Free Time

For the last 5 weeks, I have driven a short twenty minutes from my cozy, air conditioned, guarded house, down the modern interstate and then off the paved road to the United Methodist Church of Durumi. Every Sunday afternoon, after hundreds have met to worship, the church stays open (there aren’t any doors or windows so it would be hard to close it) for English classes.

These classes are attended mostly by women, both locals and IDPs- internally displaced persons. The IDPs have been forced to flee their homes in the north, but have remained in their country. They are here in need of safety, a new life, and a new job.

Although English is the national language of Nigeria, over 250 tribal languages are also spoken. English, though, is a ticket to a good job.

A few years ago the ambassador’s wife partnered with the church to provide English classes. The women came and with them, children. Lots of children.

I hadn’t planned to work with the children. I was excited to work with the women. After my first week with the adults, I took Jenna to volunteer with the kids. My plan was to get her comfortable and then go back to the women, but that wasn’t God’s plan.

Busyness has been a burden to me in the past. Coming to Nigeria, I was excited to slow down. As the girls and I fell into a routine with school and I started to learn the ropes of grocery shopping and finding my way around town, I found that I had time. Free time. I was excited to use that time to enjoy my family and maybe even have a hobby: read, blog, improve my photography, get in shape. But that wasn’t God’s plan.

As I watched the dust covered, malnourished, smiling, laughing children play, it became clear that God wanted me here, and he wanted me to lead. At first I fought it. I did want to volunteer, but only every other week, and I did not want a leadership position.  I wanted to help, but only in the ways that I wanted to help, only if it was convenient. That wasn’t God’s plan. I’m not sure if that is ever God’s plan.

The peace I felt in accepting the leadership role was confirmed when Sean told me that this was my way to give to Nigeria. God didn’t just send Sean here to work with Nigerian generals, he sent me here to love on “the least of these.” Because when God creates a family he calls a family, the whole family, to do his work with the talents he has given the individuals. He wastes nothing.

Taking the lead on this program I feel like I have been hired to teach in the middle of the school year with no curriculum and no budget. I don’t know the kids names, ages or whether or not they go to school. The good news is that there are no expectations for the program. The challenge is that there is no guidance.

But I am not the only one with a heart for these kids. Volunteers show up, donations are made, and every week we cobble together 2 hours of singing, playing, learning and loving. As we sing, chickens run around the kids and I pray that the tin roof will not blow off and the the lean-to we gather under will not fall down around us. The set up is less than ideal, but God is there.

God is there in the smiles of the children, in the peace of a baby sleeping through a  rowdy game of “Duck, Duck, Goose,” in their eagerness to be hugged and their joy painting with a water colors. God is there, and somehow the free time that I was looking forward to doesn’t seem so important.