Faces

Whenever you drive into downtown Dar and stop at a major intersection, little boys run up to your car.  They are about 10 or 12 years old, and hold a jug full of soapy water and a piece of a broken windshield wiper.  As soon as your car stops, they splash water on your windshield, “wash” the window in about 10 seconds, and then hold out their hands to be paid.

I used to get annoyed at these boys.  I really didn’t need my window washed two or three times in a half hour (once at each intersection), and I didn’t like that they assumed I even wanted my window washed.  I also didn’t like that I am always targeted because I am white.

These boys are most likely all street boys.  Runaways from abusive homes, orphans, or cast out for one reason or another, and now literally living on the street.  Which is the life that very likely my Josiah could have been living, had circumstances turned out differently for him.  And so, a couple of years ago, when one of these boys tried to wash my windshield, all of a sudden, I saw Josiah’s face there instead.

And I started to cry.  And instead of shrugging him away, I paid him.  Now I do every time.

Like every other American (and much of the world), I have been thinking and praying and mourning over the terrible tragedy of 20 lost little lives in Connecticut.  But what has struck me about the situation and how it is being presented is that this tragedy is somehow unusual for our world.

Did you know that in the past couple of weeks, 700,000 refugees have fled Congo?  That they are fleeing a militia that has been bombing and burning down their villages, raping and shooting indiscriminately?  Ironically, they are fleeing into Rwanda, country where only 10 years ago, the majority tribe massacred one million of their fellow countrymen/women/children, neighbor against neighbor, and usually with machetes?

Did you know that often in some African countries, children suffer a fate far worse than being gunned down by a crazy person; instead they are handed a gun, forced to murder their own parents, and then conscripted into an army to kill their own neighbors and friends?

The United States will corporately mourn those 20 little lives lost on Friday, and rightly so.  But I can’t help but ask, why are those little lives so much more valuable than the ones over here?  Why do people care so much about this tragedy, and barely cast a glance at Congo?  Why is anyone surprised that such an event would occur, when it has been happening in the rest of the world since Cain and Abel?

And I’m guessing it’s because that people see their own children, or themselves, in the faces of those children from Connecticut.  They can imagine what it would be like to send their own little ones off to school, only to never see them again.  But they can’t imagine a crazed, drug-induced militia entering their neighborhood, raping, burning, and shooting their small children, ripping open their pregnant women before handing their 10-year-old a gun and telling him to shoot his mother or die himself.

The American children have names and faces.  The African children don’t.

Adopting three Tanzanian children has broken my heart for other African children in ways that I never imagined, even after growing up here.  I see children here suffering and I see my children’s faces instead.  I think about my children starving, alone, frightened, separated from their families by tragedy, fighting in wars. Or even just living on the street, trying to make enough money for a meal by washing car windows.

So yes, mourn this tragedy, America.  See your children’s faces in the newscasts and hug your own children tighter today.  But don’t forget the millions of children and families who endure even worse things every day.  Adopt a child.  Sponsor a child.  Send money to churches in Rwanda who are helping the Congolese.

And remember that we’re not celebrating Christmas because of the warm fuzzies and fun and sugar plums.  We celebrate Christmas because our world is desperately, horrifically, tragically broken and our only hope is in Jesus Christ.

A thrill of hope; a weary world rejoices.  For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

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12 Comments

  1. Unknown

    Amy, you deeply touched my heart with what you wrote. All weekend I kept seeing in my mind's eye the suffering children that I encounter in Africa. I am so grateful that the Lord Jesus has a heart that is HUGE for the children of the world!

  2. Unknown

    Amy, you deeply touched my heart with what you wrote. All weekend I kept seeing in my mind's eye the suffering children that I encounter in Africa. I am so grateful that the Lord Jesus has a heart that is HUGE for the children of the world!

  3. Kimcoutts

    I agree with Kevin. What a beautiful reflection of God's grace as you compare His goodness in giving you Gracie, Josiah and Lily.
    Babu

  4. The Pages

    Hi Amy,

    Thank you for your family's service to the Lord in Tanzania! My family and I live in Kisumu, Kenya and work with street children as a part of Agape Children's Ministry (www.agapechildren.org). Are there any street children ministries in Dar?

    God Bless,
    Chris Page

  5. Missy

    I've been waiting for someone to say this – thank you.

  6. David

    Challenging post. Thank you.

    Our reality in America is one of denial and depravity. We kill almost 800,000 infants in the womb each year in the name of freedom and our yet nation, rightly so, mourns when 20 children are killed outside of the womb, and then tries to make guns the problem. Pray for us in our prosperity.

  7. Amy Medina

    Thanks for your encouragement, everyone.

    And Chris, yes, there is at least one street kids' ministry, called Safina and run by African Inland Mission. Bless you for your similar work!

  8. Danielle

    Beautiful and heartbreaking.

    This post really resonated with my heart because our family lived in Dar once upon a time (we were missionaries as well…our oldest attended HOPAC) and I remember navigating all those feelings. Thank you for reminding us all that there are children the world over touched by tragedy.

    …danielle

  9. MzEllen

    Life has become cheap…or maybe it always has been for most of the world. And this is where it gets us. In Proverbs, Wisdom speaks: "all who hate me, love death."

  10. Anonymous

    God bless you all…

  11. semper reformanda

    Hello, one day shy of a year since this was posted, my wife and I landed in Kinshasa. Two days later, we picked up a child (whom we hope to someday adopt) at the hospital with the intention of bringing him to the US on a medical visa for needed surgery.

    Due to some paperwork speed bumps, our intended 8-day trip turned into a 35-day trip, but we are now home, and presently in the hospital as the child recovers from two surgeries.

    At the time this entry was posted, we were in process of beginning our second domestic adoption. My wife had had yearnings to adopt from Africa for years, but had largely kept it to herself. The Lord used this post as a lightening bolt to turn my heart 180 toward doing something for the kids there and within a couple weeks we were matched with a sibling pair in DRC(not at all that kids in the US aren't in need as well…and we may someday adopt domestically again).

    The surgeries he has received to date have literally been life-saving for him, and I just thought you should know how this post was instrumental in accomplishing that for him, and eventually placing him and his sister in a loving home.

    Thank you…

  12. Amy Medina

    I just saw this comment even though it's months after you wrote it…and you won't see this unless you have subscribed to the comments. But I just wanted to thank you for coming back and telling me your story….what a wonderful encouragement. Praise God.

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