The women who come to café/drop in center live a hard life. Many of them don’t eat well and sometimes don’t even have a place to sleep. They’re always being required to provide services for others but rarely have anything nice done for them (and if they do, it normally has strings attached). Therefore, we hosted a wellness day for the women! We invited a handful of women to come and be pampered for the afternoon. We did their nails, gave them facials and neck massages, and washed their feet. We had fruit and chocolate for the women to eat and spent time just being with each other, it was really special. Towards the end we read from the Bible when Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, we talked about the significance of it and related it to us washing their feet. The women seemed really interested in the Word and touched by it.
I greatly value the time we spent that afternoon with the women because it gave us a chance to get to know these women better and it allowed them to feel special and us to confirm that they are special. It also opened my eyes to some other issues though. The women don’t take care of themselves well, one because they don’t know how and two because they don’t have the opportunity or resources. I realized that I take a lot for granted, for example the knowledge of living a healthy life and having parents and other people in my life that taught me how to do so. These are also the people in my life who affirm me and let me know I am special and I am loved. The women on the street don’t have these sorts of people in their lives. They haven’t been taught some of the things others may find as common knowledge. By spending time with the women I get to help fill that gap, and I feel privileged to have the opportunity to build relationships with them, teach them and be taught by them, and let them know that they are special and that they are loved.