Women: The Backbone of Africa

Women, driven by an inner strength and desperation that only a mother knows, are the true backbone of Africa. Many of them are moms who have little education. Most are illiterate and poor with few skills and multiple children. They are single, abandoned first wives of men long since gone or maybe widows or even young teens who had hoped for a solution to their problems by finding a husband. Carolyne is one such mom. Yes, she has a husband, but he’s seldom, if ever, at home. She, like the others, must find a way to house, feed, clothe, and educate her children.

I got to spend the day with Carolyne at her place in Western Kenya because I wanted to learn more about her and the women who are part of a large network of disciple-makers in that area. But what I learned about this amazing young woman was so much more. Carolyne’s deep passion is sharing with others about her relationship with Jesus, but how and when she gets to do this must be interwoven into her daily life because of her many responsibilities. Trying to wrap my head around a day in her life, I finally asked her, “Please, start at the beginning. Describe to me what a typical day looks like for you.”

Very soft-spoken, gentle and humble, she quietly began:

“I wake at 5:00 am and that’s when I pray, nurse my baby and then I begin cooking. I go out and build the fire in the kitchen and start mixing the wheat flour, oil, sugar and baking soda for making mandazi. After making those things, I start to sell in the shop I just built here that you can see. I also supply to some shops in the village and the rest I take to a school nearby.

“After the selling, I go to the farm (a plot across the road from her place). There I do planting, weeding, or harvesting. If there is food available, I then prepare lunch for myself and my children. I make ugali with the fire just here and some vegetables.

“If it’s a day for house church, then after cleaning at my place or maybe washing clothes (by hand), I go to that. On Wednesdays I meet with the five leaders from the five house churches I have started. If it’s Saturday I meet with the one who disciples me and the others.

“If it’s not the day for meeting with other house churches, then I must spend time getting water from the river for the house, for washing, cooking, and drinking or maybe I look for firewood to bring back to my place. There are also some days that I take time to go to the village to get more supplies for my business.

“After that, I make dinner. We love ugali so much and it’s good for sleeping, so we eat ugali and skumawiki and those small dried fishes for protein. Then, we wash everything and go to bed very early because there’s no electricity; we use only traditional lighting. That’s my day.”

Carolyne has been a disciple-maker for about 3 or 4 years. She has 4 children; one is a baby, so while she’s doing all of this, most of the time the little one is strapped tightly to her back. Two years ago the one who discipled her, Caren, taught her how to make mandazi and samosas. She gave her $30 to buy the ingredients to begin her business. Since then she has learned how to manage her money well and saves 100KSH ($1) each day. From her savings she opened the small shop on her compound where she sells vegetables from her garden as well as mandazi and samosas. From those profits she’s been able to buy seeds to grow skumawiki, buy several local chickens for laying that she keeps in a makeshift coop attached to her outdoor kitchen.

With her eyes watering and burning from the wood fire inside the kitchen where she had been cooking earlier, Carolyne sat back in a plastic chair comfortably chatting with me while nursing her baby…no complaints, no expectations, just matter of factly telling me about her life. Her focus? Not on what she didn’t have, but on what she does and what she can do with it. She trusts God completely. She knows that He sees her, knows and loves her and gives her opportunities she never dreamed possible. Her relationship with him and what He has done for her is why she is so passionate for other women to know, believe and trust in this same God. She and many, many like her are drawing from a strength that is not their own, changing their lives and the lives of their children. This is why, with great confidence, I firmly believe God is using women to change the plight and face of Africa.