Dickerson Missions

"Dear children, hide in this thicket,                            There may yet be some hope'                                                                     By Amos Mirera   T hrough the darkness comes this whisper from the widow to two daughters and five sons on one of the darkest nights in Nairobi since Mau Mau. The eight are homeless targets of a predominant tribe driving out minorities from Karinde.  In this January 2008, politicians are hiring youth for three dollars each to threaten, burn, and kill innocents such as the widow Kadija Gal Gal and her family. It is for these few pieces of silver and the sake of political greed that Nairobi and the rest of Kenya begin to burn and bleed.   This threat leaves the Gal Gal family without shelter and further compounds the grief of the widow whose husband Hussein was murdered just two years before. Here in the thicket she comforts her children with whispers that Christ will protect them even as all hell breaks loose. Understandably, she is unable to assure her four little ones, who weep uncontrollably as her three adolescents fight back tears of their own.   Each of the seven knows mama has only words of love and hope to give them; they can't blame her for the pain they are experiencing or lack of school fees, food, medication or safety. They know how selflessly she loves them.   Yet how much can one ask of an illiterate widow already rejected by friends, relatives, and now, on this night, even by those she thought her neighbors? How much can the shoulders of a grieving woman withstand, whose very best casual labor yields two dollars a day?   But because of the Father to the fatherless and the Defender of widows, this little faith of Kadija, like the sparse oil of the Shunammite widow, proves sufficient. They survive this night to obtain sanctuary at the Dickersons.   After five months of rest and recovery, the Gal Gal family move to a transitional accommodation where the Dickersons pay their food and rent and most school fees until Kadija can accumulate enough clothing clients to achieve independence, the hall mark of Turning Point Ministries.   Kadija continues to grow in the Lord; in her understanding of the word as well as God's ways. She gives here special thanks for the audio DVD recently donated by Bob Sweat of Trinity on the Hill United Methodist Church of Augusta, Georgia. It answers a prayer for Kadija since it has the whole bible in Borana, the only language she can clearly understand.   We also praise God for every one who donates clothes for her business. It is such a blessing! From her proceeds, she is now able to pay the bus fare to school for her children as well as new clothes and school uniforms. From her savings, a concept that is new to her, she now even has a bed!   She is still learning about tithing 10%, saving 10% and using the remaining 80% to cover her living expenses. Her son Abraham enters high school next year with the requirement of 80,000ksh (1143 US$) for first term admission and school fees. But his mother is encouraging him to work hard with the chorus of her new song of victory, "The Lord has everything and He is part of my family…, because of him, my seven children and I have not been consumed. In this eternal shade of God shall we rest all our lives.' Glory to God.