Beautiful Dream Society is working on an expansion of our childcare program in Lesotho’s capital, Maseru, to a much bigger Children’s Village, including housing, a school, and a church. Join BDS Founder, Jennifer Crow, as she reaches out to our Lesotho neighbors and partners on the journey toward completing the Lesotho Children’s Village!
As you read in Part 1 of this series, we’ve been visiting some outlying villages near the area of the future Beautiful 
Dream Society Children’s Village for orphans. The land is also the location of Victory Church Maseru’s future church plant. We’re traveling around the area to begin building relationships with our future neighbors, which has resulted in even more blessed encounters than we even imagined. Our wonderful partner, Lintle Letsika of the organization Footprints of Hope, has made many introductions for us. She and her wonderful community of workers have been “looking in on” and caring for many people within this vulnerable population, so she knows many of our future neighbors quite well.
Meeting Mamello – Patience Personified
On one particular trip, we met a beautiful young woman named Mamello. Mamello means patience in Sesotho. This lovely young woman certainly lives up to her name, demonstrating admirable patience and perseverance at an incredibly young age.
At the age of 19, Mamello looked no more than a girl. When we walked into her family home, we could tell she was a good housekeeper. Everything in the humble two room house was spotless, even though there are two window panes
broken out and her door has a gaping hole. The only bed in the home was neatly made. Mamello met us and brought us into her home, barefoot. I can only imagine that her feet were chilly on the bare floor. Winter is approaching here in Lesotho – opposite of Oklahoma – and temperatures at night often dip below freezing.
Surviving Abuse
The pain in Mamello’s eyes foretold the sad story of her past few years. When Mamello was 12-years-old, her mother passed away leaving her, her 14-year-old mentally disabled brother, and her 2-year-old sibling orphaned. Mamello had to drop out of school to care for the toddler fulltime. For seven years now, she has not been able to return to school.
Mamello and her two siblings fended for themselves by taking a bowl around to different neighbors at each meal 
asking for extra food that they might share. When they returned home, they would all share from what they had been able to collect. Although some of community members who were kind and caring helped, some of the neighbors
became resentful and felt the children were being deceptive in asking for too much food.
During this time, the incredibly vulnerable Mamello and her siblings were also abused in many different ways. This vulnerability to abuse started a downward spiral pattern similar to what we see so often in the young women who join our programs for victims of human trafficking in Oklahoma and Lesotho.
Dreams and Vulnerability
After some conversation, we asked Mamello what she wanted in her life. She said she wanted to get some kind of schooling or training. When we asked why she hadn’t been able to go to school, she said that she was afraid to walk the long way to the school. The path goes through the forest. She said she fears the people who wait in the forest to attack and abuse girls walking to school.
I can only imagine….
I thank God for Lintle Letsika and her community workers at Footprints of Hope who are doing what they can to help vulnerable children like Mamello. I thank God that He has called Victory Church and Beautiful Dream Society to help vulnerable people in Lesotho and Oklahoma.
Father, help Mamello to continue to have patience. Help us to show her Your love. Holy Spirit, have your way in our lives. Lead us, and show us the way to help…..