Mamma Ann

I met a woman this week named Mamma Ann. I don't know her story in its entirety, but I know she must be a remarkable woman. Mamma Ann is one of the area coordinators for an HIV/AIDS care group program we have in the coastal province of Kinango District, a couple hours outside of Mombasa, Kenya. As a care group coordinator, Mamma Ann's responsibilities include supporting volunteer trained community health workers who are working with households of individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Care groups are formed by location and linked to a local medical facility to provide treatment and ongoing after care. The community health workers provide education, liaison, and support to families on a personal level.

Mamma Ann is a volunteer. I met Mamma Ann as she was meeting with one of the care groups and teaching them on a technique of water harvesting we are working to implement in their village. I joined the group looking over the water pan - a large rectangular pan-shaped hole dug in the ground with a rock-base bottom, located on a slope to catch the rain water as it runs down the hill and through the soil. The water is collected and used for irrigation of crops that are planted with a smaller water pan around them to soak up the water. This technique has proven to be successful in an area that suffers from frequent droughts and is sustainable with little resources in remote villages. A simple concept, but for the most vulnerable and in such a remote area, the little resources it takes to to create are not always available. I look down and the soil is course, dry. I trip on the rock bed that has broken through the surface. Our organization will provide the plastic sheeting to line the water pan the community has dug. Mamma Ann will teach and provide assistance as this new technique to harvest water and sustain small household crops is introduced. The water pan is but one project the care group program is working with. Others include integrating participants with our livestock and animal husbandry projects - providing an opportunity of livelihood, increased income and ownership within their communities. Livestock could be chickens, goats, African honey bees or even rabbits (through the local schools and youth program).

Woven in the center of the care group program is an opportunity for ministry.

Mamma Ann is a born-again Christian. She is also married to a Muslim man who practices polygamy. Her husband has multiple wives and many children. They all live on the same compound together. You can imagine her position. Mamma Ann's responsibilities to her family are a full time job. Even so, she volunteers her time diligently and with much joy as a care group coordinator - caring for others who are dying from a stigmatized disease, a disease no one wants to talk about, live around, or assist with. The obvious question is why - why does she volunteer? I want to know how - how does a woman in her circumstance find the strength, the grace, and the compassion to continue to give? Mamma Ann is living out her faith. Literally digging trenches to provide water for life. And while providing support to care for the most ill & discarded, she encourages hope.

"'Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit,' says the Lord." Zach 4:6.

Remarkable.