What love can do

The Boss said it.

When the hope you've gathered's drifted to the wind
It's you and I now, friend.

Let me show you what love can do.

My friend Jen proves it over and over again.

If you've been reading here for a longish time you'll know Jen. We met on one of my flying visits from Afghanistan to the US. Jen brought her daughter up to Manhattan to meet me. We toured the UN headquarters and talked about courage, and compassion and the power of love.

She told me about her friend Odette from Rwanda whose daughters were still in Rwanda and how she just knew she had to do something to help bring these girls to their mother.

Talking to Jen, I knew I had met an unconventional woman.

A conventional woman would see the struggle and pain of this Rwandan mother and think "Wow, that reminds me to be grateful for my own family, for the fact that we are all together."

A conventional woman would leave it at that, convincing herself that there was nothing she could do about it.

Not Jen.

Jen decided that she needed to act. Two years ago she traveled to Rwanda and met Odette's daughters for the first time. She's been back three times since then. Most recently, in late March, she left her own children in the US and traveled again to the girls. This time she had told Odette that she wouldn't come back until she could bring them with her. 

Jen Lemen with Odette's daughters, Grace and Lilian, shot by Stephanie Roberts in Konombe, Rwanda (photo via Kelly Rae Roberts)

After weeks of exhausting effort, she's ready to bring the girls to their mother.

That's what love can do.

And, because her generosity knows no bounds, she's even giving the rest of us a chance to be part of this extraordinary journey of love.

If you'd like to remember what love can do, then read Jen's latest update. If you'd like to be part of this incredible homecoming (because a daughter returning to her mother is always a homecoming, even if she's coming far from her traditional home) then you can make a contribution.

But even if you don't make a contribution, you can give something back to Jen. Because if you read this story and remember the power of your own love, Jen will be thrilled. I just know she will.

Comments

[gem]

Marianne*

i am in awe of the women i have met in this blogging journey...
Jen, you + many, many others...
this tribe of active, hope-full, joy-full, power-full, true, spirited women...
wow, wow, wow...
i just had to speak this after reading your post {after having received an e-mail from Jen via the Mondo Beyondo community + Chip-ping In}.
i love + give gratitude for this ~ that this is the life i live, being in conversations like this.

in light,
gem

[Helen]

Thanks for sharing this story Marianne, it's wonderful to see what one person can do.
Even though it wasn't a lot, I was more than happy to donate and help out in some way.

[Rob Hiffy]

Great blog, keep it up.