The 9-year-old nobody
The flies kept coming back.
Ara did her best, but after a while her tired little arm could no longer wave the rag back and forth to keep them away. She was tired, but she did not cry.
The older ladies quickly scolded her because as soon as she stopped, the flies once again landed on the dead body of her father.
Ara is only 9 years old and her name means "nothing" or "to be without." She is a little Tagbanwa girl who lives in the Philippines.
Her name seems to have tragic truth in it. When Ara was just three months old her mother left to work in the city. Ara started to live with her grandmother. Ara's mother moved back to the village a few years later with another child but wanted nothing to do with Ara.
Ara's father, Jun, also left to try and make a better life for himself. Ara hardly knew her father before he returned home one day, his body riddled with cancer.
Ara helped care for her dying father. He was only 27. Like any young girl she loved her dad. Ara cared for him, helping to keep him cool and bring him all he needed during his sickness.
One Sunday morning, after watching her dad suffer for months, Ara was with him as he passed into eternity. The father she loved was gone. Thankfully Ara's father was a believer, but Ara still does not know the Truth.
It has now been over a year since her father passed away. Ara's mother has never taken her back so she continues to live with her aging grandmother.
Life has not been easy for Ara. But she has been given one very special gift. Her grandmother is a faithful follower of Christ and comes to all the teaching. Ara comes along, carrying her grandmother's Bible. Ara is learning about Christ from her grandmother's life and the missionaries' teaching.
"She is not a nobody and it is our prayer that as Ara grows up she will come to understand that she is somebody who is very special to God," wrote missionary Philippa Brooks.
Ara did her best, but after a while her tired little arm could no longer wave the rag back and forth to keep them away. She was tired, but she did not cry.
The older ladies quickly scolded her because as soon as she stopped, the flies once again landed on the dead body of her father.
Ara is only 9 years old and her name means "nothing" or "to be without." She is a little Tagbanwa girl who lives in the Philippines.
Her name seems to have tragic truth in it. When Ara was just three months old her mother left to work in the city. Ara started to live with her grandmother. Ara's mother moved back to the village a few years later with another child but wanted nothing to do with Ara.
Ara's father, Jun, also left to try and make a better life for himself. Ara hardly knew her father before he returned home one day, his body riddled with cancer.
Ara helped care for her dying father. He was only 27. Like any young girl she loved her dad. Ara cared for him, helping to keep him cool and bring him all he needed during his sickness.
One Sunday morning, after watching her dad suffer for months, Ara was with him as he passed into eternity. The father she loved was gone. Thankfully Ara's father was a believer, but Ara still does not know the Truth.
It has now been over a year since her father passed away. Ara's mother has never taken her back so she continues to live with her aging grandmother.
Life has not been easy for Ara. But she has been given one very special gift. Her grandmother is a faithful follower of Christ and comes to all the teaching. Ara comes along, carrying her grandmother's Bible. Ara is learning about Christ from her grandmother's life and the missionaries' teaching.
"She is not a nobody and it is our prayer that as Ara grows up she will come to understand that she is somebody who is very special to God," wrote missionary Philippa Brooks.