A Smile and A Mattress

There are many times in our Western society that we think things like "I wish I had a new car," "I wish I had the latest smart phone," "I wish I could go on more vacations." Have any of us ever thought "I wish I had a mattress to sleep on"? Probably not. There are some things in our lives, such as a comfortable place to sleep, we take as expected and not privileges.

I want to introduce you to my friend, Hawa. She is 10 years old and lives in West Point, Liberia. Her father has passed away and her mother makes a living selling cold water and fried rice. Hawa helps her mother do work but loves to play, especially kickball. Even though she is a quiet young girl she is constantly happy and smiling. 

During one of my visits to West Point I had the honor of going into Hawa's home. Hawa proudly showed me where she stays, which you can see in the picture below...

Her mother, grandmother, brother, and sister all stay in this room and sleep on the "bed" behind her. When you take a closer look you can see that the bed is layers of cardboard on top of cinder blocks. 

About two weeks after returning to the states I woke up one morning in my big, comfy bed, that I do not have to share, and could not stop thinking about Hawa. I had some conversations with MTM individuals both here and in Liberia about getting Hawa and her family a mattress. A mattress in Liberia costs about $140 and Hawa's mom makes about $10 a month. Clearly, this would be a very costly purchase for them and would take some time to save up the money.

This all happened at the time I was figuring out how much money had been raised for my trip, how much had been used, and therefore how much was going to MTM as a donation (because of all the amazing people backing me, I had more money than I needed for this project!). Wouldn't you know the total amount in excess came to $139. Wow, God certainly had His hand in this and of course had it all worked out before I even thought about it. The money was transferred, Macintosh bought and delivered the mattress, and Hawa again gave us one of her big smiles.

Like many of you, I had never thought twice about the mattress I sleep on until I met someone who didn't have one. There are so many things in our everyday lives that we take as expected and don't think twice about. We need to remember how insanely blessed we are and must keep that smile on our faces because those who have less than us never let it leave theirs.

Macintosh

Macintosh. When most people hear that name they think of a computer. When I hear it I think of one of the most wonderful, generous, energetic, amazing, selfless people I have ever had the privilege to call a friend. And I have never said that statement so sincerely before. 

Macintosh and me in his home. 

More Than Me has very few staff members in Liberia and the main guy is Macintosh. He has lived in the slum of West Point for 32 years and has two adorable, yet often mischievous, children. He knows where every MTM child lives and could tell you their story, off the top of his head. I was so often amazed by his ability to recall individual information on a girl I would be asking about. A number of my days in Monrovia were blessed by spending time with this man. Many meals were shared, conversations were exchanged, and motorbike rides were taken.

 Mac with his children.

There is such an array of stories I could share with y'all about Macintosh but there is one I particularly want to tell you. Nearing the end of my trip we had the final day of the summer program with the girls. There was one point where I was in the room with over 100 girls by myself due to the other volunteers finishing up photographs and different tasks while Macintosh had to step away for a short meeting.

I was passing out packets that held a culmination of the girls' work over the past few weeks. Those of you who know me know I can speak very loudly and have no problem demanding attention when trying to accomplish a task with kids. Nothing I tried worked, and I was fighting a constant battle of getting the girls to stay in their seats and stay quiet so they could hear the names being called. I was just about to reach my limit when helped arrived.

When Macintosh returned to the room he told the girls to sit down and be quiet once and they listened. I then thought out-loud and said "why is it when he asks you to do this you listen, but when I ask 17 times you don't listen?" Well, Macintosh took that questions seriously. He looked at the girls and said "the woman asked you a question. We will stay here until you answer or else you can go home without lunch." All 100 pairs of eyes stared back at us.

Grace, 11 years old, raised her hand and said "well Jennifer never told us we would have to go home if we didn't listen." Macintosh was not impressed with this and responded in some way that implied that was not an acceptable answer. We continued to stand there in a room full of silence.

Macintosh then began to express his feelings on this. He looked at the girls and said (and this is quoted to my best memory) "do you know why she is here? Because she loves you. I can walk down the street any day of the week and see your ugly faces (of course the girls started laughing) but she spent a lot of money to fly here to see you. There are poor people in her country. There are homeless people in her country. But she chose to come here to see you and this is the respect you show her? I don't care what color some one's skin is or what country they come from (he begins to point to his arm) the same blood runs through our veins. There are times when I won't be here and another adult will be standing in front of you. You need to listen, do what they say, and give them respect. I don't care what adult is talking to you, you need to listen." Then of course the social worker in me kicked in and I said "unless that person is asking you to do something that will hurt you, then you do not have to listen to them!"

Many people have questioned why I go to Africa to do work when there are people in the United States in impoverished situations.  My response has always been "I don't care what color some one's skin is or what country they are from we are all children of God." So, of course when Mac referenced that idea in his talk with the girls I began tearing up so when I chimed in I was all choked up.  I was so touched to hear this man that I respect so much share the same view of people and to know how much he gets it. Way too many people in our world put divides on things because of skin color or nationality when really we are all a part of the same human race and we are all part of the same family.  Mac's intent on the talk was to express to the girls their need to respect adults in general and not just him. It, however, became so much more than that for me.  

This is just one of the many stories I could share about this dear friend of mine. It is my sincere hope that I will get to hang out with Mac again one day and I truly think that will happen. Regardless, I know that he has left an impression on my life that will not quickly fade.

 Mac and me with West Point in the background.