Stories from the Field

November 2003

Mummey Dearest

The first day that we arrived in Dar I met Mummey. She was the cook at our house and did other household chores. In the evenings before dinner we had free time, so most days I would go into the kitchen and help Mummey cook. We had some really deep conversations about our lives. Mummey is not a born again Christian, but she is really searching deep down. We became close and had so much to talk about all the time.

One morning I was walking from the house where we slept to the main house where the kitchen was and I heard my name being called. I looked toward the shed where Mummey would keep her things during the day. Mummey was standing there calling my name. I knew that something must be wrong because she had tears in her eyes. Handing me the other half of her Kanga* she said, “Shawna I want you to have this because I love you and I never want you to leave.” By the time she was done with that sentence I was also in tears!
Mummey and I became really close and it was very hard to leave. I miss her, but I am praying that God is stirring inside of her heart that she will remember our conversations and really search and become a follower of Jesus Christ.

— Shawna Vollmering, Texas A&M University

* A kanga is a long piece of material which is normally cut in half, one for them to wear as skirts and the other to either carry their babies with or wrap around their heads. This is really expensive material for them so it meant so much to me.