Hulimda

“That’s ok,” she laughed, “I’m fine here. I am planting cell churches.”

Her voice crackles because the call is being listened to, third party as it always is. I hope her disclosure doesn’t cause a kick back.

Hulimda was out getting groceries for the safe house. it’s an East African safe house, made up of women who have been rescued from human trafficking in an urban jungle. What unifies them is that they are all from the same part of the world and share culture. This means that they all enjoy eating injera with every meal, and shake hands by offering you their wrist instead of their hand, because they are women, and women are considered dirty in their culture. They kiss cheeks three times, right, left, right, and then one more for good measure if they are well known friends. Once happy and established, they laugh a lot together, but demurely, shyly, because they are women, and women are to remain unnoticed in their culture because they might bring bad luck. When they come to the door, they kick off their shoes, and then bend down and turn them to face outward, ready to leave. This shows respect for the hostess. To leave shoes crossed would mean that they came to bring a curse, and heaven knows this is what most women do, so they must prove it to be otherwise, by lining shoes up carefully.

Hulimda laughs a lot, and she was laughing the day they threw her in the clink. She had been telling the people on the street about Jesus. The police didn’t care so long as she only told other Africans, but then a local man happened in on the conversation, and his religious sensibilities were offended. He showed the rest of the street how loyal he is to the Prophet by marching up to the police station and fetching an officer to arrest this belligerent woman. And so, off she went, with the clothes on her back, and true to her word, she planted cell churches.

This prison is a unique one. It is not called a prison, it is called “The Place for Honorable Guests.” Initially it was used to house ambassadors who came to see the ruling sheiks. It was never intended that any would take time to hear the ambassador speak his mind or convey what he came for. He came from an infidel people. The simple way to handle keeping one’s distance from such corrupt souls was to lock them away and let them starve. But in the modern era, it is not considered good foreign policy to let them starve, so they get fed, but not much more. The women are in one large room, and it is not hard for Hulimda to share with others. Fortunately she speaks three languages, and can easily tell these women about the Lord.

Ironically Hulimda’s only potential hiccup comes from other East African women who are committed witches. Last year one of them got jealous of another woman who had her papers processed to get to Europe, so she went and lied about her at “The Place for Honorable Guests.” As a result Fatima was extradited back to her country, from which she had fled because her brother was trying to kill her in an honor killing.

But Hulimda is not concerned about the witchcraft. She is a praying woman, and she knows our team is praying for her. She is aware that one of the witches who pretended to be a Christian last month suddenly keeled over and died after mocking baptism. The rest of the East African community is aware of this as well.

Hulimda was not always this courageous. But God likes to take our areas of greatest weakness and give us a testimony. No, Hulimda was a shy girl, given to self-centered practices, who came abroad to further her own personal career. She had a ladder and was climbing it. Europe was the next rung, and she had her sights set. But her heart was touched when she realized that 98% of the women at the East African church were women who had escaped human trafficking. Stunned, she listened to their stories, and was hooked. She realized that she had something to offer, and gladly stepped into the gap on their behalf.

And, yes, she paid the price. But, as you know, she laughs at that. She will be in prison as long as the Lord wants her there. He knows where He needs His next church plant!