Flora’s clothes were literal rags. She only had one shirt. It was a short-sleeved button-down shirt, with only one sad button remaining. She was very dirty and didn’t have shoes. We had no shoes or clothes left that were her size.
I was in war-torn South Sudan. Our team was delivering food, water, clothes and medicine to some of the world’s neediest refugees. These refugees did not have nice tents to sleep in. We found them sleeping on the ground near a tree if they could find one. None of them even had sleeping bags.
One day, we came to such a tree and found a few hundred people there who were so grateful for the help. I noticed a young girl named Flora kept watching me. I asked her if she wanted to help me give out the food and clothes. She nodded and took my hand. Flora didn’t say much but she stayed by my side the whole day and held my hand often.
At one point, some refugee ladies approached me and told me Flora’s parents were Christians who were killed by Muslims in the war. Flora was all alone—no siblings, no grandparents, no relatives or friends. These ladies didn’t know her but they were looking after her. They asked me to take her with me as they were very poor themselves. This was heart-breaking because I so wanted to take Flora home with me. However, I knew it was illegal to do so. If I was caught, I could be arrested for human trafficking!
The only thing I could do was give Flora the clothes I had in my backpack, my granola bars and the a few dollars I had. I also had a long talk with her about Jesus, his love for her and how He would be her helper and her Daddy. I prayed for her. It was hard to leave Flora that day. She still wanted to come home with me, but Flora took comfort in these thoughts. And so did I.
Even though, I could not bring her home, our ministry decided to send as much help as we could to Flora and so many others like her. We sent medical teams and containers of food and supplies for several years until the war ended. I lost track of Flora as the refugees there moved around. But I know Jesus has not lost track of her. Jesus said his eye is on even little sparrows and he knows the number of hairs on our head. We can take great comfort that God loves people like Flora and he loves us too.
We are currently helping people in her country get out of poverty by starting small businesses. Each business only costs $100! There are many verses in the Bible letting us know how much God cares for people in need. There are also many verses letting us know if we are blessed, he wants us to be a blessing to the poor. One of my favorite parts of scripture is found in Matthew 25. Jesus said when we reach out and help people in need, it’s like we are helping Jesus himself! That’s how important it is to God that we help the poor.
Our ministry is called MercyWorks and is a part of a larger organization called Youth With A Mission. We work all over the world helping people and sharing the life changing message of Jesus.
Ywamtyler.org, mercyworks.org
Debbie Lascelles is the Director of MercyWorks. She has a passion to help vulnerable women leave poverty and hopelessness behind as well as seeing lives transformed by the Gospel. She has been to 55 nations including many of the poorest countries on earth. She is married to Chris, and they have three teenage kids, Haley, Kip and Caden. They live in Lindale, Texas and work full time with Youth With A Mission.