Psalm 30<\/p>\n
![\"IMG_0013_4\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2013\/04\/IMG_0013_4-225x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFidele, right, with one of his adopted mothers in Gemena.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Born in Gemena, Equateur, DRC, statistics were not in Fidele\u2019s favor. One in ten children in Gemena die before\u00a0they reach their fifth birthday, and of those that survive, 10% are malnourished and 40% have delayed development.\u00a0Fidele\u2019s mother died when he was nine years old, and his father when he was eleven. He remembers that his\u00a0mother was absolutely beautiful, and is sad that he doesn\u2019t have a picture to remember her. After the death of his\u00a0father, he would sing this Lingala song:<\/p>\n
\u201cKitoko na nzoto na ngai ezali mpamba<\/em> (translation)<\/p>\n \u201cThe beauty of the flesh is nothing<\/em> Fidele would sing this song and wish that he were dead too, so he could be with his family. He would rather die\u00a0than be without his parents in the world.\u00a0But survival instincts kicked in, and he started to sell diesel fuel to pay school fees for him and his four brothers.\u00a0All five boys were invited to live in his uncle\u2019s house after his Father\u2019s death. His uncle was kind, but had10 kids\u00a0under his roof, and couldn\u2019t afford to pay for all of their needs. Fidele and his brothers often went hungry, and\u00a0they didn\u2019t always go to school because they couldn\u2019t pay.<\/p>\n After living with his uncle for one year, his uncle died too. Any support he had been receiving from his family ended\u00a0there. His uncle had outside debts, and any assets he had were immediately claimed by distant family members.\u00a0Fidele and his four brothers were now truly on their own. For three years, Fidele tried his best to care for his family\u00a0on his own. He says that no trouble that he meets now can compare with the struggle he experienced those\u00a0three years. Working full time as a pre-adolescent kid, going to school full time and trying to support his 4 ki\u00a0brothers to do the same. They would often go hungry and without enough clothes. Fidele knew that above everything\u00a0else, he must make sure his brothers went to school; even if it meant skipping meals. These were dark and\u00a0difficult times.<\/p>\n But then a door was opened. A person that Fidele worked with to sell fuel knew of someone in Gemena that\u00a0needed help taking care of her home. This woman agreed to give Fidele a room to stay in and food to eat in\u00a0exchange for his work around the house. Fidele gladly accepted.<\/p>\n The woman who took him in loved him because he was honest, hardworking, and loving to her. But she was\u00a0fickle mother figure, and would throw tantrums and leave Fidele to sleep out on the street when she was angry\u00a0with him.<\/p>\n After two years of living with his new mom, an old friend of his father\u2019s, Papa Langwa, realized that Fidele was\u00a0struggling to get by and decided to take him into his own family. Papa Langwa was a successful engineer and\u00a0an influential leader in the community. He saw much potential in Fidele and agreed to take him under his wing,\u00a0teaching him all he knew about construction, from design to building, plumbing and electricity. Fidele was an\u00a0excellent student, eager to learn, and soon he was surpassing his other adult co-workers. In school, he was\u00a0always among the top three in his class. Fidele continued as an apprentice in Papa Langwa\u2019s work, and it was\u00a0through this relationship that he met visitors who would come from America to work in development and ministry\u00a0in Gemena. Fidele learned English quickly, and was able to share his story with all his new American friends. A\u00a0group of seven of them were so touched by Fidele\u2019s life story and example that they decided they would put their\u00a0resources together to help Fidele come to the United States to study, in order that he might return to Gemena as\u00a0a leader who was given full opportunity to learn civil engineering and develop his capacity for leadership.<\/p>\n Hope is found in persistence in the face of impossible odds, but it also lies in the love and dedication of those\u00a0Congolese families that took Fidele and his brothers in when they were barely holding on. And it is found in\u00a0those seven Americans who knew, that humble as their own circumstances were, they could do something to\u00a0give opportunity and a better future to Fidele, and be part of God\u2019s plan to bring justice and change to Gemena.<\/p>\n Fidele waits for his visa now, his days ahead overflowing with hope and anticipation. Pray for him and all the\u00a0future leaders of Gemena, to have unprecedented opportunities opened to them.<\/p>\n
\n Kitoko na nzoto na ngai ekobebisama na mokolo ya suka<\/em>
\n Nzoto ekobebisama na mokolo ya suka<\/em>
\n Papa na ngai akotika ngai<\/em>
\n Nzoto ekobebisama na mokolo ya suka<\/em>
\n Mama na ngai akotika ngai<\/em>
\n Ndeko na ngai akotika ngai<\/em>
\n Nakotikala na ndako na ngai moko<\/em>
\n Papa na ngai akotika ngai\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\n The our bodies in this world will be destroyed in the end<\/em>
\n My body will return to the earth in the end<\/em>
\n My Dad will leave me<\/em>
\n My body will return to the earth in the end<\/em>
\n My mom will leave me<\/em>
\n My body will return to the earth in the end<\/em>
\n My brother and sister will leave me<\/em>
\n I will be left in the house all alone<\/em><\/p>\n