Momma

This mommas heart has been stolen by R...He is 15 years old and can barely read. He has no family and lives with 4 other teenage boys. Today he called me momma...

This week he lied to me about one of his roommates being sick. He wanted me to go to his house and see his roommate. R is worried if his friend misses more school he will be kicked out. 

He loves his friend.

We discovered a very neat and tidy house. In a compound where life is dirt, filth, waste, poverty and chaos we found a small house filled with 12 teenage boys skipping school and the house neat as a pin. Some of the teenage boys live there alone...one of them is R. He also cleans the house and does the laundry for the other boys who are all older than he his. This mommas heart is so proud of him...He loves his friends and wants them to be good...they are not! I asked who did the cooking...he shyly grinned and chuckled "cook what?".  "Where do you eat?", I asked. "We don't eat", he said... 

And this mommas heart hurt!

 So every day he comes for tutoring. We see him everyday. And everyday we send him home to no dad, no home, no dinner, no warm bed and no momma...He goes home to teenage boys with nothing.

I want to scoop all 6'+ of him up and give him a home, a family, clothes, shoes, a warm bed, to read him bible stories that he never got to hear when he was little, make him a warm breakfast...

 and give him a  momma! 

So today was a PTA meeting at Lifesong School. R asked Robert if he would stand in as his parent? OMGOODNESS...OF COURSE! But Robert had work offsite today so I would stand in instead. I held back tears...all he wants is to read and a family...

AND...there are 160+ million others in the world just like R. What in the world is this momma supposed to do? I HAVE NO IDEA!! I have no scripture, I have no answers, I feel empty like I have nothing good enough to give...

But today was my miracle day because I had the honor of sitting under the nsaka with 60+ other Zambian caregivers/parents who were standing in for their kids. Today I was a lovely Zambian boys momma. Whiter than white in a sea of black covered by the crimson blood of Jesus... 

because He is not done with me yet...

Momma