Dophelia

Hi Family and Friends!
Remember a while back I wrote to you about an orphan who was only 12
but already sexually active with multiple partners? Well... I never
did give you an update on her. The good news is that the test came
back negative. :-)

Dophelia is now 13... and like any typical 13 year old she's got a
mouth and an attitude and she uses both!!! Her caregivers are her
grandmother, her uncle's wife and her aunt (who likes to get drunk and
beat her and her little brother that stays with her as well). Though
the grandmother's should be a haven for Dophelia, it's anything but.
The grandmother, a few weeks ago, kicked Dophelia out of the house.
She finally agreed to feed her, but said that she couldn't sleep in
the house. We are in the middle of the rainy season and have been
getting daily/nightly rains for almost 5 days straight.... and
Dophelia has been sleeping under a tree outside in all of this. So,
Daryl & Sabrina were determined to figure out a plan for her.

Through a several hour discussion involving a lot of yelling, a lot of
tears, and our good friend Zeca being patient enough to translate the
whole thing... It was finally decided that the Auntie was the best
choice for Dophelia to live with. However, there is currently no
space in her hut for Dophelia to sleep.... so, the Auntie agreed to
let us build a mud hut on her property for Dophelia. Praise God with
us that she has agreed to this!

So where does that put us? It looks like us crazy Shirumbus (white
people) are going to build a hut tomorrow!!! (Thursday) I don't know
how far we will get because it will have to be constructed from
scratch. The other times I have been involved the structure itself
was already up and all we had to do was mud it. Tomorrow we will have
to start by digging the wholes for the corner posts and the bind the
sticks that make up the structure of the walls.... then hopefully
start mudding it. Don't worry too much, we have several of our
African friends helping us so that the hut actually lasts through more
than one day! :-)

What I would like from all of you is simple.... please join me in
praying that the rain holds off for two days for us to build/mud the
hut and for it to dry properly.... :-) My God is a big God and he can
even stop the rains of Africa from coming! :-)

Thanks in advance for your prayers.... I will write tomorrow night
(assuming I can actually move) and let you know how it went....
love to you all,
kapande