Inside Grace’s home, I was curious what the village thought of her new position. She had always been a mother and neighbor. Now, she walked through town with her uniform, encouraging moms to breastfeed.
I asked her kids what the neighbors call her mom, thinking there could be a fun nickname for a working woman.
Instead, Ruth piped up, “They call her, ‘the kind one.’”
As in, “Oh, your mom is Grace, the kind one.”
It wasn’t an answer I expected. Grace went on to explain the story.
Her first week on the job — the first opportunity to earn an income — a woman came to her door frazzled and desperate saying, "My children are dying, please help me.”
Grace grabbed her bag of supplies and ran with her to the home. Sure enough, all three children had malaria. Grace could tell it was serious.
The mother broke down in tears and pleaded, “Grace, please help, I don’t have any money for the medicine right now. Can you please help me?”
Grace thought for a moment. She was supposed to earn income to care for her kids - not give it away. She herself was desperate, widowed and living in poverty. Her plate was full. This job was supposed to be her lifeline.
But Grace couldn’t turn away. She lent her neighbor the money, gave the children their first dose of anti-malarial medicine, and walked home empty-handed.
A few days later, the children recovered. The neighbor set out to repay Grace for the money she borrowed. As she went, she exuberantly danced through the streets of the village shouting at every neighbor she passed with arms raised, “Grace saved my children’s lives! If you are sick, you need to see Grace! Grace is the kind one.”
So on that day, Grace became the most trusted, most loved mother in the village. She became known as Grace, the kind one.
She now cares for over 800 people in her community, and has treated over 300 cases of malaria.
