Anna's Path
Sitting in the hovel, on the floor, near that fire, she takes another swat from the back of grandmother's hand. Still, she refuses. The dark chanting, the strange colored smoke that fizzes up from the embers, and the furtive visits from clients have always frightened her. Grandmother hits her again ... and again. She crawls off into the darkness to get away, but escape is temporary. The old woman insists she must learn the chant, repeat the curses, and learn her trade. Fate has destined this. This is god's will for her. Still, somehow, something deep within her refuses. She saw how her mother died and is terrified. She has no one else. Her only hope is that grandmother can not walk well. She crawls towards the hovel opening and goes outside. Although it is night, it feels much safer already.
Running, she goes to her aunt's cottage and asks to come in. Because she is a girl, she must stay outside unless invited in. Her fair sex brought Adam his shame in the garden, therefore, ever since, womenfolk must stay outside unless invited in, as they carry the curse. Her aunt comes out, hands on her hips, towering over her. Anna is only six, and has been to school twice. Her aunt agrees to take her along to Yemen. Perhaps there she can find work for a child. But Anna must do whatever she tells her to. Anna agrees. What else can she do? Ethiopia is soon in her distant past. She works day and night for a madam, doing her every bidding. She is a good girl; a quiet girl. She is thankful to be free of the dark hovel, but at night grandmother still haunts her. Sometimes she feels like an animal, fleeing a hunter, feeling trapped and cornered. One day another servant steals something and blames it on her. She didn't even know it was missing and would not have thought to steal. Madam's world is her only life. But madam takes the lies seriously and comes after her with a hot tong from the fire, trying to kill her. In terror Anna flees again.
This time she is on her own. Lost in a world of poverty and turmoil where women are not safe, she stumbles through the door of an ancient church. Once, in her old country there was a church she went to. She huddles at the back, listening. The priest is reading about Eli's sons. "Behold the day is coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father's house so that there will not be an old man in your house." The priest read more, but Anna did not hear him. What he had said struck her to the core. "This is it," she thought, "This is my house, we have been struck, we have sinned against God, we are doomed." In dejection she left the church, not realizing that the priest had more she could have stayed to hear. Eventually she joined a group walking by night. Night was cooler, and they were looking for a land they might find work. They had no documents, so crossing borders was best done at night as well. Finally they came to a city. Anna found a cleaning job again, but she was despondent. With the curse of Eli’s sons how should she feel about ever having a future? To make things worse, when she found other Ethiopians in the city, at first they were friendly, but soon she discovered that the two women in charge were witches, like her grandmother, and they told her they recognized her. They went by night to Ethiopia, and they knew her grandmother. They laughed at her and taunted her, cursing her with poverty and fear. Anna soon saw their power at work. When she took her day off from her madam, if she went into a restaurant to get food, the owner would come up to her and ask her to leave. It was very polite, but the curse was visible. “I’m sorry” they would say, “Please leave. When you are here no other clients can come, because you bring the spirit of poverty with you. As long as he is sitting at that table”, and they would gesture to something she could not see, “we will get no customers.” So she would leave. She accepted her curse, believing that this was somehow what she deserved because of the sins of her forefathers. She kept aloof of the Ethiopians, for fear of the leaders with witchcraft. She kept to herself, and had only one little room to rent for her day off. Here she kept her few possessions, including an Amharic Bible. She struggled to teach herself to read and finally could do so haltingly.
One day she met Tshai on the street. At first she avoided her, since she was Ethiopian, but Tshai was different and invited her to study Bible together. Thinking perhaps to understand better, she went along. At first she sat in the corner, with her hat. Always Anna hid under a hat. Soon she began to join in asking and answering questions as she realized this group was different, and there were no witches here. Women from several nations gathered, and they worshipped Jesus together. There was no difference in race or color. No one was better than any one else, and they all knew they needed Jesus.
Anna resolved to find out more about him too. But that night, when she got home to her room, there was a man sleeping on the sidewalk outside her door. He was African, and he said he was a pastor, could he sleep on the floor. Of course she could not shut the door and leave such an honored man outside. She gave him her floor mat and she sat in the corner to sleep. When she had travelled the many miles from Yemen she had often slept that way. It was no problem. But that night she dreamt that the man was putting witchcraft on her, and she woke to find him sprinkling her with powder and muttering. Her dream was true. Again she ran. The witches power was truly amazing. They had sent someone to follow her.
It was months before she saw Tshai again. In the meantime she had found an ancient catholic church and went in. When she was gazing at the crucifix, a young African man came up and asked if he could take her photo. She was surprised, but consented. He was handsome; she was young. But he too, was part of the ring of power. He used her photo to work witchcraft. If he spoke to the photo and told her to come, she would be powerless to stop herself; she would find herself going where ever he was. He asked her to borrow money; she gave him her savings. She asked him to return it; he taunted her. Finally she realized the connection. She ran to Tshai and asked her to pray for her and with her. Amazingly, it worked. The young man disappeared. Yes, she never saw her money again, but at least he was gone.
Finally she took courage to ask the prayer group to pray with her. Two of the women met with her and prayed for several weeks, helping her to name and break every curse upon her life. She forgave her family, her abusers, and herself. She broke off witchcraft, and told the spirit of poverty to go packing, in Jesus name. An important turning point was when she realized and accepted that the words she heard about Eli’s sons were for Eli’s sons, and not for her.
Anna chose to take Jesus seriously, at His Word. She now understands that, in Christ, she is a new Creation, there is no condemnation for her, she is a chosen race, a royal priest, called out of darkness into light. She is transformed into a child of God, His workmanship, with citizenship in Heaven. She belongs to God and has overcome the world. She is part of the Bride of Christ and is fighting on the winning side! She is no longer a servant but God’s friend, with access to Him, seated with Christ in the heavenlies. Anna and Tshai now minister together to other women like themselves. They are still without documents, pilgrims on the road to God, but joyful and empowered, and taking that light to others!