Africa Cries Out Series 2022 016

Be a person like the mother-Pastor Ana’s daughter Emily

Author Xu Jun, August 18, 2022

Our children are extremely intelligent, observing the intricacies of the world with their young eyes and imitating their parents’ words and deeds. During their growing up, their parents are their navigators and guides. Parents pass on smart genes to their children, and they also use their own behaviors to teach conforming to their words. If one day the children say to their parents, “You are my role model, and I want to be someone like you.” Every parent should be very happy, as it’s the greatest award and success for your parenting, if your children said these words to you.

In our team, many parents take their children to serve patients in leprosy villages and deliver food to the poor. The parents set a good example for the children to follow. Every time we come to Africa, Emily is busy following her mother Pastor Ana and working for our medical team.

Emily was born in a leprosy village in Senegal. In the picture above, sitting next to her mother, she was held by a leper with mutilated fingers. She made friends with the leper children and grew up together.

When Emily was two years old, she caught acute pneumonia in the leprosy village, Fatigo. Pastor Ana took her on a local bus and rushed overnight to the capital, Dakar. After the doctor’s examination, she was diagnosed with pneumonia accompanying high fever and anuria. The doctor announced it was too late to save her life, as she had developed kidney failure. Pastor Ana brought Emily back to the station, and stayed up all night, physically cooling her and giving her oral fluid. Miraculously, Emily recovered and was fully cured.

Poverty and hunger accompanied Emily’s growth. One day, when her mother took her into the city to withdraw money from the bank, she saw a beautiful doll in the window of a shop, and she was eager to own one. Pastor Ana shook her head and said: “Emily, we can’t afford it”. Emily was crying on the way back home. But once arrived home, she went with her mother to deliver meals to the poorer lepers.

In 2012, when Emily was 7 years old, in order to get Emily to school, Pastor Ana left the leprosy village and came to serve in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. Emily was sent to a local school for missionaries’ children established by the British. Three years later, Emily was able to speak fluent French and English. However, she was diagnosed with Dyslexia, a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying letters and words.

Smart Emily tried to mitigate her literacy deficiencies by reciting the text. At the age of 11, the disease finally could not be concealed anymore. When Pastor Ana came to us tearfully asking for help, our hearts were deeply touched. African Cries Out Foundation agreed immediately to send Emily to the Dakar Academy, a fully equipped international school, where she could be formally treated by a language therapist.

Emily, at a young age, protested at the ceremony of female genital mutilation with her mother Pastor Ana.

The picture above was Emily playing with the children in the Jinjin village, where people did not have any contact with modern civilization before. It was Pastor Ana who invited the government officers there to issue them ID cards, marriage certificates, etc., and helped them integrate into modern society.

After arriving in Dakar, Emily reintegrated into modern society. She learnt to use a computer, and she can speak several languages including French, English, Portuguese, and local Senegalese Wolof. She is our translator each time we go to Africa to serve!

A strong seed sown in the barren land thrives in the sunshine of love.

Emily is in the eleventh grade this year. Together with her mother, she walked through the leprosy villages in which a miasma of disease was everywhere, went to the scene of female genital mutilation, brought modern civilization to isolated villages, and saved hungry children. Looking back on the past, she didn’t complain or envy the flourishing childhood that other girls had. She just said to her mother affectionately, “You are my role model, and I want to be a person like you.”

Read the article below, reporting the great deeds of Pastor Ana’s dedication to West Africa since 1997 in detail. Pastor Ana, like Mother Teresa, won our infinite respect.

Ms. Ana Paulo – Heroes who embraced lepers, tortured girls, and survivors – One of Dr. Xu Jun ‘s 2018 West Africa trips.

In Emily’s eyes, you can’t see the sadness brought by poverty at all. You can only see her great endeavor to serve others with a positive attitude. Mother’s love and noble character are like a tall Baobab tree, providing direction and shelter for her.

Since 2017, Africa Cries Out foundation has fully supported Pastor Ana’s salary and Emily’s tuition. Without their dedication to Senegal, it is impossible for us to build up two hospitals and a technical school and voluntarily provide annual medical care. Without the great support of you, dear brothers and sisters, and loving friends, Africa Cries Out would not be able to get to where we are today.

Love is a journey. In our lives, we give love to others, and we gain infinite happiness at the same time. A bucket of water in the shade of greenery is better than a surging river in the distance. Let’s take action to give unconditional love, to change the lives of African people and our children. Let’s work together to bring more abundant life to ourselves!

Editors: Yuanchun Guo, Hui Liu.