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.