Today I visited the family of Abedi. She is Congolese but she spent most of her life in the refugee camp in Tanzania. She is the first wife of a man who has three wives. The second wife lives with her kids on the other side of Clarkston and the third wife lives with her kids in Tanzania. Abedi has five kids, and she said her husband has about 14 kids altogether.

Abedi lives in Plantation apartment complex and it’s not a very nice one. She has lived there for three years but she wants to find a new one because the rent is now $2,000 every month! There was water dripping from her ceiling and black mold on the walls. She didn’t have any couches, just some folding chairs that we sat on. She works in a window factory but her day off is Saturday so that’s why we came to visit her on Saturday.

She was so happy when we arrived. She wanted a Bible in Swahili for a long time, but she didn’t expect us to arrive that day. She said it was a blessing to get an unexpected visitor. While we were sitting with her, two more unexpected visitors arrived. They just came in and sat with her for a little while and then they left. They didn’t come for any reason except to talk and visit a little bit. Abedi said this was a very special day for her because she was receiving so many unexpected visitors.

We gave her the Swahili Bible and she clapped her hands. My dad told her that now she could read the Bible and make sure the pastor is telling the truth in his Sunday sermons. She liked it a lot.

I felt bad for Abedi because of her apartment and also because her husband has so many wives and he isn’t a Christian. But I was also happy because Abedi could feel like she was blessed just for receiving some visitors to her apartment. And she was so happy about getting a Bible!