Justice

“They have treated the wounds of my people carelessly, saying ‘Peace, peace’, when there is no peace.” Jeremiah 6:14 and again, because it was so important, in 8:11

I find myself so angry today that I have had to hike and double up my exercise just to keep my anger from hijacking my response against a huge injustice.

While, of course, our U.S. governmental system is far from perfect and we do have injustices of our own to deal with, for most of us there is always some sort of appeal or a structure of action to right most wrongs. This is not true for most of the world.

Case in point, I have a dear friend in Africa who was a faithful and hardworking wife for many years and who bore two beautiful daughters with her husband. While both husband and wife are school teachers, she spent her salary, time, and energy building them a modest yet homey farmhouse where she planted and tended a garden after her long work days to feed her family. A true Proverbs 31 woman.

They were both leaders within the same church, and she believed all was well. Until…one day in a fit of rage, he beat her severely in front of their 5-year-old daughter while the older daughter was at school. For not only her sake but also for the sake of her children, this courageous woman took a stand that is rare in Africa. As soon as he left the house, she went to the police and filed a report against her husband. Next, she went to the hospital for treatment and documentation of her wounds.

She had high hopes that somehow justice would be done—and hopefully guidance toward marital healing and reconciliation through her church and other support. Instead, the police and government gave her such a runaround, while her husband continued to loom over her, until finally he kicked her and the children out of the home she had built.

Discouraged, she turned to her church, where she was shamed for filing against her husband. In much of Africa, it is a woman’s duty to remain faithful no matter what she—or her children—suffer at the hands of her husband.

While my friend paid for the building of their home, her husband was supposed to be paying for the children’s school fees. Once she was on her own, she discovered that he had not paid them and they were in such debt with the government for school fees, her children were about to be dispelled from school. She did the only thing she could—she took out huge loans to pay the schools’ past fees as well as the coming year.

The government banking system is charging her an outlandish interest rate such that she will not be able to pay off the loans in her lifetime. She takes money that should be buying food for her children to pay the school fees. Their nutrition suffers greatly because of this.

There is no system in place to force her husband to pay child support. He now owns the home she built, and both my friend and her children are living with an abusive relative while she works overtime to try to find a way to pay for their own apartment or squat of land where she can resume growing their own food.

This is not an uncommon story in much of Africa and third-world countries. I am helping as much as I can—yet it is not enough. It is true we cannot save everyone, but we can put one finger on the scales of justice by helping the one before us. If you would like more information and details about my friend and how you can help, please contact me directly at

Kimberly@KimberlyHighland.com