The Hardest Journeys...

A short story from CMSI Local Mission Partner, Seme Peter.

Here, during holidays, children usually go to the village to rest, to learn, and to feel at home.

The day they finished their exams, my daughter and my younger siblings came to me with joy and one wish: “Take us to the village. We want to stay with grandmother.”

They imagined a place full of stories—learning how to dig, laughing in the fields, living the life I once knew. I agreed, but deep inside, I knew the truth would be different.

I took them.

They were full of excitement along the way, but when we arrived, I saw what they could not see—a refugee camp. Small shelters, dry land, and quiet struggle everywhere.

Still, they ran into my mother’s arms, laughing, happy. To them, it was still the village.

My mother showed us her small garden and said softly, “This is what feeds us… but before we harvest, others come and harvest at night or when people are not there, They are hungry too. We cannot stop them.”

In that moment, my heart broke.

This was not the village I wanted for them.

But it is a story they will never forget.

A place where joy and suffering live side by side.

Where hunger teaches without words.

Where family becomes the only true home.

When I left them and came back alone, I realized—

sometimes the harde

st journeys are not about where you go,

but about the truth you finally see.

Please pray for us