My Friend LeeDee

Eliza asked me the other night to tell her the story about LeeDee again. This thrilled me because I had told her about LeeDee to teach her about true thankfulness. When we lived in the "bush" of Burkina Faso, we lived a mile up on a hill from the village of Ouarokoye (water-coy).

Mom is an RN, so she had a back door clinic. People walked for miles to get medicine and have their wounds treated. LeeDee was one of these. She actually is slightly crippled. In their culture, she is considered almost worthless because she cannot do all of the work that women there do. She was able to marry and have a few children, but she was really mistreated by her husband and others because of her crippled legs. She became a Christian, so the church people really started to support her, almost as a widow status.

She would often get ulcers on her legs and feet, from using her crutches to walk and poor hygiene. She would walk the mile up our hill, over the rugged rock driveway, sometimes shoeless, to get these ulcers treated. Sometimes she had a baby on her back. She always came up with a smile, greeting us in the Lord.

We would save our tin cans and give these to her each time she came up. I wish you could experience her joy over this. She would start singing/spitting through her buck teeth smile and dance. She would say, "Don Beni budica" over and over which means, "thank you to God." One time we gave her a brand new shiny metal bucket. She about fainted with excitement and joy.

What a precious gift LeeDee was and still is to me. When I covet something someone else has, I remember her joy over some tin cans and a metal bucket. It keeps "stuff" in perspective for me. I really don't need anything! Most of the world lives without 99% of what is in my house, so I can sure live without the "thing" I think I HAVE to have. Thanks, LeeDee!