Mama Safi is a wife and a friend. She is soft, gentle and has a heart to serve. She has lived in Toyota for as long as she can remember and cares deeply for the people who live there. Every morning, she prepares her family for the day, ensuring that the children are dressed and on time for school. She is committed to her family, whom she loves dearly.
But it’s not only her children who she is responsible for. Mama Safi is part of a group of men and women from the local church in her community who were mobilised by Hands at Work to serve and care for the most vulnerable children. Today, they provide holistic care for 150 children in their community.
Each day, Care Workers like Mama Safi prepare nutritious food for the children, create an environment of play and fun, and welcome them with love and kindness.
She shares, “I became a Care Worker when I received a call from the pastor in my church. The pastor called me and he invited me to join the work of caring for orphans and vulnerable children. Right there, I said that as long as it is the work of God, I would like to support this work.”
Many Care Workers across Africa have responded to this call to care for children in their suffering, despite having suffered their own traumatic experiences of abuse, abandonment and loss. Though they desire to provide holistic care for the most vulnerable children, often the pain of their own past traumas affects their ability to give.
Mama Safi is no exception – growing up in a broken home, she knows all too well the pain and challenges of the people living in her community. After she was married, it was a daily struggle for her husband to earn the resources that they need to survive. Over the years, they have lost three of their seven children. Instead of despairing, she has experienced God's grace and love in her pain and loss.
She shares her challenges during her weekly Relationship Groups with her fellow Care Workers. This is a safe place to learn about Jesus, as well as share their challenges and burdens. As they encounter Jesus and His love, healing can take place.
“It is a really good family with the Care Workers. We show each other love in our Relationship Groups where we can share our burdens, as well as pray for and love each other. I find encouragement in these times together.”
As they meet together, Care Workers begin experiencing God’s love and healing in their own lives. Mama Safi and the other Care Workers come to know that they are seen, known and cared for. This experience equips the Care Workers to share the love and hope that they have received with the children that they serve.
Through regular training and mentoring from Hands at Work on how to best identify and care for traumatised vulnerable children, Care Workers like Mama Safi become equipped to care for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the children they serve.
Daily, these volunteer Care Workers walk through their communities, visiting children in their homes, allowing for deep and personal relationships to be built with the whole family.
“Over the years I have seen that this is God’s work and I have continued even when I faced personal challenges. Through this work, I have learned to pray more because I know God hears and answers my prayers!”
A testimate of Mama Safi’s commitment to the children is when Mwete, one of the children being cared for by the Care Workers, was suffering with the devastating loss of his family, she invited him to live in her home with her husband and their children.
“Mwete’s presence in my family was not a struggle because I trusted God. I knew that God would provide. The little that we do have, we share. I don’t feel that it is a burden.”
They are true heroes, even in the midst of many challenges and brokenness. They become role models, not only for the children they serve, but for the entire community and the global body of Christ.
“My dream is for God to help people to stand up and do this work so it can continue and won’t stop. Because even us we can die and leave children behind, but I dream for God to provide people who will always be present to stand for these children who are left behind.”
Hands at Work's vision is to see the local church in Africa caring for the most vulnerable children, and united in this with the church outside of Africa.
Women like Mama Safi represent hundreds of women and men across Africa. They are the hands and feet of Jesus. Their lives are dedicated to the sacrificial care of others in a very simple and relational way.
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.’ - Matthew 25: 35 - 36; 40