Hope for the Future
I’m also proud of myself…I don’t have a mom whom I can ask to help me, but I’ve been raising my little baby alone for over five years, without a father, without any help from family. But I now have the biggest family in Ma’s vir Wellington ever. It gives me the greatest hope and encouragement every time they acknowledge me and show love to me when I get here. I will testify over and over about how good God is.
“I’m Janine, I’m Eli’s mommy. We’ve been part of Ma’s vir Wellington for 3 years now and I’ve come to learn a lot of things in and from Ma’s vir Wellington. I also attend a prayer group, Liefde Verniet (Love is Free), and I enjoy being here. The first time Eli came here, when I wanted to come and enroll him, he was only two years old. The love he received just by entering and being inside, made Eli not want to go home. Eli cried so much that day to stay and be part of the program, that they allowed him to stay there for the day and then explained to Eli that once he was 3 years old, he could come back. We then went home. After that day, every morning when we got up, he would ask me “but isn’t it already time to go to school?” Eli was very excited because it would be his first time attending a program, he had never been in a crèche (children’s ministry program) before. When he was 3 years old, he enrolled in the Supersterre Children’s Ministry program and it also changed my whole life when I came to know the moms of Ma’s vir Wellington, -For I came to know a great family with a lot of love. I don’t know if I can ever really thank them for the path, they’ve walked with me so far.
What is the role that faith plays in your life right now?
To be honest, when I lost my mother while I was still in primary school, I reproached the Lord a lot and I blamed Him because I didn’t understand why He took my mommy away. I was upset but remembered that while she was still alive, she said many times that maybe one day I will understand what it’s like to be a mother when I have children of my own. And when I got to Ma’s vir Wellington when I enrolled my child, I didn’t believe in the Lord yet and Ma’s vir Wellington was like a prayer group to me. They are very supportive of you, they come to your house and ask if everything is ok, and if there is anything that you need of or needed help with.
Aunt Salomé told me one day that prayer helps a lot when you are upset, and you can talk to the Lord even if you are just walking down the street because just talking to Him and telling Him your troubles, will help relieve the stress of your problems and give you peace. One day I said to her that I have not yet forgiven the Lord for what he has done, and she asks me why – I said I blame him for taking my mommy away after I needed her the most. And she said to me, “But Janine, the Lord doesn’t just do something like that, He does everything for a reason even if we don’t understand it yet. We must trust Him for His reasons”. I then joined the Liefde Verniet (Love is free) program- it’s a prayer group for the parents of the children in Ma’s vir Wellington programs. We come together every Monday and there I came to find what the Lord came to do in my life and realized He did a lot of good things. The hopelessness that I experienced when I got up in the mornings when I ask myself how are we going to make it today, whom am I going to ask today for something to eat for me and my children. It got better when I started my day with my little prayer, the verse Aunt Rosa, our prayer mother, taught us from Proverbs 3 verses 5 and 6: “trust completely in the Lord and don’t rely on your own insights/understanding, know Him in everything you do, and He will let you go the right way”. And every time I recite those words, I even teach them to Eli. There was a song that they always sang in the Supersterre program, and I didn’t know the lyrics, but now when he comes home and says mommy can we sing that song of the Lord is my God, I join in and sing along with him because now I know the lyrics. And I think to myself, my 4-year-old kid is singing something that I didn’t know, and he enjoys praising the Lord’s name. Now if he feels like that, what’s stopping me from praising the Lord’s name? When I went to my prayer mom in Bible class and I asked her to teach me how to pray, she told me: “Janine it’s so easy, I’m going to tell you that again. Trust in the Lord and He’ll make everything possible, even if it feels like you’re out there all alone, even if you’re just sitting in your house talking to Him, you’re going to see a lot of things changing. One day I was sitting in the house and I said to the Lord “Oh Lord today there’s nothing to eat, I don’t know what am I going to make for my children, but Lord you are the only one I can count on now” and it wasn’t long after when a lady with a white car, stops and calls me by my name and says:” Janine, come here, I have something small for you and the kids” and she brought me a food hamper. I was freaking out so much because I didn’t expect it to happen and I could just say “thank you, thank you so much, but the Lord really sent you my way because I was talking to Him and He saw my hopelessness and despair.” That’s why I’m not able to say my own family is my only family, because I have the biggest family in Ma’s vir Wellington, because of the love I receive from them. What I receive here is innumerable. Because in the mornings when I come here and I feel upset, Salomé will always come and ask me, “Janine are you okay?” and comes to hug me. On Monday mornings when I get into Bible class, Aunt Rosa comes, and she grabs hold of me and gives me a hug that feels like the world to me. It feels to me like I’ve gotten my mom back. That’s why I’m so thankful to the Lord because He came to change my little boy’s and my whole life. I don’t know what I would do and be without Him and these people.
What you’re learning here, is that something you can share with the people in your area right now?
I can’t speak enough of it because sometimes I go to my friends and tell them: “just get up on a Monday morning and come to Bible class because it is going to change your life because that’s where I came to learn what the Lord does in my life, that’s where I came to learn who and what the Lord really is, but even if I know Him now, I have still a lot to learn.
But as I say sometimes, a mom deserves someone to acknowledge her, to encourage her with words: “you know what, you deserve a medal for being the best mom of the year”. Every quarter since my child started at Ma’s vir Wellington, at the end of each term, we receive a thank you gift from Aunt Salomé for our kids’ daily school attendance of 100% and I get one each time, for Eli is my priority and I try my best for him to be at the program. I have two beloved little boys, Marcell, and Eli, and they are my gifts in my home therefore I want a good future for them. When I first got that gift from Salomé, it felt like someone was saying to me: “you’re the mom in the whole world “— just because my little boy is in school every day and every time I receive that gift, it feels like someone is tapping me on my shoulder to say don’t forget you’re the best.
Janine, what gives you hope?
Just to see the happiness in my children’s eyes when I get up in the morning to get them ready for school and to see Eli enjoying being at school because he says to me, “mommy when I get there in the morning, then we wash our hands, then we pray and get our porridge, then we sing, then we play. Mommy, it doesn’t even feel like I want to come home.” Just the fact that I met his teacher for next year, and he’s so excited, gives me that hope for the future. I’m also proud of myself and thank myself as well because I don’t have a mom whom I can ask to help me, but I’ve been raising my little baby alone for over five years, without a father, without any help from family. But I now have the biggest family in Ma’s vir Wellington ever. It gives me the greatest hope and encouragement every time they acknowledge and show love to me when I get here. I will testify over and over about how good God is. Thank you for allowing me to share my story and I will do it again.
