Isaiah 65:20-23<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nMervielle (left) and Mama Goma in their garden picking cassava.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Mama Goma gave birth to baby Mervielle, French for \u201cMarvel, or Wonder\u201d, in 1999. At that time, the second civil\u00a0war was just beginning to reach the Equateur region. A stormy evening that August, Mama Goma had been in\u00a0labor for more than seven hours at home, because it was far too dangerous to venture out to the clinic amidst\u00a0the fighting. After this long labor with no anesthesia, Mama Goma and her husband decided they had to call a\u00a0nurse to come to help them in their home. They weren\u2019t sure if Mama Goma or the baby were going to make it.\u00a0The phone network was down, yet they called and called again to get through to the nurse. They finally reached\u00a0him, Praise God! After explaining the emergency situation, the nurse gave all the advice he could over the phone\u00a0before he broke the news \u2013 \u201cI cannot come to your home, it is too dangerous for me to leave. God be with you.\u201d\u00a0This was their last hope. Mama Goma was sure that this would be the end of her, her baby, or them both. She\u00a0prayed that God would spare their lives, and help them find a way out of this terrible mess.<\/p>\n
By the grace of God and a sliver of hope, Mama Goma gave birth to a healthy baby girl that night, and her own\u00a0life was spared. The answer to one prayer led to requests for many others. Fighting in their neighborhood\u00a0increased and their family was forced to flee to the jungle, where they lived for six months without decent shelter,\u00a0eating fruit and bugs to survive, and all the while caring for a newborn.<\/p>\n
Fast forward 14 years later, Mervielle is one of the brightest kids in her neighborhood with potential of being a\u00a0transformational leader in her community. She has been raised to value herself as a girl, and she knows that she\u00a0is just as capable as the boys in her class. Her dream is to help orphaned children go to school and receive the\u00a0education they deserve. Her community is peaceful now, and she has no memories of the time of war her family\u00a0lived through.<\/p>\n
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