At 78 years old, Alefa didn’t have a private bath. It’s hard to imagine. During her lifetime she had a husband and 6 children, death took them all. She was left a widow, partially paralyzed by a stoke. With no other choice, she moved in with 4 grandchildren who do their best to care for her. They work in the rice fields for day wages to support themselves and Alefa.
In all her years and all her experiences, Alefa has never had a private bath. The bush outside her home had always served this purpose, but now elderly and partially disabled even this task became difficult, embarrassing. In Alefa’s words, “I am of age, I cannot keep helping myself in the bush. I need privacy, and this is so shameful.”
One day a church in the Y-Malawi Church Network visited Alefa while doing door to door evangelism. When they realized Alefa’s situation they decided the best way to show the love of Jesus was to do something. They gathered others together and built a new latrine for Alefa. Nothing fancy, but her own private bath. Alefa could not believe the church had done this, “The coming of this church to construct this latrine for me is a big relief. Now I believe that God indeed visits his people, he has just done that to me.”
Serving others doesn’t take money, status, or an invitation. It just takes being open to simple ways you can share the love of Jesus with others.
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