Tuesday, morning October 15 we arrived at the drop-in center in Sekgopo village ready to begin the Women of Worth Conference not really knowing if there would be any women there upon on arrival. Andries, our Regional Coordinator, informed us that many women had been invited, but he didn't know if they would come.
When we pulled up in front of the drop-in center we were amazed as all the women had arrived ahead of us and were expectantly waiting outside bundled up in coats as it was a rather chilly start to the morning. What is amazing is that in Africa they aren't as time sensitive as we are in the U.S. so we were quite surprised to see all these women and young children expectantly waiting for us. As I went around to greet each of the ladies I could see the bit of hesitancy yet excitement in their faces. It was amazing how many women were there waiting for us and the journey God would take us on together over the next several days.
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| Ladies from Sekgopo waiting for us the first day of the WOW Conference |
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| One of the little children - pretty in pink. |
Even our Regional Coordinators from Horizon were rather surprised to see how many women came. One by one each woman was greeted and lead to a seat. It certainly didn't take long to fill up that room and empty seats were difficult to find. Many of the women came with their babies strapped to their backs or with young toddlers. It was surprising to see how many of the older grannies had such young babies strapped to their backs as they cared for them and rocked them throughout the conference.
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| WOW Conference with the women in prayer |
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| One of the grannies rocking the child. |
The first day of talks went well and as the day went on my group of women began to grow and by the end of the day I had 15 women and 1 male caregiver. Yes, kind of funny to think we are doing a woman of Worth Conference and have male attendees, but once again our focus was on the caregivers to the orphans and in some cases that involves male caregivers. It was a wonderful day, and to see the smiles of the women and see the joy as they danced....and believe me we did a lot more dancing at this conference!
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| A time of worship and dancing |
After the conference ended we were blessed with time with all the precious children. The men on our team spent time in the morning working on building a home for one of the women in the community who was attending the conference, and then in the afternoon a group of men and women from our team hosted story time and crafts time for the kids. After our conference ended for the day we also joined in spending time with the kids and giving out lots and lots of hugs and smiles.
I was especially excited when I had the opportunity to meet my sponsor child Ivy for the first time. She is 10 years old and extremely shy. I was told she didn't speak any English so that made it difficult, but I still spoke to her anyway. Then I was told she had an older sister, Emmy, who is 18 and I was able to meet her as well. As we spoke I realized that my child, Ivy was able to speak more English than she let on, and then with her sister Emmy there the smiles came out. Reminds me of my childhood and how extremely shy I was so I understood her hesitancy.
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| Emmy, Kathy and Ivy |
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| Ivy with a beautiful smile |
As I spent time with the children one thing I experienced was how hungry these children are for love and attention. It isn't about bringing gifts it is simply about belonging and being loved. I wish I could convey to all the sponsors back home just how important you are to these children! They long to have to have you come and visit them and to give them lots of hugs. No gift or letter can fill the void of a loving touch. Some come in tattered dirty clothing and others come in nicer clothing - the difference is usually that of a sponsor. One child is sponsored and one child is not. I am slowly coming to realize how small of a sacrifice it is to help even one child and the impact upon the life of that child.
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| Kathy with some of the precious children |
The second day of the conference was even more amazing as we arrived we were greeted by many of the women in their tribal costumes greeting us with shouts of jubilation.
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| Ladies of Sekopo greeting us when we arrived |
Video Link: Ladies Morning Greeting
