Oct 9 (Pole Dancing Grandmas)

Ok so I've already been on the internet for over an hour responding to emails and facebook messages and such so this is going to be a quick one but I have a story to share. :)

I've been spending more time in Kroo Bay the past two weeks with Jan and also with Erin one of the staff members here who is a physical therapist. The first time we went together we went to visit some different people in the area with various physical problems. To make the story short I will just talk about one of them. I'm not sure of the ladies name but we just called here Grandmama. When we came to the "house" (really just a one room shack made of sticks and a tin roof), this sauna like heat smacked me in the face as I walked in, making me struggle to breath. As my eyes adjusted to the dark I saw a feeble old lady laying in bed barely able to move. (At this point I had only been there about 15 seconds and I was already drenched with sweat). I think the story was that she had been in bed one day, as she was mostly bed-ridden already, and a box of something had fallen off a shelf at the foot of her bed and landed on her leg. I don't think it broke here leg but as she spent all of her time in bed because of the pain in her leg she had become completely bed ridden as her muscles atrophied. Erin then talked to her and asked her if we could try to help her walk outside. Me and Erin, one at the front and one at the back, helped her sit up, then stand up, and then take small shuffling steps to the door as she leaned on us, struggling with the effort. After we got her outside, for what was probably the first time in a while, we sat her down on a bench and Erin began to explain to her (well really Erin spoke Krio to her grandaughters who then translated it to Temne, the tribal language that Grandmama spoke) different excersizes that would help strengthen her muscles so that she would not have to be bedriden. We then asked if we could pray for her and after doing so told her that we would be back the next week to check on her.

So this past Thursday we went back to check on Grandmama and as we approached the house we saw the grandaughters and greeted them and the other 20 people who had congregated outside as happens when white people are around. :) Then as we tried to go inside the grandaughters were already helping Grandmama out of bed and helping her walk out of the door to sit on the bench. I was amazed at how much she had improved! And also at the love with which the grandaughters had helped their grandmama every day since we had first visited. Now where she was sitting was under a porch covered with a tin roof and support poles made of saplings. Erin was having her do some excersizes and at one point she had gotten her to stand up mostly by herself by grabbing the pole. I was so excited! As she was standing, Erin asked her if she could lift up one foot at a time in a marching motion.

Now, what happened next, for whatever reason, seemed really beautiful and yet humorous to me at the same time. Grandmama began lifting up one foot at a time and then for some reason decided to speed it up so that to me it looked like she was dancing. :) Now, however inappropriate or out of place the thought may have been, the first thing that popped into my head when she started this was "last week this grandmama was bed ridden and now she is pole dancing!" LOL I know that is wrong on so many different levels but I think maybe Jesus was laughing with me at the joy of seeing this grandmama dance.

After Grandmama had tired and was done with her excersizes, we again asked if we could pray with her and as she agreed we invited her grandaughters to join with us in a circle as we all began to pray in the Sierra Leonian style (which basically means everybody prays out loud and at the same time what is on their heart and in whatever language they happen to speak, which I have a feeling is a lot what heaven is going to be like). As had I finished praying but the others were not quite done, I looked up at Grandmama's face (I had knelt down in front of her to pray). Though I knew she did not understand most of the languages that had been spoken in prayer over her, I could see it in her face that she was overcome with love and emotion. Then was we all said "Amen" she reached up to her eyes to wipe away a tear...Or maybe it was just an eye booger but regardless I have no doubt that she felt loved.