At the age of 21, Josephina was destitute. She was the oldest of six orphaned children and married to a drunkard named Moses, a man who rarely came home to their little house in Akot, South Sudan. But when he did, he beat her. She had a toddler to take care of and another child on the way. She needed help.
Living Water Community Transformation (LWCT), a Baptist Global Response partner organization, recognized her plight. LWCT, a non-profit, aims to develop Akot into a self-sustaining, spiritually and physically healthy town. Each month, staff members focus on assisting specific families. In April 2013, they chose Josephina.
Women from LWCT came to her home with food and goats to help Josephina feed her small family. Eventually, the women adopted her as a friend, offering encouragement during life”s difficulties.
As soon as Josephina gave birth to her baby, LWCT hired her as a cook for one of its two schools in Akot. She prepared dishes of rice, beans, maize and lentils for roughly 400 children each day. BGR funded these lunches through gifts to the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund. Students no longer suffer the symptoms of malnutrition: reddish hair, bloated bellies and sores that wouldn”t heal. Because of this job, Josephina can provide for her family.
God used LWCT”s demonstration of love to produce another miracle. He changed Moses. When Moses saw the kindness LWCT women showed his wife, his heart softened. He felt convicted of his drunken and violent lifestyle, and he repented. An LWCT partner says Moses changed so much he cleared a piece of his land underneath an Abyei tree, and he fashioned enough benches for 50 people to sit. He built a church.