Life Is A Precious Gift
By Dawn Brown
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Mueni, in the red sweater, was always helpful
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Mueni
was one of the first people we met in Mbooni when we arrived at Elizabeth
Mativo’s house. As we drove up, out came
Elizabeth to greet us, along with Mueni and another teenage girl. They had been helping Elizabeth to prepare
for our arrival. Hosting American’s
takes a lot of work, you know.
This
February, Elizabeth called to tell me that Mueni died. She was an unwed teen mother of a little
toddler.
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Mueni
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Mueni
comes from a large family who do not follow Christ. Unbeknownst to them, Mueni found herself
pregnant again with no husband. Although
this is becoming more common in Kenya, it isn’t as common or glamorized as it
is here in the United States.
I
imagine that she was feeling shame and fear.
She secretly sought out an abortion at a city hospital and started the
abortion procedure, funded by the married father. At home the next day, she became extremely
sick. Still, nobody knew about the
pregnancy and she didn’t tell her mother and grandmother why she was so sick or
what she had done.
Finally, that
evening, she couldn’t bare the pain any longer and she told her family. They live close to Elizabeth, who is always
helpful and has one of the few cars in the area.
Elizabeth
immediately took action and rushed the young girl to the hospital. It was too late. Mueni and her unborn baby died before they
ever made it inside.
As
you can imagine, her family is very distraught over her death. Her mother and grandmother told Elizabeth
that Mueni said this was her second abortion.
They were devastated by this news too and said that if they had only
known, they would have told her to have the babies and they would have cared
for them. They would have told her they
didn’t want her to abort her babies.
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Mueni's mother and grandmother
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It
saddens me to think that in recent years, our government has advocated, and our
tax dollars have been spent on promoting the evils of abortion to the people of
Kenya.
Now, her little boy
Joel, about 4 years old, is the newest orphan in Child Arise.
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Joel is now orphaned
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Mueni
dropped out of school after completing the 8th grade. I have seen her in many pictures helping with
the feeding program and I’ve even seen her in pictures working with the men as
they were placing the water tank on top of the tower during Phase II of The
Well For Life.
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Mueni helping with the tank
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Elizabeth
and her late husband, Pastor Mativo, have been very close to Mueni since she
was a very little girl. She always
enjoyed being around the Mativo house when they were on furlough from the
mission field.
I’ve
talked to Elizabeth several times about Mueni’s death and found out that we met
a lot of Mueni’s family members when we were in Kenya, but I just didn’t
realize they were all connected. We met
Mueni, her mother, her grandmother, many of her siblings and cousins, plus her
little boy.
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Joel when we met him in Kenya 2012
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The
Mativos have witnessed to this family so much over the years, both with words
and with their acts of kindness and compassion.
I think the reason so many people from this family are often with
Eizabeth is because they are drawn to Jesus in her.
Elizabeth
asks that we pray for this entire family, that because of this tragic death of
Mueni and her unborn babies, they will come to a saving faith in Jesus.
Mueni
never professed faith in Jesus Christ, but my hope is that in her final hours
or minutes, she accepted Christ as her Savior.
She surly had the knowledge.
Prayer
Requests From Missionary Elizabeth Mativo
Pray
for the family that just lost the young single mother, due to abortion. Pray that the Lord will comfort them &
bring people who will encourage them, not tear them down with mean words or despise
them. They are not a believing family.
Continue to pray for the ministry.
The needs are there & we are not able to cater for all needy orphan
students. Pray that the Lord opens ways.
Pray
for God’s wisdom & guidance for the board of Directors in America & our
Board of Directors here in Kenya. There
are so many widows & orphans that truly need help.
Pray for peace in our country & for improvement of
economy. Life is too expensive here but
we thank God for everything.
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Child Arise Kenya
Widows & Orphans
Ministry
827 5 Ave Dr W, Andalusia IL 61232
309-798-259
dawn@childarisekenya.com
ChildAriseKenya.com
Child Arise Kenya is an IRS
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