Karen, JD and I went down to visit Melen today - our official grieving visit to mourn her husband Jonah’s death. Normally we would have sat with her before the burial even took place but of course we were not here.
Melen is beautiful, even in grief, because she is a woman of strength and character. She is nearly eight months pregnant and running a nursery school for over fifty children while taking care of her own five girls (three in school in Kampala).
Little Sarah, only 2, wandered in as we talked. Melen mentioned that just that morning she had asked again, “where is my Daddy?” That is when the tears flowed, for me, for Melen. We prayed with her and left a small gift. Please continue to pray for this woman, who has chosen to come back to the place which has taken so much from her. Most local women who are widowed lose their provider, the source of their livelihood and their children’s education. This is a huge loss. Melen has lost so much more. She lost a friend, a companion, an advisor and listener, a man who truly loved and cared for as so very few husbands here do. Her losses are monumental. Yet she is back in Bundibugyo with her smallest children, choosing to live here and lift this place up with her school. We are blessed to know her and privileged to pray for her.