To live a life like the one I'm about to describe, you must be patient. Patient for the breakthrough, patient for the promise and patient to see freedom like you could never have imagined. Maybe that's why her mother named her Tigist. Meaning Patient.
Tigist was eight years old when she was taken from her home by a band who was visiting her rural township in Oromia. She was taken from her place of safety and familiarity to be the house slave of people she never knew, people who never appreciated her and people who never gave her anything in return for the tireless hours she worked as a little girl.
So ten years later, after being tired of having nothing for herself, Tigist ran away. On her journey to freedom, however, she found herself once again imprisoned in a rape attack that left her pregnant. At 18 years of age, she gave birth to a beautiful son she called Philemon. Her hope she found to get her through this horrible ordeal was in God. She recovered and raised her son. She attended church and started to work- earning good money to support herself and Philemon. Attracted by her confidence, beauty and wealth, Tigist was soon married to a man in her local church who seemed to have it all together. He attended church regularly and displayed commitment to the work of God. But after marriage, that changed.
Soon her husband became abusive, regularly drinking alcohol and chewing jutt (a local drug). He had no respect for Tigist or her son and would spend all the household money going out with friends to eat and drink while Tigist and Philemon were left at home with no food. She knew this wasn't right. She knew she deserved better, but once again, she found herself trapped. And once again, she found herself pregnant - with twins!
Nothing changed with her home situation- in fact it got worse. Not only did her husband stop going to church but he refused to let Tigist go to church- the only place she felt supported and nurtured. She was isolated, trapped and heavily pregnant. The only support she had for her family was the money Philemon was getting from his sponsor in Canada through Compassion. But soon she would have 3 mouths to feed and she didn't know what to do. So the babies were born and the next day, her husband left her.
Desperate now with no support, she had two new born babies, living in the slum and very little resources. She prayed and she prayed. Then one day, when the babies were two months old, she had a dream. In her dream there was a man with a white robe and a face, shining like the sun. He ordered two boys to give her many things- Ethiopian Birr, clothes, gifts. He ordered the Compassion people to release to her what she deserved. Encouraged by this dream, Tigist shared it with her Compassion social worker. She had been patient for so long and now it seemed like God was sending her a message- that good things are coming her way.
A week later, she received a visit from her Canadian sponsor. He was surprised and distressed to see her living in such poor conditions and troubled by her situation. He bought her a months worth of groceries then headed to Debre Zeit where he was about to spend two weeks with Blessing the Children. After he left, however, the landlord saw all of Tigist's gifts and immediately doubled her rent- far exceeding what she was able to pay. So she was out on the street. She was given a week in a temporary accomodation, but she didn't know where she would go after that.
Ignorant of what was going on in Tigist's life, Brad, her sponsor from Canada, had shared her story with the team in Debre Zeit. After much thought, he asked the director if they could move the family to be a part of Blessing the Children. Phone calls were made, and it turned out that Tigist's Compassion Co-ordinator was good friends with the director. They were happy to release her family to go to Debre Zeit but there were arrangements for accomodation that needed to be made first.
On his way out of Ethiopia, Brad made one more stop to visit Tigist. When he arrived, he found out that she only had four more days to move out. They hadn't found a house for them yet, so they were left questioning what to do. The twins were also in jeopardy as the father's family wanted to take them off her hands against her will. So the team in the van that day, talked about what they could do. She needed to leave town right away. God had been working in the heart of a man, who was not about taking people into his home, but had been convicted by the verses that say "When you do this for the least of these, you do it unto me." So he and his wife, briefly agreed that they should take them in. That they could make room, because they knew what it was like to have twin baby girls and that a slum was no place to raise babies. So that night, Tigist went with her family, to Debre Zeit. Every thing was set up for her when she arrived. A double bed for her and her babies. Clothes that were left to be donated by a missionary. Money was given for nappies and milk.
After all her waiting, Tigist was able to see the breakthrough. God has blessed her for her patience. We are so blessed to be a part of her life and the life of her children. They are beautiful and we now have four boys and four girls in our home. The even number I have wanted for a while. Thank you Jesus.
