Be aware about Somalia! Don’t forget those who are suffering, but imagine you are there with them. Hebrews 13:3b Suppose there are brothers or sisters who need clothes and don’t have enough to eat. What good is there in your saying to them, “God bless you! Keep warm and eat well!” – if you don’t give them the necessities of life? James 2:15-16 This is Fawzia…have a guess: • • • • •
What is her favourite colour? What is her favourite food? How old is she? What is her favourite thing to do? What is her favourite animal?
But do we really know or are these just guesses? Are we just deciding what she likes based on what she looks like? Or on where she comes from? Do we even know where she comes from? What makes it hard/easy to guess? Usually, people will make guesses about people based on clues like gender, age, what they look like and where they are from. You see, Fawzia lives in Somalia where life is very different to ours…where her opportunities are different…where everything is different… …EXCEPT That she is a person just like you and me…with needs, hopes and dreams. Living in poverty though…in a country like Somalia with so much hardship…has it been easy? Fawzia says…“My parent had difficult time to get daily bread, there had been a
lot of pressure to find the basic needs such food, shelter and clothing. I was left to take the responsibility to keep the children and help parents with domestic work, and even sometimes I had to do child labour, to work as maid in far distance places, which had risks of abduction.” Can you even imagine what it must be like: Not to know if you will eat today? Not to have clean water? Not to feel safe? Not to be included? Not to have so many things that we take for granted? Not having these things or even a way to get them, means life feels so unfair. You not only miss out on physical things but what about feeling unloved, forgotten and unworthy?