs. For those families in need the school also provides a mattress and blankets for the winter. Depending of the size of the family the food will last up to a month or more. The food comes as a gift from above as they often have very little left over for food at the end of each month and they often live day by day, hand to mouth.
After the meeting at the school, a group of volunteers goes on several home visits to deliver the food and mattresses to those not able to come to the school themselves. Amira, a 65-year old widow, lights up as the volunteers hand over the food and offers a word of encouragement and prayer.
“I prayed to Jesus he would send someone to provide food for us this month. Now I know He has not forgotten me!”
