Out of Patience Comes Change
Mahelika was born into a poor Hindu family. She practiced all their rituals and beliefs, worshipping many deities. Because of their poverty, her parents would go do labor work and Mahelika would take care of household work. This meant Mahelika was unable to attend school, leaving her illiterate. As a teen, Mahelika married Sahat, an illiterate man and they became parents of two children.
Sahat worked in the agricultural fields earning very little money. He would sometimes not get work and that caused the family to face many financial difficulties. They could not make ends meet or take care of their children’s needs. Sahat was a hard-working man but was an alcoholic. Though they could barely meet their needs, he would choose to spend money on alcohol.
Mahelika was tired of telling her husband not to drink with him not listening to her. She started working in a paddy field for 12 hours a day to add extra income. This was extremely hard on her and she became sick due to the extensive work and lack of nourishing food.
Mahelika and Sahat were so busy working to earn money that it left them with no time to spend with their children. Because their daily wages were not enough, Mahelika would go to work at night too. But it was still hard for them to overcome their financial troubles. This made Mahelika’s eyes opened to the importance of education. She and Sahat decided to send their children to school so that they could have a better life.
Their financial problems continued to grow and Sahat got frustrated. He turned even more to alcohol. He would spend money frivolously on whatever he liked, not caring for his wife or his children. This caused many fights between Sahat and Mahelika.
Then, an Adult Literacy Class opened in their community and a neighbor told Mahelika that she was attending. She suggested that Mahelika enroll in the Literacy Class too. The neighbor informed her that if she attended regularly, she would end up with a graduate certificate and also learn some skills that would help rid them of their financial problems.
Mahelika was convinced but Sahat wouldn’t allow her to attend. After many fights, Mahelika finally started attending the Literacy Class. Her neighbor introduced her to all those who attended the Literacy Class as well as the Literacy Class Leader. The Literacy Class Leader was encouraged that Mahelika would take what she learned in class and practice it at home. She even enrolled in some additional classes like health education.
In one of the classes, Mahelika was taught that children learn from observation. Since then, she has learned to be patient and calm, even when Sahat is yelling. She developed patience and started treating her children with more care. She also started respecting her husband. Sahat noticed a difference in Mahelika and noticed his own shortcomings.
Sahat was happy but was unsure about where Mahelika was learning these things. Once he found out that it was from the Literacy Class, he no longer objected her attendance. Mahelika began teaching the things she had learned to her husband. He became more caring toward his family. Now they live peacefully at home without any fighting.
Pray for Mahelika, Sahat, and their children. Pray that they might find salvation.
