Ijumaa Watu

Friday People (Ijumaa Watu). Sounds great initially, reminding us of the end of the work week, to ditch the work cloths, get together with friends and family, and share in a special dinner. Maybe the famous Wisconsin Friday night Fish Fry, or a typical dinner and a movie routine right? Wrong. Friday People is anything but joyous.
Pastor Lowell describes Friday People as the “reverse time-warp”; instead of getting into a groove so consuming that you lose track of the hours like they are minutes it is the exact opposite, the minutes seem like hours. Each moment lasted for a millennium. By the time Friday People concluded all Sarah and I could do was just go back to our house and contemplate how fortunate we are. It was emotionally draining and physically exhausting; and all we did was sit there and listen for an hour.
Throughout the week Pastor Rudo, a Kigoma native who works for Joy in the Harvest, will field interviews and conduct prayer services for those hoping to receive help from this program. We didn’t envy this man’s job; his task is to decide who gets help and who doesn’t under the program. Sarah and I were exhausted from one hour of one day of this; virtually his entire income is based on him being the judge of peoples’ plights. By Friday he will have formed a list of about ten people who are in the most need, from here it is Pastor Lowell’s job -- along with two or more advisors -- to decide whether or not they should receive these requests for help or be politely turned away.
From underneath a straw roofed shelter with a few chairs and a table dividing the people making the request and the people of Joy in the Harvest making the decision is where Sarah and I heard ten terrible stories of people needing, begging, and praying for a helping hand.
A father and a son sat across from us telling their plight. They needed traveling and hospital funding so the boy could receive a test to see why he had trouble breathing and chest pains. Pastor Lowell and his advisors said yes to everything.
A young woman came in who had only come to Pastor Rudo earlier that afternoon; he decided to break protocol and allow her to meet with us the same day because her need was so urgent. This young lady lived with her parents who where very poor. For her, the only way to provide for her family was through prostitution. Because of this, she had become pregnant (not to mention the likelihood of HIV) and delivered the baby at home. Quick side note- there is a government run hospital in Kigoma, but doesn’t have doctors or medicine. Therefore many deliver without professional medical help. The delivery did not go well and both the mom and baby were in need of medical care. Four days later, without the medicine the baby needed, it died. The woman continued to need help and complained of abdominal pain so intense that she couldn’t sleep. When she came to us, it was over three weeks after the delivery and the pain was only getting worse. Pastor Lowell gave this girl money for medical help and food, and advised her to come back so we can give her better clothes.
A man asked for money to pay off his rent debt, which was about two dollars a month, he had accumulated for about six months. A woman asked for funding so that she could purchase a door for her house so that her family could be more secure. Well over half the cases just asked for enough money so that they could have food, because begging on the streets wasn’t enough to provide for them.
Food, clothing, medicine, and shelter were essentially the only requests. The essentials. That was it. The depth of poverty was so great here that people were walking through the night without food and most times water to ask for a few dollars so that they could pay for rent, buy food, and stay alive. In every case Pastor Lowell and his advisors said yes to most of the requests, however a line was drawn when they would request funds for more than what was absolutely necessary. He would sometimes offer advice; listen to your elders, get a job, get a physical. Sound advice, helpful, necessary. It was difficult and heart-wrenching for us all. We wish these situations didn’t exist, that this country, this region, this continent didn’t have such a high poverty level. But wishing wasn’t doing, and at least this program – however small it may seem – was giving these few chosen people another chance.
We hoped that we hadn’t been schemed out of a few dollars by a crafty storyteller, that they weren’t taking advantage of this program. We hope that this was the lowest we would ever see these people, sitting across from the table with their heads held low in shame and despair. We hoped that when they left we would be watching the first few steps of a better life. We hoped. And that is what Friday People is all about, hoping. Hoping that this program held every Friday would grant people another start, another chance, and a better opportunity for their lives.