Sweet Gael and her precious children, “home” at last
More Precious Than Gold
A freed woman discovers her true worth
Dear Family,
Questions about her father’s identity dominated Gael’s mind as she grew up in DR Congo. The desire to know him rose as she grew, but her mother insisted on keeping this a secret forever. Gael’s heart yearned with the most basic of human longings: to be loved by her daddy.
When Gael was five years old, her mother—who had always been single—got married. The ache to know her dad only increased when she became the stepchild to an unfamiliar man. Her childhood was riddled with hardship and she felt like an outsider in her own home.
Gael was sixteen years old when she was raped by Kombi, a young man in his twenties. In keeping with African culture, Kombi avoided imprisonment by “allowing” Gael to come live with his family. Pregnant with his child and feeling as if she had no other choice, Gael moved into Kombi’s house and once again experienced the nightmare of feeling unwanted.
Living with her abuser pounded the wound of “not belonging” until it was bloody and raw. A painful breaking point occurred for Gael when her and Kombi’s second child was conceived. With his family’s approval, Kombi abandoned Gael and their toddler and moved over 300 miles away. Little Kavira was born into a world without a father, and he never came back. No longer able to endure the contempt of Kombi’s abusive family, Gael brought her two small children back to the home of her mother and step-family. This is when she heard about the Women of Wellness Center, a vocational ministry that partners with Victims of Sexual Violence Ministry.
Gael enrolled as a student and thus began the healing she so desperately needed. She receives tender counseling for her emotional wounds, and her two children benefit from medical and nutritional support. They are cared for each day as their mother learns to sew and other life-sustaining skills.
Because of you—her heavenly family around the world—hope has begun to rise in Gael’s heart! She now understands that her identity will never come from anyone but God, her true Father. She is a carrier of His Name, and He alone decides her worth, a worth more precious than gold.
Together for the “least of these”,
Patty Forney
Director, Victims of Sexual Violence Ministry
