A Woman from the Well
During my first full day in Burundi we had an encounter with a “woman from the well”. It was providential that this happened since I will be teaching during my time here on the Samaritan Woman. Our encounter, however was not with a woman of the same life style as the Samaritan Woman. Rather she brought us water and showed us kindness in being the hands and feet of Jesus. The Burundi Hope Team was returning from Ephphatha Deaf School’s new location in Maramvya and our van had a minor break down. We were stranded across from one of the community wells. Several hours earlier we had passed by the same well and I noticed a woman who was working diligently on washing many basins of laundry. I thought to myself it was a daunting task to undertake in the heat of the day but she was likely doing the laundry of others to provide a small income for her family.
As Obed had assessed the situation of the van and had consulted with the mechanic it was determined that water was needed to remove much caked mud that had worked it’s way into our brakes. Being the rainy season and having traversed through multiple deep mud pits this was no surprise. This same woman immediately stopped her work and not only offered a requested bucket but proceeded to fill every available container and bring it to the stranded van to assist us in our plight. Another piece of our puzzle that day was the 5 teachers and 3 day students who had joined us for the trip back to Bujumbura who were standing in the heat of the sun. Our “Women from the Well” took time to find stools, drinking water and offered shelter in a small bamboo kiosk.
I witnessed such kindness from this woman who stopped her tasks; took time to help with a need and went the next step in providing for the comfort of strangers. I thanked her for her kindness and gave her a small monetary gift to help her with her family having taken her from her task of washing laundry. She thanked us and her kindness did not end there. She returned to give us 3 ears of corn from her roadside vegetable stand. The photos below were taken during our delay. A capsule of the culture!
God bless!
Susan May
Co-founder, Burundi Hope
Today, Saturday I had an opportunity to attend and participate in graduation from the Secondary School at Kanura School for the Blind. It was my 3rd time to attend this event. The graduates will now wait and see what further education they will pursue. Before the ceremony I was distracted by some “small” visitors. The baby girl of one of the teachers and a young toddler of one of the parents of a student. I was honored to give a short speech of encouragement not only to the graduates but also to the teachers for their hard work at the school.
Thank you for your ongoing prayers! Especially for wisdom, clarity and sleep! I am not quite into a good sleep routine! God Bless!
