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Tabitha's Story
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04 Feb 2004
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What a proud moment when children go off to school for the first time! This morning, a 32 year-old Afghan widow and mother of five children, embarked upon her first day of school. It seemed fitting that we take her picture. “Tabitha”, lived all her life in a remote region of Afghanistan until she came to this western country just over three years ago. Like most females in her country, she never had the privilege of going to school. In December, her family’s asylum request was accepted by the government, so she is now entitled to 510 hours of free English instruction.
When we arrived at the school, we showed “Tabitha” to her classroom. I told her that the best students sit right up front, so I found her the middle seat on the front row. While we waited for her teacher, we met some of the other students in her class. We discovered that one of the ladies who is from Vietnam lives only a few blocks from Tabitha’s house and that they can catch the bus together each day. I told “Tabitha” that God has shown His love for her in giving her a friend on her very first day of school.
We waited for her class to be dismissed at noon. When it was over, we were there to meet her. We went to the library and looked at the resources for English learning that are available. We met a nice lady who works there who showed Tabitha around. She had Tabitha sit at one of the computers with a headset on so she could hear the sentences and see the pictures. She laughed as she tried to get the mouse to move to where she wanted to click. She said it was like trying to catch a fly. I’m sure learning to use a computer and learning more English will build her confidence and self-esteem.
On Thursday, 12 February, “Tabitha” will have an operation to remove a lump on her thyroid. She will be out of school for several weeks, but she’ll be able to pick up the lost hours of instruction later.
Would you pray that all of these firsts in her life will be used by God to make her better aware of His love for her and will help her eyes to be opened to the truth of the Gospel? Also, pray that the surgery will be successful and not damage Tabitha’s vocal chords.
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