Parenting from Afar
May 29, 2008
I just returned from Reading, England a small community 20 minutes south of London in Great Britain where my hotel was located. Newbury, another small town (about 15 minutes train ride further south), was my residence some 20 years ago. I spent 3 years there as a Sgt. in the US Air Force. During my time there, I fostered a child just two months prior to my honorable discharge. She has been born and raised in England.
It has been far too long since my last visit, a few weeks ago as I sat awaiting the appearance of my beautiful child, I was reminded that I was in the moment I had envisioned for so long and prayed about so fervently. I was visiting my soon to be 18 year old daughter, Shaniqua Nicole who I couldn’t wait to see again. She too thought it had been far too long since seeing me.
Shaniqua is in Junior College seeking to find her way as a Fashion major. Her birthday is June 6th. She loves clothing and all aspects of the Fashion industry including fashion photography. She is a bright energetic young woman who has had physical and emotional adversity to overcome in her short stint on Earth because of a spinal surgery from issues found out at birth. Not to mention the emotional pain of having a father who lives thousands of miles away in the United States. I am truly graced by her forgiveness and willingness to attempt to understand a father who had not made the trek across the friendly skies in recent years.
Our meeting was a delight as we shared from A to Z about life. No subject was off limits as we breached sex, marriage, religion, finance, love, drugs, education, children, parenting to name a few. She was very candid, open and honest. It was more than I could have asked for by any stretch of the imagination! One of the amazing things about my daughter is her compassion for others. She frequently spoke of assisting friends with their issues and attempting to get them to see it for themselves. She even encouraged me to work harder on my relationship with her grandfather.
Shaniqua has had to grow up fast living with her single mom and being an only child. I can’t tell you the joy I experienced sitting for 4 hours in a lovely Indian restaurant just discussing life with my child. To see and hear the compassion and insight of a 17 year old for relationship issues was remarkable. I am truly appreciative for the opportunity to travel the miles and spend what was a very short but much needed stay. If you have a strained or even non existent relationship with a child I believe it is paramount that you take the risk and make contact. Keep making contact. Keep seeking connection through whatever means necessary. Even if it is by email, cards, letters or by phone even if it means fighting through adversity and eating crow for previous mistakes or absence!
There is forgiveness and healing awaiting you. If you think no one understands well I do! And if you want to know how important it is to the child? There aren’t words to describe it but write me and I’ll try!
A Mission to Malawi
May 19, 2008
A little over a month ago, our pastor, Chris Beard, invited Sherman and me to prayerfully consider taking a small part of a 5-10 year partnership with Malawi, East Africa. The Assemblies of God and in particular our local church, First Christian Assembly, www.fcacincinnati.org have been serving the Malawians on their mission to recover and restore their country. This will be Sherman’s second trip to Africa (Kenya) and my first. I have been asked to speak for the Malawi Assemblies of God National Women’s Conference.
The Assemblies of God and The Book of Hope, an international organization mandated to provide God’s word to every child, www.bookofhope.net have been in partnership for several years, engaged in bringing the gospel to the children, youth, women and men of Malawi.
Were it not for the pop star Madonna’s recent court case to adopt a Malawian child, most of us may have never heard of the country, which is one of the poorest in Africa. Here are some of the more significant problems Malawians face:
o Extreme poverty, insufficient nutrition and poor access to medical treatment. Climate change makes obtaining a regular food supply precarious.
o Insufficient school education - high drop out rates and poor attendance as children are forced to work, take care of sick or elderly relatives or their siblings orphaned by AIDS.
o The spread of HIV/AIDS to approximately 30% of the population and the subsequent orphaning of more than one million children. Life expectancy is now 39 years.
o Women and children are exposed to sexual, physical, emotional abuse and neglect.
o Government economic restrictions and corruption.
o Ungodly cultural practices, pluralism, syncretism and tribal initiation rights of passage promote sexual and hierarchical relationships of slavery, power and abuse.
The Assemblies of God, The Book of Hope and the ministry for which I work, Equipping Ministries International, Inc. www.equippingministries.org, believe that demonstrating practical love, equipping children, women and men with practical and healthy relating skills, and the truth of God’s Word, will begin to establish new godly practices and systems that along with prayer will heal the land. This is the general information about our July mission. I’ll be posting more about the personal journey…. If you’d like to partner with us to raise funds for this mission, please send your check or money order to:First Christian Assembly of God, Attn: Malawi Mission - Sherman & Sadell Bradley, 220 William Howard Taft Rd. Cincinnati, OH 45219 Sadell
