Moses Given the Gift of Mobility
Moses wasn’t in the bull rushes when Dr. John Eibner and Gunnar Wiebalck first saw him. Moses was crawling in the sand of the savannah that is northern Bahr al-Ghazal state on the border of South Darfur. Like the Samaritan who encountered the man beaten by robbers and left for dead, John and Gunnar showed Moses mercy. John and Gunnar left funding for the construction of a tricycle that would elevate this man from contorting his body along the desert floor to riding regally upright. That was ten years ago.
Moses and I met in May of 2008 shortly after we landed in a cargo plane in Aweil Town. We were unloading supplies: Sacks of Hope, fifty-pound sacks of sorghum grain, and seeds as well as boxes of medicine for Dr. Luka Deng’s clinic, which, is supported by CSI’s donors and supporters. We also unloaded sacks of Unimix for the malnourished children that we knew we would encounter at every stop. We were deeply engaged grabbing several boxes of Novidium cattle vaccine that we offer Baggara Arabs in exchange for a woman or child or a man who would in the exchange of Novidium would receive freedom from slavery and be reunited with family and community once again.
Walking briskly towards the truck with the cattle vaccine, I stopped in my tracks because it stunned me that in those boxes of Novidium I was literally holding the freedom of hundreds of men, women and children that would be freed from slavery to live a new life, a free life, among their people in their own country once again. It was at this moment that I saw approaching me a young man in a blue chariot. It was a most unusual sight. He delighted in this magnificent tricycle—as did I. With a mega-watt brilliant smile he greeted me: “Oh, you are with CSI.” “Yes,” I acknowledged, “I am Pastor Heidi and I am with CSI. What is your name, please, sir?” “My name is Moses,” he replied. “That’s a remarkable chariot you have, a fine carriage.” “Yes, yes!” he beamed. “Ten years ago John and Gunnar made it possible for me to have my first carriage. It allowed me to sit up, to be able to move about, to run errands for my family, to go to church without propelling myself across the sand. The old carriage was repaired many times. This one still has some of the original parts.” I marveled how in that one act of kindness over ten years ago, John and Gunnar gave this man new life and how the Lord uses us to improve the quality of life for others. Such a simple spontaneous gift had made a monumental difference to Moses.
“Moses, tell me more about yourself,” I asked. His answer was a wonderful surprise. “When I received my carriage, I was able to go to church. I learned much about God and I learned how much God loves me. It was natural for me to share that with others. I became an evangelist and then I studied for the priesthood. I will be a priest,” he said.
This moved me deeply and reminded me of all the times that Jesus would lift up those who were maimed, paralyzed, demon possessed. The Lord lifted them up as he lifts you and me up to live a life of dignity and value and service. “Moses,” I said, “that is such a wonderful gift, your call from God to be a priest. I rejoice with you and the people who will be blessed by you. May we pray, you and I?” “Yes, yes!” he replied. And so Moses and I prayed: he in Dinka and I in English. At the end of October, Moses was to be ordained as a Catholic priest.
This encounter made me ecstatic! And so I rushed over to John and Gunnar and said, “Look what you all did ten years ago! Look at the results! Ten years ago you left money with the smith so he could fashion a carriage for Moses. And look at him. Look how handsome and happy he is. And he’s going to be ordained as a priest!” Well, they were all smiles at this but had absolutely no recollection of the gift. “Come over here,” I said, “you’ve got to meet Moses.” It was such a happy time, and of course, I took pictures of the encounter and filmmaker Tamara Banks, who had accompanied us on this trip, documented my meeting with this 21st century Moses, not by the river of the Nile or even the Kiir River, but in the desert sand of Aweil.
Like many in South Sudan, Moses was the victim of polio. I have seen the victims of polio and it has always been heart wrenching to not be able to help. At Pastor Matthew’s compound in the spring of 2007, I met a little girl who walked towards me on her elbows and on her knees. I could have wept, but that would have taken away from the dignity and the beauty with which her gaze met mine when I leaned over and then got onto my knees before her. It had taken her a long time to crawl forward to receive a Sack of Hope. While Dr. John Eibner was retrieving one, I took my earrings and placed them into the small holes in her ears. I was determined that someday, somehow I would be able to help her, little Nyibol, so that she too could have a carriage and, like a Nubian princess, move regally about her subjects, her family and friends.
As of today, I have no carriage for Nyibol and I’m not sure of her whereabouts. But as a result of Moses approaching me in his chariot, CSI, through the generous donations of its supporters, pays for welding equipment and generators so that hand-powered tricycles are constructed for polio victims, giving them the dignity and the new life as children of God that no disease like polio can take away.
Recounted by CSI-USA’s Director of Outreach, Rev. Heidi McGinness.
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