Testimony
Immaculate’s Story
Location: Kibera
Can you image living in a dirty, filthy disease infested slum where raw sewage flow down trenches and danger lurks in the shadows of every dark alleyway? This would present a challenge to the bravest of individuals. However suppose that you were a little girl seven years old whose parents had just died from AIDS and you were left alone in this horrible place. That is the story of Immaculate.
On a Saturday afternoon out ministry team, along with Jim and Deborah Womble, directors of the Kibera Kids orphanage, and some of the orphans and workers walked into the dirty slums of Kibera-Africa's largest slum dwellings-- to conduct an outdoor evangelistic service. A large crowd gathered as the music began to be played over the portable sound system which was powered by a noisy generator. Within a few minutes hundreds of people had gathered as the worship music filled the air. One of the slums residents was a seven year old little girl which we later learned to be named Immaculate. This little girl attached herself to Deborah, the missionary's wife, and would not leave her side. Wherever Deborah walked Immaculate would walk with her. The service concluded with several people coming forth for salvation. As we left, Deborah pushed the little girl aside with the other children of the slum and we made our way back to the orphanage.
The next morning being Sunday, we held services at the church on the orphanage grounds which is open to the area residents to attend if they desire to do so. That morning several individuals who attended the service at the slum walked almost a mile to church-one of them was that little girl who was wearing the same dirty and torn dress she had on the day before. Again she attached herself to Deborah and would not leave her side. At the close of the service the orphans were directed out one door and the visitors out another door for security purposes. Again Deborah pushed this little girl aside as she was ushered out with the others from the slum.
During lunch Deborah was troubled in her spirit. Asking what was troubling her she related the story of what had transpired with the little girl both on Saturday and again that Sunday morning. Following the leading the Holy Spirit, she sent some of the orphanage staff to go into the huge slums to look for this little girl. It is estimated that over one million people live in Kibera slums with over 500,000 being children. After searching for almost four hours they finally found the little girl. They found out that she was only seven years of age and she was living alone with no one to care for her. She was abandoned, dirty and hungry. All of her family had died from AIDS. They brought her to the orphanage where they bathed her, washed her dirty hair, and replaced the dirty torn dress with a new dress and some shoes.
Today, Immaculate lives at the orphanage where she is growing and enjoying life as a little girl should. She is learning English and recently scored at the top of her class in school.
Immaculate is just one of hundreds that have been rescued. However, sufficient operational funds prevent the Kibera Kids Center from reaching others. As a manner of fact, they recently had to send over 80 of the orphans back to the slums because there were insufficient funds to feed and care for them. YWEA 2009-Hope For The Hopeless will change that. Please help us reach the abandoned, hurting children of Kibera slums-many just like Immaculate.
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