All the maids

Right now, as broken as I am for the lostness in this culture, I'm especially broken for all the maids.

They come here from their South Asian country expecting work that will pay them more than they can make back in their home countries - which is sad - and sometimes that is delivered, and sometimes it's not. Sometimes that work comes along with an abusive "madam" or even worse, a sexually abusive "sir"... It most always comes with kiddos who abuse the maids in their own ways - hitting them, talking down to them - not that they understand Arabic, or anything - and just basically treating them like scum. And the "sirs" and "madams" take their passports so they can't "get away." Sad, huh?

Now, of course, not every situation is like this. I'm sure there are some wonderful "sirs" and "madams" out there that treat their maids fairly and even well! I hope...

My greatest pet peeve is when people think they are better than others. Every single time in Tanzania in my classroom when a student made some kind of comment to this effect, I stopped my class and addressed it directly. Thinking you are better than someone else for ANY reason is against the very nature of Jesus Christ. He humbled himself. He hung out with the "lowest" of society. He came for them. For us!

Right now, I'm broken for the maid downstairs. She is from Indonesia. She has been here 4 months. She didn't speak Arabic before she moved here and what she has now is very, very broken. She has no phone to call home. She has no money. And I'm fairly certain she's being beaten.

We got home on Sunday night and she was sitting outside crying. She always lights up like a Christmas tree whenever Lucy is around, so Lucy and I stopped and sat with her for a little while. She had clothes pins from the laundry, so Lucy played with those. Not much communication between us, of course, but just being together with someone who is kind to her is a change for her. We were with her about 5 minutes before one of the kiddos came outside and she quickly packed up the clothes pins and headed inside.

Dear Jesus, please say she didn't get in trouble because of us!

Tonight, I headed downstairs with a plate of sweets I'd made. (Side note, it's very customary in this culture to pass plates of food back and forth between neighbors. They bring us stuff ALL THE TIME! And I do my best to keep up with sending something back to them!) So, tonight, no one was home except for the maid, Z. When she saw me, she gave me a HUGE HUG! I'm talking HUGE! ((Another side note, every time she hears us coming down the stairs in the mornings, she pokes her head out so she can get a peek at Lucy. I think she has 1 son and 1 daughter back in Indonesia. Have you ever thought about how lucky you are that you don't have to live in a different country from your family to support them??? I literally cannot imagine what life is like for them back in their home countries that they would come here and work.)) I gave her the plate of sweets and told her to have one. She said that she wasn't allowed to eat. I'm not sure if she meant just food from me or any food. *Remember, our communication is broken, to say the least.* So, we went into the kitchen, I pulled one of the apple fritters off the plate, moved the others around and gave her one. She was overjoyed. She just kept hugging me!

I then did my best to communicate to her that I am not a Mslm. I am a Christian. And I love Jesus. And He loves me. And He loves her. At one point, while we were hugging, I just prayed out loud for her: for Jesus to reveal himself to her, for him to send someone who can speak to her and share with her, for her to be comforted by him tonight, for protection for her from "madam" and possibly "sir," for a dream or vision of Jesus to be so real to her that it changes her forever!

She knows the phrase "I love you" in English. Funny, huh? So I told her that Jesus loves her. That he loves me. That he loves "madam" and the kiddos, too. She got a very sober look on her face when I mentioned "madam" and said "no." I did my best to say, "yes" back to her, that Jesus loves us all.

Pray with me tonight for Z. Pray for "madam" also. Pray that we would be able to find someone who can speak an Indonesian language so she can have some kind of fellowship. "Madam" has told me before that Z doesn't go out or have any friends. I believe it! Pray for some relief from whatever it is that she's enduring downstairs. Pray for her to meet Jesus and be forever changed!

Pray for me, that I would continue to love on her. AND that I would continue to love on "madam" and the kiddos, especially after seeing how they are affecting Z.

You can't be more lost than someone else... Lost is lost. Thank you, Jesus, that I am FOUND!