The Ever-Expanding Circle of Love

This story begins over six years ago in a small, dusty village in Africa. I met Fauna online when I saw her picture under possible friends, with the description being “a womanist theologian.” My ears perked up! Wow!  A colleague in Africa pursuing the same dream that I have. We quickly connected and instantly became much more than colleagues, close friends, then even more intimately, mother and daughter.

Initially she just needed a bit of money to tide her and her two small children over during the COVIDS crisis. They were literally starving and her own education to pursue a bachelors in womanist theology put on hold indefinitely. It soon became apparent that we needed to fully finance her and her little family so that she could pursue her dreams. Then, in November of last year, she was awarded a master’s in theology, bigger than both of our dreams.

It soon became apparent that she was not only a scholar and theologian but equally a person with a passion for ministry. This is where this story really begins. Within the last few months after graduation, people came to her for shelter and support. First a young woman fleeing conversion therapy and her adult companion, then a family who had lived next door to her for several years, whom she had taken in several times when the woman’s spouse’s physical abuse became too much.

 As in most cases of domestic violence, it takes several times for an abused woman to leave for good, as she typically has no family, support, or self-esteem, so “Marth” felt she needed to return, time and time again…until this last time.

Fauna got the phone call from her as she was being beaten on the front lawn, where everyone could see her suffering. Calling a friend for a ride, Fauna came to a stop, jumped out and rushed towards the man, yelling at him. She literally put her body in between him and the woman, yelling in his face. Ashamed, this coward turned tail and fled into the home.

Once the woman gained custody of her children, the man refused to let them have anything, except the clothes on their backs, even stuffed animals for the little boy. Fauna found the little family a small apartment, with nothing at all in I, except a floor to sleep on.  All the little boy had to hang on to for comfort was a small metal toy car.

Then it came time for Fauna to begin receiving. She had to have major surgery. The young woman she was sheltering filled in for her to allow her to have peace.

When she needed to get to the hospital, her friend John and “Mattha”, the woman she had just rescued, drove her, both staying there until Fauna emerged from her surgery. They came a few days later to take Fauna home.

On the way, “Martha” spotted a woman nearby, struggling with luggage, newborn baby and toddler. They stopped to pick them up, driving her to her mother’s after her husband had abandoned them there.

Even that was not enough. Fauna had them stop by the open market to buy a stuffed animal to deliver to “Martha”s little boy.

I first helped Fauna, then she helped “Martha” find safety away from an abusive parent, and then they give the little boy a big toy.  He ran all over the place, shout, “I will sleep with him.”  They asked him his name. “I will call him Scooby Doo.”

I thought this was the end of the story, until my curiosity got the better of me. The etymology of “Scooby Do” means something like “those who are afraid can band together.” 

Then, I investigated the boy’s name. In Kikuyu it means “Rapidly Expanding.” No, I did not make this up. This circle will keep expanding. And so it is!