Mama Augustine is a small lady, about 60 years old, who lives just down the road from me. Her husband is known throughout the quarter as a womanizer and a drunkard. She has seven children, all boys. She often misses meals, sometimes going a couple days without eating when food is scarce.
When I first arrived here in Benin, I saw Mama Augustine only occasionally, but her youngest sons frequented my house when they had sores that needed treating. I taught them how to do hot compresses.

A couple of years ago, Mama Augustine started coming to my house more frequently to chat. I learned that she had been a Catholic most of her life and faithfully attended mass. However, her husband is a fetish worshipper and keeps several fetishes in their home. She has faith that God takes care of her, but still she is involved with many things that include the fetishes. She has been very helpful to me, teaching me much about Otammari culture and fetish worship.

Mama Augustine has known much hardship in her life. Her husband is drunk most of the time and doesn’t support the family very well. She is responsible for the survival of her family, clothing her sons and finding just enough food for them to survive.

This past year, I have had two boys living in my home, and Mama Augustine’s two youngest sons are frequent visitors. I treat them as if they are my own children and holler at them when they need to be hollered at. Food has been especially hard to come by recently at their home, so I have been feeding them for a couple months. When she gets very hungry, Mama Augustine sometimes comes to ask if there is something for her to eat.

One of Mama Augustine’s older sons who had been helping to support the family recently lost his job. Also, Mama Augustine has not been feeling well. She spent several days in the hospital, and the doctors finally figured out that she has sickle-cell anemia. I have been helping her manage her disease.

Over the past couple months, Mama Augustine has started asking questions about Christianity and the Bible. She has been spending more time in my home. Sometimes we chat, sometimes she just sits there, sometimes she works, and sometimes I read the Bible to her in Ditammari. She sends her two youngest sons to church with me, and I do all I can to teach them how to know Christ. May God continue to help this dear lady who struggles each day to put food on her table. May He be especially close to her on the days when she finds none.

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