WHEN KEMBO was just four years old she fell into the river and a crocodile grabbed her. Hearing her screams her mother rushed into the water and rescued her but not before the crocodile had bitten and crushed her legs. Kembo was now an invalid and had to be carried about by others.
Poor little girl! Six long years went by and how she longed to attend school in the next African village. Early every morning her brother started out for school and she yearned to go with him, but that was impossible. The witch door did nothing for her.
One day as she dragged herself along the river bank, sad and forlorn, she heard the noise of a motor boat in the distance. As the boat came in sight it headed for the bank where she was sitting. Then two men jumped ashore.
They asked Kembo if she would show them the way to her village. But she couldn’t walk and only turned her face away while the tears ran down her cheeks. Then noticing her crippled legs one of the men offered to carry her. He had such a kind look on his face and Kembo was not afraid. Tether they reached the village and the two strangers had a long talk with the village chief. He invited them to stay overnight.
In the morning Kembo crawled out of her hut and sat by the big pot to wait for breakfast. She was too frail to help. Presently her father and one of the strangers came across to where she was sitting.
“Will you go with this man?” her father asked her.
“Go where, and what for?” she asked.
“They want to take you to the missionary hospital, the House of Healing,” he replied.
The other man told her the doctor might be able to help her walk again. Would she go?
Kembo hesitated for a moment, for to go away from her village and friends and live with strange people was quite a step for a little girl. But the thought of being able to walk again, to be no longer useless, thrilled her, and she replied, “Yes, I will go.”
Soon they were at the hospital and Kembo was not disappointed for the doctor was able to help her.
But that was not all. While her legs were in a cast she rode to school in a wheel chair and began to learn to read and write and do useful things.
Best of all these she learned about the Lord Jesus, that blessed Saviour who died for boys and girls, and sinners everywhere. The time came when she opened her heart to receive Him as her very own Saviour. She learned that God loved her and that all her blessings came from Him.
Kembo made up a little song which she sang to the other patients at the mission hospital:
I am so happy,
My heart is so gay,
Knowing Jesus loves me,
Loves me night and day.
Then came the happy day when Kembo returned to her village again. How delighted everyone was to see her walk again! But she had something more wonderful than this to show them — she had a new life too. She had learned to read and many a friend in the village was won to the Lord Jesus through her life and the message from God’s Word.
In the midst of her happiness Kembo liked to think that all this had come because when she was asked the question, “Will you go with this man?” she had answered, “I will go!” She was like Rebekah who long, long before was asked that same question, and at the end of that long journey she found Isaac. Kembo had found Jesus.
And still, dear friends, the Spirit of God comes and speaks to hearts, “Will you go with this Man?” Will you go to Jesus, and follow Him? Then like Kembo, may your answer be, “Yes, I will go.”
ML-06/23/1974