REDEMPTION: to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental!
Utter alarm and disbelief exploded inside Rebecca when she learned the 12-year-old niece she never knew had been given away by her biological sister to a lady as a housegirl. It’s a common practice for village girls with little or no education to end up serving as a housegirl during their early teenage years. Either she is considered not to have any promise of any other option or she is being used in this fashion for personal gain.
Both Rebecca’s father and mother died of AIDS before she was three years old. She had two older sisters but upon the death of their father, each of them was distributed to three different families. They grew up without knowing each other … only knowing about each other’s existence.
Rebecca was more than aware of the dangers that could threaten the existence and future of housegirls. Not only would they most likely become a slave to the family and not have any family status, but they would be easy prey for predators of all shapes and sizes. Rebecca could not bear the thought of that happening to someone she didn’t know but who was a member of her terribly broken family.
Some might call it impetuous, inconceivable, or even impossible but I call it love and the nature of family. Rebecca begged her sister to find her niece Olivia and offered to assume responsibility for her. She told her sister “we both know what is likely to happen to that young girl. I believe she will be much better off under my care.”
Locating Olivia was a serious challenge. She has already been given out to another lady who had subsequently given her out to a couple. But Rebecca was diligent and relentless in searching for her niece. In May 2020, just a month after the COVID-19 Pandemic changed the way of life globally, Olivia came to live with Rebecca. She neither knew how to read nor write. She barely had any school experience due to poverty. When given an educational assessment by a professional she tested out at Third Grade level. Her first report from school yielded a measly 10% result.
As schools closed all across the world, Rebecca found she had time to begin teaching Olivia. She solicited the assistance of several tutors among who was a medical school peer. The work was intense and the goal was high. Making up for lost time was a challenge. Rebecca found it discouraging as her effort to enroll her in any boarding school was met with rampant rejection.
Identity is critical. Identity determines productivity. Olivia’s identity had to change for progress to be made. She had to believe she was not stupid, only ignorant. She knew little because she had never been taught. Education would remove ignorance. And, within the context of a fierce and courageous love from her auntie, and a spiritual revolution from Jesus Christ, Olivia invited God to author the story of the rest of her life.
There isn’t enough space in this post to list all the large and small challenges Olivia faced as she prepared for the Uganda National Exam given to all students who complete Primary School, the equivalent of Elementary School here in the States. Scores from this national test would determine her options for Secondary School, the equivalent of our High School.
In November of 2022, Rebecca traveled from Norther Uganda to Western Uganda a week before the exam was administered. She spent time praying with Olivia and assuring her she only had to do her best. And, she told Olivia, “even if you fail the National exam or fail at all the things there is in this world, Auntie Rebecca would still love you just as much because that is exactly how God loves you.”
On January 28, 2023, just three days ago, Rebecca and Olivia received the results of the national exam and Olivia scored within the First Division! This is of huge significance … somewhat unexpected … but celebrated! Olilvia’s educational options increased exponentially with her score results.
God specializes in taking hopeless situations and breathing hope into them.
God specializes in taking a mess and making a redemptive message out of it.
God can do what no man can do.
Behind all these amazing circumstances is a heart God had transformed. Rebecca is the recipient of God’s extravagant love and grace. God plucked her out of a seemingly detrimental village existence and is writing a story with her life that man could never write. Now Rebecca is paying it forward with Olivia. And, that is the way life should be. Freely we have received … freely we give.
The songwriter, David, penned these lyrics in Pslam 40:2 which describes redemption:
He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.
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