The Joy of the Hope of Success!

Quite a title, I know, but it was the best way I could capture that feeling!
Saturday, we helped our first group of women who have “graduated” from HEALing Arts’ sewing class to form their own association. Twelve women, all of whom have suffered incredible things, are now standing together and have decided to work jointly for their success and that of their families. From the woman who was raped and now has a beautiful 10 month old baby, to the young woman who shook in fear for hours in a dark ditch in the forest with a compound fracture, hiding from the soldiers who were rampaging her village, to the widowed and abandoned, to the woman who has finally received solid crutches so that she may move around with agility, despite the loss of function of her legs from polio.
All I could think was, “and I get to sit in the same room as these women?” HEAL Africa has treated every woman in this room, and now they are all healthy physically, emotionally and spiritually. One of the spiritual counselors, Mama Ciza, accompanied me in the car and could not help but exclaim over and over again in joy, “That one,” she would point, “she was so, so traumatized. And now look at her! She’s healed! She’s so strong! And that one, she was so, so devastated. And now see, she’s joyful, she’s so, so happy!” The crowd of 12 women and their babies, Mama Ciza, Annifa (manager of HEALing Arts) and I crammed into two vans. All of them, the sewing machines they had received as income generation grants from HEALing Arts, stools and baskets.
Loudly, we weaved our way in the hot sun, shining dust and endless streams of cars, motos and people, patiently sweating our way through the terrible planning of road construction: no alternate route. However, no one could put a damper on the energy and happiness in the cars!
HEALing Arts loaned these women money to help secure their first lease. There is no banking for the vast majority of Congolese, so they are obligated to pay 6 months up front in order to gain a lease, which renders most of them incapable of overcoming this first step. Together, they could pool together one month, but lacked $300 for the remaining 5, which they have received as a loan from HEALing Arts.
“Stop, we’re here!” Annifa’s voice took me out of my musings about a system that makes the poor suffer even more. A tiny red door in a long line of small businesses, right next to the market in the Katindo neighborhood. The women’s eyes welled with excitement, butterflies dancing in their stomachs. This would be their livelihood, the crib of their growth as independent, healed women who have formed a cooperative together, despite all odds. They have proved it! They have overcome yet again!
A squat lady with a large mole on her lip and a loud voice identified herself as the landlord and informed us that she had lost the key. Our driver, Theo, loudly banged on the padlock that bound the red metal door with a hammer until he was able to pry it off. Already our eclectic group of people had attracted an immense crowd of people and school children ogling the entrance of something brand-new into their commercial district. The red door screeched open with a puff of dust. Sparkling in the hot sun, dirt encased everything inside this little room with no windows that would now be 12 women’s work space. The men moved a fake wall, removed old, rotting furniture and broken tiles. As a previous landlord myself, I couldn’t help but laugh at how American renters would have treated me had I ever delivered an office to them in such a manner!
A fierce match was on for the final negotiations of the lease. “You promised to put in electricity, we don’t see it anywhere!” demanded Mama Ciza, Annifa and the interim association’s president, the woman in crutches. “I told you, we will put a cable in soon!” the thickset woman hunkered back. Latrine privileges, privacy, why we had to pay 300 francs for water to clean out the place.
Finally, Mama Ciza, the spiritual counselor, led us all in a time of prayer. All our voices could be heard together, thanking God for blessings and asking for protection and success in their new business. For strength to work well and be good mothers. For faithful clients. For many years to come and much work to be had. Loud singing and clapping followed. By the end of the afternoon, sweat pouring down and smiles bigger than the sky, the women had found the first home for their new venture. An undertaking which promises to bring many more adventures in the next months!