Hadija hadn’t been introduced to him yet. He’d been there the whole time, it’s just that she was unaware of it.

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A few men in Uganda were walking down a road and heard what sounded like a cat, except that they heard it coming out of a 40 foot deep pit, and even more specifically, a latrine. They reported it to local probation officer and it was commissioned to the fire brigade to go down and retrieve the cat. Not a fun job for anyone to do, but it was ordered, so it had to be done.

When they went down 40 feet into the latrine they started to hear a change in the sound of the cat. Something was not right. Not familiar. Or maybe too familiar. Down. Down. Down. Closer to the sound. Closer. Closer.

And then there she was.

Her umbilical cord was still attached. How long had she been down here? Who would do this to a baby girl? A 40 foot pit full of feces? How was she still alive?

She was carried up and out and cleaned off, and to the surprise of everyone, survived. They guessed that she’d been down there at least 3 hours, maybe more.

Two things happened rather quickly. The first is that somehow, through word of mouth from the villagers, they discovered that her mother was a 19 year old girl named Hadija. A teenager. Single. She had taken her very newborn baby and dropped her down that 40 foot latrine to die, and now she was sentenced to 5 years in prison in Luzira, Uganda’s highest security prison for attempted murder.

The other thing that happened was that the baby was sent to New Hope, an orphanage and school in Kasana, Uganda. New Hope has over 100 orphans living on its grounds as well as over 300 more area kids and orphans from surrounding villages that come to them for schooling and water every day. It is a trusted place by the government in many regards, and this is where the decided that the little girl should go to live.

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And now allow me the honor of introducing you to Jonnes and Gertrude Bakimi.

Jonnes has more life in his body than I’ve ever seen in another single human being. He breathes in God wherever he goes. You can feel it, deep within your soul. When he walks into a room he brings joy. When he tells stories you feel as though he had just experienced it that morning. He is so animated and so full of love that you swear he doesn’t exist, that he has to be either an angel or some mythical unicorn that is heard of but never seen.

Maybe not the unicorn part. I don’t know where that came from.

Jonnes and Gertrude had 10 children under their roof, a mix of some of their own and some adopted. Raising children is a very big part of both of their lives. So Jonnes was kind of suprised, but not really, when his kids asked if they could have the new little girl that had just been brought from an latrine to the orphanage. They’d been bringing her home from the baby house every Sunday or so to play with her and nurture her.
His kids ask for the little girl in the same way that most kids ask for a puppy.

Can we keep her? Can we? Can we? Pleeeeeeeeaaaassssseee?!

And this has become normal for them. This is the kind of family they have become and it is a life that they have embraced. Jonnes knew the story of the little baby but he didn’t think that they could handle a newborn right now. They already had 10 children (Joshua, Joanna, Jordana, Joseph, Jonnie, Judith, Eva, Lyn, Angel, and Fatuma), so it is not as if their hands weren’t full already, aside from helping run an orphanage and a school.

But Jonnes felt a nudge. A tug. Maybe a push. He knew what he was to do. He was to take this new little girl into his home as a daughter. He would, once again, become a father to the fatherless.

But he did not foresee what the next nudge would be, and it would change his life in a way that he could not have never imagined.

When they decided to take this little girl, whom they named Joy, into their home, Jonnes started to hear from God that he was supposed to go and reconcile the girl to her mother. He was to take her to the prison to see the girl, now 20, who had thrown her away. Jonnes resisted this thought from God at first. How could I take her back? What if she rejects Joy? What if she wants Joy back? These thoughts flooded his mind as he considered what he believed God to be telling him. He talked it out with a few of his close friends and confirmed that this was what he was to do.

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The date came for Jonnes and Gertrude, two of their daughters and a few others to go to the prison to see Hadija. They arrived at the prison but had to wait one and a half hours to see Hadija, which gave them some time to learn about her from the prison warden. No one, not even the warden, knew why she was there. She had been there for 12 months and had not had one visitor. Not one.

Finally she came out.

20 years old. Slender. Small. Just a girl. Just like a girl from the school at the orphanage. New questions rushed into Jonnes’ mind: Where is the man who made her pregnant? Where is her family and how are they feeling? Did she have anyone to talk to? LORD, please give her another chance!

Hadija knelt down and greeted the group of people who brought her her daughter. Fear filled her eyes. Jonnes introduced himself. He told her that he had brought a gift and that this was forgiveness from her child whom she had thrown away. He told her that on behalf of Joy, they forgave her and loved her. Then he handed her her daughter.

And Hadija wept, unable to speak.

The warden stepped in and said What is happening here? Have you brought bad news? We have to know? Jonnes stepped forward and said,

It is ok. We brought love. We have not brought bad news. We brought love.

Jonnes then proceeded to explain the gospel of Jesus with Hadija, how God had spared Joy’s life as a sign that He wanted to give her a new beginning. He told her that Jesus had the power to take away her past, and Joy’s life was a miracle for her sake. Hadija said that she wanted to know this Jesus and live for him. At that moment heaven came to earth.

Hadija then took her rescued daughter to introduce her to the wardens. They asked if this was truly the reason why she was in prison, and she said that yes, it was. Jonnes said that one of their inmates was a free woman that day, actually more free than many of those outside.

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Jonnes and Gertrude and their group took Joy home that day. Hadija was changed for eternity. Over the next few weeks Jonnes and his family came to a new decision. They were having a difficult time in thinking that, when Hadija got out of prison, that Joy would no longer be a part of their lives, but would be returned to her mother, as Jonnes knew was the full restoration that God had intended. But it came to be that, as a family, they decided to adopt Hadija as well, number 12 in their ever-growing family, to help raise her and raise her daughter. She has a few more years to serve at the prison, but those years will be served with hope.

Today, Hadija has 3 more years left. Joy is 2 and is full of her namesake. Jonnes and his family take Joy to see Hadija as often as they can, and they look forward to the day when the 12th member of their family comes to join them.

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Where are you in this story? Where do you see yourself? Do you see yourself in a pit, longing for and needing rescue? Are you in a prison, surrounded by your own guilt with seemingly no way out? This story is our story as well. All of us are in it somewhere; all of us connect with them somehow.

This is a story of true reconciliation. Of pure restoration. Of a God who longs to rescue His children, whether they are in a pit or in a prison. He longs for reconnection to His creation, no matter what the cost.

One thing I have learned, and I believe this to be true for me now more than ever:

There is a Father to the fatherless.

*When Jonnes told me this story over a long meal one night, I asked him when he finished if I could tell his story. He looked at me with compassion and said “It’s not my story. It’s His.”

Tags: africa, spirituality

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