A story from a Congolese refugee camp in Tanzania, known as Group Misa:
One day, two girls visited the house of a teen boy they knew. They had not seen him recently; he had been suffering from depression and lost the desire to hang out with friends, play soccer, or go to school. The two girls brought him a ‘paper plate crown’ with pencils and plastic gems, just like the ones they had made at Memory Book Club earlier that week. They told the teen he would feel better to have a crown representing his life as a child of God.
The girls invited him to come with them to Memory Book Club. He went and witnessed children standing and sharing their stories. What impacted him the most was the affirmation and kindness shown to children who openly grieved and expressed long held emotions and pain from the experiences they had lived. The teen felt accepted as a part of this amazing group of children, discovering for himself a safe place to share the shattered pieces of his life. He learned he was not alone and his life mattered to God. Memory Book Club helped him discover a life worth living, and it was all because his friends invited him to become a part of it.